Customizing LED wash light bar
I am considering ADJ Mega Bar 50RGB, compact 22 inch LED Light Bar model from American DJ. It has several light control modes, but its mostly have no direct relationship with the music, no direct relationship between light and spectrum of the audio signal. It support DMX protocol, but that's not what I want.
I have an Audio Color Organ DIY device that uses three filters to separate the audio signal into low, mid and high bands, which used to modulate the MOSFETs, the MOSFETs vary the brightness of the connected LEDs.
I want to know is it possible directly power the diodes on this Mega Bar use Color Organ output?
Have anybody tried to open device to see how LEDs are connected on the Megabar board?
I am considering ADJ Mega Bar 50RGB, compact 22 inch LED Light Bar model from American DJ. It has several light control modes, but its mostly have no direct relationship with the music, no direct relationship between light and spectrum of the audio signal. It support DMX protocol, but that's not what I want.
I have an Audio Color Organ DIY device that uses three filters to separate the audio signal into low, mid and high bands, which used to modulate the MOSFETs, the MOSFETs vary the brightness of the connected LEDs.
I want to know is it possible directly power the diodes on this Mega Bar use Color Organ output?
Have anybody tried to open device to see how LEDs are connected on the Megabar board?
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I have disassembled one similar yesterday because one segment connector was loose.
There are 2 4 wire connectors. Each PCB has 2 segments, so 4 PCBs. The leds are wired in series (one series for each color) and the limiting resistors are on the PCBs.
The problem is.. Leds aren't designed for reducing voltage dimming, I mean if You drop the voltage they tend to shift the color. There are voltage limits.
Get a bunch of leds wire them in series and hook it to Your color organ before modding the bar.
If it works well, just connect the segments in parallel. Assuming 8 segments with 10mA current, Your Organ needs to handle 80mA for each color, or wire them in series and use 8x voltage, but You have to change the PCBs since each color shares The common wire.
There are 2 4 wire connectors. Each PCB has 2 segments, so 4 PCBs. The leds are wired in series (one series for each color) and the limiting resistors are on the PCBs.
The problem is.. Leds aren't designed for reducing voltage dimming, I mean if You drop the voltage they tend to shift the color. There are voltage limits.
Get a bunch of leds wire them in series and hook it to Your color organ before modding the bar.
If it works well, just connect the segments in parallel. Assuming 8 segments with 10mA current, Your Organ needs to handle 80mA for each color, or wire them in series and use 8x voltage, but You have to change the PCBs since each color shares The common wire.
Depends on the internal circuitry in the LED bulb/fixture. Some LED bulbs dim just fine on an old analog phase control triac circuit, others do not. Some kind-of work. I got a bunch of colored PAR 38 LEDs to replace incandescents in my DJ lighting rig. They do dim, but rapid chasing modes do not work. If the AC is applied for too short a time they just won’t come on. Slower music activated chasing modes do work, as does the “power meter” mode. Strobing has mixed results - fAst strobing makes them come on full brightness, regardless of where the dimming control is set. I will eventually just build round PCBs full of LEDs in series parallel with a full wave rectifier and constant current source driver, but that’s a project for another year. Depending on what driver circuitry is in your light bar it may need to be completely rewired but could probably be made to work.
What I did find interesting is that the LED C9 retrofit Christmas light bulbs work perfectly on the original driver circuitry. They don’t quite dim down all the way when set to minimum conduction angle, but I think their response time to music signals is better than the old incandescent. No problems in color organ, chase, strobe or power meter modes. But those bulbs were intended for “animated displays”.
What I did find interesting is that the LED C9 retrofit Christmas light bulbs work perfectly on the original driver circuitry. They don’t quite dim down all the way when set to minimum conduction angle, but I think their response time to music signals is better than the old incandescent. No problems in color organ, chase, strobe or power meter modes. But those bulbs were intended for “animated displays”.
i know Kvazar said he didn't care for Dmx but others may be interested in this MIDI to DMX - Control DMX Lighting with MIDI Keyboards or other MIDI Controllers
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