Power Control PCB For ACL Mk3 Strobe Strings

David_AVD

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Just waiting on some parts that were supposed to turn up last Friday.

Should have them tomorrow so will send out the remaining orders then.
 

David_AVD

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Just a reminder that you should only use channel levels of 100% and 0% for turning the strobes on and off.

Trying to dim the strobe controller will make the relay buzz and likely wear it out after while.
 

bbayjohn

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Review time

So I ordered 2 of these boards from AVD. They arrived quickly. I paid on Thursday, David posted same day. My parcel arrived Monday

The diagram on page 2 was very helpful. The control wire for me was the -v output from my Lor CMB16D-QC V1. When turning on the strobes I was using lor hardware utility and a loud noise could be heard from the PC1037 board. So I rang David. David was very helpful. The problem was in fact the lor hardware utility and the slide feature. The relay in this board requires 100% power. So now when I turn them on all I hear is the click from the relay.

Comparison test

I have two strings set up. One with the PC1037 the other without.

On the first string without David’s board- On start up a slight delay could be seen as it begins it cycle. I could also see when the pixels are in the off mode of the strobe cycle, that the strobes were glowing like a dead pixel would.

On the second string with the PC1037- No delay in start-up pixels in the off cycle were in fact off.

Have now connected the first string to another PC1037 board and the pixels flicker as they should.

Thanks David for this huge upgrade on these strobes.
 

David_AVD

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I take it that everyone has now received their strobe control boards?

There are some still available if anyone else is interested.
 

David_AVD

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I was testing some meteor tubes before taking them home to put up, and had the thought that this concept could possibly work for them as well.

A little while later I confirmed that running the tubes are a lower voltage would allow the micro to still run, but leave the LEDs dark.

Raising the voltage to the normal level resulted in a set of tubes already running nicely our of sync.

With that in mind I will likely make other versions of the board to suit different voltages and lights.
 

Devo

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Great idea David!

Any left still?

Also what strings have people been using for strobes?
 
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