LED STRINGS- Making white look white. Mild Overvoltage and "burning in"

[TinyScyscrapers]

Hello, I have been installing different setups of color LED's in model buildings for a time and have found them infuriating quite frankly!

With both RGB strip LEDs and addressable RGB Strings of LEDs the white is almost never white and we keep having issues with purple "brownouts" of areas (in the case of the strings) and in-equal colour channels in the strip lighting control modules (all the premix colours and the white are super blue...)

Its driving me crazy. I have tried cranking the voltage on 5v strings up to 5.8V to make them white instead of purplish but that just made them burn out in a few months so some of them are off yellow instead of white.
I inject power at about twice the recommended rate (every 50 bulbs).
The colours have faded significantly over time.


Does anyone have tips on LED STRINGS, "BURNING IN" LEDS, EXTENDING OPERATING LIFE and just taking all the hassle out of it

Cheers, Oliver

 

[SemiMan]

Hello, I have been installing different setups of color LED's in model buildings for a time and have found them infuriating quite frankly!

With both RGB strip LEDs and addressable RGB Strings of LEDs the white is almost never white and we keep having issues with purple "brownouts" of areas (in the case of the strings) and in-equal colour channels in the strip lighting control modules (all the premix colours and the white are super blue...)

Its driving me crazy. I have tried cranking the voltage on 5v strings up to 5.8V to make them white instead of purplish but that just made them burn out in a few months so some of them are off yellow instead of white.
I inject power at about twice the recommended rate (every 50 bulbs).
The colours have faded significantly over time.


Does anyone have tips on LED STRINGS, "BURNING IN" LEDS, EXTENDING OPERATING LIFE and just taking all the hassle out of it

Cheers, Oliver

If you want white, you need individual string control of R G and B. You don't need to over-drive, just mix properly. Otherwise, just use white.

 

[Steve K]

just in case it matters.... are you providing a way to get the heat out?
or to ask in a different way... are the LEDs getting rather warm?
You may want to consider a way to use some aluminum to conduct the heat to a place where air can flow over the aluminum.

 

[RoGuE_StreaK]

just mix properly

As SemiMan says, you need to have more control over the mix; your desired end colour may not actually be acheivable, but you should be able to get closer than using the "pre-mix" buttons. Often (usually?) the "white" is just "run all three channels at 100%". You may find for example that using a mix of R99% G96% B91% gets you closer to what you want. SO you might need different drivers, or something else interfacing into the drivers you have. It might be more complicated to get the initial first "right" blend, but once you have it sorted out there might be a simpler way of implementing it across the board.

And as SteveK said, heat's a (the) big killer of LEDs. You can drive some stuff insanely over spec if you can get the heat out.