I understand that most intelligent lights have some form of motherboard or circuitry in them that operates within certain voltages , but might there be any way to hack a scanner or moving head that's already using a led with one that can provide a brighter output. I do understand that the contrast of colors would most likely be affected, but just wondering
Upgrading led chips inside of a scanner or moving light
- Thread starterJohn Noah
- Start date
Anything is possible. However, the LED is only a small part of the design. The power supply may not be up to the task of driving the new LED. Changes to heat dissipation could be a problem for the fixture. Finding identical optics could also be a challenge. In any event, hacks like this would void any safety ratings and warranties.
BernsBright
Member
The operation of LEDs, particularly those used in entertainment lighting, are far more complicated than you might realize. With your standard incandescent/halogen lamp, apply voltage and you get light. Too much voltage and you get a burn out. A dimmer can be used for managing that voltage by manipulating and truncating the waveform.
LEDs, though, require specific pulses of voltage at specific frequencies. The lumen output is the result of managing the electrical behavior, and mismanagement could result in anything from odd color/color shifting, flickering during dimming, or even overheating issues.
So would light come out the other end of the instrument if you retrofitted a different LED onto the board. Probably. Even if only briefly. A successful upgrade would probably also involve updating a number of chips within the instrument to alter their code. These chips determine how the DMX signal gets processed and how the received control signal is transmitted to the LED driver. There's more chips to rewrite in the LED driver for controlling the voltage and frequency.
I'm ok with letting the engineers and designers work out those details, but if you want to join their ranks, then this is a great project to get you into the world of fixture design.
Good Luck!
LEDs, though, require specific pulses of voltage at specific frequencies. The lumen output is the result of managing the electrical behavior, and mismanagement could result in anything from odd color/color shifting, flickering during dimming, or even overheating issues.
So would light come out the other end of the instrument if you retrofitted a different LED onto the board. Probably. Even if only briefly. A successful upgrade would probably also involve updating a number of chips within the instrument to alter their code. These chips determine how the DMX signal gets processed and how the received control signal is transmitted to the LED driver. There's more chips to rewrite in the LED driver for controlling the voltage and frequency.
I'm ok with letting the engineers and designers work out those details, but if you want to join their ranks, then this is a great project to get you into the world of fixture design.
Good Luck!
porkchop
Well-Known Member
You could certainly try. If I was going to do this, instead of an existing LED fixture with a relatively smaller size and higher price, I'd probably try to acquire a cheap older fixture (like Clay Paky MiniScan 220's) to gut and retrofit as I desired. Really bright LED's require a lot of cooling and fixtures made for arc lamps will have the space (and fans) you need to do that.
It's not just the voltages - LEDs tend to have a near constant voltage drop - the other resistance in the circuit provide the primary reaction to variations in input voltage. Since the voltage across the LED is basically the same whenever the LED is on, the current of the circuit controls the output power of the LED. The (average) current is most often controlled using pulse width modulation (PWM) - the LED is on for a varying fraction of a fixed frequency square wave signal.
As others have stated finding LEDs compatable with all the various factors of your particular instrument would be quite a challenge. If you want to pursue a hobby or career in electronics design, it might be a fun and enducational project; if you're looking to save money on upgrading entertainment lighting, look elsewhere.
JD
Well-Known Member
I would not recommend it. Here's why-
A lot of design work goes into chip drive, optics, cooling, etc. The result is you will probably have something that puts out light, maybe more light, but there is no way to calculate the reliability or quirks of the retrofit. Ultimately, you would use the device in a show and that would be a bad time to learn what design oversight may have occurred.
That being said, I often wonder if some of the super cheap equipment from China has had much more design effort put into it.
If you really want to give it a try, I would play with the finished product for several months before actually using it in the field. Remember, whatever the finished product turns out like, it would have no certification or electrical safety rating.
A lot of design work goes into chip drive, optics, cooling, etc. The result is you will probably have something that puts out light, maybe more light, but there is no way to calculate the reliability or quirks of the retrofit. Ultimately, you would use the device in a show and that would be a bad time to learn what design oversight may have occurred.
That being said, I often wonder if some of the super cheap equipment from China has had much more design effort put into it.
If you really want to give it a try, I would play with the finished product for several months before actually using it in the field. Remember, whatever the finished product turns out like, it would have no certification or electrical safety rating.
The hardest part of this is the mechanical design. A significant amount of heat has to be conducted away from the very small surface area of the LEDs with high thermal efficiency. That is not an easy thing to do. Most of us can't design and manufacture the hardware to do it in our basement.
John, it has been correctly pointed out that the entertainment LEDs, multi-coloured LEDs have a very different mode of operation as compared to regular lights or LEDs. They might require specific voltages and specific source currents for various colours and brightness. Some LEDs require different frequencies of signal for different modes of operation. The circuitry therefore is only as complicated as the desired function mostly.
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