Power Usage & Battery Life

The LEDs used in the logics are WS2812B's. These are super-bright RGB LEDs with built-in serial controller chips. Each one consumes quite a bit more power than an average 3mm single color LED. You can test the system using a regular 9V battery, but don't expect it to last much longer than 30 minutes.

A typical 12V SLA battery will run at 13.8V when fully charged. Using a bench top power supply set at 13.8V I tested an RLD board to get an idea of how much current the logics consume. I also tested with a 5V supply to get an idea of what the regulator module needs to output. Note that I don't ever recommend setting LED brightness to over 75%; even 50% is plenty bright. Going over 75% is pretty blinding, washes out colors and eats batteries like crazy. That said, here are my results...

LEDs	Pattern	Bright	Current @ 13.8V	12V 1Ah Battery	12V Note	5V Note
96	Standard Rear	100%	0.42A	2 hours 22 minutes	Varies from 0.34A to 0.42A	Varies from 0.85 to 0.98A
96	Standard Rear	75%	0.31A	3 hours 12 minutes	Varies from 0.25A to 0.31A	Varies from 0.62 to 0.72A
96	Standard Rear	50%	0.22A	4 hours 30 minutes	Varies from 0.18A to 0.22A	Varies from 0.44 to 0.49A
80	Standard Front	100%	0.35A	2 hours 42 minutes	Varies from 0.27A to 0.35A	Varies from 0.55A to 0.85A
80	Standard Front	75%	0.28A	3 hours 34 minutes	Varies from 0.21A to 0.28A	Varies from 0.40A to 0.62A
80	Standard Front	50%	0.21A	4 hours 45 minutes	Varies from 0.15A to 0.21A	Varies from 0.29 to 0.42A
48	All White	100%	1.05A	57 minutes	Never set a bunch of LEDs to full white like this!
48	All White	75%	0.78A	1 hour 17 minutes	If you value your eyesight, don't do this either!
48	All White	50%	0.52A	1 hour 55 minutes	Might want to avoid this too!