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will all/any boards run LED lights?


fordsbyjay

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I bought 4 CTB16DWHS boards this summer. I was just reading the user guide I downloaded and it say "FOR USE WITH INCANDESCENT LIGHT ONLY". Is there a reason they will not control LED lights? I did a search and there is other posts about using LED lights so is this the only board that is not LED compatible?

Thank you,

Jason

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Guest wbottomley

fordsbyjay wrote:

I bought 4 CTB16DWHS boards this summer. I was just reading the user guide I downloaded and it say "FOR USE WITH INCANDESCENT LIGHT ONLY". Is there a reason they will not control LED lights? I did a search and there is other posts about using LED lights so is this the only board that is not LED compatible?

Thank you,

Jason

You should be fine with the CTB-16D's. Make certain you have the latest firmware: http://www.lightorama.com/support.html
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  • 2 weeks later...

so what should we look for in the LED's? I have read many different posts on this issue and have not figured out exactly what I am looking for. I am interested in buying the LED's from PAUl from Creative Designs and have no way to test those lol.

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I sure hope the creative displays LED's dim ok... I bought a bunch of 'em and have stuff mostly sequenced already, but darned if I haven't actually tried them yet...

-Tim

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As I understand the leaping arch that LOR had at PLUS was constructed using the LED lights from Paul at Creative Displays. Yes they do dim. I use them and able to Dim the ones from Paul

Chuck

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Excellent -- I thought I would have heard by now if they didn't, but since I hadn't tried it myself, I had a little nagging concern...

-Tim

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At Action Lighting, some of their LED lights (mostly the floodlights and the C7 and C9 bulbs) say "non-dimming". Perhaps these are the ones with capacitors?

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I hae 22,000 C6 lights (11,000 red, 11,000 clear) from Paul as a small part of one of my commercial projects - I can validate that they dim without any issues running on CTB-16D boards with the latest firmware.

Several of us on TCL tested a variety of LED sets (including offerings and prototype sets from Action that I was sent for testing) - many of Action's LED are not dimmable (our testing is one of the reasons many of the Action labeled the bulbs as non-dimmable).

Jeff

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Just an update on something I cannot quite explain with my LEDs.

I have the LED lights from Paul at Creative Displays. Today I installed the lights on the roof. I created a simple fade up/fade down sequence and loaded it into one of my controllers as a stand alone. The LEDs faded fine till I got about 17 strings tied end to end. Even at 17 strings I would have only been pulling about .5 amps. When I plugged in the 18th string, instead of fading, the would flicker and turn on or turn off, depending on the fade. I proceeded to install the lights.

After dark I went out to check how things looked. I was seeing the flicker. I made a simple cord with zip cord, a C-9 socket and a male and female end. I plugged this into the extension cord before the string of LEDs and all behaved as expected. I understand the adding of a resistive load doing this from previous discussions. I am not able to understand why they started out dimming then went to the flicker mode thing. Can anyone explain this?

Yes my controllers all have the most current firmware.

Chuck

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I to am a newbie and just bought a pile of LED lights from Walmart. I think I am going to plug in a few strings of each type and see how they operate.

FYI Walmart is already selling out of many of their LED lights in my area.

Ben
ben.edmund@yahoo.com

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Hey Chuck is there anyway you could take a picture of what you made with your C9 socket - my understanding is that LED's draw so little power that they need the resistance to make them work properly? So that is why you made that (1) C9 outlet?

Bill

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Bill,


Basically since the LEDs do not have a filament there is little to no resistance in the circuit. Adding the one C-9 was enough resistance to get the fading to work properly.

The thing I do not understand is why they did fade (dim) when fewer string in a chain but stopped when there dimming and started flickering during the ramps with more strings in the chain.

Anyway they are dimming properly now.

The unit is made from about 1 foot of SPT cord that I purchaced a spool from Paul at Creative Displays, Vampire SPT1 male plug, SPT1 Vampirt female receptacle and one Vampire C-9 socket all from Action Lighting.

Chuck



Attached files 142182=8458-100_2174_1.JPG

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I have a mega made up of 24v LED strands, controlled by a CMB DC board. The lights don't dim significantly from 100-40% dim normaly to 20% then go out abuptly.

Sometimes the LEDs stay on very dimly during and after the sequence, but extinuish if I close the SE. Usually this happens when I have been running for a while.

I am going to try adding an incandesent to each channel as I suspect this is because the LEDs don't let the mosfet gates discharge completely (or something like that). Why the channels do close off when the SE is closed..I don't know.

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Jeff Millard:

I have a question about the dimmer. (of course im waiting for my LOR controllers, that would make sense if I ordered them early). I purchased a dimmer and a bunch of LED lights.

When I use the dimmer with the lamp in my office it dims perfectly.

Now, when i plug 3 light strings something different happens. They dim...but them they dont turn off!!!!! Now I know you will think im on crack, but seriously, they do not turn off. I am happy with the way they dim, just kinda defeats the purpose of a fade out if they dont turn off.

Now I plugged it into my other lamp which has one of those super duper energy saving bulb that are spiral. Well, kinda the same thing happens. It dims fine and then it blinks when in the"off" position??? Trust me, with my luck I wouldnt be surprised if you told me i bought a defective dimmer. But does this sound right to you?

And finally my main question, do you think I will have the same problem when I run LOR?

Please help, you seem very knowledgable and would appreciate your input.

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Most if not all LED strings use some type of current limiting resistor. Some strings have the resistors molded into the plastic socket just under the LED. Some retro fit strings have a resistor every sixth LED that is soldered directly to the LED then inserted into a standard 35 light string. Newer strings use inline resistors that are molded in plastic cylinders about an inch long. These can be at either end of the string. Some strings also use a Full Wave Bridge rectifier. I have a string of LED's that has 10 LED's with the FWB and resistors. Resistors are needed to limit the current going through the LED series circuit.

Strings that have FWB's and resistors can be dimmed, at least that has been my experience with these. LED ropelights behave the same way.

LED floodlights may use a capacitor to level off the flickering effect and these may or may not work with dimming or shimmer effects. Some of these lights may use a voltage regulator which can be damaged by effects such as fading or shimmer.

The best thing is read the description of the LED product in a catalogue or website, usually it will state something like "Dimming or Non dimming". When dealing with sites like Ebay, email the seller and ask if the lights are dimmable.

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