LED light gauge requirements.

holtneil

holtneil

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Hi mate I used the hobby king PDB and I just made a loom from all the LEDs to the JST connector on the power board, thats whats it made for just dont go over 12v or use a step down ,run as close to 12v as you can the light are nice and bright
 
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Dave M

Well-Known Member
@holtneil great so I plan on doing the same. by loom you mean putting the wires together and making them all 1 single wire to connect to the jst right? so the jst off the HK PDB does run 12v even if the battery is a 4s, correct me if im wrong. thanks!
 
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Dave M

Well-Known Member
@GJH105775 great thanks for that tip, I didn't know it was a piece that changed voltage . I looked at the page, saved it as a tab, will be very usful thanks!

one more thing. what do you mean by this "If you have the LED strip just apply 5v to it and see how it does, if not bright enough that step-down in your link will do just great". Is that in case I plan on using the PDB JST port or if I am using the stepdown already?
 
GJH105775

GJH105775

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If you the step down you sent in this link, you could have 12v. Or you could rob 5v from your flight controller. Just to see if the 5v is bright enough for you, the `12v will be a lot brighter though.
 
GJH105775

GJH105775

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Exactly what @Jackson said. Also make sure it does not get above 12, and that the step down is not getting too hot. You normally figure input voltage to be at least 2v higher than output (for consistency), and you try to keep the in and out as close as possible to avoid heat. it should be able to adjust without very much heat, just check that when you first connect it.


Edit:
The one @Jackson linked will do just fine, it may get a little warmer, as they used a slightly different method. It is nice and cheap with free shipping so it is also more affordable.

Also if you connect it you should have 1x 12v+ and 3xneutral (one for each colour). Many people try wiring it the other way, but you won't get any light as diodes only allow power to go one way.
 
Last edited:
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Dave M

Well-Known Member
good info! @Jackson ill be getting that one then. I have a all the tools I just need to take an electrics class at some college hah I will be doing that very soon

@GJH105775 Ive been reading for days on the electrical stuff of quads, preparing for when I get the rest of the parts, and I am still confused on a few things. mainly what you just said, where I need to have neutral wires. for LEDs ive read that the positive wire is all you need, but then in a diagram ive seen it shows the negative wire connected to the battery(in my case the standoff will be in between). but since I am using a PDB I guess the standoff will instead be in between the PDB and the LEDs. but I am also using a turnigy receiver switch, which adds to the confusion a bit although I am not scared away by it. so pretty much this is what I had in mind for the connections:

4s Battery -> PDB -> Standoff -> -/+ Led wires Leds
for the above diagram, how would the 3x neutral wires fit in. that diagram was without the turnigy receiver switch

This one is with the Turnigy receiver switch:
4s Batt -> PDB -> UBEC(esc) -> T receiver switch positive wire only -> T receiver switch -> Standoff -> LEDs

then I connect the black LED wire straight to the ubec? how do the 3x neutral wires fit in? now that I am thinking about it. I probably don't even need to use the ubec. the PDB JST is the only thing rigjt? im thinking on this too much.

I understand that what I wrote may be extremely confusing but I it makes sense and there is an easier way to do it then let me know. lol I need to know how wrong I am

thanks for the help guys
 
GJH105775

GJH105775

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Dave M said:
good info! @Jackson ill be getting that one then. I have a all the tools I just need to take an electrics class at some college hah I will be doing that very soon

@GJH105775 Ive been reading for days on the electrical stuff of quads, preparing for when I get the rest of the parts, and I am still confused on a few things. mainly what you just said, where I need to have neutral wires. for LEDs ive read that the positive wire is all you need, but then in a diagram ive seen it shows the negative wire connected to the battery(in my case the standoff will be in between). but since I am using a PDB I guess the standoff will instead be in between the PDB and the LEDs. but I am also using a turnigy receiver switch, which adds to the confusion a bit although I am not scared away by it. so pretty much this is what I had in mind for the connections:

4s Battery -> PDB -> Standoff -> -/+ Led wires Leds
for the above diagram, how would the 3x neutral wires fit in. that diagram was without the turnigy receiver switch

This one is with the Turnigy receiver switch:
4s Batt -> PDB -> UBEC(esc) -> T receiver switch positive wire only -> T receiver switch -> Standoff -> LEDs

then I connect the black LED wire straight to the ubec? how do the 3x neutral wires fit in? now that I am thinking about it. I probably don't even need to use the ubec. the PDB JST is the only thing rigjt? im thinking on this too much.

I understand that what I wrote may be extremely confusing but I it makes sense and there is an easier way to do it then let me know. lol I need to know how wrong I am

thanks for the help guys
Click to expand...

You need one 12v+ to go into the white part of the strip and a ground (this is assuming it is for a colour changing strip and not a single colour, I forgot to mention that). Otherwise it is the other was around.


Anyways, wait until you get the parts you need and it'll be easy to see how to wire it, if not just ask :).
 
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Dave M

Well-Known Member
@GJH105775 this is for the single color although the info provided is useful. how would it work for a single color strip? do things change?

also when you say the "white" part do you mean the strip itself, the standoff or the battery? also the grounding, that's whats killing me. I didn't know we had to ground the leds lol. now that ive watched a ton of vids and read a lot on sites, I see grounding mentioned everywhere

ok so what I gathered is that from the battery's own balance connector, I need to use the multimeter to find the 12v wire right? then I connect a 24-30 awg wire from that 12v directly to the positive led right? I am using this turnigy receiver switch also. I found the turnigy switch diagram that the red LED wire is connected to the switch and then the switch being routed to the esc's( I wont be using the "switch to esc(ubec)" method due to the existing JST on the PDB.
 
GJH105775

GJH105775

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Ground = Neutral, AKA negative. So you have a 12v+ and a 12v- lead that gets plugged in/soldered.
 
GJH105775

GJH105775

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Moderator
The mutimeter is to adjust the voltage from the stepdown to be a little under 12v. You plug the ~15volts from your battery(or power distribution board) into the input on the step-down regulator/transformer. Then you take the positive and negative leads of the muti-meter to the out on the step-down. You turn the little screw until you are reading a little lower than 12v.
 
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Dave M

Well-Known Member
@GJH105775 understood. The bit about the negative =neutral clears so much up. and it all makes sense.

now how would I factor in the turnigy receiver switch?

im looking up online as well, but if you could clear it up then it would save me time
 
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Dave M

Well-Known Member
@GJH105775
this is it.

also I am going to use this servo splitter lead for my leds. but it has 3 female sockets while the leds only use 2 cables red & black
can I just connect the red and black cables using 2 pin jst's or will it cause problems with the existing white wire on the servo lead splitter and the standoff. thanks a lot for the help and patience! I just don't want to short my quad dyi project lol
 
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