A little electrical help

Discussion in 'I made this!' started by Sacohen, Mar 1, 2014.

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  1. Sacohen

    Sacohen Bristle Worm

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    I want to run a single Cat5e cable from my Meanwell LDD driver to my lights to control the lighting.

    The distance would be about 5-6 feet from driver to lights.

    These are the lights.
    Aquarium LED Light 144W Full Spectrum 48 x 3W Reefblok Coral Reef Grow Fixture | eBay
    There are 2 channels that will be outputting 0-48v (depending on what the controller has them at).

    Each channel has only 24 lights on it.

    Can Cat 5e handle that voltage and current?
     
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  3. reef_guru

    reef_guru Humpback Whale

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  4. rcflyer1388

    rcflyer1388 Bubble Tip Anemone

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    i don't think it will be a problem....I know you can do Power Over Ethernet and that's around 44 VDC.
     
  5. DevinH

    DevinH Montipora Capricornis

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    You'll be fine.
     
  6. Sacohen

    Sacohen Bristle Worm

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    What about Amps across Cat5e?

    I think the LED's are pulling 1.5 amps per channel, unless I figured it wrong.
    144w for the whole fixture (according to the listing) 144/48=3amp for the whole fixture.
    Channels are split evenly at 24 LED's per channel so it should be 1.5 Amps per channel.
     
  7. rcflyer1388

    rcflyer1388 Bubble Tip Anemone

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    You should be fine still, some routers that the cable powers use around 700w of power. 1.5 amps should be fine. You can even splice together one twisted pair for one channel to basically increase the conductor size if you're worried. I've used it to run speakers that had higher watt ratings with no issues or heat.
     
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  9. Sacohen

    Sacohen Bristle Worm

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    Thanks for the help.
     
  10. rcflyer1388

    rcflyer1388 Bubble Tip Anemone

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    let us know of the finished product.