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Troubleshooting CCBs


toddm1919

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This year I added 6 strings of LOR CCBs to my display.  Throughout the season, 2 of them starting having different issues.  On one string, the last 7 bulbs stopped working (always off). On the other,  one pixel about 1/4 of the way down the string was stuck on with a dim red color and 3/4 of the way down a pixel was stuck on with a dim green color.  I unplugged the both strings from the controllers and unplugged the controllers with no change.

Where can I start to salvage the largest amount of bulbs?

For the one with the always off bulbs, are all 7 bulbs bad? Or could it be just the 7th from the end.  I have seen other places on the forum that it could be the one before the one that is off.  Would that apply here?

For the string with the two bulbs stuck on, would it be a problem with those particular bulbs?  Can I just take them out and splice the string back together?

Any tips that will save me from have to replace the entire string would be great. 

 

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On 1/3/2017 at 7:57 PM, toddm1919 said:

This year I added 6 strings of LOR CCBs to my display.  Throughout the season, 2 of them starting having different issues.  On one string, the last 7 bulbs stopped working (always off). On the other,  one pixel about 1/4 of the way down the string was stuck on with a dim red color and 3/4 of the way down a pixel was stuck on with a dim green color.  I unplugged the both strings from the controllers and unplugged the controllers with no change.

Where can I start to salvage the largest amount of bulbs?

For the one with the always off bulbs, are all 7 bulbs bad? Or could it be just the 7th from the end.  I have seen other places on the forum that it could be the one before the one that is off.  Would that apply here?

For the string with the two bulbs stuck on, would it be a problem with those particular bulbs?  Can I just take them out and splice the string back together?

Any tips that will save me from have to replace the entire string would be great. 

 

Why not open a ticket to LOR and see if they can get them fixed for you? Their customer service is tops.

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  • 3 months later...

My experience has been when there are a few bulbs out it is usually the bulb in front on the data input/controller side. For the ones staying on usually the bulb/pixel it self.  Unfortunately pixels do fail and if you plan on increasing your count suggest you always buy spare strings that you can quickly replace during the show season. This will also create some options to salvage pixels from a failed string to repair others.  Replacing nodes/bulbs is fairly straight forward however soldering into ribbon/strips is a whole different level of skill.  I do recall LOR offering a repair service at one time for a price however it might not be cost effective depending on where you live.

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  • 1 month later...

I have several bulbs on numerous CCB strings that have gone bad. I have decided to take the string with the most failed bulbs ( 3 as I recall) and use it as a host to repair the other strings. I will be tackling this in the coming weeks and think I have a novel idea for the splicing. The cut will be on an angle for both the host and the patient. I will place a large sleeve of heat shrink over the cable and then using  short pieces of brass wire, insert it in each of the wires and then using a fine tipped soldering iron, sweat solder the wires. To insure waterproofing, I will use a couple of dabs of silicon rubber over the joints and then a more generous amount over the openings of the heat shrink, and then place the heat shrink across the splice and using a heat gun, shrink it down

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Solder sleeves work great too for splicing in pixel bulbs/nodes and most of them seal the connection as they're heated.

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16 hours ago, jwblazek said:

I will be tackling this in the coming weeks and think I have a novel idea for the splicing. The cut will be on an angle for both the host and the patient. I will place a large sleeve of heat shrink over the cable and then using  short pieces of brass wire, insert it in each of the wires and then using a fine tipped soldering iron, sweat solder the wires.

I'm not quite sure I understand what you are trying to accomplish with your brass wire insert, unless it is to not change the length of the wire length between each bulb.

16 hours ago, jwblazek said:

To insure waterproofing, I will use a couple of dabs of silicon rubber over the joints and then a more generous amount over the openings of the heat shrink, and then place the heat shrink across the splice and using a heat gun, shrink it down

Less messy way to do that is to use the two layer heat shrink tubing that has the goo inside the melts when you heat up the tubing.  I would use a small piece of heat shrink over each wire and then a second layer over all three.  I have used silicon under heat shrink tubing, or silicon into the end of a strip, but that was only when I did not have the two layer heat shrink tubing available.  Conveniently my semi-local electronics store now stocks the two layer heat shrink tubing in various sizes.  And Didi-Key has miles of it.

 

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19 hours ago, B.Y.R.G. said:

Solder sleeves work great too for splicing in pixel bulbs/nodes and most of them seal the connection as they're heated.

That would be my suggestion as well. I still use heat shrink on my splices even after using the pre soldered, low heat sleeves.

JR

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2 hours ago, dibblejr said:

That would be my suggestion as well. I still use heat shrink on my splices even after using the pre soldered, low heat sleeves.

JR

Yes most definitely use heat shrink over the sleeve to help provide another layer of protection.  Thanks for mentioning it.  In addition I tin the wires before installing the sleeve to help with the solder flow.

Edited by B.Y.R.G.
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