I’m wanting to put up LED light strips on top of and below our kitchen cabinets. Each strip calls for 12V 5A power. I have several old computer PSU that can easily be used to power multiple strips each. The part I have a question on is how the current gets distributed (pulled) when set up as an array - putting multiple LED lighting strips on a single power supply in parallel connection. I would like to use a separate dimmer on each straight run of LED strip. I found two different PWM dimmers – one is 8A and the other is 12A. I would prefer the 8A - the 8A is linear can be used to completely turn off the current. The 12A dimmer is in steps and cannot fully turn off the current. The PSU is a switchable unit, so it will only produce the amount of current needed (I think that is the way it works). However, I don’t know if I set up multiple runs of LED strips does the current get pulled (5A) for each run for a total go through each dimmer or does the dimmer only handle the current for that single run? Does the PSU distribute 10A through both dimmers or does the current get pulled by the lights 5A through each dimmer individually? I want to know if I attach one run to a 8A dimmer and another run through an second 8A dimmer will I overload the dimmers.

 

The total current in Parallel will be the sum of the current in each Parallel branch.