Memory hack for new 2-wire LED Christmas fairy light controller.
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- Опубліковано 6 січ 2016
- The newer LED controllers for LED Christmas lights use alternating polarity to drive two channels of LED lights. This means it's not possible to bypass the controller internally to stop the lights flashing.
When you realise why these controllers don't store their last setting it is quite annoying. It's merely the omission of a single cheap memory chip from the controller, which does have a space for it. On many sets the memory function is in place, so this is clearly an optional "value added feature".
Putting the chip in does require quite destructive opening of the case and the soldering in of a tiny surface mount memory chip. This makes it a project best suited to the electronically inclined.
The chip required is a 24C02B although I used a 24C02N. It's a very common low level EEPROM memory chip. - Наука та технологія
Fascinating! I thought I was the only one who hated the inability to keep the steady light, several neighbours even said they preferred cycling through the patterns, so I gave up hating it. Then I hated coloured preferring white, but again out voted. Now I have the option of steady white. Thank you!
5 years later still no memory in led fairy lights. I can understand the cost saving factor but why not just make always on the first setting as it's what you want 90% of the time!?
Just bought a few cheap sets in the sale from Argos and they all seem to have memory on them, whereas another online only retailer is blaming the lack of memory on semiconductor shortages 🤔
Thank you Clive! Successfully butchered the controller over the weekend and soldered on the EEPROM. No more disco-tree!
Finally got around to installing this chip. Brilliant, now I have my outside lights on a timer and no need to mess around with the mode button. Thanks Clive.
Thankyou for the detailed explanation of the wiring, I was wondering how these lights are able to work with just only 2 wires going out of the controller, now it all makes sense after seeing your explanation.
Thanks for this, just got 200 and 500 LED versions, was wondering how the 2 wire connection worked! Now I want to hook it up to my Raspberry Pi somehow...
Thanks for bringing this to my attention Clive, my house is now 100% more christmassy as I couldn't be bothered to put the lights on previously, since they always start on some seizure inducing disco strobe setting and pressing through the settings was a chore.
2 minutes separating the cases with a stanley, 4 hours tidying my man-cave while looking for a serial EEPROM and a few minutes to fit one and gluing the cases again and we're all set.
I would like to add that it would appear that the EEPROM doesn't necessarily need to be a 24C02 in these (CZ) JUTAI units, I used a 24C16 as it was the first thing I happened across, and the addressing of serial EEPROMs would suggest this would work with anything from a 24C01 to a 24C32, as higher address bits will just be ignored.
this caught me by surprise as I bought some in the discount rack as there was no transformer. found an old 30vac plug pack and added a bridge rectifier and only half worked. I ended up just running them on the ac at 50hz. not too bad as long as you don't move your eyes when looking at them. thanks Clive
Lovely! I really love these videos, not for the thrill of you working with live wires, but for your changing the thing to make it better!!! :D
Just tried this hack and it works. Converted two sets of lights, couldn't work out which was pin 1 so I guessed and the first chip was fitted the wrong way round. Removed it and rotated 180 degrees and it worked perfectly. I can now switch them on with a timer without the manic flashing. Great tip
I lack the skills to do this but at least I now know why my Christmas lights are so bloody annoying. Thanks. 👍
"Yeah, so about that one byte memory chip. Can we cheapen down on that?"
+kduhtdkzrt They could. The 24C02 costs about 13 cents, the 24C01 (which would work just as well) is about 9 cents. That's for quantity 1, they're even cheaper in bulk.
@@johnrehwinkel7241 I believe the chinese could bring the price down to sub-cent with the infamous black blob technology
Would be fun to get a memory chip with just a single byte. The 40114b comes close with 16 nibbles!
I hated the lack of memory on my first lot of Christmas LEDs a fair few years ago, since then I found a manufacturer that has a very simple solution, a control box with a function selector dial rather than push button so it never forgets the selected function!
+4468 ...can you imagine the extra cost of setting up a rotary encoder and the circuitry to decode the setting though? They'd just go for the chip and retain the single button...
I meant one that gave a steady output from a bunch of different discrete choices, whether one-line-per-option or a binary combination (such as is used in a typical cheap multimeter, for example). I dunno what the correct name for that is, then, if I used the wrong one there. Rotary dial switch or something.
Whatever, change the wording, the point still stands.
Hi 4468, could you please let me know where I can find the control box with function selector dial? I have a string light with Jutai controller. Unfortunately, it is a different version that does not have a memory option. I think changing the controller is the simplest solution. Thanks!
See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotary_encoder#Absolute_and_incremental_encoders
@@rockeyluo7829 Did you ever find a control box with function selector dial? I'm in the same situation.
I was so looking forward to see you soldering the chip onto the PCB :)
I am so tempted to do this as the fact you have to cycle through the frankly rubbish lighting options on start up drives me spare!
Cheers Clive 😊
I love how you mess about with stuff like this lol. Got my nieces a soda stream for Christmas - thanks fir the reviews 👍 happy chrimbo !
With out reading through all the comments to check if I’m doubling up.
My understanding of the change in polarity is to facilitate the patterns/flashing while only using two wires instead of 3.
Great explanation and I’ll give it a try.
Thanks.
It is for the two channel effects. If you power these strings with an ordinary power supply only every second LED will light.
Clive the way I have been getting these sort of cases open is to use a bench vice and a rod between the vice and weld line. Then gently wind away.
BigClive is a bear? I don't know why I never considered this, but that's awesome.
Moon Moon yes it is
Thanks for this! All my other set of lights have a memory, apart from the 1000 led string bought reduced to clear last January. Couldn't use them without this.
Adding a 24c02 chip worked a treat
"I'm just going to hold this and plug it in..."
Some things never change ;-D
Oh, and good detective work and a very nice fix. I think a combination dremel tool and Vice o' Knowledge would be the key to getting these open in the neatest manner possible.
Hi Clive,
Good explanation on electrolysis there, I'd realised that was the problem with my outdoor xmas lights this year when taking them down and finding one of each of the 'sealed' (yeah right!) LED pins were corroding badly whilst the other was brilliantly shiny, when I took one apart I found water had got right inside and was sat over both terminals, so I came to the same conclusion.
If that is the case why they're using AC, then that's a very simple but clever solution. I also like the method of using 2-wires for switching two patterns, simpler than 1-wire control protocols/logic, etc, which would make the LED packages that slight bit larger.
(My next year xmas light project is to use 1-wire to control a large number of LEDs in a chain using the WS2812B LED strips and an Arduino controller if I can sort out the electrical 'noise' those strips cause which gave me headaches last time)
Thanks again for a great explanation and video.
In September 2023 I have purchased a string of 100 warm white lights in a Wilko sale. It has a battery powered control box with a few sequences and a 8 hour on, 16 hour off timer. I opened it up to see if I could fit a memory chip, but everything is done with an 8 pin chip and a tiny crystal. The chip is the microcontroller and H bridge all in one. Great fun and all for £3.00!
New subscriber to your channel - Just came across one of your videos via my suggested videos! Very interesting content, great video - i love taking things to bits and seeing whats inside👍🏻😁
I've got a metallic "medical" clamp that I use in cases like this with just two small pieces of plastic for insulation. Works perfectly and you don't have to risk getting artificially excited by them electrons on your heart.
Ah electricity, always entertaining. I recall back in '71, I was stationed at Camp Haskins, a small army camp about 10 miles from DaNang Vietnam. We had a land-line teletype setup for Group Headquarters, it was an insulated fiberglass dome with sandbags around it, and a tin roof above, all surrounded by chain-link fence with a gate that could only be opened from the inside. Because of the extreme heat and humidity over there, it was found necessary to have the hut air conditioned. There was a special extension for the purpose of installing what we now call window air-conditioners. Now the "expert" in hooking such things up was what we called the "mini-lifer" A staff sergeant who was about 4'9" and must have weighed in at about 110 pounds. The air conditioner had to be direct wired in to our 110 volt system, and the whole unit was in a rather small extension on the back side of the dome. So we have this little guy trying to hook up power (in actuality he was a communications specialist and knew very little about AC!) and every time he got a shock, the little guy would straighten out, smacking his head on the overhang that protected the air conditioner. We were almost rolling on the floor watching as he kept trying to get the unit installed, all the while taking shots of 110 and jumping like some kids toy on a pull string. He was not appreciative but was also not in our chain of command so he had no real way to get back at us.
Im impressed, no big long stick to turn it on.
Good work. may inspire some of my hacking projects in the future. Thanks Clive.
Thanks for this video Clive, I’ve just successfully done this mod. I used a cordless dremel tool to open the controller. Glueing it back together wasn’t so successful though, have a gap around the edge of the join so either need to fill the gap with plastic filler or dismantle it and grind/sand both sides of the enclosure flat. Will probably go with the latter.
What a brilliant video. Informative and well-delivered. I can’t believe that there isn’t more material out there on such an annoying problem with these lights.
Off to hone some soldering skills…….
Might fit an extra memory chip to the wifes vibrator. Every time she switches it on from scratch, its on full speed hammer action. Makes me leap out of my skin. Will program it to switch on at a quieter setting. That way I won't be a quivering wreck.
I had several sets of lights with no memory that were for a large tree in my garden. To open all the controllers and doctor them would have been a tedious process so I made a new power supply that could run all the light sets. A single plug and timer in my garage was far better and the lights appeared to run continuously as I wanted. Basically I used a 24V transformer (which incidentally came from an old set of incandescent lights) and full wave rectifier with smoothing capacitor to give about 33 volts. A 5V regulator and astable multivibrator generated an output of about 15kHz which operated an H bridge to give a square wave alternating current of sufficient power. A very satisfactory outcome for me.
An interesting comment about minimising corrosion by using ac. Personally I think it is more about manufacturing costs. Using ac needs only two wires whereas dc would need three. This obviously saves money for the producers as does omitting the memory chip. These small savings mount up when you consider the quantity they produce. Why would they want to increase the life expectancy of the lights and thereby potentially reduce their future sales? Everything is driven by money and not concern for the environment with these big companies!
Hey Nigel! I'm actually in quite the same predicament. Smart plug that controls the power to the strings, but 11 of them stuck with the cheap transformers that always restart in demo mode (and depend on manual intervention). Would you be open to sharing with me more details of your solution? I'd like to aim to get all of them run via a single controller like you're describing. I'm just a little under-experienced in figuring out the details of that. Anything you can share would be helpful!
@nigel Was this something relatively easy to build?
Excellent work there Clive. A few of us on the Christmas light forums are working on replacement controllers so these 2-wire light sets can be run on DMX or pixel data systems.
+da-share Interesting - any chance of a link?
+Graham Langley We've been talking about them on here: auschristmaslighting.com/forums/index.php/topic,6367.0.html
+da-share Many thanks.
Clive you should seriously consider attending DefCon in Las Vegas sometime, I try and go every year
Nice mod, or circuit bending as the case may be.
Looking at the chip value chart, I bet you're great at finding the panda in all the snowmen? !
Interesting video again Clive, Thanks.
Wow, you are very smart..... I don't think I am at your level , yet.
and 4 years in the future... they still have not made them luxury yet... friggin lights still dont remember last mode!!! thx for this vid, I am going to crack one open and see if there is a spot for a memory chip, order one and install asap.
I must be lucky as all the two wire sets I've bought in the sale remember their last setting. And yet it's funny, our new oven can't remember its settings each time there's a power outage!
Even more annoying they default back to off position once power is cut ,so you have to switch on manually,once power is restored .No good for a solar setup
Aww man. Great video. I could've used this tip to fix the fairy led lights at home.
hey dude, i’m actually trying to do that exact thing right now, but i’m braindead when it comes to circuit boards, idk a lot about it, was there anything specific you did to make it work?
@@uppast420am on some boards there is even a space for the memory chip, but it's left empty. Sadly my set of lights died shortly after my cat wrecked them. Now I'm using a small set of 2xAA battery operated lights. For my and my cats safety.
If you buy them in bulk (10,000+), you can buy pre-programmed ROM versions of those chips for rather cheap...
Excellent hack thanks C- Dawg.
Thanks. You saved Christmas.
Very interesting and cool hack
very nice video, and I still have much to learn even after spending 5 years studding :D
+RoPo 0101 After 5 years studding you probably need a sit down. :-p
+PIXscotland
O my :D .... never ever will I let spellchecker let me write nonsense ... well without checking it first, that is :D ... thx mate for pointing that one out [Correction: "studying"]
Nice SMD work..... Easiest would be to grind through in the top of the case in the right area and put in the chip. Difference between your chip and the other is minimal, the N just denotes a plastic package. Cost saving is around 6c for the chip.
About DC corrosion: it's faster and happens easier than I expected. I have some 12V LED strips under the treads of a stair, where I can't lay any wires (in a nice looking way). So I stuck two strips of copper tape side by side (each 5mm wide, 5mm distance) on the wall and soldered the LED wire to that. LEDs worked fine and as it was dark until I finished the installation I left them on while painting over the strips with acrylic paint (to be the foundation for wall paint). I hadn't even finished painting all the copper tapes (not even a meter in total), when I noticed that one of the of the two strips started to appear again from under the paint with a greenish taint. The thin layer of (water based acrylic) paint was conducting (I also painted the gap because who would be OCD enough and just paint the strips?) enough so one conductor (I think it was the positive one) started to dissolve. Took alot more paint to hide that.
Have had good luck opening "wall warts"/power packs and these kind of sealed boxes with a bit of petrol/gas in a syringe, soak the joint, even if you need to use a needle to keep it tidy, after a minute or so you can work the cover loose with a plastic prying tool.
i have had a set of these outside for a year now and it has outlasted 3 of the regular DC sets.
Had controller from same manufacturer, tried taking it apart to do this and sadly it looks like they've changed the design - no longer any pads on the board for the chip. It has a later version of the microcontroller - JT-401D - so I guess they took out the memory option.
"So I smashed it open, damaged the circuit board. The whole thing started doing this flickery thing that means this component cannot release it's charge. But it's okay, I fixed it."
Nice Hack, very much my style 👍👍
I used a pair of Knipex water pump pliers to crush along the side seam until it audibly cracks.( I have also smacked the sides of similar cases with the handle of a screwdriver to crack the glue..)
. Then resoldered the connections to the transformer ( looks like electromigration cracks round the pins caused by high current spikes, common SMPS fault) as it had failed glowing dimly all the time the mains was on. The version I had seemed to have non volatile storage on the 8 pin controller, only one chip and an H bridge.
Hi Clive, for tough stuff I'd recommend a pair of snap ring pliers for opening difficult power supplies. They are like reverse pliers and can pry most things open.
+simplexicated I should really get a set of circlip pliers. It's not something I use a lot, but one day I'll wish I had them.
Thanks I’m going to try this!
You clever sod :-D.
ive seen the 24c02 in old vga monitors for the i.d serial data, and laptops for master password use, the i2c bus?
Ahh electrolysis :-)
A great easy way to open power supplies like this is to take a hard handled screwdriver and hold the supply in your hand. Then you just keep giving the the weld mark a good sharp tap with the handle, cracks them open like an easter egg everytime.
+Menohac Alas, that didn't work on these ones. They seem to be a firm chewy plastic, possibly welded together ultrasonically. The cases seem really resilient. Possibly because the manufacturer know that they will see extremes of winter temperature.
+bigclivedotcom Use a vice. Put the case diagonally in the vice, along the weld, then compress it. It will open. Works all the time.
Seriously guys? He uses the "vice of knowledge" all day long in these videos… Are we really saying that Mr. Clive basically looked at the power supply , give it a couple of taps and said "no good..."? That he instantly jumped to a full on hammer? 😟
Oh..... 2 year old comments. Haha! Never mind. Lol
I was just looking at my new LED Christmas lights and wondering how I could mod them to be less annoying in their flashing, theorizing on how they can flash patterns with just 2 strands, and then realized "there's no way big clive DOESN'T have a video on this..."
Sure enough...
Same.
maybe there's a possibilty of overclocking the IC using an external crystal oscillator. That would definitely help it flicker faster than you can see.
Thanks for that. Your right it’s one of the most annoying things 😂.
+bigclivedotcom
The whole electrolytic corrosion thing is why all modern cars have negative earth as older positive earthed vehicles used to rust easier due to the effect. Nice video and investigative engineering, BTW!
Good interesting video by this geezer called Clive. But I would strongly advise NOT to put your fingers near any 240v power source, albeit AC or DC. After having spent over a decade in the past as a television engineer repairing the things down to component level, I cannot stress enough after countless accidental electrocutions, to keep your hands well away from sources exceeding 30V. Once got an accidental shock off a Trinitron LOPT final anode at approx 35KV DC... & lets just say it didn't end well!. ALWAYS keep yourself away from high voltages at all costs folks, as electric shocks can cause permanent damage to our heart muscle. One fact being that electricity takes the least path of least resistance to earth, which is such cases as us touching power sources... is actually you!.
I'd love to pick your brain dude.. Tempted to tag along to one of the Glasgow meets if they still go ahead. I used to attend brum2600 but unfortunately it pretty much disbanded due to real life distractions amongst the group.
Keep up the good work dude!
Hey - a bear flag!
Family like this I can certainly handle and believe me I'd love to handle it!
@@Honeybearsphone what
Clive, Love your tear downs, hacks and unbiased reviews...
Now how about playing/ reviewing electro-luminescence wire :-) Mind you there's not much you can do with it!
+Reg Joy I have covered electroluminescent wire in the past, but I should revisit it.
+bigclivedotcom Whoops, sorry, I'll look back.
I have the same brand lights and it always remembers the setting I set every time.
Suggests you have the luxury version with the chip already in it.
thanks for the explanation. I bought a christmas tree with built in led lights, which lasted 10 mins. The power supply is 30V , 15W ,same as yours and there is no power output from it anymore. I decided to built my own power supply, wound up secondary wiring on the transformer, got 30 V, just received the rectifier , haven't tried connecting to the leds yet, as need to figure out what resistor do I need. However from what you said it appears when I connect it only half of the lights will be on , and I should be able to change the polarity and get the other half on? I hope it won't burn the LEDs
Hello Clive - yesterday I wrapped a 1000 set of these up and down tree branches which was entertaining will a coiled ball that started off the size of a football. Anyway, having worked perfectly in their 5 bundles before they went up, the last section is now dead, probably because I dropped my football a few times - the remaining 800 look superb. Got very confused with 2 wires and 2 channels, but managed to come to a conclusion you just proved ref strobing. I'm guess now I just have a broken link at one of the stages , would you agree ? BTW - I think i've seen you on pinball forums in a previous life ? You knew a thing or 2 then - many thx
Open the case the easy way..... I use a bench vice and a rod, lay the rod along one of the long sides, right over the joint and wind the vice hard until it starts to crack. Do the same to the other side a few times and away you go. For tough ones add some hot air to the joint.
Bear Pride!
Could you just put a relay on the LED output from the box then when you trip the relay off the lights will turn off, when you turn it on it shouldn't change modes.
For the last few years I've been using a vice and a work knife (not the snap-off type) to open sealed plastic power supplies.
But before that I much prefered a ratching pipe cutter (strait blade+anvil); but until relatives persistently steal it with excuses ranging from my not being a licensed plumber, to disuse and misuse. for actual reasons best not speculated here.
(most) laptop-style powersupplies will rock out at an angle w/ the blade in the seam, and I can then push it level again. Because the blade will not be pushed any further into the plastic than the jaws of teh vise are set, there is no overpenetration when the {weld, glue, friction, plastic} pops. And once the corners are apart, inserting shims will usually cause the rest of the seam to unravel (except for clear plastics, where the seams are genreallt the hardest area)-- with a helpful hammer driven tap of the blade to weaken the seam where it hesitates to cooperate.
Using a saw to cut away the corners of the seam, then wedging in some screwdrivers should have a similar effect.
Zipties or glue are the 'nicer' way to reseal the cases, I have to admit that the wrapper (vynil/"clingfilm") from a sandwitch I happened to have that day has held up very reliably for a few years until I replaced it with latex (which baked into a sticky mess).
Liked for other reasons, too! :D
Yeah, I liked it for more then one reason too, made me smile :D, though I am having heart attack every time his hand is near the exposed live mains :D
I can confirm the hammer method damages the transformer... been there done that 😅 I ended up going the microcontroller route with button press emulation.
I’m quite amused that there’s all that logic and electronics and work to create a string of just-on LEDs
Very clever..
Hey Clive, is it possible to modify these kinds of lights to remove the flickering/shimmering in 'static' mode? I don't care about the different blinking/dimming modes, I just want all LEDs to light without any flickering because I'm quite sensitive to that and it drives me nuts. I suppose if the odd/even LEDs are wired with alternate polarity it can't really be done (since you need AC to have them all light up), but I noticed that in my case there are two wires going from the PSU to the first LED, which has something additional under its heat shrink (a controller?), and from there the string contains 3 wires, with one wire bypassing each LED. Any thoughts?
Instead of smashing it with a hammer squeezing it with a vice can also break such casings open. Unless squeezing too much it's much better for the electronics inside as you avoid heavy mechanical shocks. While you may also be able to crack it with a big pipe wrench or similar a vice is much more recommended as it doesn't suddenly move a huge amount when casing breaks open.
Let Dremel be your friend.
Is there any regulation/sensing going on after the rectifyer following secondary (low voltage side) of transformer? If it is all done on the primary side+separate sense winding, can you just connect the led string connection DIRECTLY to (low voltage) AC transformer output??? (kinda reverse trick of rectifying AC that goes to triac-switched tungsten christmas lights chain...)
Ironic that the abbreviations aren't the other way around, so that AC = "Accelerated Corrosion" and DC = "Doesn't Corrode" (well, not as rapidly.)
Before the electronics "experts" jump in and explain what AC and DC stand for, allow me to say that I'm a fully qualified electronics engineer of 25 years.
Hard to explain what I mean; you either get it or ya don't.
Any general purpose i2c 24Cxx eeprom *should* work. The way I2C eeprom addressing works will allow it to select the same page. Based on the memory location of the saved byte, a 24C01 1kb eeprom should have worked just as much as a 24C08.
I can vouch for AC across christmas lights reducing the corrosion potential significantly. Back in the early 90s, my granny used to love getting those short strings of tungsten lights powered by four D cell batteries.
She'd leave them on out in the rain and the individual tungsten lights would quickly have the legs coming out of them corrode completely off. Though like you said, only one leg on each bulb would corrode off, and sometimes it corroded so badly that it went inside the lamp and caused the lamp to vent and smoke out.
Poorly sealed garden lights have the same problem. I've gone through dozens of garden lights where the failure mode was the base of the LED gets water on it and one of the legs is eaten clean off by electrolytic corrosion. And again, sometimes the leg is eaten all the way inside the LED to the actual chip itself and it also turns all rusty and horrible looking. Thankfully 50/100 packs of straw hat LEDs and NiMH batteries are cheap from China. The solar panels seem to last forever though.
FYI:
Electron migration pulls metal from one side to the other. Since these are electrons they pull from the negative to the positive.
+Jammit Timmaj Actually, it's an electrolytic redox reaction. The metal is oxidized (loses electrons) on the positive side, becoming water-soluble metal ions. At the negative side, the positive metal ions gain electrons, to become neutral metal atoms again, which are deposited.
Zak Zennii
A better explanation than mine.
Regarding the "random cell" written to the EEPROM: I don't think they are random. You may find, that when you set it to another setting they will set that address 0x035 to 0xFF again and actually use the next cell to store the setting in it. when then controller starts up the first cell that is not 0xFF is the actual setting. This provides some sort of wear leveling between the cells since some cheap chinese EEPROMs really only have very limited write cycles. I have seen that for high quality equipment like the dashboard odometers in VW's. Common technique.
+Chip Guy Vids That's worth knowing.
+Graham Langley VW does it even more intelligent: They store the lower 16 bit of the odometer in a 8 word table (16 bit words). They dont touch the old value they only write the next mile/km to the next cell. So each cell is only written every 8 km. On battery loss or startup the processor determines: highest value in the array is the current one to display. Lowest value (always the one before the highest) is the one that's gonna be overwritten next.
+Chip Guy Vids There seems to be a never-ending list of EEPROM tricks like this. Filed for future reference.
Absolutely! I've also seen it be the last value that isn't FF, so they don't even overwrite the previous one, and just walk up memory.
I wonder if there is any secret patterns, i really wanted to see you try write an arbitrary value (maybe 8) to it and try it then.
I have some string lights which dont have a place for a memory chip on the board. I would like to try to hack a chip in soldering it directly onto the existing one. Is it posible you could doodle the circuit for the memory IC down somewhere?
That DC thing you're talking about at the end of the vid happens with volume controls too..... You may have experienced the 'Crackling Sound' when you alter the volume control, it's mainly because the pot is connected in a DC circuit, one side maybe AC coupled but the other side of the pot feeding the next stage may have a DC bias on it because it may well be directly connected to the next stage. Or Visa Versa.
+Michael Hawthorne So what does that have to do with electrolysis?
+Jack White
I don't know the exact reason why DC has the effect I was talking about but it does do the damage mentioned. Maybe its the moisture in the air (Causing Oxidisation) and the DC charge across the volume control that does it, that could be the similarity to Clive's vid. Any how, Clive's vid made me think of this problem so I brought it up.
+Michael Hawthorne This is a different problem. You always avoid having DC on an audio control as there will always be minor variations in wiper/track contact resistance which will cause electrical noise as it's moved.
As we used to say in the Navy, "If it doesn't work, get a bigger hammer".
Clive, I'm wondering if a well placed drill bit could expose the point in the PCB where the chip should be placed, as opposed to fully opening the case.
That sound like an interesting idea. You could start with a small hole to allow you to view the PCB, and then make it bigger with a scalpel.
And I always thought it was because the latest lights were cheap, so you only got alternating patterns - but you are saying that it is to limit corrosion!!!
I still prefer a 4-lamp sequence so you can get chasing effects etc.
I've got a bunch of remote lights but they don't ask receive the remote signal properly. What would be the best way to have them all come on?
I was thinking 240 to 5v transformer so they all flash 50 times a second but would I need to limit current?
Cool! Thanks for sharing this, Clive. I have set of solar-powered fairy lights that I adore, but their nasty flashing settings (of which there are about 20 that I have to cycle through every time I turn them on) drive me to distraction. I will try to get my hands on some tools later and open up the control box. As I'm travelling and don't have any way to do soldering, is there any alternative approach you would recommend for keeping the memory chip in place?
If it has the memory position, soldering is the only secure option.
But you also should just connect them directly to 24V AC (or which voltage it uses) if you want them light up directly, or?
Great video. Exactly what I am trying to resolve. Question: where should the memory chip be installed (sorry I am not an electronics expert)?
It only works on units with a space for it.
@@bigclivedotcom Thanks. I will open one of the controllers (carefully) and take a look and work out what to do next.
got an idea for u they make those 2 channel sets but could u make a 4 channel system using 2 sets of polarity switching channels only 4 wires on the string?
i got a set with a rf receiver built into the psu as you can change modes on the remote . i got it from the original factory shop in the uk
and it has a timer mode
Why didn't you put some electrical tape over the live portion while you were fiddling around? Would that be enough to insulate it?
Finally found this video got a question can you put in a memory chip with the older style of function and musical lights because it's quite annoying when they start on static and I always have to change the function every time I plug them in
The only reason adding the memory chip works in this case is that there is already programming for it in the MCU (the open position for the memory chip on the board is a plus). If the programming doesn't exist then no amount of memory chips will help.
@@TehFreek darn lol OK
Hello, do you have anyone schematic how to do a new power supply to make the LED string just shine?
Which is the other IC? Could it be a dp2525? I have a controller model gp-lc-1 from Golden Power Electronics that doesn't work and the IC name is erased so I cannot identify it to test with another new one.
Hope these are the same chips on the fairy light strings too !! With ir and batteries or usb !! The chip has no markings !!
Hello, great video! Thanks! Can the multifunction feature be permanently disabled somehow by shorting/remove a component to achieve the same result? Thank you
It depends on the unit. It's not as easy as just shorting something out, as the string needs AC to light both sets of LEDs.