led lighting help

[nick hay]

Hi, looking for some advice on wiring. I have installed my 6 led roof lights and done it with a ring, ie (not parallell more like christmas tree lights) going to a switch by the door, which is in effect half way round as the leisure battery is in the back.
The switch is a dimmer and it doesnt work..... I've tried taking the two earths to earth from the switch and making the two light strings join from the posative but that doesnt work. I cant change the wiring with9ut taking the roof down which i dint want t do, any suggestions?

 

[tonyidle]

Not sure I understand. Parallel wiring means all the negative (0v) wires are joined together and all the positive (+12v) wires are joined together. Series is entirely different and won't work. How exactly are they wired and how many connections are there on the switch (before anything is connected to it)?

 

[Mark McG]

Doesn’t switch on or doesn’t dim? Just worth checking that they can be dimmed as not all led lights are able to be dimmed

 

[autorouter]

The LED lights need to be in parallel, not in series. You'll have to change the wiring somehow. I'd suggest the easiest way is to have a pair of wires between each of the LEDs in the roof, but leave the single wire from the battery and switch.

Is there any possibility that you could get an extra wire between the LED lights in the roof? For example, you could attach two wires to the existing single wire and pull the two wires through. (be sure to attach very firmly and don't pull too hard).

Then connect all the LED positives together, and all the negatives together. Finally connect the battery positive supply to the positive at one end of the chain. Connect the negative supply (from the switch) to the negative at the other end of the chain.

This diagram shows the way I think you wired the LEDs at the top, with the suggested wiring below.

 

[nick hay]

Thanks.... I saw an original guide saying you could do series but everything I've seen since says parallell only. Looks like I'll have to rewire, tricky but doable.. I've got plenty of time at the moment!

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[nick hay]

Not sure I understand. Parallel wiring means all the negative (0v) wires are joined together and all the positive (+12v) wires are joined together. Series is entirely different and won't work. How exactly are they wired and how many connections are there on the switch (before anything is connected to it)?

Thanks... I will need to rewire.. I saw guidance on line saying series worked on led's…. and that's what I did.... so will redo in parallell…..

 

[Richard n Ann]

Thanks... I will need to rewire.. I saw guidance on line saying series worked on led's…. and that's what I did.... so will redo in parallell…..

You wire them in series (usually in groups of 3 or 4 for 12v)when dealing with individual 5mm or 3mm LEDs. Also you put a resistor is in series with them, that's what you've probably seen online. When you buy ready to use LED lamps they need 12v each, so parallel is the way to go?

 

[nick hay]

Not sure I understand. Parallel wiring means all the negative (0v) wires are joined together and all the positive (+12v) wires are joined together. Series is entirely different and won't work. How exactly are they wired and how many connections are there on the switch (before anything is connected to it)?

Thanks... I will need to rewire.. I saw guidance on line saying series worked on led's…. and that's what I did.... so will redo in parallell…..

 

[nick hay]

Thanks Tony.. have rewired in parallell now and all working well!

 

[Richard n Ann]

Nick's done 6 posts ? thought free members get 5.

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[Vipar]

Richard only 5 posts. BTW what did you buy 200 resisters for?

 

[Richard n Ann]

Richard only 5 posts. BTW what did you buy 200 resisters for?

I wanted them for my fridge fan thermostat circuit to make the cut-in temperature a bit higher. They are about £1.50 for 100, most of that is postage so if you buy 20 it's still over a quid. So a hundred it was ?