Lighting LED strip & LEDs, only LEDs work??

Ask and answer questions, share tips and resources for installing lighting and other electronics in your models.

Moderators: Sparky, Moderators

Post Reply
User avatar
SJM
Posts: 3855
Joined: Thu Dec 08, 2005 6:23 am
Location: On top of a stepladder in No Man's Land smoking endless cigarettes through a luminous balaclava.

Lighting LED strip & LEDs, only LEDs work??

Post by SJM »

Hey, my lighting rig consists of a single strip of LED tape, and three conventional LED's but when all hooked up to a 9V bat only the three single LED's light up?

Any tips would be cool, thanks!
"Sometimes I wish I could boldly go where no man has gone before, but I'll probably stay in Aurora."

Tranya Addict.
nac359
Posts: 22
Joined: Mon Apr 30, 2012 11:33 am

Post by nac359 »

Can you post a picture on how you have it wired?
User avatar
SJM
Posts: 3855
Joined: Thu Dec 08, 2005 6:23 am
Location: On top of a stepladder in No Man's Land smoking endless cigarettes through a luminous balaclava.

Post by SJM »

nac359 wrote:Can you post a picture on how you have it wired?
I'd be embarrassed to.. I'm lighting two models concurrently (first time lighting) and it has gone perfectly so far. But I've tripped up on my second model that uses both LED tape and single LEDs. I'll attach a pic of my lighting system that I'm having problems with (it's not installed yet, and is a draft lighting system so pay no attention to the mess of noob lighting!)


http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff20 ... ae3801.jpg


http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff20 ... 14c713.jpg

Both the LED tape and the singles work but not together for some reason, I can't tell why.
"Sometimes I wish I could boldly go where no man has gone before, but I'll probably stay in Aurora."

Tranya Addict.
nac359
Posts: 22
Joined: Mon Apr 30, 2012 11:33 am

Post by nac359 »

It's a bit hard to see everything in the pictures, but I have a few thoughts.

1. The wires coming off of the led tape may be crossed, so you should 2x check and make sure they are wired correct and any exposed wire is not touching.

2. The LED tape might be the 12v kind. Were you able to check and see if its lights with 9v before installing it?

3. As a troubleshooting step I would try and light each section independently (3 LEDs at the same time and then the LED tape) to check the connections / components and then reconnect.

Sorry if you've tried these steps before, but its all I can see that could be wrong.
User avatar
SJM
Posts: 3855
Joined: Thu Dec 08, 2005 6:23 am
Location: On top of a stepladder in No Man's Land smoking endless cigarettes through a luminous balaclava.

Post by SJM »

Thanks for your reply!

Both the LED tape and the singles work perfectly (separately)
I will double check but I'm sure my connections were ok. Since it's a draft system ill tidy up some of the wires and try again maybe I'm missing something if crossed wires could be the only problem.

It's not a case of insufficient power for both the tape and the LEDs is it?
I have three white LEDs/resistors for each +LED tape with a 9v bat

As I say ill double check, thanks anyway!!
"Sometimes I wish I could boldly go where no man has gone before, but I'll probably stay in Aurora."

Tranya Addict.
User avatar
brt
Posts: 1890
Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2008 6:04 pm
Location: Waiting for the Mothership

Post by brt »

Are the LEDs wired in parallel or series with the strip? Series will eat up the voltage so that both won't light and parallel might have resistance issues if the resistance isn't equal between the strip and other LEDs. Try having the LEDs and strip have there own feed from the battery.
User avatar
SJM
Posts: 3855
Joined: Thu Dec 08, 2005 6:23 am
Location: On top of a stepladder in No Man's Land smoking endless cigarettes through a luminous balaclava.

Post by SJM »

Thanks I'll give it a shot!
"Sometimes I wish I could boldly go where no man has gone before, but I'll probably stay in Aurora."

Tranya Addict.
User avatar
chiver
Posts: 645
Joined: Wed Feb 08, 2012 5:25 pm
Location: Trenton

Post by chiver »

Don't forget, that the LED strip has resistors built into it. You may be putting to much resistance into the circuit especially if the LEDs each have one resistor per light.
KEEP CALM AND CHIVE ON!!!
User avatar
SJM
Posts: 3855
Joined: Thu Dec 08, 2005 6:23 am
Location: On top of a stepladder in No Man's Land smoking endless cigarettes through a luminous balaclava.

Post by SJM »

well thanks for all the tips guys, but in the end I couldn't get to the bottom of it because I couldn't get any information on the resistors from the supplier. No matter, I simply used two separate power sources for the landing lights and the core. Here's a dry fit light test.

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff20 ... cf08ef.jpg

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff20 ... 419c30.jpg

Light block and paint next!
"Sometimes I wish I could boldly go where no man has gone before, but I'll probably stay in Aurora."

Tranya Addict.
User avatar
brt
Posts: 1890
Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2008 6:04 pm
Location: Waiting for the Mothership

Post by brt »

Two sources is as good as anything else. Looks nice.
User avatar
chiver
Posts: 645
Joined: Wed Feb 08, 2012 5:25 pm
Location: Trenton

Post by chiver »

It dose look nice
KEEP CALM AND CHIVE ON!!!
User avatar
SJM
Posts: 3855
Joined: Thu Dec 08, 2005 6:23 am
Location: On top of a stepladder in No Man's Land smoking endless cigarettes through a luminous balaclava.

Post by SJM »

Thanks, just needs glue paint (in the mail) Ignore the wobbly engine core, it's a dry fit for now.
Thanks for your help guys, I'll post some finished pics in the next couple of days hope you check em out!
"Sometimes I wish I could boldly go where no man has gone before, but I'll probably stay in Aurora."

Tranya Addict.
Post Reply