RGB Strips

[WilliamS]

wbottomley wrote:

johnson8ryley wrote:

Alright well, after reading 5 pages of RGB talk, I'm learning lots but I'm still fuzzy about some stuff.

1) What is this talk I hear about of anode + and - and common anode?

2) If I were to find a smart strip, what would I connect it to, to make it work with LOR. I understand that if you want a dumb strip, you would buy http://store.lightorama.com/cmdedcca2.html and hook them up but are there any dumb strips that use under 9 channels? I may in the future replace my roof lights with dumb strips but don't want to have to buy 3 DC Boards

3) Could someone put together a cost effective smart strip set for me? I think everyone here is just looking for a cheap alternative to the CCR's. Could someone find me a smart strip with power supply and converter? I'm very new to this but am open minded about RGB's.

4) Also, if i come across a smart strip, would it have the same capabilities of a CCR? I know someone else posted above asking the same thing but I'm looking at replacing my arches with some RGB's and just need something that will chase and maybe some color effects.

THANKS

-sorry for the long post;)

Here (http://auschristmaslighting.com/forums/index.php) you can learn more about pixels. I'm not retyping everything covered in the Aussie Forums. Sorry.

They have a whole section on the RGB,s and the way to make them work. William sent me there a week ago and man its helpful in this conversation.

[edvas69]

wbottomley wrote:

johnson8ryley wrote:

Alright well, after reading 5 pages of RGB talk, I'm learning lots but I'm still fuzzy about some stuff.

1) What is this talk I hear about of anode + and - and common anode?

2) If I were to find a smart strip, what would I connect it to, to make it work with LOR. I understand that if you want a dumb strip, you would buy http://store.lightorama.com/cmdedcca2.html and hook them up but are there any dumb strips that use under 9 channels? I may in the future replace my roof lights with dumb strips but don't want to have to buy 3 DC Boards

3) Could someone put together a cost effective smart strip set for me? I think everyone here is just looking for a cheap alternative to the CCR's. Could someone find me a smart strip with power supply and converter? I'm very new to this but am open minded about RGB's.

4) Also, if i come across a smart strip, would it have the same capabilities of a CCR? I know someone else posted above asking the same thing but I'm looking at replacing my arches with some RGB's and just need something that will chase and maybe some color effects.

THANKS

-sorry for the long post;)

Here (http://auschristmaslighting.com/forums/index.php) you can learn more about pixels. I'm not retyping everything covered in the Aussie Forums. Sorry.

Yes this is one of the best resources for understanding RGB lighting

The address above doesnt work with the bracket in it so here it is again

Best to start at the learning centre http://auschristmaslighting.com/forums/index.php/board,51.0.html

[Guest wbottomley]

I fixed that Fast Eddy. Thanks for pointing that out.

[MtDew4me]

I receive the SatisLED not-so "Intelligent Strip" and was able to play with it a bit over the weekend. The strip is pretty cool and does everything I wanted it to BUT..............

SatisLED says the “Intelligent Strip” is common anode (+). However, I am not coming up with that in my tests. Here’s what I am finding.

The 10-pin connector has a layout like this:
Common terminal,Green 3
Green 2, Green 1
Red 3, Red 2
Red 1, Blue 3
Blue 2, Blue 1

If I apply +12V at the common terminal and negative to the color terminals(like you do with the RF), nothing lights. However, when I apply +12V at any of the color pins and negative to the “common terminal”, I can light up the various colors and sections of the strip. So, the pin assignment looks like this:

Negative (-) Green 3 (+)
Green 2 (+) Green 1 (+)
Red 3 (+) Red 2 (+)
Red 1 (+) Blue 3 (+)
Blue 2 (+) Blue 1 (+)

This is common cathode (-), right? LOR is switched using the negative terminal with means it requires common anode(+), making the SatisLED Intelligent strip useless with LOR. Before blasting SatisLED a nasty message, I want to make sure I am right on this.
Can anyone confirm?

[bretk]

so the coomon is - then by definition this is common cathode -

crap, i was looking forward to getting some of these:(

[Steven]

MtDew4me wrote:

However, when I apply +12V at any of the color pins and negative to the “common terminal”, I can light up the various colors and sections of the strip.

You're right. This strip is common cathode (-), and it won't work if connected directly to a DC controller.

However, you could build a small circuit with 9 PNP switching transistors (probably about $1 each) and 9 resistors. The exact specifications for the transistors would depend on how much current each channel draws.

[bretk]

and the downside with this semi intellegent strip, is you would need to build or buy 3 per strip!

[Troy Mann]

So if you bought LT-3637 Common Anode to Common Cathode you could get it to work with the LOR DC board

[MtDew4me]

The convert is cool. Thanks for that idea.

However by the time you go through all these extra steps and expense to make this common cathode semi intelligent strips work with LOR, would I be better off just going to DMX and using digital strips.

BTW, Searching AliExpress for "RGB Chase" yields lots of results of similar type strips. However, I couldn't find documentation on any of them as to whether they were common anode or common cathode.

I'm exchanging emails with Ray Wu to see if he can get a common anode version. If that doesn't work, I guess I need to either change my design or plan on learning more about DMX.....LOL

[MtDew4me]

For what it's worth, I just received the following email from SatisLED: "Sorry for the mistake. It [the semi-intelligent strip] is common cathode. We just consulted factory about that and confirm it is common cathode."

At least they now acknowlege it.

[Troy Mann]

Anyone try rewiring the program box that comes with the RGB strips? Could you connect that through LOR channels?

[MtDew4me]

Troy: I wouldn't have any idea where to start in rewiring the control box. It's small and on a PCB. It doesn't look like much but without a design drawing I'm afraid it's been too long since I was in EE school to figure it out. There are no markings on the board or the enclosure that look useful in finding anything on the Internet either. Sorry!