Steven Posted December 14, 2009 Share Posted December 14, 2009 I just stumbled on this patent application. It seems the problem of dimming LED strings is well known in the industry, and there are inventors out there who are working on, or have solved the problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimswinder Posted December 14, 2009 Share Posted December 14, 2009 I'm glad YOU understnad all that mumble jumble!!! lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckd Posted December 14, 2009 Share Posted December 14, 2009 Can you imagine how expensive it would be to have multiple 'AC to DC PWM' circuits on every LOR output? It also seems like this is one of those 'not too practical' patents that get filed every year. Great in theory, but in production are cost killers.This isn't going to apply to us Christmas guys, for sure.Just a thought: one of the patent claims talks about the large dv/dt causing a huge current inrush, due to the nature of the triac switching on after zero crossing and the large capacitive nature of and LED load. Has LOR thought about or investigated doing a reverse phase control circuit instead of simple triacs? Since power to the LED's would be ramped up from zero, wonder what this might do for us? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eldoradoboy Posted December 14, 2009 Share Posted December 14, 2009 I dont understand the big deal... im dimming LED MR-16's just fine in my inside house lighting using SmartHome Insteon dimmers... they seem not to give me any trouble..-Christopher Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rafter Bar R Posted December 14, 2009 Share Posted December 14, 2009 LED's were meant to run on DC current. The current manufacturers used the same old mini light string but substituted LED's, resistors, and an occasional rectifier in place of bulbs. The most practical way of driving LED's of line current would be to use a DC high voltage LOR controller. Will LOR introduce such a controller? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Fischer Posted December 14, 2009 Share Posted December 14, 2009 Maybe I'm just lucky. My LED's dim perfectly- about the same as my incandescents. I don't use snubbers or anything else -- just plug 'em into LOR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckd Posted December 15, 2009 Share Posted December 15, 2009 lonewolvie wrote:LED's were meant to run on DC current. The current manufacturers used the same old mini light string but substituted LED's, resistors, and an occasional rectifier in place of bulbs. The most practical way of driving LED's of line current would be to use a DC high voltage LOR controller. Will LOR introduce such a controller?I wouldn't hold my breath for that one. That would require availability of LED strings without rectifiers. Then I'm not sure what would happen to all the UL approvals, since now it's a completely different animal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rafter Bar R Posted December 15, 2009 Share Posted December 15, 2009 chuckd wrote: lonewolvie wrote:LED's were meant to run on DC current. The current manufacturers used the same old mini light string but substituted LED's, resistors, and an occasional rectifier in place of bulbs. The most practical way of driving LED's of line current would be to use a DC high voltage LOR controller. Will LOR introduce such a controller?I wouldn't hold my breath for that one. That would require availability of LED strings without rectifiers. Then I'm not sure what would happen to all the UL approvals, since now it's a completely different animal.Most LED strings do not come with built in rectifiers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckd Posted December 15, 2009 Share Posted December 15, 2009 They don't? The only ones I know of that don't have them are the Diogen professional models with those weird round connectors. All the others (CDI, Holiday Creations, etc) and every single store bought model I've ever seen all have built-in rectifiers.The Diogen ones have the rectifiers built into their control boxes.What LED strands are you referring to? Half wave strands? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rafter Bar R Posted December 15, 2009 Share Posted December 15, 2009 half wave strands that are available at most stores. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckd Posted December 15, 2009 Share Posted December 15, 2009 I guess I've just skipped over those. That sure would be a pain, though, you'd have to plug all the strands in with the same polarity. Might be worth it, though.That would be a heck of a power supply within the LOR unit to drive that much load! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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