Paul Moore Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 (edited) Hi all, Hoping someone can help here. I have a 16 channel residential unit and it’s running 16 strings with 80 leds on each.. nothing major regarding power. This morning I’ve noticed that one set is slightly on. Straight away, I ran the hardware utility and turned this channel on 100% and no issue. Then turned off but it still remains slightly on. Now I will admit that there was heavy rain but I thought that control box shuts down the power totally when you run such commands through the utility? The controller box is indoors so no dampness problems. Could it be possible that rain is triggering this channel ? Which brings me back to my point about once it’s off it’s off ? Irish weather problems !! Thanks, Paul Edited December 21, 2020 by Paul Moore Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. P Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 Swap strings and if the issue remains then reset the controller. If the problem is still there after the reset then the triac is blown and will need to be replaced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 With only 80 LEDs on it, a snubber may help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basis21b Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 Not sure why it worked but I had a string of LEDs that would have a slight glow despite the channel being off. I saw a suggestion to unplug the string, rotate the plug 180 degrees and plug it back in. The glow stopped. I don't argue with success. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Moore Posted December 21, 2020 Author Share Posted December 21, 2020 12 hours ago, Mr. P said: Swap strings and if the issue remains then reset the controller. If the problem is still there after the reset then the triac is blown and will need to be replaced. Cheers, I had this in mind.. will keep you posted.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Moore Posted December 21, 2020 Author Share Posted December 21, 2020 21 minutes ago, basis21b said: Not sure why it worked but I had a string of LEDs that would have a slight glow despite the channel being off. I saw a suggestion to unplug the string, rotate the plug 180 degrees and plug it back in. The glow stopped. I don't argue with success. I’m UK plug style here so would need to open plug and swap wiring.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Moore Posted January 4, 2021 Author Share Posted January 4, 2021 OK, So I eventually got around to swapping things around. It seems its a problem with this channel only. I have turned the control fully off and back on several times. One thing I noticed is the lights are fully on now and its no longer a slightly on like before. How do I know if the triac is blown for sure ? Thanks, Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted January 4, 2021 Share Posted January 4, 2021 With the symptoms you report, almost guaranteed that is a triac failure. Could be the driver for the triac, but far more likely the triac itself. In theory you could measure the voltage on the gate pin of the triac and compare that to the same pin on working channels. And no, I don't know which pin that is without looking, and I don't know what idle vs turned on voltage is. You would need to be careful because you would be working in the 120VAC hot section. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Moore Posted January 4, 2021 Author Share Posted January 4, 2021 I just noticed that I have not followed the reset correctly with the jumper pin, Ill give that a go first.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jstorms Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 LOR is a pretty basic design so there isn't alot of things it could be. Could be data. You're sequence may have an artifact like the tail end of a long fade, or you could have a background sequence running you forgot about, or if you have a bunch of LOR boxes you could be getting a data reflection that could be fixed with an RS485 terminator. Could be a short where something is wet that shouldn't be. But chances are its a triac. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. P Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 OMG, jstorms!?!?!? It's true, you are alive!!! 🤣🤣🤣 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts