Archive for November, 2012

I wanted to synchronize my GE G-35 multi pattern Christmas lights this year.

I did a full tear down last year of these lights and you can see that (here)

My biggest problem, aside from hating the 14 patterns GE forces on these lights, is that you can’t chain or synchronize multiple strings. So in my case I have two strings starting from a peak with one going left and the other going right. They say in the instructions you can synchronize two sets by setting the same pattern and then turning them both on at the same time. However within 30 minutes the patterns are no longer in sync on the two sides of my roof and that looks horrible.

This is a posting showing how I hacked two strings to use one controller and it is working great. The two strings can never be out of sync, COOL! I know others have done the same so I know this is a sold hack for up to 3 strings in parallel using one control box.

Of course others have gone much farther controlling these lights making their own control boards and adding network connection. I will link to them at the bottom of this posting

Instructions:

To do this hack you cut the ground and data lines going to the bulbs on both sets (don’t cut any power wires which have the faint white printing, see photo). Then terminate one data line coming out of one controller by sealing it in heat shrink. The data line is the middle wire to the lights.

Tie and solder the data line from the 2nd controller to both data lines going to the lights. Then tie and solder ALL 4 of the grounds together so that the circuits have a common ground. The ground is the right side wire when looking at the screw side of the controller box. The ground will be the wire that does not have any faint white lettering on it. Seal everything up with heat shrink.

You still have to plug in all the transformers because the lights need all the power. That’s it and now your parallel strings will always be 100% in sync.

Enjoy the video and let me know if you try this hack and how it works out.

photo gallery

CLICK PHOTO for gallery view and click a SECOND time for hi-resolution image. Click thumbnails on low right and lower left of gallery to navigate gallery photos.

If you want to go down the rabbit hole more than I did I will keep some updated links below as I find them.

DigitalMisery.com has an open source drop in wireless replace board for these lights. WOW, you can’t ask for more than that. He does not sell the boards yet but keep checking his site to see if he gets a Kick starter going or just follow his open source documents and spin your own board. He links to his code and the Arduino library’s “G35Arduino”

DeepDarc.com put up some amazing engineering details on these lights and reverse engineered both the radio protocol and the protocol used on the LED data bus. You must read his post if you’re going to be hacking these lights. He also shares his code and other very useful tips.

Keithsw has some great stuff synchronizing 6 strands and shares his control code, Arduino circuit and a PC software simulator program to help design the layout and patterns.  Here is his short (video).

CheerLights is an ioBridge Labs project that allows people all across the world to synchronize their lights. This sit gives all the hacking details and you can play along even it you don’t have lights by tweeting a color to @cheerlights and watching on ustream.

Jim at Jim’s G-35 Project Page makes his own control board using a PIC18F2620 micro controler.

If I have any of my own hack updates I will link to them from here and under “All Postings” with the title “G35 LED Christmas Light…”

UPDATE 11/11/2012 for EXTRA LINKS:

Good arduino example with new library – (digitalmisery.com)

11/21/2011: Added new Arduino IDE 1.0.1 supported code – (digitalmisery.com)

(codeproject.com

(flippedbits.posterous.com)

(hackaday.com)

(github.com/MarkEMarkEMark/G35-MEO-Programs)

UPDATE 12/18/2012 for EXTRA LINKS:

(mevans77.wordpress.com)

Not much here. Just a quick teardown and fly-over of the “Try Me” button and circuit that was used in the packaging of the first LED Christmas light review “Symphony of Lights Style C9 Bulbs“.

Link: Intro review blog posting on this 3 review set

Thanks for joining and remember to subscribe to my YouTube channel and my ToddFun.com RSS feed.

photo gallery

CLICK PHOTO for gallery view and click a SECOND time for hi-resolution image. Click thumbnails on low right and lower left of gallery to navigate gallery photos.

Model name: Classic Style 50 Mini LED Lights with warm Glow.

Made by: Brite Star

All white, solid, no flash, no patterns.

Each set has 50 lights at 4 inch spacing in a 17 foot strand. You can connect 58 sets for 1000 feet on a singe outlet using just 2.4 watts per set.

This set had a horrible flicker that was maddening and renders these LED lights useless. The camera doesn’t show the horrible 60Hz flicker. However the camera does pickup the lights dimming on and off in groups.

I don’t go into any real review because the lights can’t be used and the problem is the same as the last review “Classic Style C7 Bulbs” were the strand is just 1/2 wave rectified with a small duty cycle given the horrible flicker.

Link: Intro review blog posting on this 3 review set

Thanks for joining and remember to subscribe to my YouTube channel and my ToddFun.com RSS feed.

photo gallery

CLICK PHOTO for gallery view and click a SECOND time for hi-resolution image. Click thumbnails on low right and lower left of gallery to navigate gallery photos.