Led lighting with old fashioned LOR CTB16pc controllers

[everettdale]

I will be replacing most of my old fashioned incandescent X-mas lights with new fangled LED strings. I'm still going to be using the LOR CTB16PC controllers so I need LED strings that will work with these.

What should I look for, and what should I avoid. My biggest concern is that the sequences I'm building do a lot of fading and brightness control and I've seen some led lights that don't dim well, but I don't understand why. It's like you can dim them to 30% and they just shut off. I'm not even sure if this is a problem with the way the LOR controllers handle that or not. I will test anything I buy before I commit to it, but I'd rather not buy a bunch of stuff that you guys already know won't work.

As always, I appreciate all of you for your tolerance of my ignorance.

 

[AAH]

You will potentially find it cheaper and easier to sell off your LOR AC boards and get some dedicated DC boards or even pixels and a pixel controller.
AC dimmers don't work especially well with LEDs as they require a load when they get to the point that they switch off. Leds don't conduct electricity at all for a fair portion of the AC voltage sine wave unlike incand lights. To stop the lights latching on it is often necessary to put resistors across the outputs to produce a load so that they will switch off. On a per channel basis a DC dimmer is massively cheaper than an AC dimmer. 110V led strings may be available in the US but mains voltage strings are next to impossible to source in Aus. Over here it's typically a low voltage string (like 24V) with a transformer or dc power supply to drop the voltage. If there is any sort of transformer or power supply between the dimmer and the lights then you pretty much can't dim that style with an AC dimmer.

 

[seefromspace]

Greetings Everettdale
Mr AAH is spot on with his message about powering LED’s with ac controller’s. Especially if you are not in the US using 120 volts. Having said that, I do use LOR ac controller’s to light a lot of LED strings in the great state of California in the US of A. LED strings will behave differently from incandescent lights. Actually, I think, an incandescent bulb and a LED bulb have very little in common other than they both make light. The reason dimming is so weird in an LED is that the best way to dim an LED is not by varying the voltage which an LOR ac controller does. It’s better to keep the voltage constant and vary the current. There is another way to dim LED’s by voltage that is called PWM (check out on google) - but let’s leave that for another time. If we compare a single incandescent white bulb (3volts) to a single LED white bulb (3volts) here’s what will happen. If we apply one volt to each bulb the incandescent bulb will begin to glow, the LED will do nothing. If we apply 1.5 volts to both - the incandescent will get brighter, the LED will still do nothing. As we approach 2 volts the incandescent bulb will again get brighter and the LED will begin to turn on. This is why, as you stated, when you specify 30% brightness the string will often turn off. You have to play around with the programming to get the result you want. Instead of going from 100% to zero - going from 100% to 30% might work better. LOR ac controllers also have the ability to set an LED dimming curve right in the controller which help’s smooth things out. I have not had the problem, Mr. AAH was talking about, where I couldn’t turn off a string and had to add a load resistor (maybe just been lucky). I guess you already have a LOR ac controller. Buy a couple of LED strings and play around with those dimming percentages. If that doesn’t work you can always jump to dumb LED strings or smart pixels ( of course with new controllers and lights).
I personally use all of the following - LOR software, LOR ac controllers, LOR dc controllers and LOR pixel controllers
Cheers!!

 

[everettdale]

Thanks for the input. I'm probably just going to keep sourcing incandescent lights for now. Eventually I'll need to change things up and go all pixel control and whatnot, but this is not a normal situation.

I run a haunted house, and the light show is small and tight. For people waiting in line. And since I already have 2 LOR AC controllers I gotta go with them.

Again thanks for the input.

 

[TerryK]

If you are 'locked' to the AC controllers you presently have then using incandescent bulbs is your best path I think especially if dimming. Although, depending upon bulb failures you may find the need to upgrade your display sooner than you think. Looking through the last Christmas big box store displays nearly everything is LED. Point being, incandescents are being phased out and getting harder to find. It might be worthwhile to stock up on repair parts while still available/possible.

Meanwhile, you might obtain a few pixel components to begin 'toying' with in preparation of upgrading. If your present display is "small and tight" it may be cheaper and easier to upgrade than you believe.