Driving a 5v LED strobe

[frankr]

Hello all,

I have 100 5v LED strobes from ACL that I am trying to figure out how to drive.  I can think of a couple of approaches that I can use to deliver 12v (MR 16 7-24v, DSC 12v, Ray's 3channel DMX board 12v) but nothing that would give me the 5volt supply I am looking for.

So a couple of questions arise:
Is there a cost effective way to convert 12v to 5volt and not fry the supplying controller?
Is there an in expensive 5volt DMX based controller that I am not aware of?
Does someone smarter than me already have a brilliant solution for driving these things?

TIA

Frank

[Steve Gase]

While it is categorized as 12v, I think Ray's 3 channel controllers can handle a number of voltages -- 5v, 6v, 12v, 24v.


So, just connect a 5v DC power source to the controller, and use the same DMX+ DMX- connections that comes from your chain of DMX devices.


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Product DescriptionName: DMX MODULE
Model: LN-DMXMODEL-3CH-LV(L=5,6,12,24)

 
Technical Parameters
Output: 3 channels
Grayscale: 256
The number of occupied channel: 3
Connecting mode: common anode
External dimension: L72ΧW38ΧH26 mm
Packing size: L105ΧW65ΧH40 mm
Net weight: 40g
Gross weight: 75g
Output current: <2A(each channel)
Output power: 5V:<30W, 12V:<72W, 24V:<144W


I just looked at Ray's 27-channel controller.  Unfortunately for you, it is only rated for 7v-24v.

[MazdaFan]

If you are simply looking to inject power into a system, you can consider using (wait for it)...  A computer power supply!

Found this one:
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It puts out 5V @ 38A.. so, considering the 80% rule, that would get you ~30A output... for about $17 plus shipping.

As for an actual 5V DMX controller... ->insert deer in headlight look here <-

[n1ist]

The MR16 uses low-side switching.  So you can use run the outputs at different voltages.  Tie your 5V supply's positive output to the positive of the strobe, tie the ground of the strobe to the MR16's GND channel output, and tie the negative of the 5v supply to negative DC input terminal of the MR16.  Then feed 7-24v from a wallwart to the DC input of the MR16.  The only gotcha is that the output of the MR16 is PWM, and your strobes may not like that.  I would only use intensities of 0 and 100% (or 255) to drive the MR16.
/mike

[frankr]

N1st -- Good point on the MR16. I drive my MR16s from re purposed 1u server or other compute equipment supplies so it would be easy to run them that way.  I even have a specific power supply in mind (it is 5v 10a and only 2a at 12v).  I do believe this will solve my dilemma  I agree on the only running at 0 or 100%, that was my intended plan.

[dmaccole]

FWIW, I had serious problems with the 5v DIYC FAST tubes in 2011 ... while they were only 30-40 feet away from the controller, I couldn't get them to consistently fire, which I took to be too much voltage drop because of the length of the wire.

I didn't do a 2012 show but plan to rework the FAST tubes for a 12v environment by installing a 7805 in each tube. I have some of the ACL strobes and plan to do the same thing with them.

Then I'll run both the strobes and the FAST tubes from MR16s (haven't decided how many I need) running at typical 12v.

\dmc

[frankr]

dmacole -- Interesting about the FAST tubes. I am thinking that I might try something along the lines of what n1st mentioned with the MR16s.  I plan to put these strobes on spinners and I can put the controller in the center with the power supply.  This way I can get an individual strobe on each end of each segment.  Think it would be a nice effect.

Frank