Using your controller to turn an LED Light bar on and off

[Jim85IROC]

I'm sure this is pretty obvious for most of you, but I wanted to provide a quick "how to" for people who aren't sure how to wire up an LED light bar (or any other accessory that needs more power or voltage than the receiver can provide) and still be able to turn it on and off via the controller.

To do this you need to use a receiver controlled switch. I used one from Hobbyking linked below. You connect one side of the switch to your power source (in my case, the ESC battery plug), and connect the other side to your load (the LED light bar). Then you just tie the ground from your load (the LED light bar) to your battery ground, and plug the switch into the receiver port that corresponds to the button you want to use on your controller. Easy as that! Now when you turn the switch on, it passes the battery voltage right to the light.

Here's a diagram that illustrates how it's wired:

Here's a video that takes you through the procedure:
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_KeDSP5VlM8" gesture="media" allow="encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0"></iframe>

Turnigy Receiver Controlled Switch: https://hobbyking.com/en_us/turnigy-receiver-controlled-switch-1.html

 

[Ninomaniac]

Ha! I googled for something like this with no result. So I was just getting ready to make something of my own from a stripped servo's board and a relay, to control my 3s LED bar. Guess I'll throw one of these in my next HK order.

 

[mikemcE]

Check out HeyOK here on the forum or at RPP......
Al makes sweet light controllers that are plug and play. I run them on both OPIE and ANDY

Hang up and Drive

 

[Hydrocarbon92]

All the Heyok switches I see become both the pos & neg terminals and cost 3x. This takes an existing lighting system and you just cut a wire and splice them in. The mosfets inside also look to be capable of 15A continuous, which will handle a LOT of light.

 

[Ditchrat]

All the Heyok switches I see become both the pos & neg terminals and cost 3x. This takes an existing lighting system and you just cut a wire and splice them in. The mosfets inside also look to be capable of 15A continuous, which will handle a LOT of light.

I can tell you that $.99 micro servos, will handle 12v leds, even though they are rated for 6v. I will admit that removing the pot and putting in resistors on such a small board is a PIA, I'm getting lazy and leaving the pot in. Makes it slightly larger but I just don't care about that anymore.

LED's have so little draw, it really lets you use a ton of different methods.

 

[StomperCrawler]

I can tell you that $.99 micro servos, will handle 12v leds, even though they are rated for 6v. I will admit that removing the pot and putting in resistors on such a small board is a PIA, I'm getting lazy and leaving the pot in. Makes it slightly larger but I just don't care about that anymore.

LED's have so little draw, it really lets you use a ton of different methods.

Hey DitchRat, is there a how-to on this somewhere and if not, will you consider writing one up?

 

[Ditchrat]

Hey DitchRat, is there a how-to on this somewhere and if not, will you consider writing one up?

I can take pictures next time I do it, but it is already all over the net.

check out this in the mean time.
Convert a Servo to Switch on and Off LED's: 4 Steps

 

[Hydrocarbon92]

If I hadn't already programmed some Arduinos, I'd go with that servo idea. I'll be posting some interesting Arduino light projects soon.

One thing you can do with that servo LED controller is use normal diodes to "stage" 2 light channels. One set would be wired like the pic below, then the 2nd set would be connected like a bridge rectifier with 4 diodes. You can then reverse polarity and they still turn on.

(OP, sorry for co-opting your thread!)

 

[StomperCrawler]

Thanks guys! New life for my micro servo.