Drving power to leds using RJ45 cable? 95-100mA@32V?

[dmachado]

Hello, finishing my LED lighting for my aquarium, I have to power 6 95-100mA series, plus 30 or 40 20mA led series, all at 32V or close.

Given that from the leds at the overtank luminaire to the power circuit I will need from 36 to 46 wires, one for each current regulator circuit (36-46 circuits), I want to have the possibility to plug and unplug the contraption at will.

As each RJ45 cable has 6 wires, I was thinking of using common ethernet cables from the leds to the power circuit, so it would be fairly easy to plug/unplug the whole thing.

The most power that one wire in a given cable would be passing would be 3,2w... can these cables be used in such a fashion?

Thank you.

 

[Robert_G]

Well, POE (Power over Ethernet) says in the 802.3at Type 2 spec that you can have 600ma of current at 48V. And that spec keeps the data side usable, since you'll be using more copper for power only, I'd guess as long as you don't go too much over that you'd be just fine. But I'm sure there are some with more experience in this than I (none) that will chime in.

Sounds to me like a good way to go if you need that many wires going to something though. I'd at least give it a try and see if you have any issues with the first one.

Good luck!

 

[crutschow]

The wire in CAT-5 cable (used with RJ45 connectors) is 24AWG which can easily carry 100mA or more. It has a loop resistance (wire pair) of ≤0.188Ω/m.

 

[dmachado]

Thank you for the information!