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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Group Buy: Budget CRI 95 LED Strip Lights

Very nice setup. It'd be great to see a closeup with the fixture turned off so we can see how it's put together. I'm thinking of building something with lightweight alum extrusion "tubes" that can clip in and clip out of a coroplast/corflute enclosure. Super modular.
 
Miha Kolar said:
I'm just wondering - how are you guys powering the strips from V mount batteries? Because strips are rated at 12V voltage and Vlock is 16,8 (full) to somewhere 12V (empty)? If you are powering directly, that's really heating things up and shortening their life...
I'm thinking of building few controllers from buck converter (http://www.ebay.com/itm/15A-DC-DC-S...305407?hash=item1c4aa360bf:g:-HIAAOSw3ydVkUG3) and soldering one more potentiometer for regulating (6-12V) on there. Then you can supply it with any voltage between 12 and 34 Volts and it will give you out exactly 12V at maximum.
I'm thinking of using some 4S LiPo batteries, 19V laptop supply etc.

Here is a link how to make one yourself https://youtu.be/jLia59KfkSw?t=8m45s (great video for led panel build - a bit heavy though) and with that Buck converter from above link you can power up to about 7-8m (9 in theory) of strip. And that is like under 20usd for a regulator with dimming and all the xt60 connectors included.

Has anyone of you think of using these strips in this kind of alu led profile :http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free..._77_91_80,searchweb201644_5,searchweb201560_9 ?
I'm thinking of making few 1m long tubes and use them just as kinoflo light bulbs. And if you want "harder" light you can always take diffusion tube of them...
Click to expand...


The strips certainly run a lot hotter/brighter from a v-lock comapred to a 12v 10 amp power supply. Voltage regulation sounds like a solid plan for battery use.
 
Kirby Hamilton said:
Brandon. What AC power supplies are you using. Sorry If I missed an earlier post on this. Thanks.
Click to expand...

I bought some locally overseas for this setup. No other option since our bulk order of power supplies won't be ready until the controllers are done.

Judd Hyland said:
Very nice setup. It'd be great to see a closeup with the fixture turned off so we can see how it's put together. I'm thinking of building something with lightweight alum extrusion "tubes" that can clip in and clip out of a coroplast/corflute enclosure. Super modular.
Click to expand...

It couldn't be easier. 5 rows of 1m long strips stuck on to corrogated plastic with the double sided tape that comes on the strips. Soldered each row together with some wire. Only powering the daylight LEDs in this test, so just connected it up to a DC jack.

Judd Hyland said:
The strips certainly run a lot hotter/brighter from a v-lock comapred to a 12v 10 amp power supply. Voltage regulation sounds like a solid plan for battery use.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I would love to have a simple in line power regulator for this.
 
Budget Dimmer

Budget Dimmer

Miha Kolar said:
I'm thinking of building few controllers from buck converter (http://www.ebay.com/itm/15A-DC-DC-S...305407?hash=item1c4aa360bf:g:-HIAAOSw3ydVkUG3) and soldering one more potentiometer for regulating (6-12V) on there. Then you can supply it with any voltage between 12 and 34 Volts and it will give you out exactly 12V at maximum.
Here is a link how to make one yourself https://youtu.be/jLia59KfkSw?t=8m45s (great video for led panel build - a bit heavy though) and with that Buck converter from above link you can power up to about 7-8m (9 in theory) of strip. And that is like under 20usd for a regulator with dimming and all the xt60 connectors included.
Click to expand...
I'm using the same setup for my LEDs. I havn't tested with a full roll, but up to 2m it works very good. And if you build it like in the youtube video, with an extra potentiometer and resistor, you can use it as a budget dimmer for single color LED Stripes as well. Works very well. I just finished a job, where I used it all the time.
I built them into small boxes. I don't know how to post pictures here, so i cant post a picture. But the ready dimmer is only 7x5x4 cm big. It very cheap and as it is dimming by vollt regulation there is no flickering. For single color LED it is a good solution. And as Brandons controllers are not ready yet, it was my salvation for dimming.

And even if the controllers arrive, I will use the budget dimmers as extras.
I wanted to post my solution here before, but Miha Kolar came first.

For power supply I used V-mount batteries and an old laptop power supply. With the capability of regulating the input voltage of my little dimmer, it doesn't matter what the laptop power supply output is.
 
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@Brandon: Can you tell where did you find corrugated plastic in europe? I can find it all over US but in EU is either not available or expensive as hell.

Well that kind of Step down voltage regulator you can easily build yourself and even dimm without extra potentiometer - only thing is it's a bit tiny screw on there. And use of output inline voltage meter would be great (something like that wired in parallel with strip on output http://www.ebay.com/itm/DC-0-30V-Bl...762344?hash=item3a96f54fe8:g:SLcAAOSwRLZUETh~)

And if you want a bit better quality buck you can pick this one up: http://www.ebay.com/itm/DROK-DC-Car...189674?hash=item3ab2ff76aa:g:QhcAAOSw9r1WDouR
It's US company, and is well tested and documented all over the youtube and rest of the web.
Only thing is if you are powering whole strip with it, one radiator gets to about 100°C - it's fine without fan, but you shouldn't put it in a box without fan.

Will order some and put simple regulator together and post it on here!
 
Miha Kolar said:
@Brandon: Can you tell where did you find corrugated plastic in europe? I can find it all over US but in EU is either not available or expensive as hell.
Click to expand...

Yeah, very hard to find! One local shop had it, but we had to paint it black.

Looking forward to seeing what you put together!
 
@ Miha:
If you use a second potentiometer and a extra resistor you can turn down / tune in the input voltage at 12v with the build in trimmer and use the extra potentiometer for dimming.
So the build in one, only needs to be adjusted seldomly and the extra one is for regular dimming.
For my dimmer i used the linked buck, but got it from another vendor.


Where in Europe do you live? It took me quite a while to find the corrugated plastik, but in the end I found some. I got white and black, they come in 1,2 m x 2m.
But I had to phone and mail a lot of companies. You could look for Akylux and Molan. Look with vendors of plastiks but also packaging material.
I hope it helps!
 
Nils & Miha,

I'm not that experienced with all this. Can you show some pics of what you've done?
 
@Nils: I'm from Slovenia. I was thinking of getting that polycarbonate plastic for roof covering and wrap that in matte black car wrap sticker.

I haven't actually received any of strips, and I'm just thinking out loud with building plans :)
Nils, I'm planning to put another potentiometer on built-in micropotentiometer for dimming purposes only. Was just saying that if you are not good in soldering and building, you could also live just with that tiny screw on top of micropotentiometer on the buck itself. But you'd need a voltage meter on output to prevent frying your strips...
 
Was pretty easy to find in the netherlands, you can try looking for polypropylene sheet.

Nils Rausch said:
@ Miha:
If you use a second potentiometer and a extra resistor you can turn down / tune in the input voltage at 12v with the build in trimmer and use the extra potentiometer for dimming.
So the build in one, only needs to be adjusted seldomly and the extra one is for regular dimming.
For my dimmer i used the linked buck, but got it from another vendor.


Where in Europe do you live? It took me quite a while to find the corrugated plastik, but in the end I found some. I got white and black, they come in 1,2 m x 2m.
But I had to phone and mail a lot of companies. You could look for Akylux and Molan. Look with vendors of plastiks but also packaging material.
I hope it helps!
Click to expand...
 
So I can't just plug directly a 5m spool or a 1m piece to a Vmount battery? It's more complicated than that to keep them safe?
 
@ Sam
I can't tell you, if you will fry your strips just connecting to the Vmount battery. Many people here do so. Maybe you reduce the lifespan, I can't tell.
I just used the buck converter as a cheap dimmer, till the GB controller arrives. In contrast to some other cheap dimmers, which use pwm and can flicker, the voltage regulation is not flickering. But in the long run running with low voltage is not good for the LED as well. But this in regard of people using them in their homes and with a lot more hours than I will on set.
One important thing is heat, it reduces lifespan as well. This is why I sticked my LEDs to aluminium strips.
I'm not sure, if the GB controller will reduce the input voltage as well, and put only 12v out. Then you wouldn't have to worry about the higher voltage of the Vmount batteries at all.

@ Herbert Massey
If you watch the youtube video starting at minute 8:50 everything is explained there, even with a list of parts. I got the idea from there and copied it.
With the little trimmer on the pcb you set the output voltage to 12v, checked with a voltmeter, with the second potentiometer you dim the LED.
It needs a little soldering, a nice case, and some input and output wires and your done.
I will post some photos.

@ Miha
that might work, but is much havier than the polypropylene. I build some small Kinoflo like lamps, which you couldn't build with the polycarbonate plastic as it doesn't bend. But for some things that might even be better.
In Germany I found the polypropylene near Munich at http://www.ppplatten.de/ , and in Switzerland I got mine from a local dealer.
The problem is often finding it in small amounts, some dealers only sell you 100 m².
 
I've been running them straight off an AB battery. They get a little warmer at higher voltage, but so far I haven't had any problems.

Nick
 
I'm so glad this thread has gotten back to practical how-to stuff. In the same spirit of this, has anyone found a good solution for a krinkle-free china ball set-up besides purchasing a Chimera ball?
 
Manfred Lopez said:
I'm so glad this thread has gotten back to practical how-to stuff. In the same spirit of this, has anyone found a good solution for a krinkle-free china ball set-up besides purchasing a Chimera ball?
Click to expand...

I've been looking around for the past hour or so trying to find the answer to this question. It doesn't seem to be any middle ground between a fragile paper lantern and a Chimera.
 
Manfred Lopez said:
I'm so glad this thread has gotten back to practical how-to stuff. In the same spirit of this, has anyone found a good solution for a krinkle-free china ball set-up besides purchasing a Chimera ball?
Click to expand...
I haven't bought one, but there a nylon china balls, which might be a bit stronger, and using them with LED heat is not a problem either.
 
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