White LED Flood Issue

[DocBrown86]

I just added 4, white LED 50W Floods to my display. They used to be 120W Incandescent bulbs. I noticed that the lights all react together, but never the same each time the sequence runs.

They don't come on early enough one time (like half a second late), then the next time they are perfect, or half a second early. They also take half-ish seconds of power before they'll even consider turning on.

Is there something is SE or HU I can do to fix this? Dimming curve, or other setting? I've never had this issue yet, so not sure where to start, but I love these lights so I want them to work...

[k6ccc]

I take it these are 120VAC powered floods that are being controlled by a LOR AC controller.  About the only control you have in LOR is to make sure that the channel is ON or OFF rather than dimming.  If the lights are not consistent in how they power up, there i not much you can do about it - as you can't control it the power up delay.

If I am assuming wrong, please elaborate.

 

[DocBrown86]

2 hours ago, k6ccc said:

I take it these are 120VAC powered floods that are being controlled by a LOR AC controller.  About the only control you have in LOR is to make sure that the channel is ON or OFF rather than dimming.  If the lights are not consistent in how they power up, there i not much you can do about it - as you can't control it the power up delay.

If I am assuming wrong, please elaborate.

 

You’re right on the equipment specs. I guess maybe I just need to take the light apart and see what’s inside that might be messing with it lighting up. It just struck me as odd that it never has the same power-up time when it seems like it’s just a basic light.

[jtomason]

I have two suggestions:

1. If you have simply swapped out the incan bulbs for LED ones, you might have to find another make/model of bulb that is more consistent and suitable. 

2. Replace them with LOR RGB floodlights.    They work amazingly well and you'll have the option of any colors you like. 

 

[TheDucks]

6 hours ago, DocBrown86 said:

You’re right on the equipment specs. I guess maybe I just need to take the light apart and see what’s inside that might be messing with it lighting up. It just struck me as odd that it never has the same power-up time when it seems like it’s just a basic light.

LED Ballasts have different (varied) soft start times. This is a desired  'feature' for normal use. It prevents circuit overload due to inrush when a bank of these (think parking lot) are turned on..  If you need fast switching, Install a 12V Headlight relay in each lamp low voltage side. Power up the Ballasts before the show start and use a CMB24 (ungrouped RGB port) channel to operate the relay(s)

[DocBrown86]

On 12/10/2018 at 9:38 AM, TheDucks said:

LED Ballasts have different (varied) soft start times. This is a desired  'feature' for normal use. It prevents circuit overload due to inrush when a bank of these (think parking lot) are turned on..  If you need fast switching, Install a 12V Headlight relay in each lamp low voltage side. Power up the Ballasts before the show start and use a CMB24 (ungrouped RGB port) channel to operate the relay(s)

I know it's been awhile, but I need to revisit this. I did as you said, and it worked much better that way. However, even with the 12V relay, there was still some timing issues. They never fired up at the same time (talking less than a second here, but when you have 4, 50W floods pointing at the street, it is very noticeable). I considered the LOR RGB floods, but I need solid white and I know those will have a pink or blue hue no matter what.

I was running the 12V line from the garage to the Floods, about 200 feet. There may have been some voltage drop. Does that sound like a possibility?

[TheDucks]

1 hour ago, DocBrown86 said:

I know it's been awhile, but I need to revisit this. I did as you said, and it worked much better that way. However, even with the 12V relay, there was still some timing issues. They never fired up at the same time (talking less than a second here, but when you have 4, 50W floods pointing at the street, it is very noticeable). I considered the LOR RGB floods, but I need solid white and I know those will have a pink or blue hue no matter what.

I was running the 12V line from the garage to the Floods, about 200 feet. There may have been some voltage drop. Does that sound like a possibility?

12V @ 50W for 200 feet. You bet the + line (4 Amps for white) is gonna drop a bunch. Then the individual colors actually have different currents for 100% of that color... So a color shift from 1+ Amps/wire would also be expected (I*R=E) . Normally you don't want more than 5% drop BUT you  also need to balance the drop over such a distance by inserting fractional resistance into each lead so that the voltage applied AT THE LAMP is MADE the same for R,G and B at 100%.  That is why you see shift.

IMHO get the LOR smart 50W floods. They get 120V in (attached power supply), and the (LOR or DMX)  RS485 signal makes the color/effects using the onboard Pixel controller.