NJD Night Star Help

[Mikeh 0]

Hey

 

Ive got an NJD Night Star effect but one of the light tubes dont work, I have spares so no problem there but I noticed the tubes run off LED's, dpes anyone know the rating of the LED's in the tube? so I can buy more and resolder tube myself, possibly add some colours too http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif

 

 

Thnx

Mike

[Gary 0]

The NJD night star is (was?) a great effect - all folds flat for transporting too as I remember.

 

Just as well you've got the spares as its £72.73, to get one repaired.

 

Alas NJD, who used to have a guy called Ian working for them - who was truely one of the planets most helpful guys ever, have sadly been taken under Soundlabs wing.

 

If any of the cheapo-japanise copy-merchants are reading this...clone a NJD nightstar will you? I'll have a couple off yer, especially if you make'em linkable and sync-able. Cheers.

 

I'm afraid, however, that I dont know the lamp ratings that you need. However, NJD/Soundlab webpages do have quite a few downloadable PDF's etc, so its worth checking there, if you havent done so already.

Edited November 18, 2004 by Gary

[ChrisPointon 0]

Try emailing NJD's technical service:- Technical@njd.co.uk

 

The lamps / leds are usually in series so often the entire channel / branch will fail if one lamp fails, or a wire comes adrift.

 

However I'm sure that if you email NJD Technical they'll point you in the right direction.

[Gary 0]

I dont think that the Nightstar can be wired in series - as some of the effects it produces are matrixed - a bit like the light shows on fairground big wheels and several of the "spiders web" style effects.

 

eg: The whole of arm #1 lights up, then the whole of arm #2 etc,etc but then the inner most led of ALL the arms lights up, then the next LED out on all arms, then the next outward and so on...

 

But Chris is obviously right that NJD themselves would be a good bet for the exact specs.

[Mikeh 0]

Hey

 

Thanks for the rapid replies, the NJD Night Star is an amazing effect, Iam planning on mounting mine inside a screen to make a more jazzy front screen http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html/emoticons/smile.gif The effect itself has 12 arms with LED's in them, each arm has 12 lights that are run through a 4 channel controller, again on top of this the light then turns on and off each individual arm, so it can in effect make a spinning round pattern while the LED's flash out at the same time.

 

Ive checked the wiring of the tubes and each LED on each channel are wired in parrallel via a simple PCB strip up the tube. Basically what I need to do to this one tube is desolder 2 of the LED's and replace with some new ones but without knowing the rating of the LED's in question its a bit of a risky choice.

 

Another fact that I love about this light apart from the matrix control of it, is the fact the arms unclip and it folds down into a tiny box and a small tube! Lovelly effect if you ask me, shame these sort of effects dont exist today, maybe a DMX version would be nice! Anyway piccy below for anyone interested.

 

http://www.vapourhost.com/NJD/1.jpghttp://www.vapourhost.com/NJD/2.jpg

 

http://www.vapourhost.com/NJD/3.jpghttp://www.vapourhost.com/NJD/4.jpg

 

 

Thnx

Mike

 

 

[DJ Marky Marc 0]

if you unsolder the broken ones and get the [Edited] catalog all you have to do is match the size and voltage and colour , a multi meter will tell you alll you need to know......

Edited November 18, 2004 by High Fidelity

[Mikeh 0]

Hey

 

DJ Marky Marc, Ive done this but I thought with LED's there was also some form of output rating for them? correct me if mistaken http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/html/emoticons/tongue.gif

 

Thanks

Mike

Edited November 18, 2004 by Mikeh

[ChrisPointon 0]

Led's usually have a running voltage which is refered to as the 'Forward Voltage', there is also a current rating and a light output measured in 'mcd'. For instance the LED spec may read as:-

 

Forward voltage 2v, 20mcd @ 15ma

 

This basically means that when driven at 2 volts with the current limited to 15ma the LED will produce 20mcd of light. You can overdrive an led to produce more light but it will also significantly shorten the life of it. Often there is a dropper resistor in series with one or more LED's, this drops the voltage to the 2v required by the LED(s) and often also limits the current as well. So if you drastically change the rating of one or more LED's you may also need to change the value of any dropper resistor as well.

 

Most Red LED's have forward voltages of 2v and Green, Amber and Yellow have Forward Voltages of 2.2v or even 2.4v - although they will all usually work happily from a 2v supply.

 

White, Blue and Purple LED's run at as much as 5v and there are also 12v and 24v LED versions as well which can run directly from a dc supply with no resistor. So basically with the options being many, you are better to wait a reply from NJD, rather than guess-ti-mating the values.