Turning my newly installed LED driving lights into strobes.....

[YamahaLarry]

Maybe someone smarter than me has a better option to solve the problem. I rely only LED strobes nearly every weekend running lead in bike rides and having to safely navigate anywhere from 25 to 200 bikes thru rural intersections. Now I want to add my new LED driving lights to the arsenal.

 

Maybe a particular LED controller that has a constant ON and memory to default to that mode, but will allow me to remotely change the mode from constant ON to varying strobe patterns?

 

The controllers I have owned in the past have memory issues, and when you power them down totally, they forget the last mode used. My current strobes that I use for other LEDs is wired direct to the battery circuit with an inline fuse. I can't wire a similar controller into the lights with the current wiring from the switch. Controller will most likely get fried when I turn on the switch and the power back feeds into the controller.

 

So, what I had in mind was using a NO relay for the switch, and when it is off, have another NC relay that would close on the power down and have the controller wiring going thru it. But, I am not sure how quick the NO closes, and the NC opens, and whether it would even be safe enough to prevent from frying my controller. This will be a new controller, larger wattage than my current controller and drive only the LED driving lights.

 

These questions may sound dumb, but if you don't know the answer, such as myself, maybe they aren't.

[MiCarl]

I think you're saying you want the controller to run the LED driving lights except when the driving lights are turned on. And you're worried that when you power up the driving lights it'll back feed to the controller.

 

Put a rectifier diode between the controller and the driving lights. That way when you turn on the driving lights it won't back feed and cause issues with the controller or other lights. Diode should hold up better than a relay.

[Flyinfool]

If I am understanding your situation correctly, just add a diode to the controller output so that power can not back feed it.

[YamahaLarry]

Thanks guys. That's what I will do then. I am an expert fryer and just don't want to fry a good controller.

 

I would assume one like this one will suffice?

 

http://tinyurl.com/maybethisdiode

[Flyinfool]

There is no data on how many amps this diode can handle.

 

You need to lookup data on the lights you have to find out how many amps they need and then size the Diode bigger by at least 25%.