Steve T Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 I have 2 dynam models fitted with LED nav light, a WACO biplane and a Hurricane. A slight mob was required on the Hurricane, 2 red LED's on port wing, 1 on wingtip, 1 on leading edge, fine! Starboard, green on wingtip, red on leading edge...oops! simple replacement with a green from old Xmas lights. Both models have wires from each LED, black and red, so 4 sets of wires. Now my question, how do I connect them/what do I connect them to? My electrical knowledge tells me to simply graft them to any power supplied black/brown and red wires? Dynam don't even mention their existence in either set of instructions. I'm not sure if I can graft to just any servo wires as surely they are unpowered until I send a signal from the tx, that leaves the battery or esc wires which are considerably heavier gauge. Clue me in please ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 Hi Steve, First thing to note is that any led must have a resistor in series before you connect it to power otherwise the led will blow, so check this. Given that it has a suitable resistor then simply connect them all to the +ve & -ve supply. This can be found on any servo connector, +ve is the centre pin,, -ve is the brown or black wire. Connect all the leds in parallel, ie all +ves together and all -ves together. If you get any the wrong way around it won't do any harm, the led will just not work. Andrew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve T Posted February 24, 2014 Author Share Posted February 24, 2014 Got it, thanks, I was nearly there, just needed a leg up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Bernard Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 Steve, I am not clear from your question as to whether the wires you are asking about are direct from the LEDs or from the controller - normally a controller board would drive the LEDs to distribute the voltage and give you get the flashing beacons etc. If it is the wires to a controller board you are talking about then as Andrew says it is just a case of wiring each pair together - but you may find that the output from the LEDs is not as bright as there are now 2 LEDs being driven from each output, in which case you will need to drop the value of the output resistor. IF you are talking about connecting the LEDs directly to the receiver, then again as Andrew says you MUST make sure that you have a suitable resistor in the circuit between the LED and Rx supply. Usually we are talking about a fairly low value e.g. 80 ohm, but there are plenty of online calculators to help you e.g. here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Green Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 Whilst you can usually get away with parallelled idendical leds off a common resistor, you cant parallel different colours on a common resistor as they dont have the same vf, you need separate series resistors, then parallel the whole caboosh. Cheers Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Bennett Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 Posted by Steve T on 24/02/2014 12:37:49: I have 2 dynam models fitted with LED nav light, a WACO biplane and a Hurricane. A slight mob was required on the Hurricane, 2 red LED's on port wing, 1 on wingtip, 1 on leading edge, fine! Starboard, green on wingtip, red on leading edge...oops! simple replacement with a green from old Xmas lights. ... I can't find any mention of lights on Dynam's web site (can't find your models either), so did these come with the models, or are they 3rd-party extras? And do they have any kind of central controller board to make them flash, or so that they can be switched on and off from your trannie? As others have mentioned, each LED needs a resistor (or current-limiter) in series with it, otherwise they'll blow when you power them up. And each different colour may need a different value resistor, depending on its voltage, mA rating, and supply voltage. Some LEDs you can buy have resistors or current regulators designed for use directly from a 3S LiPo, whilst others are designed to work from the 5v receiver supply. And there's no saying what voltage your Xmas tree light is designed for If the lights come with a controller board, they probably just plug into a spare slot in your receiver. A photo of what you've got might help us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve T Posted February 25, 2014 Author Share Posted February 25, 2014 This is where all my problems are with these lights. They are pre-fitted, routed into the wings along with the aileron wires. There is no controller board/box, just 4 black and red paired wires flapping around in the fuselage. I find it amazing that these companies supply an almost built kit and take it for granted that everyone will know what to do! I was also unaware of the LED's until I unpacked the box. The Bipe is a WACO YMF-5D and the Hurricane has just DY8966 for id. To prove I am not in the advanced stages of 'oldtimers' I have just sat and re-read every word in the instruction sheets ( not difficult with the Hurricane it basically says 'put it all together', waste of time. The xmas light was part a 99p set with two AA batteries, no controller, just an on/off switch. If this is the way of things then 99andabit% of purchasers must just say 'sod it' and leave them as pointless ornaments. more than a tidge frustrating though ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve T Posted February 25, 2014 Author Share Posted February 25, 2014 I spent the morning on experimental 'common sense' basic wiring to find an easy answer, which of course was a complete waste of time until I had that engineering inspiration ! I said 'sod this nonsense' , I snipped off the supplied LED's . Replaced with....the 99p Xmas lights from Family Bargains. They sell 15 red or 15 multicoloured, with a little battery compartment taking 2 AA's. Grafted them to the wires in the wings then soldered all blacks and red together in the fuselage, soldered to two wires from switched battery holder. Result, working LED's for 99p done in about 15 minutes. Now they take no drain from my flight battery and I can choose when to activate them. I put the battery compartment on the C of G, did a retest and found everything pretty much ok, they weigh very little so didn't expect anything different. No they do not flash or perform any pretty pattern but they work and are reasonably bright in daylight. Thank you very much to those who responded, I think the forum is brilliant, everyone really does want to help and it is now my first port of call when I'm lost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Bennett Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 Well done, that's a good solution and, at 99p, way cheaper than any dedicated RC lighting set Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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