2010 Big-W LED String Measurements

[smartalec]

went back to big-w to exchange my lights, that was'nt a problem.
asking them to provide a power point for testing , thats not a problem,
finding a set of lights that worked, that was a problem.

for the 1 cool white  set, that had to be a warm white, cause there stock of 4 sets, all had busted segments
for the 3 blue, i was a little luckyer, an there was only 5 sets we had to go through to get 3 working.

i offered to buy the crappy stock at half price, an she just said, we'll just return it all

im happyer, since i can now do the rest of my megatree,
I must say there service was very polite an friendly, esp with me showing them how many dud sets they were realy selling to the public.
this was big-w in Elizabeth in SA

[uppitt]

I'm new to the forum.  I bought 9 packs of these lights this year.   I thought they were pretty good for their price, and being able to join up to 3 strings together was a plus.  I checked them all as soon as I got them home and I had 1 set which had a section dead. Got replaced it and so far all have been fine.  Having had cheap LED strings get destroyed through rain over the years (rusted LED legs), I thought I'd try out if putting some silicone on the backs of the LEDs helped with waterproofing them.  I did 3 strings over a few nights, then I ran out of time and gave up.  So half got done the other half will be left to fate. 

However in mentioning rusted LED legs, I did attempt to start fixing a string of white LED icicle lights from 2 years ago.  I left them out too long last year and by the time I packed them away, half of the LEDs weren't working.  So I started replacing (time consuming) the dodgy looking ones.  Some brought the section back to life, but then I found it was good looking LEDs that were dead, and the rusted looking ones were ok.  That's another project I might get more time for over the coming 12 months..

[Timon]

The numbers all make sense if you remember that when driven from a 24VAC transformer through a full bridge the LEDs strings will see a peak voltage close to 34VDC (24VAC RMS * 1.414). If the peek current when driven from pulsing DC source you can usually drive them from a pure DC source that 1.414 times higher.


Then in the US we see 30 3.4V LEDs driven from a 120VAC source which is pulsing them past their typical current but still inside their peak rating.


I do wish we did the same as you do requiring low voltage on the strings. But then we don't have 240V as our normal outlet voltage.

[pipersmall]

Has anyone looked at or used the 600 count strings? Just wondering if they have similar characteristics.

[David_AVD]

Has anyone looked at or used the 600 count strings? Just wondering if they have similar characteristics.

I would think they are electrically equivalent to 3 x 200 count strings end to end.

Some info in the wiki:
http://auschristmaslighting.com/wiki/index.php/LED_String_Wiring

Here's a page I started on testing strings:
http://auschristmaslighting.com/wiki/index.php/LED_String_DC_Testing

[AussiePhil]

Has anyone looked at or used the 600 count strings? Just wondering if they have similar characteristics.

Pipersmall


I used the 600 count warm whites this year on my tree stars, only did a quick check of the total current to check it was in the expected range and it was but i never recorded it.


The significant difference is the spacing, the LEDs are spaced at 5cm not the 10cm of a normal string.


I never bought any blue ones as the LED looked to be different with the LED on the 600 count strings having a blue colouration whereas the 200 count string were the white plastic. This seemed to indicate different factories and potentially a different blue colour.


Phil