Help removing controller

[EmmienLightFan]

About a week ago, some 24v LED lights on a fence, which are not part of a show, started flickering and changing mode on the 8 mode flasher controller. I unplugged them and left them for a week and decided to fix them. After bringing them inside, I held up the controller and found it was full of water.

 

I tried to open it, but it s 100% sealed apart from where the wires come in and get attached in the factory. The controller looks (and smells) burnt and ruined.

I would like to include them in a show next year attached to a CMB24 but I am unsure of how to remove the controller without breaking anything. Do I just cut all 5 wires and attach the positive of the power in to the positive of the lights and the negative to the two negatives of the lights ( They have two groups or series) or do I have to do something else?

The lights have been damaged a bit. one wire came out an LED and one LED is cut. Should be fixable though.

 

Pictures of controller

There is power in, then a positive shared between each group, and the negatives which are controlled by the controller. 
PS. I don't know which is positive/negative so I will have to keep swapping around.

 

Under the wire entry cover. Does anybody know which is neg/posThanks.

Edited December 30, 2014 by EmmienLightFan

[Max-Paul]

Sounds like you got your money worth out of it and just give it a toss. Not enough info and with out it in front of me the chances that I could help is nill.

[Ebuechner]

if there led they will only light up with voltage applied one direction. You won't harm it by reversing the power. so without seeing how its wired the best I could tell you is cut the wires get a power source and start testing. after all at this point what would you have to lose

[Scott Cockroft]

Are 2 of the wires power in and 3 of them power out?

[a31ford]

The controller itself is a generic "Martha Stewart" type controller,

 

You say the input voltage is 24V ? I would assume that there is a transformer at the OTHER end of the 2wire cord..

 

most of these have a common and then 2 wires for the 2 sets of sections, they work on some strange methodology.

 

 

Type "X"

some of the lights will be red with DC applied one way, while they will be green with DC reversed, apply AC or switching DC and they produce yellow or clear

 

OR.....

 

Type "Z"

Some are wired forward bias, others are wired reverse bias and the 2 sets are intertwined a,b,a,b,a,b etc. with some fancy switching they can get what looks like a chasing sequence going with only 3 wires....

 

THEN to top it all off,

 

Type "Y"

both of above combined.... and they use avalanche diodes in each lamp, this way there are 4 config for each light on only 2 wires. (hi/low voltage, as well as DC polarity and AC.

 

as long as you are using the correct voltage... cut the controller off and experiment.... just do NOT connect the 2 wires of the transformer to each other.....

 

Greg

Edited December 31, 2014 by a31ford

[EmmienLightFan]

Thanks for all your help. I cut it and worked out that the cable which goes to everylight must be the positive, and the others the negative. It worked and they came on first time. They flicker a bit though, but that might just be me.

 

The controller says 7.2 Watt max. Does this mean I can't put more than that to the lights, as I was going to use a 5a 24v (about 120w) power supply connected to a DC card, and that would be shared between about 20 sets of lights but not all will be on at once.

[EmmienLightFan]

 

I'm in the UK so I have never seen Martha Stewart lights, but I know they catch fire when dimmed.

Every single set of LEDs in this country have a transformer, and 90% a controller, and all with a controller have the same one or very similar, made by either Dongling or some other Chinese brand.

The only LEDs without a transformer is rope lights, although some new ones I got have a rubber cylinder in the lead with AC written on one side and DC on the other.

 

It's quite annoying but removing controllers is the only way to get it to work with LOR.

[Scott Cockroft]

You can use the larger power supply. The 7.2 watt limitation was about the power going thru the old controller.

 

The lights will draw the same amount of watts whether you use a 1 amp power supply or a 100 amp power supply. Just make sure the voltage is correct and it would be a good idea to use fuses between the lights and the power supply. 

[EmmienLightFan]

Thanks. Without you guys I would probably have been electrocuted by now.

 

Where do I get these fuses? I found a fuse inside the controller but it is soldered in.

[lightingnewb]

Also... just a bit of a heads up... it is known to be true (in several cases I've read on the forums) that Martha Stewart lights are not the best for synchronized shows... they tend to burn (like you mentioned) or short-circuit. But, if you want to use them, I wouldn't stop you. Just my two cents on the matter.

[EmmienLightFan]

These are not Martha Stewart. I am in the UK, where all lights have those controllers (Or very similar), also, they are all DC.

[Max-Paul]

Where to get fuses. I know that there are many hobbiest in the UK. Shoot that is where the raspberry Pi comes from. That is taking off over here in the USA. Here in the states we have a store called Radio Shack. I would think that the UK has a store much like the same. Some place to buy parts like resistors and fuse and more alike the same. Will need something like an in-line fuse holder too to put the fuse into, and short pig tails to splice into the leads.

[spomalley]

Maplin is the RadioShack equivalent in the UK and Ireland. They should have the parts you need

[Old Sarge]

In line fuse holder... any auto parts store should carry them or be able to order them for you.