CMD16D

[Ponddude]

Alright, those stringers just use standard 5mm LED's. They draw about .04 watts per bulb. So a string of 20 would draw about .80 watts. If you are using 20 strings per controller, they controller would draw 16 watts. Now, to figure out the amps that the controller draws you need the voltage (4.5) and the watts (16). Now divide the watts by the voltage being drawn.

16/4.5 = 3.5555 amps.

That is at max load. So to play it safe, you need a 4.5 volt, 4 amp power supply. That isn't going to be the easiest to find. Remember, the 4.5 volts is the important thing. You can get a power supply that puts out a lot more amps, incase you want to add more lights, but the voltage needs to stay the same.

[Steven]

thebaronn wrote:

I bought and i think(hope hope) I will only need to use 2 or 3 channels on a costume that I will be wearing.

If you get that working, I'd like to see it! Is this for Christmas or Halloween? Let me know when you're going to be wearing it and I'll drive down.

Here's what I recommend: The CMB-16D, and the ELL it powers, need 12V, so I'd go with a 12volt battery pack. You could use a gel cell, but that would be heavy, so instead I would use 8 'D' or 'C' cells. You could use NiMH cells, which are rechargeable and would last longer, but you would need 10 cells to get 12V. You may be able to get away with 10 'AA' cells, but they wouldn't last as long.

Next, get some LED 5mm, M5, or C6 120v strings, where a string is all one color. Now you need to get the string to work on 12v. This is not that hard. Let's assume this is a string of orange LEDs. Orange (and red and yellow) LEDs take 2.2 volts, so you could light 5 of them in series. 5 times 2.2 is 11 volts, meaning there is 1 volt for the resistor. They should draw about 20mA, so this means the resistor should be 1 volt divided by 20mA = 50Ω.

So buy a string of orange LEDs, and cut out 5 of them. Get a 51Ω resistor (that's the closest standard value to 50Ω) and connect it in series. Figure out which end is positive and which is negative by connecting them to your 12v battery pack. You won't hurt the LEDs by connecting 12v backwards. Once you find the polarity, connect this mini-string to a channel on the CMB-16D. You can put several in parallel - each will draw only 20mA so your only limitation is your battery life.

If you're using white or blue LEDs then the voltage drop is about 3.6 volts. This means you will have only 3 in series. The voltage across the resistor is 1.2 volts, and again they should draw 20mA, which gives you 60Ω.

Let me know if you'd like some help with this and I'll see what I can do.

[thebaronn]

omg!!
what have I gotten myself into.
this is for Halloween, but a red Santa suit looks like a possibility if this actually works.

I started splicing LED strands to tether like that initially.
but gave up. ( I wanted it to work on 12V)

So where to I get 4.5v that will run that many amps??
Sounds like I'm SOL!

One more thing. I know that if u hook up 10AA batteries pos to neg you will end up with 15v of power??
what if you take the same 10aa batteries but put all the pos together and all the neg. Would that still be 15v?? Or only 1.5v but a lot of amps??

Well, I'm pushing forward, ordering the wireless kit later today.

Thank you all for your continued help.
eric

[Dennis Cherry]

Look at my post under:

http://lightorama.mywowbb.com/forum25/17034.html

Dennis

This might help

[thebaronn]

So am i ok if i purchase several 4.5V batteries and connect them in parallel???

Eric

[thebaronn]

Or better yet!!!!

Each LED strand comes with a 4.5V battery pack, which is essentially one 4.5V battery

I have to cut them off to connect the lights to the board, so cant I just connect every 4.5V battery configuration that I cut off together in parallel, that should do the trick??

Let me know if im wrong on that please!

Thank you

Eric

[-klb-]

Correct. You may not need all of them, but it will be a trade off between total run time, and weight/bulk of packs in parallel.

You might also want to take three of your battery packs in series, with a barrel connector, to power the DC card itself... It will give you 13.5V, which should be enough for the logic, though if they are AA holders, you might want to get new holders for D cells or a small sealed 12V lead acid battery to power the DC card, and wireless (if you are going without a leash)

- Kevin

[thebaronn]

Things are looking up!!!

Thank you all!!!

Eric

[rmturner54]

Not to get too far off the subject since we are talking 4.5v lights.
I use the MR16's and here is the power supply(12V) I use. My DC board is strickly for flood lights

http://www.web-tronics.com/1512siouposu1.html