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10w RGB Flood Light - Reverse Engineering


Dave H1

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Has anyone used one of these floodlights in a RGB or DMX mode with LOR or similar software, in lieu of using the remote supplied??

 

I don't know if the internal DMX controller is removable or can be by-passed.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/10W-LED-RGB-SPOTLIGHT-Flood-Light-Black-CASE-Lamp-12V-DC-IP65-Waterproof-Outdoor-/330840383160?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4d079f9eb8

 

 

I know Ray has a similar flood with in and out DMX connectors but just searching for a more economical solution.....
Thanks

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Hey Dave,

I am currently hacking one of those (actually did today).

First, these units are not DMX, just controlled from the remote supplied.

BUT, I opened one up today and was able to bypass (just desoldered and pulled it out of there) the circuitry for the remote and hook it up directly to a LOR DC controller as RGB.

Notice: you must keep the resistor that's hooked up to the red LED in place. The green and blue can be hooked up directly to 12vdc.

I plan to connect cat5 cable and run it thru the hole that was supplied for the electrical wires to make a short pig tail (dongle). Then I can just connect each on of these to a cat5 cable and from there to the channels of the DC controller.

I see these being the next popular flood surpasing anything else on the market for briteness and price. VERY affordable at $20.00 each.

Edited by Santas Helper
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Hey Dave,

I am currently hacking one of those (actually did today).

First, these units are not DMX, just controlled from the remote supplied.

BUT, I opened one up today and was able to bypass (just desoldered and pulled it out of there) the circuitry for the remote and hook it up directly to a LOR DC controller as RGB.

Notice: you must keep the resistor that's hooked up to the red LED in place. The green and blue can be hooked up directly to 12vdc.

I plan to connect cat5 cable and run it thru the hole that was supplied for the electrical wires to make a short pig tail (dongle). Then I can just connect each on of these to a cat5 cable and from there to the channels of the DC controller.

I see these being the next popular flood surpasing anything else on the market for briteness and price. VERY affordable at $20.00 each.

You should add a 2ohm resistor to the blue too.  I use these same leds building my own housing.  The blues run on 11V and will burn out if you don't add a resistor.

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You should add a 2ohm resistor to the blue too.  I use these same leds building my own housing.  The blues run on 11V and will burn out if you don't add a resistor.

Thank you Jim for the tip. I did a short test run and all was good but I will go with your advise.

Edited by Santas Helper
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Dave,

 

This test was for 10W floods and connecting to the LOR DC controller, which for me is perfect for a nice wash on the house.

I found out there is at least two different versions of the 10W LED flood (could be more). The only difference is the placement of circuitry inside.

I took some pics and posted them on PhotoBucket (link provided below).

I labeled the two floods, "Type A" and "Type B".

Type A was easier to deal with, just pull off the back, pull out the power module and circuitry, connect the colored Cat5 wires and used the included resistor on the red wire for the red LED and the rest direct to the LOR DC controller. All three colors ran great.

Type B was a little different. The power module was in the back and the circuitry is in the front so I had to remove both the back cover and the front lense.

I removed the back cover and cut and pulled out the power module, leave the cover off and feed the Cat5 cable thru the hole where the power cable was.

Removed the front lense and reflector and there is the circuitry board. This type had "3" resistors, not "1" like Type A. After running voltage tests, I knew to keep all three resistors in tact and just cut the circuit board in half leaving the 3 resistors together. This made it easier to connect the RGB wires (in my case Cat5 wires) which I ran thru the back cover and thru the main body, connect the wires and close everything up. Again, all three colors ran great.

Hopefully the pics will help in understanding what I did.

I used Cat5 as a test and could have used Zip cord (SPT1 or 2). I think I will stick with the Cat5 just because I can pig tail it for easy connection and so I only have one wire assy going to each flood versus two wires if I used zip cord. Plus the Cat5 wires are color coded so it was easier to know what colors to attach to what channel on the controller.

For the CAT5 wires, I used orange for red, blue for blue and green for green. For the fourth wire I just chose one of the white wires (with a blue stripe in my case). This way I know which one to use at each end. The rest of the wires I just cut off at each end.

The Photobucket link is here. I tried to label them for what they were.

 

Hope that helps and if you have any questions, I will do my best to answer them.

 

I must add, I compared these to other floods I have and these cover a larger area and are much brighter. I can only imagine how the 20W, 30W and 50W floods look, which I may play with them as well.

 

please note: I directly connected the flood to test with the controller because I didn't have a CAT5 coupler.

Edited by Santas Helper
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Santa,

 

Can't ask for a better photo documentation, great and thank you.

 

So it appears that the back box (cover) on the Type A is shallower than the Type B ???

 

With the Type B, is there enough room in the cover to mount a 3 channel DMX module??

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Santa,

 

Can't ask for a better photo documentation, great and thank you.

 

So it appears that the back box (cover) on the Type A is shallower than the Type B ???

 

With the Type B, is there enough room in the cover to mount a 3 channel DMX module??

Thanks Dave,

 

Both back covers are the same depth. The only way to know is the 120v wiring that goes into the back cover.

Type A had two wires (brown & blue), Type B had 3 wires (brown, blue and yellow/green). I do believe the wiring discription is mentioned on Ebay for both types.

As for room for a DMX module, I'm not sure how big those are so I'm not sure if they would fit or not.

Edited by Santas Helper
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so would this also work with the 12v versions?

Yes, but you would still have to bypass the circuit board to the remote. The only difference with the 12v versions is they don't have the power pack in them to change from 120VAC to 12VDC.

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For those that haven't purchased these type of RGB leds, I highly recommend getting the 20W ones, but there are two styles of these.

 

The cheap ones run the colors in series. R -15V, G&B - 22V

The better ones use series/parrallel. R 6-7V, G-12V, B-11V

 

The leds packaged with the housing don't specify which led is used.  I buy just the leds and make my own housing.  My housings also contain a seperate white led.

 

The reason I use a seperate white is, if you have more than one flood lighting a the side of a house, at full on the whites may not be consistant or an off white you may not like.  The 20W whites will give you a nice bang for the buck, great for lightning.

Edited by scubado
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Scubado,

 

Please provide a parts list and source

Do you have any pictures of your build and with the floods in service??

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With having the 4 seperate colors together as close as possible I would get significant color seperation if something was in front of the light such as a plant.  Much less of an issue with the RGB led.

 

Another thing I have run into intermittantly, since my 10W leds are mounted in an aluminum fixture and staked into the ground, I'll get one where one of the colors will stay on getting its ground through the fixture instead of the controller.  So then I just wrap the stake with electical tape and eventually replace that led.

 

This year I need to add an additional flood and will make it with an 20W RGB led and a 10W white and replace my older ones with the new style.  I can then make my housings a little smaller.

 

Another good idea is buy all that need at same time and same vendor.   I've seen variations in color, especially blue.

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Another good idea is buy all that need at same time and same vendor.   I've seen variations in color, especially blue.

That's a very good point. I've noticed the same thing.

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My current floods in use are 10W individual colors housed together.  Mine have 9 leds per color in the 10W individual.  The 20W leds have 6 leds per color.  I will provide more info tonight.

 

Jim,

Can you provide pics of your setup with the RGB and white LEDs in one housing?

 

Thanks,

Edited by Santas Helper
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