Christmas Light Power Supply Question

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  • shovenose
    Send Doge Memes
    • Aug 2010
    • 6575
    • USA

    #1

    Christmas Light Power Supply Question

    Hi all,
    I have a cheap rainbow christmas light set off Amazon which has this little power supply that has a button to change modes. I had a white set with the same power supply that I returned but I can't find any other rainbow themed ones that don't use this setup.

    Anyway, the problem is every time you unplug them and then plug them in it reverts back to "Combination" mode which cycles through all these annoying tacky effects instead of going back to what you had selected or at least defaulting to "Steady on" which is what I want. So I'm thinking I can just find any approximately 30V DC power supply and use that instead, but I'm wondering if that actually works. How does the power supply communicate to the LEDs which effect to use? I tried to use my multi-meter but the battery is dead and I don't have any other 9V batteries so I can't tell what it's doing.

    Thanks for any input.

    Edit: I went on Amazon and there are "steady on" versions of these power adapters but they have this note: "This item only with steady on mode, it is only replace for 30V 0.4A led transformer with steady on, it can't replace for 30V 0.4A led transformer with 8 lighting mode with multiple settings. If your original transformer is multiple settings, please go to our store and choose a right multiple settings one to replace it."

    And there are reviews stating that people tried to replace their 8-mode one with the steady-only one and it caused only every other LED to light up. So confused!
    Last edited by shovenose; 12-08-2023, 10:20 AM.
  • stj
    Great Sage 齊天大聖
    • Dec 2009
    • 30915
    • Albion

    #2
    check big clive on utube.
    he's opened a few of those - one had an eeprom to save the settings

    they are multiplexed and you need AC to light all of them

    Comment

    • stj
      Great Sage 齊天大聖
      • Dec 2009
      • 30915
      • Albion

      #3
      https://yt.artemislena.eu/watch?v=ajnw_b8FBRU

      Comment

      • shovenose
        Send Doge Memes
        • Aug 2010
        • 6575
        • USA

        #4
        Originally posted by stj
        check big clive on utube.
        he's opened a few of those - one had an eeprom to save the settings

        they are multiplexed and you need AC to light all of them
        That link to the YouTube video was broken, should have been this one it seems: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajnw_b8FBRU

        Anyway, I did watch it and determined that I'm still lost and confused haha.

        Are you saying I should find a 30V AC power adapter instead of a 30V DC power supply and it will do what I want with the solid on? Then again searching for 30V AC power supply on Amazon or eBay seems like a lost cause because they are all 30V DC output.

        Thank you!
        Last edited by shovenose; 12-12-2023, 09:26 AM.

        Comment

        • sam_sam_sam
          Badcaps Legend
          • Jul 2011
          • 6018
          • USA

          #5
          See if can find a 36 volt transformer and take a few secondary winding off of it to make it 30 volts ac transform but make sure that it has two separate winding that are separate from each other it is a lot easier to deal with
          Last edited by sam_sam_sam; 12-12-2023, 11:22 AM.

          Comment

          • stj
            Great Sage 齊天大聖
            • Dec 2009
            • 30915
            • Albion

            #6
            use a 24v ac transformer - or 28v
            or open your psu and see if it has a space for the 24c02 eeprom to hold the settings

            Comment

            • shovenose
              Send Doge Memes
              • Aug 2010
              • 6575
              • USA

              #7
              Thanks, I'll see what I can come up with.

              Comment

              • shovenose
                Send Doge Memes
                • Aug 2010
                • 6575
                • USA

                #8
                OK, I ended up buying one of these, and it works OK: https://www.ebay.com/itm/355009768127

                Only thing is it has a slight flicker to it. It's not obvious - only out of the corner of my eye vs if I look directly at it, and I think it's simply the 60Hz of it all, but it didn't have this flicker with the original power supply being on "solid on" mode. What did they do differently in there to make it not flicker? Is it because it's only 24V instead of the 29V the original one was?

                Comment

                • stj
                  Great Sage 齊天大聖
                  • Dec 2009
                  • 30915
                  • Albion

                  #9
                  the original supply probably switched it much faster - probably KHz range

                  Comment

                  • shovenose
                    Send Doge Memes
                    • Aug 2010
                    • 6575
                    • USA

                    #10
                    Originally posted by stj
                    the original supply probably switched it much faster - probably KHz range
                    Gotcha. Guess it is what it is. Thanks.

                    Comment

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