RobertB 14 Posted November 3, 2015 Report Share Posted November 3, 2015 I am changing out my spiral tree this year from incans to LEDs. I have cool white "full wave" GE m5's and red & green "half waves" that I picked up from local Walgreen stores. I picked up the Walgreen LEDs because I had used them in some other artificial trees in my display with great success. They seemed to dim ok, but honestly since they are towards the back of the display... I haven't honestly paid that close of attention to them. Even in my videos. Since this spiral tree is in the very front and it will have lots of "dimming" (nature of a spiral tree), it kind of worries me about the dimming. I have used snubbers on some other trees and seemed to work well. However after doing some reading, I worry a little that they might not be enough. What are your thoughts on this? I am really running out of time to build or put a lot of time in converting. I need to just be putting things up. Thoughts? Also, if snubbers would work.... values of resistors you think? Just plug them in on the ends would work? Link to post Share on other sites
Takoda 23 Posted November 3, 2015 Report Share Posted November 3, 2015 Interesting question. Never tired it but I would think mixing full wave and half wave LED on the same tree would certainly show different dimming. I can go into a big box store and see the flickering of half wave LEDs in their displays. Can only imagine how they would respond to dimming. Since you are running out of time (as we all are) I would tend to dump the half wave LEDs and go find a better fit to match the cool wave. Doing otherwise might find you spending the season looking at a tree you don't like. Just my opinion. Link to post Share on other sites
RobertB 14 Posted November 3, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 3, 2015 Yeah.... Unfortunately that won't be an option. I will just have to do some static "On / Off" effects with red and green if I have to. Use the pixel tree for spinning. Otherwise....cool white should do fine for spins. Really want it all though ;-) Link to post Share on other sites
merrymidget 42 Posted November 3, 2015 Report Share Posted November 3, 2015 I would be more concerned with dimming the full wave GE sets,as those use capacitors in the male plug.Capacitors generally do not fare well with anything other than on/off.Guess you were not around here back in 2007/2008 when many here experienced using capacitor type led sets and had major problems with trying to use those on controllers......pops,bang,smoke,and even fires were experienced.Look back in the old posts for more info,it was a disaster for all involved. Link to post Share on other sites
RobertB 14 Posted November 3, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 3, 2015 That's odd on the GE's. I have used those particular ones for year. If you look in my videos, all of what looks to be bushes against the hose... actually Christmas trees... seemed to do fine with them. I guess I need to stick a controller on them and see what they do compared to the others. Link to post Share on other sites
merrymidget 42 Posted November 3, 2015 Report Share Posted November 3, 2015 GE actually markets 2 different lines of LED strings,the less expensive line uses regular sized male plugs and is half wave,their "energy smart" line uses the longer male plugs{very distinctive looking compared to a regular mini light string plug,about 2X as long} that contains the electronics for full wave rectification that has/had used capacitors.The Martha Stewart and Ecosmart brands use the same setup.I would suggest calling GE hotline to ask about dimming,but chances are you will just reach a inexperienced operator that types your question into their database and spits out a canned answer. Link to post Share on other sites
RobertB 14 Posted November 4, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 4, 2015 Ok. Back to the original question. Will snubbers work for this? Link to post Share on other sites
Takoda 23 Posted November 4, 2015 Report Share Posted November 4, 2015 Hey Robert, as I review your original question, not sure what you are hoping the snubbers will do. The intent of the "snubber" is to discharge the parasitic capacitance that is present in all LEDs. This capacitance doesn't allow the voltage to reach zero when a channel is turned off so many people reported their LEDs would not turn completely off. The snubber fixed this. If you have gen3 LOR products, they include a snubber type circuit so it doesn't have to be added to the string. So if your concern is about the channel turning off and you have older LOR controllers (< gen3) then a snubber will help. If you are trying to change the fade rate, they won't. Link to post Share on other sites
RobertB 14 Posted November 4, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 4, 2015 Thanks Takoda for the answer. I think you did answer my initial question, whether I asked it right or not. ;-) I wanted to avoid having to make rectifiers for the half wave LEDs I have. Sounds like it won't. I wonder though, will this help the issues that half wave LEDs have vs. Full Wave? Link to post Share on other sites
jciuffo 10 Posted January 29, 2016 Report Share Posted January 29, 2016 Does anybody know how to build a Snubber? Link to post Share on other sites
RobertB 14 Posted January 29, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2016 If you you do a search here on the forum you find a number. The "Glade Plugins" actually work well. All you need to do is have a male plug, maybe off a old set of incan lights, and put a resistor across the wires. Play with the resistor values to find what works well for you. You just need to plug it in the line on that particular set of lights. Link to post Share on other sites
gmac 32 Posted January 29, 2016 Report Share Posted January 29, 2016 I built mine using an old C9 that I just plugged into the end of the string .........Worked perfect! Link to post Share on other sites
EWTalley 18 Posted January 29, 2016 Report Share Posted January 29, 2016 How to make a snubber? Try here http://forums.planet...ubbers-to-make/ Link to post Share on other sites
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