Wiring 2014 Coles LED Strings into 2811DC30

franky_888

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Dec 31, 2013
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Hi all,

I need the assistance of the electrical gurus here please.

I've got a few tubs of coles led strings from the 2014 christmas season, they are 3 wire from the MFC and I want to wire them into a 2811DC30 controller.

Here are the pinouts...

Controller:
coles_female.png

String:
coles_male.png



Label:
coles_label.png


I powered the string up and set the controller to steady on ie all lights on solid. I then disconnected the lights, pulled out the multimeter and measured between the pins on the mfc. Here are my findings:

-ve +ve voltage
Pin0 pin1 +30v
Pin0 pin3 +30v


To me, this means that the led strings are common –ve, and that pin0 is the –ve, leaving pin1 and pin3 to be +ve string 1 and string 2. Is this correct?


If so, as the 2811DC30 is a common +ve controller, the voltages would be around the wrong way to control these lights I’d assume. To address this I believe I would need to wire 1 string between 3 channels so that the voltage runs the right way through the strings Eg +ve to +ve on the DC30, then –ve into channels 1,2 or 3, and control only that channel, meaning I could only control up to 10 of these strings on a DC30 board. Does that make sense?


It seems like a waste but this is only to make do until I can order some custom strings next year hopefully.


If I’ve done something completely wrong here I’m more than happy to be corrected. Thanks in advance.
 

David_AVD

Grandpa Elf
Community project designer
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Maybe try hooking the string to a DC power supply. I don't think you can't really cause any damage with incorrect connections.
 

franky_888

Full time elf
Joined
Dec 31, 2013
Messages
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Location
Medowie
Nice suggestion, I didn't think of that.


After testing it appears my pinouts are correct, but my current flow is not. The strings are common +ve just as the old BIGW strings are (FYI for the future).
 
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