5v 60A Power Supply for LED Panels — Choosing good cable size

[multimarcus]

Hello everyone!
I would like to power 8 LED RGB panels, each takes 5v input and according to the datasheet 20W. (I take every consumes about 4A x 8 approx 32A)
I have a Power Supply from Meanwell. It has a single output of 5v and 60A, I could also opt for a slightly smaller one, 40A if better.
It will installed about 5 metres away from the wall plug.

I would like to choose a cable with a good enough size, trying to keep the voltage drop at ~5%.
The calculators I have found online point me to cables such as these:
3183Y 1.5mm² Arctic Grade Round Flexible Cable Yellow
or
3 Core Tuf Sheathed Cable Black
Are they fit for the purpose? I am trying to stay on the safe side without overdoing it.

Thanks a lot for your help and time!
Marcus

 

[Marvo]

The cable length as well as the load current will dictate the size of wires required.
Inrush current may also be a factor you need to consider.

Can you give us some info about the make/model of LED panel and the circuit length?

 

[telectrix]

for 32A I'd be looking at 4.0mm or 6,0mm as a start. Then, as Marvo says, voltage drop will be a major consideration depending on the length of cable.

 

[multimarcus]

The cable length as well as the load current will dictate the size of wires required.
Inrush current may also be a factor you need to consider.

Can you give us some info about the make/model of LED panel and the circuit length?

Thank you for helping!
The cable to the Power Supply will be 5 metres long. Connected to mains 230v AC. The Power Supply will then output 5v (and max 32A) in order to feed all LED Panels.
The panels take 5v as input and up to 4A each (I am attaching a quick Datasheet I received from the Manufacturer in China).
Cables powering the LED Panels from the PSU will be max 40-50cm long.
I am planning to position one fusebox before the Power supply and two 20A fuses (one each) on the live outputs of the Power Supply.

 

[multimarcus]

for 32A I'd be looking at 4.0mm or 6,0mm as a start. Then, as Marvo says, voltage drop will be a major consideration depending on the length of cable.

Thank you! That's very useful.

 

[Spoon]

Below is the recommended wire size for your Meanwell power supply is below:



Looks like they recommend 6mm for 32-40A

Are you intending to put in a protective fuse for each panel?

 

[Lucien Nunes]

I think there is confusion, the OP seemed originally to be asking about the 230V cable as he mentioned the distance of 5m from plug to PSU. For that, any mains cable will do, 0.75mm² is adequate because the current is only a few amps. The voltage drop will be negligible, and in any case has no effect on the LED output because the PSU is regulated and will produce 5V regardless. Where a regulated driver or PSU is in use, the drop affects only the energy efficiency not the light output.

The 5V circuit is very critical of voltage drop, but the cables are very short so it is not hard to achieve. Consider wiring each panel back to the PSU separately. 1mm² will be easy to connect to the panels and at 4A load will achieve a drop of about 0.15V or 3% per metre of run, so just 1.5% at 50cm. At the PSU I would put an 8-way automotive fuse box or similar with one 5A fuse per panel. Or if it's convenient, run pairs of panels in 2.5mm² and fuse at 10A.

20A fuses and higher probably won't achieve very much, because the PSU will shut down electronically at currents high enough to blow the fuse reasonably quickly.

If for whatever reason you want to run a single cable carrying the full 32A of 5V output over a longer distance, you can use the remote sensing terminals on the PSU to compensate for the voltage drop in the cable. All PSUs of this current and voltage will have remote sensing terminals. An additional small pair of cables (1mm² is fine) are run from +S to the far end of the main + feed cable, and -S to the far end of the main - feed. The PSU monitors the voltage at the remote sensing point where the sense wires meet the feed wires and adjusts its output voltage upwards until that is exactly 5V, regardless of the load and drop in the cable, up to typically 10% drop. E.g. if the drop is 0.5V, it will output 5.5V so that 5V appears at the sensing point. Once again, while a larger amount of drop wastes energy, it does not affect the LED performance.

 

[multimarcus]

Below is the recommended wire size for your Meanwell power supply is below:

View attachment 63613

Looks like they recommend 6mm for 32-40A

Are you intending to put in a protective fuse for each panel?

Thank you so much! I am thinking of using a 20A fuse for 4 panels (2 x 20A fuses for a total of 8 Led Panels)

 

[multimarcus]

I think there is confusion, the OP seemed originally to be asking about the 230V cable as he mentioned the distance of 5m from plug to PSU. For that, any mains cable will do, 0.75mm² is adequate because the current is only a few amps. The voltage drop will be negligible, and in any case has no effect on the LED output because the PSU is regulated and will produce 5V regardless. Where a regulated driver or PSU is in use, the drop affects only the energy efficiency not the light output.

The 5V circuit is very critical of voltage drop, but the cables are very short so it is not hard to achieve. Consider wiring each panel back to the PSU separately. 1mm² will be easy to connect to the panels and at 4A load will achieve a drop of about 0.15V or 3% per metre of run, so just 1.5% at 50cm. At the PSU I would put an 8-way automotive fuse box or similar with one 5A fuse per panel. Or if it's convenient, run pairs of panels in 2.5mm² and fuse at 10A.

20A fuses and higher probably won't achieve very much, because the PSU will shut down electronically at currents high enough to blow the fuse reasonably quickly.

If for whatever reason you want to run a single cable carrying the full 32A of 5V output over a longer distance, you can use the remote sensing terminals on the PSU to compensate for the voltage drop in the cable. All PSUs of this current and voltage will have remote sensing terminals. An additional small pair of cables (1mm² is fine) are run from +S to the far end of the main + feed cable, and -S to the far end of the main - feed. The PSU monitors the voltage at the remote sensing point where the sense wires meet the feed wires and adjusts its output voltage upwards until that is exactly 5V, regardless of the load and drop in the cable, up to typically 10% drop. E.g. if the drop is 0.5V, it will output 5.5V so that 5V appears at the sensing point. Once again, while a larger amount of drop wastes energy, it does not affect the LED performance.

Hi,
Thank you so much for your very detailed reply!
This is really useful! Indeed the question is mainly about the wire powering the PSU.
Also, great to hear that the voltage drop will be negligible in this instance.
The cables I was given by the manufacturer power 2 panels each.
It would be really good to be able to run a long cable from the PSU to the panels (this way I wouldn't have to hide the PSU behind the panels). I guess this could be a great idea for another similar installation, I didn't know about remote sensing, sounds like a great feature to take advantage of!
Again, thank you so much for your help and time!
I will look into 0.75mm² at CEF, I feel I have everything I need to make it work!