vaquero Posted January 25, 2014 Share Posted January 25, 2014 I replaced some old leds at a venue with some new 6 channel ones. The only way to isolate them from the mains was to switch off the desk! (a new one on me!) but even then, the display on the new lamps kept pulsing very dimly and the fans in them also pulsed. Once everything was powered up again, everything worked perfectly. I was expecting the mains power for the lights to simply be from the ring main but it would appear not. Do the Datapaks provide mains? Any clues would be great.Thanks all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boatman Posted January 25, 2014 Share Posted January 25, 2014 Datapaks are dimmers from Pulsar. LEDs need hard power. Plug your LEDs into hard power not dimmer circuits and you problem will be solved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vaquero Posted January 25, 2014 Author Share Posted January 25, 2014 Thank you, My issue then is this. The lamps are a mile away from the Datapak and the wiring is in a false ceiling so this is going to need brand new mains installing isn't it? Do you know if this pulsing is going to cause long term damage? I have simply replaced some old leds for some new ones but I know that there were par cans there originally. Datapaks are dimmers from Pulsar. LEDs need hard power. Plug your LEDs into hard power not dimmer circuits and you problem will be solved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boatman Posted January 25, 2014 Share Posted January 25, 2014 Thank you, My issue then is this. The lamps are a mile away from the Datapak and the wiring is in a false ceiling so this is going to need brand new mains installing isn't it? Do you know if this pulsing is going to cause long term damage? I have simply replaced some old leds for some new ones but I know that there were par cans there originally. Yes, it sounds like you'll have to install a new ring main. You might be lucky and the LEDs will be fine on dimmer power. Personally I wouldn't risk running LEDs from a dimmer circuit, but hey, they're your LEDs so it's your choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timsabre Posted January 25, 2014 Share Posted January 25, 2014 The pulsing is caused by a small leakage of power through the dimmers, all dimmers do this. This gradually charges up the LED power supply and eventually it comes on, but there isn't enough power to keep it running so it goes off again. Repeat. Surely the "mile of wiring" comes back to the dimmers, so you'd only need to wire this end into a switch or something instead of into the dimmers (obviously using a competent electrician to do this bit), you wouldn't need to rewire the whole thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david.elsbury Posted January 25, 2014 Share Posted January 25, 2014 Someone must have re run DMX to these leds... must be access somehow :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vaquero Posted January 25, 2014 Author Share Posted January 25, 2014 Thanks to all of you for the help. It's not my install so I am just going to report this to the people who asked me to change the leds to new ones. The Datapak is with the desk at the back of the venue and consequently quite a distance from the lamps. Removing the supply to the lamps from the Datapak and wiring to a permanent mains will be the best way and a good idea (thanks for that one). In the meantime, switching the power off to the Datapak whenever the desk is powered down will get me round this issue for now I'm assuming? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timsabre Posted January 25, 2014 Share Posted January 25, 2014 Yes it would Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigclive Posted January 25, 2014 Share Posted January 25, 2014 If the datapack is effectively being used as a switched supply to the original LED system then it's most likely the pulsing when off is due to leakage through the dimmers snubber networks. It's not a lot, but as Tim says it can charge up the power supply caps slowly until they try to turn on and then drain the charge in the caps again. The easiest fix for this is to add a very small resistive load to shunt the leakage to a lower voltage. It doesn't have to be a high load. It could just be a 15 or 25 Watt tungsten lamp in parallel with the LED fixture. Running electronics from a dimmer isn't ideal though. One day they may actually get dimmed instead of switched and that could cause damage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vaquero Posted January 25, 2014 Author Share Posted January 25, 2014 Thanks to everyone for your help. Big up to Blue Room http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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