Recommend a controller for cheap RGB LED strip lights

@Ravenbar Two comments / thoughts:
1; EASY to believe you can release smoke via CAT cables; thin and of light gauge though they may be, they're still capable of passing considerably high / perilously hazardous voltages even if of comparatively low currents.
2; Are your control chips socketed by any lucky chance?
@Ford Any chance we can drag you into this thread??
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard

Not hard to believe the CAT cable could pass that type of power, hard to believe it did so, while still being able to pass a dmx signal. For that to happen, the power would have gone into the mosfet on the "high(12v)" side, and exited on the signal pin back to the control chip, then into the DMX output, to get to the CAT cable.

Not socketed, and no identifying numbers on the chips either.

New controllers are already ordered and will be here Tuesday. They are just cheap controllers. Was just hoping to be able to fix it/them.
 
Upon further investigation, it appears the mosfets are fine and it's the control chip that's taken the hit. So yup, unit is toast.

Still not convinced the other one is also. Didn't bring that one home. Seems hard to believe the other unit took that hard of a hit via a RJ45, when both units still passed DMX data through. I hooked a small dimmer pack up downstream of them after and it responded as expected.

I think you might find that the in and out of the DMX is just fed through and a tap off it to the dmx chip. at least that is what I have discovered in some of those boxes
 
I think you might find that the in and out of the DMX is just fed through and a tap off it to the dmx chip. at least that is what I have discovered in some of those boxes

The XLR connections are set up like that. Can't tell for the CAT connections as the traces for those are under stuff. The way I had it set up was XLR in, CAT cable between boxes, Added a little dimmer pack downstream after and the boxes still passed signal through.
 
The XLR connections are set up like that. Can't tell for the CAT connections as the traces for those are under stuff. The way I had it set up was XLR in, CAT cable between boxes, Added a little dimmer pack downstream after and the boxes still passed signal through.

I would think the RJ45 ports would b the same but I could be proven wrong. according to my wife 99.9% of the time I am wrong and the 1% that I am right I am still wrong.
 

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