Joe T Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 I am building a 4th of July flag from a 4X8 sheet of plywood. My plan is to drill holes and stick the mini lights through. I'm using 70 M5 led mini light strings for each stripe and the blue background. Here's my problem - I want to have a single light to illuminate each star so I can control them separately (yes, 50 channels just for the stars in the flag). I thought I'd be able to just cut up a white light string and put vamp plugs on each one, but I read that the leds don't like that much current. I tried cutting up an incandescent mini light string with one light on a plug, but it immediately burnt out. Ideas? I'm stuck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmmienLightFan Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 STOP!Your lucky that the incandescent burnt out, and DIDN'T BURN YOUR HOUSE DOWN.Both Incans and LEDs are meant to run on low voltage. They are connected in series, to divide up the 120v supplied into voltages more manageable voltages for them. If you had tried it with LEDs, you would probably have had a fire. I highly recommend pixels for this. They are individually controllable and can change color if you need it. They would be perfect for this application!They come in sets of 50 normally, and are very cheap at the moment. Good luck with your US Flag! Be careful with electricity! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
75redman Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 I agree. PIXELS is the way to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmmienLightFan Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 If you don't want to setup a DMX Universe then I recommend Cosmic Color Pixels. If not, HolidayCoro have a good DMX dongle and if you have a powerful PC the RS485 can be used, but with weaker machines some of the channels glitch. HolidayCoro have some packages that will do this very well, and to save a lot of money you could buy a controller and lights from Ebay or Amazon. I use these for the outline of some trees:http://www.amazon.co.uk/WS2811-Pixels-digital-Addressable-String/dp/B00MYOCI9G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1426360741&sr=8-1&keywords=ws2811http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DMX-to-WS2811-WS2812-strip-converter-WS2811-WS2812-led-controller-/221299388963?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item338678b223 You can find both those exact same items at the same prices on the US versions of both those websites. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rainyoregonchristmas Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 What is your intent for the field of stars? Do you really need individual control of the stars? If you just want them to twinkle, shimmer or fade etc. You can do it with just one LOR channel. What you can do is use a string of white old school twinkle/chase lights in the star field. Traditionally the "Motion Lights" are used with incandescent lights, however I did see some LEDs with them this year at Walmart. I use them to make candy cane spinners using just one channel. When using a string light micro controller you can ONLY set the LOR channel to 100% on or completely off at 0%. No fades, shimmers, or twinkle etc. You set the micro controller knob when you set up the element then it will work whenever the channel is turned on. If you need one, I have a few, and would let one go for $5 plus shipping. I'll have to see if I have any white ones left. That or you'll have to do some soldering and splicing. The Micro Controllers I have will only work with Incan's, they won't work with LED's. So this is an option if you don't want to do pixels. -RainyOregonchriStmaS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zman Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 So why not retrofit C9 or C7's? You may have to countersink the holes to get them to screw properly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmmienLightFan Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 Multichase lights may achieve the effect you wish to accomplish. C9s or C7s would not. The OP is looking for some kind of lights that will flash differently. If you want to be able to time when it flashes and have more elaborate patterns, pixels!They will probably get you hooked onto buying more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mega Arch Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 (edited) +1 on Mark.Using retros is the way to go.Incans and LEDs both run off straight 120 volt.You can cut up (2) 25 foot cheap old style C-9 stringers.Buy (50) vampire males and (50) retros.Wha-laa.That's similar to what I did for the (40) can luminaries I run across the front of my display.https://youtu.be/Knv9Z7AQvLw Since they are spread out, I actually used a few rolls of SPT1 and retro sockets from Novelty Lights.http://www.noveltylights.com/C9-Sockets/?altpath=NI bought these retro LEDs C-9s from All Things Christmas and More 3 years ago and have used them with my LOR controllers and have had zero failures.http://www.allthingschristmasandmore.com/C9-DIM-RETRO-PW-C9-Dimmable-Faceted-Pure-White-LED-Retrofit-Lamp-with-5-internal-LEDs-and-an-E17-Base_p_2110.htmlLast year, I replaced the male vampires with fused males - just to be safe...http://www.actionlighting.com/spt-1-spt-2-fused-male-vampire-zip-cord-plugs-white-pack-12-plugs-100sptplugf/Good luck.- Daniel Edited March 15, 2015 by Mega Arch 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zman Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 (edited) You got it Daniel. RGB does not solve every problem............. Edited March 15, 2015 by zman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjsocane Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 Sorry not trying to HI-jack the thread but Mega Arch, are those single retro C-9 bulbs along the drive way? They looked like floods is why I ask.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmmienLightFan Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 Good idea. It will eat up AC channels though. The lights would be close enough to scroll text across! You could try that, and have nice messages in the stars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mega Arch Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 Sorry not trying to HI-jack the thread but Mega Arch, are those single retro C-9 bulbs along the drive way? They looked like floods is why I ask..Yes, they are the C-9s I linked. Thanks for asking. Good idea. It will eat up AC channels though. The lights would be close enough to scroll text across! You could try that, and have nice messages in the stars.Yes, but OP said was wanting to use 50 channels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Boyd Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 50 channels for the stars, 13 for the stripes and 1 for the blue. That's 4 controllers. Unless you have the controllers already, that's a big investment. LEDs or Incans will certainly do what you want, but that's a lot of work for 50 lights, 50 extension cords, plus the other 14. If you have the time to accomplish it, I say, go for it. I will say though, a pixel star field would be much easier along with the minis for the rest. 1 AC controller, one pixel controller and dongle, and a string of WS2811 pixels coupled with your minis would cut your build time to about a quarter. Sequencing would be quite simple too. I know, I know, pixels don't solve everything, (they do for me), just adding my thoughts. Good luck 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimswinder Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 (edited) You got it Daniel. RGB does not solve every problem............. Wait...WHAT??? They don't?? Crap!! Edited March 16, 2015 by jimswinder 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darryl Lambert Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 I'm with Ron on this one. The cost of the 3 controllers for the star field alone would push me into pixels.If Joe doesn't want to get into DMX/ E1.31 then go CCP. Since he would already have to have a LOR data line for his other channels ( stripes ). Keeps things pretty simple. IMO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmmienLightFan Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 3 controllers are $777!CCPs are $239A 50 pixel setup (RS485) including pixels, controller and dongle would be about $60. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rainyoregonchristmas Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 I have one more thought.... would a LOR controller even "See" a single C9 retro? Or would it need snubbers on each one? I know one of my older boards won't "See" strings of LEDs. Had to add incans to make it work. Which actually added a great effect in my application. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mega Arch Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 I have one more thought.... would a LOR controller even "See" a single C9 retro? Or would it need snubbers on each one? I know one of my older boards won't "See" strings of LEDs. Had to add incans to make it work. Which actually added a great effect in my application.Mine work great, but are 10 channels of 4 each. I haven't tried just 1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe T Posted March 17, 2015 Author Share Posted March 17, 2015 I REALLY appreciate these ideas! I already have the controllers from my Christmas light display and will be using 3 CCRs to make large 5-pointed stars to go with the flag. So there isn't any added expense for that. My intent is to control each of the 50 stars so that I can create geometric shapes in that blue field as the music plays. I thought about the C-9 and C-7 bulbs, but they are pretty large - my stars have a 3" radius. I guess I'm just not familiar enough with the pixels to know how to make them work the way I want. I found some bulbs on the Action Lighting web site 5W T7 candelabra base 110 volt bulbs that I think might work. It says they use C-7 sockets and they are only 7/8" across. I just wonder if the 5 watts will be bright enough for my purpose. Again, thanks for the ideas! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mega Arch Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Joe,Be sure to post a video here when you're done. Good luck. Daniel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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