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I’ve seen a few threads showing LED lightning by means of an additional power supply/unit that is supplied with the LED strip.
However, I was curious if it was possible to tie in an LED strip to the latest X-Controller.
Ideally be able to have it wired in so that any time the X-controller is powered on the lights are running & vice versa.
My intent is to run a small LED strip on the inside of my enclosure for the X-Carve for some additional light.
I did a little bit of homework, but in the end I’m not confident sticking wires any ol’ place.
It’s a pretty easy upgrade, all you need is either 24v leds to hook directly to the 24v power supply in the xcontroller or the more available and cheaper 12v led strip with a DC step down regulator like this.
I would use a separate supply. You don’t want any electrical noise from the step down converter or the LEDS themselves to bleed into the power rails of the same supply that powers the brains of your Xcarve.
Depending on what I can get away with safely.
At the very least 3 feet along the top front face of my enclosure, but at most I’d guess around 9 feet.
Thanks @FatKatOne, I’ll look into that thread in detail when I get home. Seems like add-ons at a glance, I’d like to keep everything tucked away in the X-controller if possible.
If you have the original Inventables stepper motors and you are going to use the LED strips linked to above (24 volt) just hook the black wire from the LED strip to V- on the power supply and the red wire to V+ on the power supply.
You have the 17 Amp version which should give you plenty of power.
The power supply is protected for over current conditions and should shutdown if you draw too much current.
I doubt that you would have any EMI issues as the LED strip above is just on/off for the LEDs, it doesn’t have any fancy controller embedded for multicolor/multifunction situations.
[Edit] - you might want a switch to turn the LEDs on/off for those clandestine projects.
It is always interesting to hear what different people think. I would encourage you to give the reason that you would do as you suggest so that the OP can decide if your reasons are applicable to his situation.
Stuff breaks. Maybe the led’s adhesive allows the leds to fall, then they end up getting carved and making a short and damaging the power supply in the xcarve.
Maybe under very specific circumstances, the power draw of the leds causes an under current to the steppers, causing missed steps.
Granted those are 2 far out there examples, mostly my recommendation for separation is for the million other unknown items that you can’t say with absolute certainty will never happen.
Followed @LarryM advice with a small section (shy3 feet) of LEDs and it lit up.
I have it just below the front top extrusion so that it wont shine towards me.
Used the stock adhesive to position it, but I will be replacing it will some quality 3M tape. I’ll also print out a couple small tabs as a fail safe (3 in total evenly spaced) and bolt down the strip to the existing extrusion.
Looking at this thread has me thinking of doing a LED light conversion to my machine as well however I am running the quiet cut spindle with a 48 volt power supply would
I just get a converter to change it from 48 volt to 12 or 24 to feed the LEDs?
I always keep three rolls of different widths of 3m brand body molding tape in the shop that you would get at an autobody supply store. Nothing falls off.
