Kmart

[jpb]

I have just been down to Kmart to get some LED icicle lights and they are now down to $16 from $24 yesterday.

They are only 2 channel :(
250 LEDs
4.9m lit length

I was at Casula and they had plenty of both icicle and straight lights strings. Blacktown had heaps yesterday

Jon

[David_AVD]

Yeah, what is it about everything being two channel this year? :mad:

[wjohn]

i'd prefer single, and let vixen do the talking ;-)

[jpb]

i'd prefer single, and let vixen do the talking ;-)

Don't worry, the controllers will be coming off quick smart and SSRs going on in their place. Having 4 channel light strings, especially in icicle lights gives me more options in sequencing.

Jon

[richms]

I have noticed the same 2 channel carry on happening here in NZ. Also all the mains voltage sequanced lights are gone last year and this year.

Last year (could be 2 years ago) I got some 4 channel low voltage ones with the pathetic wallwart and sequencer on them, but this year the same box at the warehouse has a 2 channel set in it.

Since I am too cheap to get proper computer control I have just been running cat-5 between the sequencers, and cutting the tracks to the little black blob with the brain in it, and paralleling up the SCR's in the sets so that they all do the same thing at the same time (so long as they are plugged into the same phase). Only done that with low voltage ones, but _was_ going to try it with some mains ones this year once I had put some opto's between the cat-5 and the SCR's in the sequencer.

I am very disappointed with the low voltage LED set I got recently as well, not only was it not wired with 4 channels, but there were only 3 colours thru it (lime green, red, and yellow) so both channels had a mix of colours on it.

I really am not keen on this low voltage stuff but there seems to be a complete lack of availability of mains voltage sets in retail now, I know you can get the commercial grade ones but they cost a large fortune which I am not prepared to spend at this stage, and their waterproof plugs are at best 2 channel in any case.

[aususer]

I bought a stack of these 262led strings - both "straight" and "icicles" - they were only $8.95ea on the sales..

They having instant gratification (keep the 'opposition leader' happy) - and wire them up parallel to an old 24VAC 2A transformer I have here - work perfectly with the controller.. haven't worked out how many amps its pulling (job for today I think)

but the plan is to cut the leds into single colour strings - splicing two sets together - and use a stack of heatshrink, solder and silastic - and patience - to make 3-4 colour runs and cut the controller off...
eventually.

Anyone done any mA /Voltage calculations on these yet. I haven't yet found my variuable PSU so not yet worked out the requirements via DVM...
hoping someone might have done the "hardwork" already.

I agree with OP - they appear to be 4 colours on 2 strings - Green/Blue and Red/Yellow (from memory)

[jpb]

Anyone done any mA /Voltage calculations on these yet. I haven't yet found my variuable PSU so not yet worked out the requirements via DVM...
hoping someone might have done the "hardwork" already.

I agree with OP - they appear to be 4 colours on 2 strings - Green/Blue and Red/Yellow (from memory)

I will eventually get around to calculating these but I will first need to get a power supply. I will probably build a quick and nasty rectifier for an existing 24VAC transformer and then fiddle around with series resistors to get the appropriate current.

Don't hold your breath though, now that Christmas is over I need to get back into home reno mode for a few months.

Jon