Strobes causing flickering in other channels?

[Cdshakes]

Have several strobes from christmaslightshow.com in my megatree.  At the end of one of my sequences, i have the strobes on for maybe 3-5 seconds, and the rest of the megatree is fading out.  This causes a few of the channels to flicker when they fade.  I thought maybe there was interference, so i ran the strobe plug out of the tree to an LOR unit that is not in the tree, nor controlling any channels in it-- when i did this, now the lights on the house/window are flickering (they're fading out at the end too).  Can strobes not be on when the other channels are fading?  

 

I checked my sequence editor, and the strobes have no fade-- they're on 100% during that portion of the sequence.

If i unplug the strobes altogether, the fade is perfect.

 

Colin

[BigWally11]

The units utilize a common ground wiring. The strobes build up a charge and release it to fire the bulb. This causes interference on the incoming power lines. Add a relay controlled by the lor channel and power the strobes throughout the 2nd dary side of the relay to a separate power feed. To help with the surge add a 60watt light bulb in parallel with the strobes and the bulb will filter the noise from the strobes.

[-klb-]

The strobes have capacitors in their power supplies, and draw their power out of phase with voltage. This may mess up controllers on the same circuit as the strobes, as the controllers may get confused about where zero crossing really is.

[plasmadrive]

I run the same strobes without issue from two different controllers.  Actually this year it is three different controllers because I added more strobes. 

 

I run about 20 or so from each of the first two channels and 12 from the third channel.  Those twelve are in my mega tree. 

 

Maybe there is something else causing your problem and the strobe are exacerbating them.

[Cdshakes]

Plasma:  try a fade-- a longish fade-- like maybe 3 seconds or longer on another channel while the strobes are firing.  That's when i'm experiencing the problem.  Another time i fire the strobes, it's fine, cause there's no channels fading.

 

 

I run the same strobes without issue from two different controllers.  Actually this year it is three different controllers because I added more strobes. 

 

I run about 20 or so from each of the first two channels and 12 from the third channel.  Those twelve are in my mega tree. 

 

Maybe there is something else causing your problem and the strobe are exacerbating them.

[plasmadrive]

Ok.. will try in the morning before the sun comes up

[Cdshakes]

The units utilize a common ground wiring. The strobes build up a charge and release it to fire the bulb. This causes interference on the incoming power lines. Add a relay controlled by the lor channel and power the strobes throughout the 2nd dary side of the relay to a separate power feed. To help with the surge add a 60watt light bulb in parallel with the strobes and the bulb will filter the noise from the strobes.

 

I tried the easy option and just plugged a 60 w incandescent bulb in parallel with the strobes....worked like a charm.  So i put a spotlight holder around the back of the house with just a regular bulb... comes on with the strobes-- no one sees it since it's around back.  Thanks for the suggestion!!

[plasmadrive]

I tried.. no issues.. If the bulb worked for you.. very cool!

[Cdshakes]

thanks for givin it a try plasma-- don't know why i have these issues, but at least i have a workaround.