Electronics > Projects, Designs, and Technical Stuff
120V COB LED as strobe light
dj_segfault:
I DJ casually, and built my own Arduino-based lighting controller. I recently built a lighting fixture that uses 120V 50W COB LEDs driven by solid state relays. They work fantastic as long as they have a big heat sink.
I got the idea from trying to make them flash quickly that maybe I could have the Arduino switch them on and off a few times a second to make a really bright strobe. Before I try it though, I'm wondering if that would create a lot of wear on the LEDs that will make them fail quickly. I assume the solid state relays would be fine. Am I right to be concerned, or will this be safe to do?
Thanks.
Zero999:
I doubt it will work. The relay is unlikely to be able to switch them on and off fast enough.
It could increase wear as every time they're turned on, the capacitor smoothing charges.
To strobe an LED, you need a bare LED, with no driver circuit. A mains powered LED, with a built-in driver will not be designed for strobing.
dj_segfault:
I didn't think a solid state relay would have a smoothing capacitor, but you're probably right that the driver circuit on the COB LED would not do well. Thanks.
Zero999:
--- Quote from: dj_segfault on May 30, 2019, 04:09:02 pm ---I didn't think a solid state relay would have a smoothing capacitor, but you're probably right that the driver circuit on the COB LED would not do well. Thanks.
--- End quote ---
No the relay won't have a smoothing capacitor, but the LED quite likely has one.
A solid state relay will most likely be the zero crossing type, so the shortest possible on time will be half of the mains cycle.
DaJMasta:
That said, if your LED driver has a control input, you may be able to use that. The driver itself with input switching probably can't manage more than a few Hz, tops, for toggling, but likely manages less, but if it's PWM capable, it can definitely switch the LEDs fast enough, you've just gotta see if it will accept a very slow control input. There's a chance it could be moddable into the existing circuit as well, but it's probably more effort than its worth since they're likely pretty tightly integrated, undocumented, and involve mains voltages.
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