Read the statement by Michael Teeuw here.
Led strip problem
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@sdetweil Short answer: Likely.
Long answer:
Here’s a simplified drawing of how most LED strips are “wired” up. Data line is included for Anthony’s issue.
Power is distributed equally across each LED, each LED drains their current accordingly, and it returns via ground.
As the strip you showed is cuttable, it would appear that it’s wired in the same way, although it’s unclear from the pictures on the website. A few LED strips are wired in series, and then it wouldn’t work backwards.
By powering both ends you get two results - less current (heat!) on the connectors as they’re sharing the load, and more consistent lighting along the strip (in extremely long runs, you’d lose some brightness in the middle still, but)
If you want to test, it’s easy to do. Hook up the power supply to the output end, just making sure the power is on power and the ground is on ground. (if there’s a data line, leave it on the input end, as the data line can’t travel backwards. (Technical reasons I won’t get into here)
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@BKeyport thx. no data line, just power & ground. right now I just soldered the leads on to one end. got to find another clip on to try the other. there is power over there, for the third strip, so can add leads to the back of the long strip. less heat would be a good outcome
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@sdetweil for the test, don’t have the input end connected, FWIW. Forgot that part. If it lights with just the output end connected, you’ve got the standard setup.
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@BKeyport , @sdetweil I found the answer to my problem. By moving places to the components I found out the arduino board was too close to a coil from TV’s power circuit board and that was the one which caused the problem. I screwed arduino at the opposite side which a decent distance from the coil and everything worked fine. But I will also try what @BKeyport suggested by ppowering the strip from both ends. So @BKeyport only power and ground on both ends and data only on one end right?
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@Anthony correct. leave the data disconnected on the far end.
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@BKeyport Thank you very much.
