Amps and intensity

[rimist]

I'm under a deadline to finish my Easter basket yard decoration tonight, and I have a migraine, so I was wondering.... If I'm only operating a channel at 25% intensity, does that mean the actual load is only 25% of what the lights claim?
Ridiculous example: if I connect 100 strands rated at 0.16 amps, does that mean the actual load on the channel is only 4 Amps?

-Rimist (via Tapatalk)

[rimist]

An update: I believe the answer is no. I plugged in several strands to a single channel, and noticed they don't all operate at the same intensity. This would indicate to me that the percentage intensity does not directly correlate to the amperage drawn, which makes sense because we also have dimming curves. I'll just only keep the bottom strands, the previous color and the current color plugged in. That should limit the draw to under 4 Amps even at full intensity.

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[gatorengineer]

The technical reason is because there is a certain amount of voltage and energy needed to biased the LED's.  That is wasted before the LED will even begin to emit light.  At full power, that is a small percentage, but as you dim the light it becomes more noticeable.

[rimist]

That makes sense, however these aren't LEDs.

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[tbone321]

It is not always as simple as that and I would highly recommend NOT doing it.  Putting 16A worth of strings on one channel and depending on the dimming keeping it within spec is simply a bad idea.  Those strings draw more current than you think when they are lighting up and all it would take is a glitch in the DMX signal cranking that channel up to full on to toast the triac and the board trace.

[rimist]

Thanks for the info. I'm only connecting three color bands at a time tonight, which will not exceed 4 Amps. Each band has at most 400 lights. Typically drawing 0.16 amps per strand of 100. Nighttime weaving with a migraine under the influence of narcotics... Hope it looks ok in the morning!

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[rimist]

Went ahead and ran a bunch of extension cords temporarily. Tomorrow I'll relocate the express so they won't be needed. I got a reprieve to finish it tomorrow too. So far it looks like this:

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[tbone321]

That looks pretty cool.  How about a daylight picture so we can see what it looks like.

[caretaker]

If you are interested in how dimmers work here is a wikipedia on general dimmers: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login An here is one on PWM dimming just go over the parts on power delivery and voltage regulation the rest is a bit heady: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

[Greg]

Wow, and just how much Easter grass is that basket going to need?  imagine how big the the eggs and jelly beans are going to need to be.  I suppose you have Harvey the rabbit on standby too...

Kewl,

Greg

[rimist]

Daylight shot as requested.
The verticals are pieces of bamboo. I purchase two packages for $2 each, containing six 6 foot long pieces of bamboo per package. The thin plywood bottom came off a pallet, the screws were previously recovered from a prior project (and will be recovered again
I initially cut the bamboo into two foot long sections, however they were a bit too long, so I ended up trimming 6 to 8 inches off each.

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[rimist]

Oops... The picture didn't upload.

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[caretaker]

Nice!  I am going to have to start doing more blinky for other holidays.

[bassmants]

I am trying to figure out how I am going to be ready for Christmas and some of you are doing Easter.  You are hard core!

[rimist]

Already did Valentine's and St Patrick's day. Should have taken a picture of the rainbow with the pot of gold.
Next up is Independence Day. I have big ideas, just not sure if I'll have the time to implement them. Think about a flag (that's pretty much a gimme), and to quote the song "rockets red glare, bombs bursting in air" in lights only, of course )

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