Ferris Wheel Lighting

D

Den

New elf
Joined
Sep 19, 2014
Messages
2
Hi All

Could anyone tell me how to use lights on a ferris wheel without twisting the cord. I know that slip rings can be used but are dangerous & noisy. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks
Dennis
 
Slip rings aren't dangerous as such as they are used in lots of stuff including car alternators which is probably the most common place most people will come across them. They are electrically noisy though.
What sort of lights are you looking at putting on the ferris wheel. If it's static lights, incandescant lights or dumb rgb you could probably get away with just using slip rings. If you want to use pixels then you nearly have to go wireless for the control and put the power through slip rings with some capacitor filtering to smooth out the noise.
ShellNZ is currently doing a ferris wheel and knowing her she will have an excess of blinky lights on it. Hopefully she'll have some input tomorrow.
 
This is the slip ring and bearing I suggested to ShellNZ
slip ring.jpg wheelandlights.jpg
The lights are technicolor pixels (2811 12v) 2 strings of 48, connected to a spi controller, this year they will be sequenced with all the other lights as just another fixture


The slip rings make no noise, what is noisy is the motor that drives the ferris wheel.
 
I used the same slip-ring as Andrew :) Ive only got strip lights (p2811) on one side of the wheel, I do kind of want to put lights on the inner part of the other side of the wheel but cant really figure out how to do it. I can just continue the strip light to the other side but of course need power injection, thats where it becomes a problem as the PI lead would have to go through the slip-ring as well so it doesnt get twisted. Thats about where I stopped and just decided one side would do lol.
 
local bloke actually puts the gen set in one of the "seats" and the whole lot moves round and round,
but it obviously not connected to any show, so depends on what your lights are doing, but this works for them , just and idea, cheers Boof63
 
I built a 7' diameter rotating Ferris wheel with 500 12mm pixel LED using 1/2" pic pipe and slip ring to power it, 8 baskets with stuffed animals, pixlite 4 , Raspberry Pi running Falcon player and Xlights 4 used for sequencing Thank you all for your post and my source for learning. Merry Christmas from Hawthorne California. Here is the link https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=c5w3OnkrjWU
 
ShellNZ said:
I can just continue the strip light to the other side but of course need power injection, thats where it becomes a problem as the PI lead would have to go through the slip-ring as well so it doesnt get twisted.
Click to expand...
Could you mount a DC-DC convertor on the wheel? That way you'd reduce the current that needs to flow through the slip ring and maybe you could get away with just one slip ring.
 
Looks awesome epnicass!
I'd get a DC>DC booster and bump it up to 60+ V then use another DC>DC converter on the other side to drop it back to your pixel voltage. Not sure I'd be game to put 240V 10A connection into a $4 Chinese slip ring, but maybe that's just me.
 
I started construction of my Ferris wheel in early November 2016 I kind of rush it, nonetheless is good for been a first prototype. The treat to power it, I used a slip ring in the front and the data only in the back of the shaft. I quickly put some effects due to a planned trip to Dallas I while away I have been working remotely on some effect so I will share better videos. I will note, I power injected every 50 pixels. It is a lot of work drilling 500 hole, soldering, etc. but it is very rewarding. It is been a show stealer
 
I did not need not have to power boost and reduce using dc to school converter. Voltage drop was minimal .1 voltage was @ 11.9 I like to mention that I increased voltage to 12.8 and my LEDs remained lit dimm red. I was fixed by adjusting the voltage to 12.00volts
 
I used slip-ring systems for 12v & 24v systems (not 240v mains).

I use some large filter caps on the internal power supply/controller board(s), so, when the slip ring decides not to condust for a brief moment (noisey) the caps hold the charge to keep providing clean power to the controller without rebooting it all the time.

Considering the "off time" when the slip ring fails to conduct is only a few 10's to 100's of milliseconds at worse case, the filter caps will happily keep things working without a glitch.

;-)
 
is it possible to run a 12v or several 12v batterys mounted onto the wheel? wireless control and no need for slip rings.
batteries can be recharged during the day
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top