cowboy casey Posted October 17, 2014 Author Share Posted October 17, 2014 So, I called every store in town and no one had any amount over 150 foot of 14/4 or 16/4 .... The last place I called also did not have any, but he did have 300 foot of 12/4 and gave me a great deal cause he didnt have what I asked for.. Nice... looks like I am rewiring this weekend.... I think 12/4 will work.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted October 17, 2014 Share Posted October 17, 2014 The 12 will be harder to solder to strips because its larger, but it should work well with a little care on your part... Have fun... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max-Paul Posted October 18, 2014 Share Posted October 18, 2014 Holy Carp!! I sure hope we are barking up the right tree. 12Ga wire even with a good deal is pricey.. Good luck Cowboy. I am just having problems with it working on the G3 but not computer and tying this to the power wiring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowboy casey Posted October 18, 2014 Author Share Posted October 18, 2014 Well, There I was driving to get that 12/4 wire at a great price but up in the high 200 dollar range and I drive by another electrical supply store that I did not call, not in the book... So, i stop in and ask if they had any 14/4, they did not, but they did have 250 feet of 16/4 that is now waiting to be installed... I would have rather had 14/4 but I think 12/4 would have been overkill for what I need and the short distance I am going... I keep thinking the same thing max, this will tell us if we are on the right track or not... and better wire is not a bad thing.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowboy casey Posted October 18, 2014 Author Share Posted October 18, 2014 Drum Roll Please........ It was the wire..... 100% white and no issues what so ever.... The power supply likes it also.... they are so much brighter its crazzzy So I used 250 Feet of 16/4 wire, it was just to long of runs for the CAT5 cable to send a good signal to the strings.. I think it was drawing to much power just trying to get the signal there... it was making the card and power supply work harder... I have transferred everything to the new CMB24D and will send in this one to fix ch 6 TRIAC, it is stuck on 100% blue. Thank you all for the help.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max-Paul Posted October 18, 2014 Share Posted October 18, 2014 Cowboy, My friend, I say this as a teaching not a laughing matter. Your power supply was not working harder with the old cable, it was slacking. The wire was holding back the power like a garden hose that you are standing on. The water trickles through to the end of the hose. Now you have a fire hose and no one is stepping on it. The water is gushing out. So it is working a bit harder. Strange in my mind, how could it work ok with the G3 but not the computer. This just does not make sense. But the most important thing is that it is working. Will have to add this to my memory as a possible problem in the future. Just does not make sense that I can understand.. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mega Arch Posted October 18, 2014 Share Posted October 18, 2014 Max, Garden hose is perfect description. Everyone reading can understand. Thanks for helping others as much as you do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max-Paul Posted October 18, 2014 Share Posted October 18, 2014 Its just one of the problems with doing this electrical stuff from back in my late teens. Now I am in my mid 50's and this stuff is like breathing. I have problems putting into words how to breath. So yes, resistance in a wire will resist current flowing. Which also is seen as a voltage drop at the far end. So ya the water hose analogy is one way of explaining it. Glad it was of help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted October 18, 2014 Share Posted October 18, 2014 Glad you got it resolved... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max-Paul Posted October 18, 2014 Share Posted October 18, 2014 good call Jim.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowboy casey Posted October 19, 2014 Author Share Posted October 19, 2014 ahhhh, had it backwards... the fire hose does make sense... and they are so much brighter now... It was working better with the G3, but now I see it was not working perfect... Why it was working better I am not sure.... maybe the power to the G3??? just not sure.... thank you all again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbrescia Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 Not exactly sure where to best post this question but I need to know how to get all my 5050 colors to fire the right color. When I set blue or red or any specific color in a sequence, I obviously want that color on the strip. I'm using 1 meter LED strips that are encased in durable aluminum pieces - all waterproof. My runs are about 3 meters long (3 LED 1-meter sections) - each run connected to a separate CMB24D output so no power problems. Assuming the connections are correct, why would I get random colors here and there and how can I correct that? I use a G3-MP3 for the shows... Would LOR's hardware utility work to do this? If so, how exactly? Thanks! Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowboy casey Posted November 2, 2014 Author Share Posted November 2, 2014 from what I have figured out so far, is... LOR S3 has close to the correct color but not exact.... then, if you have a rgb power cable close to another power cable it can disrupt that color... the length and size of the wire make a huge difference, I ended up with SOOW 16/4 cable, it is not perfect but it is close to the correct color.... how it is working.... you set a color in S3 (24% blue, 51% red, 30%green)S3 send what the power level is in % to the cmb24dthe cmb24d send out that power level to the strips (24% blue, 51% red, 30%green)say 2 of your strips have no wires near them and are short runs, they receive (24% blue, 50% red, 29%green) your color is off but not much say 3 of your strips go across power cables or next to power cables or you have runs over 15 feet with small power cable to your strips... your strips are receiving something like this (20% blue, 46% red, 24%green) that percent that the cmb24d is sending is power percentage of 12 volts... so, 24% blue is 3.7 or so volts to the blue led's, 50% red is 6 volts red, 30% green is 4 volts.. when the power reaches the led, it has lost power, that is also why they are a different color at the end of 5 meter strips.. That is why your strips are different colors Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max-Paul Posted November 3, 2014 Share Posted November 3, 2014 Good job Cowboy explaining. Let me add a bit to help fill in the picture. When you program a color in S3. that color as Cowboy pointed out is a percentage or intensity level. So work with me here for a minute. Lets say the voltage applied to the D.C. card (CDM24) is 12 volts. If the program calls for 50% then 6 volts will be sent out to the leds. And if the percentage is 25% then 3 volts will be sent out to the LEDs for that channel. So by the books Yellow is 50% Red and Green. Note I said by the books. Might be more like 55% red and 50% Green. So Red will get about 7 volts while Green will be getting 6 volts. The above is purely speculative values.. Your mileage may vary as they say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbrescia Posted November 3, 2014 Share Posted November 3, 2014 Thanks all. I believe I will first try increasing available power by adding a second 400-watt power supply to the second bank (channels 5 to 8) of each of my CMB24D's. If no luck there, then LOR gets more of my money so I can add a couple more CMB24Ds here and there to shorten the runs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trickyd Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 Please keep in mind: The voltage is not reduced on this kind of controller, only the amount of time the leds are -- on -- is varied to get different intensities This is called PWM , pulse widht modulation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulse-width_modulation If the collor at the end of a strip is not the same as at the beginning, the current in the wires makes the voltage drop to much on the powerline of a string. And because red, green or blue leds in fact need different voltages on the leds itself, a voltage drop on the power line will have influence on the color displayed. For technicians this is clear, but not everyone is a technician, so I could make a lot of calculations to show the effect, but I will not do this at this moment and this post. to much theory just apply the right voltage to the strings the manufacturer says it needs , if the string is long and white is not the same on the whole string, apply power by so called powerinjection ( many posts in many forums ) and do not be a scrooge on the thickness of the powerwires LichtjesdickThe Netherlands Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbrescia Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 Dank u wel, and I believe that I found my own problem and that it is traced to the type of rigid LED strip I use. They come 1 meter long and I cut them to size to suit the physical configuration of my house eaves. When I cut them carefully along the designated cut lines, then re-solder the end connectors to the pads, I believe that no matte how good a job I do on the solder joint, they still short out on the metal strip that the 5050 is housed in. That cause a voltage drop and hence, a change in color. My solution: don't cut the strips! Just overlap them where needed. It's just as nice looking and actually gives it some originality... I have been buying my strips from here: http://www.724light.com/393inch-superbright-waterproof-5050-rgb-color-changing-led-rigid-strip-bar-1m-p-901.html Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Posted November 15, 2014 Share Posted November 15, 2014 And because red, green or blue leds in fact need different voltages on the leds itself, a voltage drop on the power line will have influence on the color displayed.Specifically, red LEDs run at about 2 volts, while blue and green run closer to 3.5 volts. This means that at the end of a long run, when the voltage drops, the current drops faster on the blue and green, making them dimmer than the red. The result is that white turns into pink, because the red is brighter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts