Powering the Rainbow flood

[rstately]

Hey Randy,
Thanks!
I think you just saved me time, and money.
The two things that we all need more of...

[rmturner54]

Greg designed the Rainbow Floods to operate on 12VDC. The resistors that are sent with each kit, are sized based on supply voltage, number of LED's in each ckt(hence forth the total voltage drop in each ckt), and the 20 ma operating current.

You can use a different supply voltage if you use ohms law and re-calculate for the proper resistor sizes.

[Steven]

rmturner54 wrote:

You can use a different supply voltage if you use ohms law and re-calculate for the proper resistor sizes.

For example, the RFs, as shipped, use 3 LEDs in series with each resistor. Blue and green are about 3.7 volt. Thus, for 12 volts, the formula is:

( 12V - (3.7V + 3.7V + 3.7V) ) / 20mA = 45Ω

Thus, 47Ω resistors are shipped with the RF. The power dissipated by these resistors is calculated by the formula I² * R = .02W, so 1/8 W resistors are included.

If, on the other hand, you want the to use the RF with 24 volts, the formula would be

( 24V - (3.7V + 3.7V + 3.7V) ) / 20mA = 645Ω

Thus, you would use 680Ω. This would dissipate .27W, so you would have to use ½W resistors, which wouldn't fit between the LEDs.

[Greg Young]

Thanks for that great tip Randy!

Greg

[TJ Hvasta]

Randy, thanks for the link, I just pulled the trigger on 8 of these (guess I'm buying 4 more RF kits sometime between now and Halloween at least.. I'll have to find the proper mix for orange and purple As for the term strip on the dc board, I went with the QC version.. figured it'd ship quickly, but alas.. ''tis naught to be.. I can solder spade lugs on the pins.

Steve, Greg, how about putting headers in place of the resistors on the RF board, sockets on a daughter (or breadboard) and mounting the 1/2w resistors on that? just a thot..

[gizmomkr]

I finished my power supply to feed my Rainbow Floods - i have (3) 1A 12v transformers feeding into 3 rectifiers, all ending with an Rj-45 jack.

I will make another cord that goes from 1 male RJ45 to 3 or 4 female, and these will run to the Floods.

It would cost about 35.00, but I allready had some of it lying around, so I spent aobut 20.00

I will probably add some resistors to drop the output by about 2 volts.


Attached files

[LightORamaDan]

TJ Hvasta wrote:

[snip] not sure why the QC will take so long if its just the terminals changing...anyway.. [snip]

We received them (late) from the manufacture last week and started shipping on Friday.

As far as take so long... This has been a bad year for parts. We have received lead times as long as 72 weeks on some parts that we use. This requires that we switch to another manufacture and depending on the part re-certify before we go to production. With the CTB16D-QC we expected them in early August but placed the date at he end of Auguest as a buffer. Because of parts leadtimes on the mosfets the delivery was pushed back to early September.

Dan

Note: We only saw on place with a leadtime of 72 weeks but 20 weeks is becoming common!

[Randy]

http://www.monoprice.com/products/search.asp?keyword=1152

For anyone considering the 65 cent monoprice RJ45-DB9 adapter above for powering up the Rainbow floods, here is a wiring list that will be helpful...

RJ45 Connector RJ45 cable wire
Red Blue
Orange Orange
Blue Orange/White
Black Green/White
White Brown
Brown Brown/White

Unused Wires
Yellow Green
Green Blue White

[Max-Paul]

Mountainwxman wrote:

gizmomkr wrote:

I just put my first one together, and was testing with some 12v plug-in type transformers. That worked great, but when I tried to dim them, I realized ALL the 12v plugs I have have a regulator.

Im thinking I can just pick up some 12v transformers without rectifier's - I didnt see any reson the board wouldnt run off AC v.s. DC. Anyone else tried that ?

Hey... I say try it.

But, don't come crying to momma that you got hurt and everything went up in smoke.

You have to use a DC card with a power supply or an IDMX and the Rainbow controller.

Pretty easy in my book as I'm using two DC cards and one power supply.

Will, Thank you for saying what was next thing I was going to tell gizmo. See gizmo, I ony have to be told that touching a flyback transformer is going to hurt real bad. And I no longer have a desire to touch it. Then there are those who do not believe and have to be knocked onto their ass to learn as they say the hard way. I am not saying dont think outside of the box. But there are times the prudence has its advantages. And if someone here says that I have tried that and I burnt up this or that. Well, this is where a person with some prudence will say "I think I wont do that and prove that person is right".

[ryebred]

Randy wrote:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/search.asp?keyword=1152

For anyone considering the 65 cent monoprice RJ45-DB9 adapter above for powering up the Rainbow floods, here is a wiring list that will be helpful...

RJ45 Connector RJ45 cable wire
Red Blue
Orange Orange
Blue Orange/White
Black Green/White
White Brown
Brown Brown/White

Unused Wires
Yellow Green
Green Blue White

I wonder if these will work with the QC boards. If I cut off the end connectors, do you think there would be enough wire left to crimp on quick connects and connect to the DC board?

[TJ Hvasta]

While having the color code is good, what's really needed is which color pair is which pin on the cable and inside the socket for those soldering the cable right to the board.

[Randy]

To solder the cable directly to the board, here's the wiring...

Pin 1 - Orange/White
Pin 2 - Orange
Pin 3 - Green/White
Pin 4 - Blue
Pin 7 - Brown/White
Pin 8 - Brown

[Surfing4Dough]

ryebred wrote:

Randy wrote:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/search.asp?keyword=1152

For anyone considering the 65 cent monoprice RJ45-DB9 adapter above for powering up the Rainbow floods, here is a wiring list that will be helpful...

RJ45 Connector RJ45 cable wire
Red Blue
Orange Orange
Blue Orange/White
Black Green/White
White Brown
Brown Brown/White

Unused Wires
Yellow Green
Green Blue White

I wonder if these will work with the QC boards. If I cut off the end connectors, do you think there would be enough wire left to crimp on quick connects and connect to the DC board?

I order some with the intention of doing to. I actually wondered if the quick connects could be crimped onto the pins shown here:


If you see Randy's post above you can see that this is actually how they ship.

[TJ Hvasta]

Randy wrote:

To solder the cable directly to the board, here's the wiring...

Pin 1 - Orange/White
Pin 2 - Orange
Pin 3 - Green/White
Pin 4 - Blue
Pin 7 - Brown/White
Pin 8 - Brown

Randy, thanks, I can see which color will go to which pin at each end, making it easier to wire it to the dc and RF boards..I don't have to guess or test which wire color lights which LED..plus I can use the wire color which closest matchs the LED color and pick the proper pin..

[ryebred]

Surfing4Dough wrote

I actually wondered if the quick connects could be crimped onto the pins shown here:

I ordered some and they arrived today along with my cat5 cables. I was able to insert the pin into the connectors and crimp them in place. I hooked them up to the board and they work great. Thanks for the tip on these connectors. Now if I decide to move my lights or controller around, all I need is to buy a different length cat5 cable and don't have to worry about rewiring things.



Attached files

[Joe Noe]

Hey, thanks for this tip...I ordered some too!

[TJ Hvasta]

I did the exact same thing with my connectors.. crimped easily, I wanted to zip the connectors together too, so they wouldn't flex/pull out wires, or find a way to hot-glue them to something solid again so they wouldn't flex with any Cat5 movement.

[Surfing4Dough]

TJ Hvasta wrote:

I did the exact same thing with my connectors.. crimped easily, I wanted to zip the connectors together too, so they wouldn't flex/pull out wires, or find a way to hot-glue them to something solid again so they wouldn't flex with any Cat5 movement.

I too used these connectors, and I have all mine in an enclosure laid out much like this photo, and I am thinking I am going to made a "bridge/arch" over top of the DC card (represented by the red in the pic below) to attach the connectors too. Haven't decided if just going to make something out of wood, or could bend some metal to make something too.



Attached files

[James Elliott]

Where did you get the enclosure from and at what cost? Looks like an ideal way to include the PS with the LOR card.

[Guest guest]

Assuming that is a Keptel CG series, looks like a CG-1000 from

http://www.yourbroadbandstore.com/

I just ordered 4 of their CG-1500s for my 3 AC controllers, plan to use the 4th for the DC controller, will have enough room for a second DC card if ever needed.

Prices are the best I've found, and had them in less than a week.