Choosing LED Switch

[Frankie]

Hey, I'm planning to add on/off switch to a LED strip (AKASA Vegas 60cm) so I did a little research and turns out that the 12V molex connection can carry somewhere up to 5A. Of course that doesn't necessarily mean it will but I would rather ask. Will 2A rated switch suffice for the strip ? I'm probably overthinking this but you know.  

[Oshino Shinobu]

LED strips draw a tiny amount of power, a 2A switch should be fine. If you want to be really safe, you could use a 5A relay.

[Frankie]

1 minute ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

LED strips draw a tiny amount of power, a 2A switch should be fine. If you want to be really safe, you could use a 5A relay.

I was thinking it shouldn't draw over that, but I rather ask when I'm not sure. I always kinda over-research what I'm doing, so thanks for reassurance.

[rhyseyness]

11 hours ago, Frankie said:

I was thinking it shouldn't draw over that, but I rather ask when I'm not sure. I always kinda over-research what I'm doing, so thanks for reassurance.

12V at 5A is 60W.

With 60W of LEDs in your system, what switch to use is gonna be the least of your worries 

You'll be fine with a 2A switch

[Frankie]

8 minutes ago, rhyseyness said:

12V at 5A is 60W.

With 60W of LEDs in your system, what switch to use is gonna be the least of your worries 

You'll be fine with a 2A switch

Hey don't judge me, maybe I wanna recreate Las Vegas in my case.

 

Thanks for the input.

[dany_boy]

Absolute worst case scenario (assuming really bad electrical design): each LED will consume 30 mA, with 15 LEDs that is a mere 0.45A. Before you say "but the resistors!", that is considering the resistors. Resistors act as voltage droppers, so the same current flows through them as does through the LEDs for any given array. In my experience though, a strip containing 80 RGB LEDs at full brightness will only consume about 0.8A.

 

In a nutshell, a 2A switch will be more than fine. 5A is just overkill

Cheers

[Frankie]

51 minutes ago, dany_boy said:

-snip-

Thanks for the info. It seemed kinda hard to find info about amperage, because manufacturers usually doesn't even list that because it's meant to be ''used as is'' But that's not me.  Funny thing is I'm much more comfortable working with standart for Europe 230V, because everything has well known standards or is overbuilt.

[dany_boy]

3 hours ago, Frankie said:

Thanks for the info. It seemed kinda hard to find info about amperage, because manufacturers usually doesn't even list that because it's meant to be ''used as is'' But that's not me.  Funny thing is I'm much more comfortable working with standart for Europe 230V, because everything has well known standards or is overbuilt.

No problem.

PS even with all the safety standards in Europe, be careful when handling anything over 30V AC or 50v DC.

Cheers

[Frankie]

50 minutes ago, dany_boy said:

No problem.

PS even with all the safety standards in Europe, be careful when handling anything over 30V AC or 50v DC.

Cheers

Oh I always am, I'm just little more knowledgable at the high voltage stuff.