RGB Floodlight Hack

[jfuller8400]

I created a new video of how I've been rewiring RGB floodlights for use in my show and thought I would share it here as I haven't seen an updated one in a while.  It is a little long if you watch the whole thing, but I tried to be as informative as possible.  Hopefully it will be helpful to someone starting out.

 

https://youtu.be/PB4hDmf8G7M

[Santas Helper]

You created a good video.

And I'll add the thread about hacking those back in 2013 as there is good information there as well.

I hacked at least thirty of them and used cat5 cable which is still working perfectly today.

 

[Wayne K]

8400

Could you post an ebay link for those floods? I am 4 short for what I want to do this year and trying to decide to do a hack after watching your video or order 4 from LOR.

Thanks

Wayne

[jfuller8400]

21 hours ago, Santas Helper said:

You created a good video.

And I'll add the thread about hacking those back in 2013 as there is good information there as well.

I hacked at least thirty of them and used cat5 cable which is still working perfectly today.

 

Thanks!  I actually shot it a couple of years ago but didn't have a powerful enough computer to edit it together until just now.

[jfuller8400]

HI Wayne,

I would look at something like this:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/10W-20W-30W-50W-70W-100W-Waterproof-Outdoor-LED-Flood-Light-Cool-Warm-White-RGB/122609197993?hash=item1c8c13e3a9:m:maEEQvmhG8gWc3YF_Y6E2Hg:rk:46:pf:0

[Mr. P]

Question: The CMB24D is common positive (+) so the R, G, and B lines are negative, I noticed in the video you called the common neutral and the R, G, an B positive and placed the resistor on the Red. How does that work on the CMB24D with a common positive, the resistor would be after the red led on the negative side?

[TheDucks]

2 hours ago, Mr. P said:

Question: The CMB24D is common positive (+) so the R, G, and B lines are negative, I noticed in the video you called the common neutral and the R, G, an B positive and placed the resistor on the Red. How does that work on the CMB24D with a common positive, the resistor would be after the red led on the negative side?

It does not matter where the resistor is, as long as each LED color has a resistor. Intensity balance in RGB devices is done by using a different value for each (IIRC a higher value for RED) 

Another choice, would to use the original resistors (in place) that connect to the LED, as they have done the balance part already.

[Santas Helper]

2 hours ago, TheDucks said:

It does not matter where the resistor is, as long as each LED color has a resistor. Intensity balance in RGB devices is done by using a different value for each (IIRC a higher value for RED) 

Another choice, would to use the original resistors (in place) that connect to the LED, as they have done the balance part already.

Well not really...

Some of the circuitry is different with different builds of floods. So trying to use fuses of a circuit card may differ.

Also, the red LED is the lowest voltage value that really needs a resister. I chose to lower the output of my variable voltage power supply down to about 11vDC to avoid using resisters on the blue and green LEDs. My original hack did involve resisters for all colors just to be safe (but worked fine without them) but then lowered the power output to use just one resistor for the red LEDs and keep it closer to tolerance.

So it does depend on the flood and power supply.

[mpageler]

Nice job on video quality.  

[Mr. P]

So if I am understanding this right, this will work? Won't there still be 12v going into the flood with the resistor being on the neg side?

[TheDucks]

4 hours ago, Mr. P said:

So if I am understanding this right, this will work? Won't there still be 12v going into the flood with the resistor being on the neg side?

The resistance is in the current path for RED only (correct), If you put the resistor in the 12V, the current would vary wildly depending on the combined RGB totals (bad plan). Each LED needs its own resistor, to maintain the required current flow for that color

E- E_L / R =   I   

E_{L is the LEDs forward voltage}  

[Mr. P]

Thanks Ducks.