Cheap LEDs

[BenEdwards]

Hi. over the last few years ivebeen playing with cheap eBay LEDs. Thought I would share my experience. Be good to here from others.

 

Don't seem to be able to get the include images working on this forum so am including links.

 

The ones I had the most luck with were these - https://www.dropbox.com/s/5yq5jjlgte6y61a/54_plastic.jpg?dl=0. The fan noise is not too bad (we have used them for theatre, six 6m up). Think they were around £40 each but difficult to find now (you can get them from China only currently). The noise can vary a bit between different ones.

 

I also tried a metal version that were around £60, thinking the fan would be quieter, but it was a lot noisier and they were unusable - https://www.dropbox.com/s/9ttt6aorqa5yzc3/54_metal.jpg?dl=0

 

On both of these the white LEDs were on the edge (RGBW) and were useless for mixing as they were wider, so they really should be considered RGB.

 

For these two I used 2 crossed over on an 8m wide stage and they gave a reasonable wash.

 

And yes, the colour quality is not brilliant but you can get good primary/secondary and a few others (including a nice deep amber and rose).

 

Recently I got one of these - https://www.dropbox.com/s/gbsekdgazv2nsgv/quat_colour.jpg?dl=0. I thought they would be better as they have 9 RGMW quad colour LEDs but they are awfull. noisy and under half the output of the above. Also, the primary does not seem good so the colour quality is not as good as the above.

 

Anyway would love to here from anyone else who has had good experiences of this type of thing, love ot know if there are significuntly better ones around the £75-£100 range.

[Gerry]

I think it would have been a good idea to give the make/ model and supplier of each of the lights you have looked at.

Many make/ models look similar but have vastly different light output/ beam spread/ colour intensity etc.

Cheers

Gerry

[timsabre]

I got 8 18 x 10W RGBW units from an aliexpress supplier recently

 

They were about £75 each including import tax if you bought them in 8's (seem to be a bit more now). They are also to be found on ebay but a bit more expensive.

 

They are very bright and have a nicely defined beam of about 40 degrees, but the fans were noisy and I've fitted an inline resistor to slow them down. In appearance and light output they are identical to the LEDJ Performer 18 Quad (https://www.djkit.co...er-18-quad.html), however the software is obviously different as the DMX channels are a bit weird and the menu is not the same.

[bigclive]

I took a few of the cheap LED PARs apart and the circuitry was stunningly minimalist. The power supplies were basic and didn't inspire confidence as regards 240V side versus DMX network side, but the most perplexing thing was the apparent lack of current limiting through the LEDs. The units seemed to rely on circuit resistance and then prescale the PWM to control the dissipation.

[BenEdwards]

I think it would have been a good idea to give the make/ model and supplier of each of the lights you have looked at.

Many make/ models look similar but have vastly different light output/ beam spread/ colour intensity etc.

Cheers

Gerry

 

Not really somethng posiblewit hthe cheap ebay stuff. They dont tend to have make/models and sellers constantly change. Thats why I posted images.

 

I should add they shuold always be pat tested and changing leads (if built in) is a good idea.

 

I took a few of the cheap LED PARs apart and the circuitry was stunningly minimalist. The power supplies were basic and didn't inspire confidence as regards 240V side versus DMX network side, but the most perplexing thing was the apparent lack of current limiting through the LEDs. The units seemed to rely on circuit resistance and then prescale the PWM to control the dissipation.

 

We have our on there own opticaly isolated split chains. What I was interested in was going to the next level and seing if it was posible to get a proper unit with simeler output for, say, £100 eatch. Will post another thread.

[timsabre]

The ones I mentioned above have good electronics, a mains to 48v power block then a constant current driver for each colour based on nat semi simple switchers.