Smart-ifying legacy 1 colour christmas lighting with E1.31

LJKMC

LJKMC

New elf
Joined
Oct 7, 2021
Messages
5
Hi guys.
This is my first year with lighting "shows" as for many years I have had standard Bunnings dumb led's. BORING. This year I wanted to spruce it up a bit so I purchased an AlphaPix Flex controller and tons of WS2811 strips and strings to replace my existing lights. I've replaced about 80% of my lights but wanted to incorporate some of my existing lights into the show. I'm a software developer by day so I'm familiar with Arduino and are trying to familiarize myself with electronics.

Is there any way to do this. I'm all ears :)

- Lachlan
 
As Phil said probably quicker and cheaper to just buy something.
Are your old lights two or three wire.
If they are the newer two wire then you will need this instead.
www.hansonelectronics.com.au

2811DC2-30 | Hanson Electronics

2811DC2-30 30 channel "2 wire 2 channel" DC dimmer
www.hansonelectronics.com.au www.hansonelectronics.com.au
 
You might want to check with @AAH (Alan)
about those particular boards. I use the older style 30 Channel DMX and I have 12v, 30v and 36v supplies. I feed the positive into the leds and then the negative from the leds into the controller. The MOSFETs sink to ground on the board.(I did swap out some of the MOSFETs to handle up to 60v though)
 
From memory the Hanson 2811 DC controllers I use have a positive terminal and then 3 negatives, so it may be possible. I don't think the 2 wire controllers will do multi voltage however.
 
Welcome to the forum

Can you please clarify your question about different voltages? Are you referring to the pixels or the traditional LED strings in that question? I think you're asking about the traditional LED strings so I'll explain that. It is also possible to have multiple pixel voltages.

For the single-polarity strings, you can use multiple power supplies on the same controller. These strings are identifiable because they were either originally steady on (no blinker unit) or if they have a blinker unit, there would be more than two wires between this blinker unit and the first LED. These strings are compatible with the 2811DC30. You use multiple voltages by connecting the negative outputs of multiple power supplies together. One power supply would have its positive output connected to the controller's positive input. All other power supplies would have their positive outputs connected to the positive wires of the LED strings that they are powering at their own voltage. See Example 2 here: https://auschristmaslighting.com/wiki/Controller-Setups-and-Settings
I would imagine that you'd be able to use DC-DC convertors to reduce the required number of power supplies. Traditional LED strings don't draw much current so I think this should be viable. I have not tried it.

For the reverse-polarity strings, I think the only way to use multiple voltages is to have multiple controllers and one power supply per controller. These strings are identifiable because they have a blinker unit AND only two wires between the blinker unit and the first LED. They are compatible with the 2811DC2-30.

Another option (which I use in my display) is to modify the strings of lights so that they all run at the same voltage. It requires some testing and tweaking but I am glad that I did it. I'm happy to explain how to do it but I'd need to know some details of the specific traditional strings that you have.

There are not many AlphaPix users on this forum but I looked up this model and I don't think it outputs DMX512. Many pixel controllers can output DMX512 which would give you the option of using DMX controllers for your traditional LED strings. They're functionally similar to the 2811DC controllers except that they use DMX signal instead of WS2811 signal.
 
i13 said:
Welcome to the forum

Can you please clarify your question about different voltages? Are you referring to the pixels or the traditional LED strings in that question? I think you're asking about the traditional LED strings so I'll explain that. It is also possible to have multiple pixel voltages.

For the single-polarity strings, you can use multiple power supplies on the same controller. These strings are identifiable because they were either originally steady on (no blinker unit) or if they have a blinker unit, there would be more than two wires between this blinker unit and the first LED. These strings are compatible with the 2811DC30. You use multiple voltages by connecting the negative outputs of multiple power supplies together. One power supply would have its positive output connected to the controller's positive input. All other power supplies would have their positive outputs connected to the positive wires of the LED strings that they are powering at their own voltage. See Example 2 here: https://auschristmaslighting.com/wiki/Controller-Setups-and-Settings
I would imagine that you'd be able to use DC-DC convertors to reduce the required number of power supplies. Traditional LED strings don't draw much current so I think this should be viable. I have not tried it.

For the reverse-polarity strings, I think the only way to use multiple voltages is to have multiple controllers and one power supply per controller. These strings are identifiable because they have a blinker unit AND only two wires between the blinker unit and the first LED. They are compatible with the 2811DC2-30.

Another option (which I use in my display) is to modify the strings of lights so that they all run at the same voltage. It requires some testing and tweaking but I am glad that I did it. I'm happy to explain how to do it but I'd need to know some details of the specific traditional strings that you have.

There are not many AlphaPix users on this forum but I looked up this model and I don't think it outputs DMX512. Many pixel controllers can output DMX512 which would give you the option of using DMX controllers for your traditional LED strings. They're functionally similar to the 2811DC controllers except that they use DMX signal instead of WS2811 signal.
Click to expand...
Wow Jeez Thanks! The AlphaPix Model I have has 2 DMX outputs on the CPU Board.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top