Power Injection - Quick Tutorial and Walkthrough

Although many pixel controllers support 700+ pixels per port/string, the voltage drop that occurs naturally with any wiring can create issues (glitching pixels, lag, or simply some pixels not lighting up). I run my whole show at 30% brightness (and use 12 volts) and find that strings/props over ~200 pixels generally need some sort of power injection. Here's how I accomplish that...

I wanted to minimize different types of wires and extensions I have to manage and keep, so I use 3-core xConnect 18ga wiring throughout my whole show (for both main port/data runs AND power injection). I do the actual injection via "Power Injection Tees" - where I pull out the data pin in the middle male part of the tee to not have any data "leakage". In my controller boxes, I use Falcon F8 Power Distribution boards. I find that one 12v 30amp power supply is able to handle four maxed out ports and power injection just fine.

[Austin.Wahlquist]

How did you mount the power distribution board to the enclosure?

[jimbates]

I've searched your videos and fail to find any mention of, or links to, the specific LED/light strings you use. I'm interested in those you put in the channels on your soffit. Thank you in advance.

[randybaron]

Hello, thank u for your video. I tried power injecting on a smart receiver but the distro board is coming from my controller enclosure with a separate power supply. The fuses in the distro board were blowing up. I used 323 t connectors. Do I have to use the same power supply as the smart receiver for the distro board?

[mountaintopper]

What was it doing when it was "glitching out" before the power injection?

[HigherQualityUploads]

Thank you! You are the *only* one who made this easy to understand. Question: all 16 of my pigtails are hooked to data and electricity. Will just yanking put the data cable be good or do I need a special board like you have that only has two ports?

[jimbehlmann]

What kind of power distribution card are you using/ recommend?

[mountaintopper]

For power injection, do you need to run both a positive and negative wire from the power supply to the injection point? Or can you just run a positive line? If you have a negative running through the controller and through all the lights inline in that way wouldn't a negative line for each power injection be redundant and unnecessary?

[KW_Lights]

for the pigtails coming out of the box...did you use a 2-core or 3-core pigtails with the third just cut off?