David Rise Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 Ok,Most of us have had a channel stick. My controllers have worked flawlessly until yesterday.Here's a problem that I haven't seen/heard before.Controller 1, channel 16, comes on at about 50% as soon as I apply power. The kicker is that out of 140 lights, some of the lights stay dark.However, when it's supposed to come on during the sequence, the entire string lights up.If I plug the string directly into an outlet, the entire string lights up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
james campbell Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 is this a gen 3 board? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Rise Posted December 30, 2011 Author Share Posted December 30, 2011 Not a gen 3 board. It was a PC partially assembled. One of the 2 that I bought during the spring sale last year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 same behavior when controlled by the HU?what all is on that channel? all LED? all incan? mixture? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max-Paul Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 If LED, I have heard that if you reverse the plug that you might turn some off and some on depending on current state. As for half lit. The Triac is two half wave switches. Sounds like half of the solid state switch is shorted on. In a nut shell, you have a bad Triac and it will need to be replaced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Rise Posted December 31, 2011 Author Share Posted December 31, 2011 These are 2 strings of 70 count pro series LEDs.As soon as I apply power to the controller the channel comes on about 50%. The HU, does the same thing. If I turn that channel on, all the lights come on full.Well, at least it lasted through the season. I'll call LOR next week and see about getting it repaired or replaced.Thanks for the help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wbottomley Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 I have a channel doing the exact thing except 30-40% with the same amount of LED's on it. I put a night light on it and all is well. I'll try the plug reversal tonight.It has worked flawless all year until this past week. One night, we had lots of rain and that's when the problem began.I wonder if LED's could be an early indicator of Triac failure? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Rise Posted December 31, 2011 Author Share Posted December 31, 2011 did the plug reverse, didn't work.LOR had me do a reset on the board. No luck.Had a little rain, but the show went on without any issues.I'm going to end up sending it back to be repaired or replaced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Hall Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 Have you tried a Glade plug-in yet? That's what I had tried on my problem channel and it worked until a very generous person hooked me up with some Snubbers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Rise Posted January 1, 2012 Author Share Posted January 1, 2012 I'm not going to plug extra stuff in in order to make the board work like it's supposed to.I might have tried that if this had happened when the season started, but certainly not now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wbottomley Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 You're right on the money David. Same here. A work-around is just that. A work-around. The problem has not been fixed.I couldn't agree more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max-Paul Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 Ok, not trying to fix the problem with this post. But part of your comment I was trying to reply to earlier might not have made sense. Ok, with your Triac shorted allowing just half of the wave to continue to conduct might be the reason that half of your string to light up. Depending on how the string was wired. Half of the string conducts during the positive half wave and the other half conducts during the negative half wave. I suspect that is why half of your string is lit even though the channel is being commanded to be off. Sorry as you can see this is much more windy explanation of what I was saying above about reversing the plug.But it looks like we are all in agreement that your Triac needs to be replaced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Hall Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 David Rise wrote: I'm not going to plug extra stuff in in order to make the board work like it's supposed to.I might have tried that if this had happened when the season started, but certainly not now.Whatever floats your boat. I wasn't suggesting it to be your be all end all solution but as something else to trouble shoot the problem. All 3 of my controllers were purchased in 2010. 2 during the 'secret sale' and the 3rd from the summer sale. I'm having trouble with my 3rd controller and am unsure which sale it was purchased from. I'm using all LEDs on that controller and to be honest they are not high quality , they are either from Walmart, Lowes, HD or Big Lots. During troubleshooting, I was able to plug all incans. in without issues. The trouble started after Christmas last year when it rained all the time. After the rain stopped and I turned the lights back on after 2 days rest, that's when it started. The controller never got wet in that time because it's in a dry place, however since I followed the advice of many on here to never cover the female end of the plug up with electrical tape. Since I didn't do that, I did go out and check that plug and saw the female end was up despite making sure it was down during set-up. I turned it over and saw a little water pour out of the end of it. Like I said 2 days later, I had the issue.There was only 3 more days left to light up so I just let it slide and figured I would let everything dry out over the year. Still had the issue this year and to be honest, I never contacted LOR because I'm sure it's out of warranty. As for sending it back for repair, that is out of the question unless LOR does it for free as well. As for soldering, I can no longer do that if they send me the triacs (Free?) so I'll have to find someone else to do it.As a side note, a member PM'd and told me to try a higher quality LED string from a reputable vendor from here instead of what I'm using. My budget for this year includes 1 new controller, and enough left over for Red, Green, & Blue LED strings in White Wire for 4 mini trees from one of these vendors. Then I'll see if the box store LEDs are the issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wbottomley Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 Hey Bob... my LED's are Holiday Creations - one of the best as far as I know. And... they are full wave too. It's the only channel out of 15 controllers that's doing this. Some are 16D's and 16PC's. For now, I used a black painted night light to make them act right.I flagged that channel to get a closer look at it after the season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Rise Posted January 1, 2012 Author Share Posted January 1, 2012 Sorry Bob, I didn't mean that to sound as harsh as it did.Like I said, if it had happened at the beginning, then I would have tried that just to get through the season.I'm using all pro series M5s on the ground. I only used the retail lights on the roof. My show worked flawlessly even through the 4 day rain that we got and that was about mid way through. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 That's why I do cap off my unused channel cords on my controllers with those plastic child-proof outlet covers that plug into the female outlets. I use them on my light strands too. Been using them for 2 years now and I have yet to see any moisture or water seep into any of my controller cords, extension cords or light strands.But I did have one triac fail in Controller #3 channel 5 during Halloween 2011. Keeps that channel on sometimes as low as 40% but sometimes as high as 75%, can fade it up/down and shimmer it, but twinkling doesn't work too well. And it won't go fully off, wierd thing is sometimes it will go completely off, but usually won't stay off for more and a second or two, when it opts to function somewhat correctly.I think after the Christmas decor and controllers come down, I may just see if I can find a Triac locally and replace it myself.If not, I may contact LOR support and see what they'll charge just to send me one, maybe a few in case of other failures and see if I can just replace it myself, and hope I don't mess anything else up!Especially since soldering is almost, but not quite just yet, impossible for me to do now with my vision issues working with small components like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Rise Posted January 1, 2012 Author Share Posted January 1, 2012 If you wouldn't mind. Let me know if you find somewhere locally to get a triac. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 David Rise wrote: If you wouldn't mind. Let me know if you find somewhere locally to get a triac.As soon as I get everything down, hopefully Monday, and I get the controllers unmounted and see what number is on the triac (if I can see the numbers without having to take the controller apart), will be looking it up to see what I can find for a replacement and will let you know if there is anything local.David I did find this company in West Florida that sells triacs (I know it's not exactly local local, but on our West Coast of Florida): I know they are on the opposite coast from you, but should be able to get your items within a day or two.West Florida Components5903 Trouble Creek RoadNew Port Richey Florida 34652 727-359-0590 / 866-342-2003866-342-2003http://www.westfloridacomponents.com/No mimum order required either. Now I just have to see which one I need and then put in my order for some for spares too. That is providing they sell the one I need used in the LOR controller (CTB16PC G2 board). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Hall Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 David Rise wrote: Sorry Bob, I didn't mean that to sound as harsh as it did.Like I said, if it had happened at the beginning, then I would have tried that just to get through the season.I'm using all pro series M5s on the ground. I only used the retail lights on the roof. My show worked flawlessly even through the 4 day rain that we got and that was about mid way through.Wbottomley and David, Thanks for info regarding the better quality strings. That deflates any hope of mine that it isn't a bad triac.David, thanks for the apology. I should apologize for the tone of my reply as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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