Lighting LED strip & LEDs, only LEDs work??

SJM · Post by **SJM** » Wed Mar 12, 2014 9:10 pm

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!

nac359 · Post by **nac359** » Thu Mar 13, 2014 12:05 am

Can you post a picture on how you have it wired?

SJM · Post by **SJM** » Thu Mar 13, 2014 2:24 am

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.

nac359 · Post by **nac359** » Thu Mar 13, 2014 8:32 am

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.

SJM · Post by **SJM** » Thu Mar 13, 2014 8:39 am

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!!

brt · Post by **brt** » Thu Mar 13, 2014 8:51 am

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.

SJM · Post by **SJM** » Thu Mar 13, 2014 8:53 am

Thanks I'll give it a shot!

chiver · Post by **chiver** » Thu Mar 13, 2014 2:15 pm

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.

SJM · Post by **SJM** » Mon Mar 17, 2014 7:57 pm

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!

brt · Post by **brt** » Mon Mar 17, 2014 9:54 pm

Two sources is as good as anything else. Looks nice.

chiver · Post by **chiver** » Mon Mar 17, 2014 10:47 pm

It dose look nice

SJM · Post by **SJM** » Tue Mar 18, 2014 9:54 am

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!