Anyone tried these LEDs?

[daytimer]

Yes see here: http://doityourselfchristmas.com/for...6&d=1323220007

I noticed in that pdf that there is no mention of a resistor to limit current. Is that not needed in an ac setup?

[CaptKirk]

Resistors are ABSOLUTELY required but thoughtfully supplied by the manufacturer built into each of the three individual LED circuits on the strings. All I did was move around the exisiting components (pull out and use the rectifier diodes from the control box) to eliminate the fixed function circuit in that control box. The strings were already set to run from rectified 110v as supplied... sweet deal, huh?

[frankv]

I used 16 strings like this in my last display. But I did things slightly differently... I controlled each of the segments from one channel of a Renard.

1. Cut the wires at the box.
2. Throw away the box and power cord.
3. Each of the wires that goes to an LED, plug into a Renard output.
4. Plug the ground wire into the Neutral of the Renard.

This allows you, with an appropriate program controlling the Renard, to do any of the 8 effects the controller box did originally, or any other effect you might want. And of course to do the same effects simultaneously on multiple strings. Or sequentially on one string after another. Or whatever.

A couple of notes:

1. The wires are *very* thin, and almost impossible to strip without breaking the conductors. To strip the ends, I resorted to melting the insulation with my soldering iron.
2. The wires always seem to break at one of the LEDs... you can strip back the clear outside insulation on the LED/resistor and repair them. There's clear plastic between one leg of the LED and the other leg/resistor.
3. There are several variants.... some have 2 channels, with alternate LEDs on each channel. Some have 4 channels (I never saw one with 3 channels as described in the link). Some extend the AC power wire pair to a (Chinese? plug at the far end, so you can plug lots of strings end to end.
4. The multicolor strings here have red, green, yellow, blue LEDs, usually as two channels (red and yellow is one channel, green and blue is the other). I imagine something similar is what is called an RGB string.
5. There's often only inches between the controller box and the first LED. You may need to extend the wires to reach your Renard.
6. I assume that if I rectified the circuitry as described, I'd get twice the perceived brightness. My strings were bright enough anyway.
7. I reckon it would be a good idea to replace the 30x50mm controller PCB with a new PCB holding 2 or 4 VO223 chips, plus resistors and maybe rectifying diodes. This would give strings of LEDs which were controllable directly from a 0-5V level (computer's printer parallel port, Renard board without the MOC3023s and triacs.

[daytimer]

Apparently this is their new way of shipping lights that will work in the US! Luckily, even after the mod, they will run on 120VAC and don't need 240VAC.

adapter.JPG

[CaptKirk]

But they are probably not as bright as when running on 240v... The ones for 110V operation are really bright.

BTW: I did put my conversion How To doc in the WIKI under "Going Green" in the Display Construction section.

http://doityourselfchristmas.com/wik...y_Construction

[daytimer]

That would be the write-up I used! Only difference is the wiring is 1 and 4, not 2 and 3. The first set I ordered from them had the American plug on it. This order has the Germany plug with an adapter. Looking at the board, there is no difference. Everything on the board with the Germany plug at the end is the same value as the string I got with the American plug on it.
Now that I look closely, the string with the American plug on it has the plug rated at 240V as well.

[CaptKirk]

Yeah, the one common and 4 seperate circuits must be something new, or a different manufacturer using a different build technique. I planned to be generic about the common and individual circuit descriptions in the writeup (words like "your string MAY look like this") sort of thing but I might not have been consistent. There is always a better way to say things no matter what you write! Glad it was a help.

Kirk

[daytimer]

I have made 2 arches with these lights so far and have 3 arches to go. So, I was looking for 24 more sets of lights! Ugh, that was going to be expensive.... A little Ebay searching and some luck and I was able to get 25 strings for $5ea. with free shipping WITHIN the US! It is listed with the "make an offer" option, so I took a shot in the dark and offered $5ea. for 25. Much to my surprise, it was accepted!
If you need lights and want to go for these, give it a go!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Blue-Col...L:COSI:US:1123
The insulation is somewhat thin, but since they will be on arches, the wire won't be supporting any weight.
This is going to be a LOT of soldering to remove the controllers. Oh well, at $5 a string, it's well worth it.

[daytimer]

BTW: I did put my conversion How To doc in the WIKI under "Going Green" in the Display Construction section.
http://doityourselfchristmas.com/wik...y_Construction

Hey Capt.!
I am beginning messing around for next year and have tried something different with your conversion and want your thoughts. Instead of redoing the whole ac input, I removed the little controller board (the one with the black glob) and soldered a jumper across the input/outputs of the PCR406S's. Other than still having the "box" inline, are there any downsides to doing it this way? When doing a lot of them, this seems like it would go much quicker than the other way. I figured then I would flood the board with epoxy to seal it up and that would be it.