I just posted another question about this project (
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/beginners/ws2812-led-strip-cable-connectors/) but since this is a different topic I thought it'd be better to separate them. Apologies if they should have been the same post.
I got one of these cheapo 5V power supplies that you find in 3D printers and the like to power my WS2812 LED strips (for reference, I got these specific ones:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BKQZLDL). As I said in the other post, I have 3 strips of 1m each with 144 LEDs/m, so 432 LEDs in total. The specs say they draw 30W each at full power, and sure enough when I hooked the power supply up to a Kill-A-Watt and ramped all the LEDs up to full power, it read 89W, so far so good.
The power supply I got is rated for 200W, so theoretically should have plenty of capacity for this application (specifically this one:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07KCVBZ18).
Here's the rub: when I ramp the LEDs up to full brightness, full white, the power supply begins to audibly hum very annoyingly. I believe it is coil whine, and I think I have it isolated to the one in the attached picture.
I'm thinking about covering this bad boy completely with silastic (well, general HW store brand silicone caulk, e.g. this stuff
https://www.lowes.com/pd/GE-Silicone-2-2-8-oz-Clear-Silicone-Caulk/1043637) - is that a hugely bad idea? Will it cause the coil to overheat and catch fire? Will it do other bad things like corrode the board? Is there something else/better I can do about this? Should I just buy a different power supply altogether? ;]
Thanks in advance for any input you might have!