URGENT: Need large LED snowflakes ~36"

[jtomason]

My 6 large snowflakes unfortunately did not survive the winter, the the replacements I got from Amazon - while attractive - have a 2-second power-on delay and are being returned.  

 

Does anyone have a good source for large, attractive, preferable metal frame snowflakes?   Retail or mail order is fine.  

 

Thanks!

 

Joe

 

[Little_b]

Sorry I don't have a source for you, but short experience.  I have some 48" snowflakes that had a similar delay you're describing.  When I sequenced them I would have them come on a bit earlier and would light up pretty close to when I really wanted them on. The problem I had was when I had quick on and off sections the delay would change.  So to make it easier I just re-wired them. I pulled out the lights they came with and put Pixel Nodes in them instead.  Now I can change to any color and have many new effects that are a lot more fun.

[radioguy1007]

Did these come with little plug-in power supplies to run them?  I bought some LED wreaths last season that had 29 volt supplies.  I was able to hack them and use a CMB24D with a special adjustable switcher supply to power them with 29 volts.  The CMB24D can switch loads up to 30 VDC.  And each side can switch a different DC voltage so I have one with both 29 volt and 12 volt outputs.  One caution though - using the higher voltage (29 vs 12) requires a heat sink on the voltage regulator for the board as it is linear and generates heat based on voltage drop. 

[jtomason]

Wall warts.  According to the vendor, they are for "safety".   I have no idea why LED's would require this.  

 

 I wound up getting lucky and found some replacements at Lowe's that I have to drive and go pick up tomorrow.   

[radioguy1007]

The wall warts are most likely small switchers.  LED's operate on low voltage.  They take time to get going, like you noticed.  They should have an output spec on the label indicating current and DC voltage.

[jtomason]

17 minutes ago, radioguy1007 said:

The wall warts are most likely small switchers.  LED's operate on low voltage.  They take time to get going, like you noticed.  They should have an output spec on the label indicating current and DC voltage.

I've got other wall-wart powered LED lights that come on instantly and are used in the show.    

The output on these wall warts is 12vdc, 3A.   It does indeed appear that it's the wall wart - I disconnected the wart from the light, plugged it in, then connected the light to it - and comes on instantly.    So maybe I will keep them and wire up another power supply.  

 

Edited December 5, 2019 by jtomason

[TheDucks]

29V just probably makes up for the small wire resistance.  24V is a very standard voltage.

I was thinking I could just series a 12V wall wort with the PORT + output if I needed to run a single string from a 12V CMB24.

[radioguy1007]

18 hours ago, TheDucks said:

29V just probably makes up for the small wire resistance.  24V is a very standard voltage.

I was thinking I could just series a 12V wall wort with the PORT + output if I needed to run a single string from a 12V CMB24.

I thought this was strange too, but at 24 volts they do not light up.  Even at 28 volts some of the LED strings were barely on.  These lights needed the 29 volts.  Switcher says output 29 VDC 0.5 Amps.  Never saw anything like this.

[radioguy1007]

19 hours ago, jtomason said:

The output on these wall warts is 12vdc, 3A.   It does indeed appear that it's the wall wart - I disconnected the wart from the light, plugged it in, then connected the light to it - and comes on instantly.    So maybe I will keep them and wire up another power supply.  

 

Would you post the link to these from Amazon?  I have 12 spare 12 volt DC outputs from my CMB24D and if you say they look good, I might want to add some to my display for next season.

[jtomason]

6 hours ago, radioguy1007 said:

Would you post the link to these from Amazon?  I have 12 spare 12 volt DC outputs from my CMB24D and if you say they look good, I might want to add some to my display for next season.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07ZT5955B/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It never occurred to me to connect these to my CMB24D!   How many amps can each output supply?   These are using about 2A or so, although I am a bit suspect of the meter I used to measure it, but that would seem accurate enough with a 3A wall wart. 

 

 

[radioguy1007]

1 hour ago, jtomason said:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07ZT5955B/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It never occurred to me to connect these to my CMB24D!   How many amps can each output supply?   These are using about 2A or so, although I am a bit suspect of the meter I used to measure it, but that would seem accurate enough with a 3A wall wart. 

 

 

Thanks.  The problem with Amazon on stuff like this is they never give the details of the LED power.  I really appreciate knowing they are 12 volts.  I bought a Halloween LED figure and it was 3.3 volts!  So it had to go back.  CMB24D outputs are each rated at 4 amps, so 2 amps per is not going to be any issue.  Just size your power supply with enough to supply all on at 2 amps each, plus whatever else you already have connected.

[jtomason]

4 hours ago, radioguy1007 said:

Thanks.  The problem with Amazon on stuff like this is they never give the details of the LED power.  I really appreciate knowing they are 12 volts.  I bought a Halloween LED figure and it was 3.3 volts!  So it had to go back.  CMB24D outputs are each rated at 4 amps, so 2 amps per is not going to be any issue.  Just size your power supply with enough to supply all on at 2 amps each, plus whatever else you already have connected.

I have a 16.8a power supply on it now.   I'm not sure how many amps I am using now, but it can't be much.    I'll check tomorrow and wire one in to see how it works.   

 

[jtomason]

Epilogue:  After much ado, I got 6 from Lowe's, and man, are they BRIGHT.   I am going to try to wire the others up tomorrow (I know I said that a few days ago), but I am a bit worried about the cable run I'll have.   Hopefully they work well. 

[jtomason]

On 12/6/2019 at 7:05 PM, radioguy1007 said:

Thanks.  The problem with Amazon on stuff like this is they never give the details of the LED power.  I really appreciate knowing they are 12 volts.  I bought a Halloween LED figure and it was 3.3 volts!  So it had to go back.  CMB24D outputs are each rated at 4 amps, so 2 amps per is not going to be any issue.  Just size your power supply with enough to supply all on at 2 amps each, plus whatever else you already have connected.

OK, connected one to an ampmeter and confirmed that they are exactly 2A per.   Tomorrow I will wire them into the CMB24D and see how that goes.   

[Thebug]

A solution that i found easyer 

I took  the boscoyo snowflakes and then added 70bulb c6 colored strands to them and mounted them on pvc pipe. I think i bought 24 in ones. These are drilled for pixles but the c6 bulbs pushed right through. 

https://www.boscoyostudio.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=2_59