(click for larger image)
(click for larger image)Power supplies / controller
It's ugly but functional!
For 2015 I used a 200W and a 300W PC power supply as can be seen in the first picture. There is also a three way extension lead for the three inflatables and the power supply for the PC speakers that play the music. On this same board are the Raspberry Pi and my 16 universe pixel controller from RonP.
This board is basically all that is needed to power the whole show. This is placed in a weatherproof box on my garage roof.
Everything last year was run on 5V apart from my porch and the polar bear which used 12V ws2811 strips. Quite a number of the light elements were powered from a single run of 6mm twin-and-earth to minimise volt drop. I even used the earth wire for my data line and it worked! The high quality graphic in image 2 shows the idea - the red line is the 6mm T&E with lines coming off for power to each element.
2016 is going to be a bit more complex as I am using a number of buck converters so that I can better utilise the 12v lines on the PC power supplies.
