Adding 360° Rotation LED Strobe Lights to the Layout

Pretty cool item.  The answers are in some of the reviews.  Here's a summary for optional wiring if not plugging into an RC controller.

Its input from the Power supply needs a current limiting resistor wired in series.  Probably something like a 1/2 Watt 220 Ohm.

To cause the blink mode to change, momentarily connect the Yellow Signal wire to the unit's DC negative (GND).

I finally got a chance to play around with these.  The documentation I received with them wasn't very good - thanks for the help!  I used a 6VDC power supply to test them out.  Unfortunately, one lite up and one didn't so I'm working on a return.  I couldn't get either of them to switch modes.  Any thoughts on a test setup I could use to test lighting and modes?

Thanks!

John,

Received 4 of the rotating lights today, having the same issue with all four, they will light in rotating mode but will not switch modes when yellow wire is touched to ground.

Hoping someone has an idea!!!

Tom

They look cool in the video, too bad they seem to be problematic in the flesh.

Last night, to try and find an answer to this question about how to change modes, first I re-read all 36 Amazon product reviews. Of those reviews, roughly 1/3 reported issues, either related to short time failure or inability to change modes, followed up by returns or trashing.  Then I searched for similar products available elsewhere.  Nothing else helpful to changing modes found either way.

Knowing little about RC systems.  I decided to take a peek down the deep dark rabbit hole known as RC 3rd channel signal.  What I learned after 90 minutes of various searches on RC message boards and YouTube videos is that details about RC 3rd (and 4th) Channel signal makeup is scarce.

Two useful tidbits I did find are this:  1) The signal transmitted (over the yellow wire) is a low frequency PWM (Pulse Width Modulated) 5V waveform.  2) In one video lacking much useful electrical detail, someone using a multi-channel controller connected to a different type of 5-mode light gizmo, got the gizmo to change modes by quickly double tapping the momentary switch assigned to that channel.  I estimate his time between taps at between 1/8 to 1/4 second.

So as I see it, if no one else has any better/more informed ideas, options are this: return these flashing lights or try a couple of experiments on them.  In both experiments, connect the light's Red wire to 5 VDC Positive and its Brown wire to the DC source's Ground.

First experiment, try quickly double tapping the Yellow wire in rapid succession (1/4 second apart) to the DC source Ground and waiting a moment to see if the flash mode changes. 

If that doesn't advance to the next mode, second try the same procedure except double tapping the Yellow wire to the DC + terminal.

No guarantees that the second mode won't damage something, but I'm guessing that a couple of brief (5ms) connections to +5VDC won't hurt anything here.

Good luck and please let us know if either of these experiments are successful.

Thanks, Steve, for the research.  Will try tomorrow and report back.

Tom

Wow - Thanks Steve for your efforts!  My returns don't show up until April 3rd - I will try then.  Hopefully Tom has some luck before then!

Success, sort of,  Thanks to Steve’s suggestion I was able to change modes by tapping the yellow wire to ground.  Could not determine the timing or sequence, I just tapped away and was able to cycle through the various modes(video attached). Point of interest, one of the modes turns the light off, had me checking my wiring until I figured it out.

That is the good news, the negative is when power is removed and then restored the light returns to the start mode, rotating rapidly.

I could not determine a timing of grounding the yellow other than it seems to be brief quick taps.

Tom

Tom, that's great!    Thanks for reporting back.  Based on what I read, these lights have no memory when powered off, so resetting to the default mode after power loss is normal.

Tom - awesome work!  Could I ask some details about your test setup?  What are you using for a power supply?  Do you have anything between the power supply and the LED - ie: a resistor?  Any details would be greatly appreciated.  Bummer that it returns to it's default on loss of power.  Might be fun to setup an Arduino to try and control the mode based on an event like a train coming by or something.  Something to try when I have more time to play

Note that according to the Amazon listing those beacons are for 1/10 scale rc vehicles, they would be extremely large in 0 scale stuff. Just a thought.

EDIT: They measure out to about two feet tall!

John,

I am using 5 volts from an Arduino Nano.  No need for a resistor at 5 volts.  What  Steve was referring to, if you powered the light from more than 5 volts, then you would need a resistor.

The video I have attached is a nano setup with a Ultrasonic sensor, HC-SR04 to detect a train passing for another project I am working on ,  I wired the light to demonstrate the light turning on when a train passes. Sorry I am away from my trains so am improvising with a small plastic box, excuse the arm motive power for the box.

To test the light I wired the red and brown wires to the power strip on the breadboard.  The yellow wire tapping to ground.  Took a few times and a lot of tapping to have the mode change. Keep trying and fast tapping and you’ll get a mode change .

Tom