TraceWilson Posted October 21, 2007 Share Posted October 21, 2007 Hi all,Not sure if this is the right place for this question, but here goes...Last year I purchsed tons of red, gree, blue, orange, white, and icicle LED's, and running with the 16 channel director board (Green, Firmware v4.01) everything went beautifully last year.This year I expanded with a load of purple LED's from the same manufacturer, but these simeply do not seem to want to fade. At the beginning of the fade sequences, they actually seem to brighten a bit, then just turn off. Same type thing happens on the fade up's...nothing happens at the beginning of the fade up, then BANG, they come on full intensity.Any thoughts would be appreciated. FYI, I've post this questin at the PC LED forum as well, but throught it may be better to cast a wide net :DTrace Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmoore60 Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 Tracy,One thing to try would be swap the plug 180 in the socket. Simply rotate the plug on the lights so the blades change which slot the go into.See if that helps.Chuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-klb- Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 If that does not help, (or they have a polarized socket) then they are probably using capacitors to limit the current through the LED string, instead of resistors. As you start the fade, the phase angle dimming creates harmonics. Since the harmonics are a higher frequency than the 60 hz the capacitor is sized for, current through the capacitor and LED string actually goes up!!! Once the voltage at the firing phase angle is less than that of the forward bias for the LED string, they will suddenly go off.Because of the harmonics, and the increasing current through the capacitor current limiter, continuing to try to fade this type of LED string will likely cause them to fail. - Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LightORamaDan Posted October 26, 2007 Share Posted October 26, 2007 What brand of LEDs were these? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TraceWilson Posted October 27, 2007 Author Share Posted October 27, 2007 Holiday Creations C6 70 ct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrNiceGuy Posted October 27, 2007 Share Posted October 27, 2007 Trace,I use the same LEDs and had the same problem last year. I added a resistive load and everything worked fine. You can use single C9s, candle lights, or something small thats incandescent. Also, you can make terminators:http://crazylightlady.us/TerminatorsHow-To.htmlRegards,Roy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayne K Posted October 27, 2007 Share Posted October 27, 2007 TraceWilsonwhere did you get your led lights from? I am looking to switch this year also.Wayne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TraceWilson Posted October 29, 2007 Author Share Posted October 29, 2007 Wayne K wrote: TraceWilsonwhere did you get your led lights from? I am looking to switch this year also.WayneI bought all mine from Laure at Reinders (http://www.reinders.com).2 yrs ago they were giving a 10% discound to PC members, but I don't think that holds true any more, but you can always ask. So far, they have been great to deal with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TraceWilson Posted October 29, 2007 Author Share Posted October 29, 2007 DrNiceGuy wrote: Trace,I use the same LEDs and had the same problem last year. I added a resistive load and everything worked fine. You can use single C9s, candle lights, or something small thats incandescent. Also, you can make terminators:http://crazylightlady.us/TerminatorsHow-To.htmlRegards,RoyThanks!!! I think I'll try a small nightlight and see how that goes.Trace Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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