Ive a set of LED xmas lights in my trees outside, have just plugged them in to test, they all work but are very dim.

Anyone any idea's why they may be so dim, im sure they were brighter last year. Three things in a blokes life his dog,his car and a Cornish pasty,nothing else matters.

2010 Range Rover Vogue SE Santorini Black, Arabica Aniline seats

Previous cars
1973 Mini 1000
1971 Hillman Avenger
1975 Chrysler Sunbeam
1981 Ford Cortina
1985 Volvo 340
1989 VW Golf
1989 Volvo 240
1991 Volvo 240
1991 Jaguar Soveriegn
1996 BMW 730
2003 Honda CRV
1999 Jaguar Soveriegn
2003 Range Rover HSE Epson Green with Sand trim.

If they are genuinely dimmer the only thing that is likely to cause that is low voltage, but it would have to be pretty low.
Could be caused by bad / corroded connector or faulty transformer.
Have you checked the low voltage output of the transformer?

Thanks

Nicedayforit, will get my meter out and checl it. thanks again Three things in a blokes life his dog,his car and a Cornish pasty,nothing else matters.

2010 Range Rover Vogue SE Santorini Black, Arabica Aniline seats

Previous cars
1973 Mini 1000
1971 Hillman Avenger
1975 Chrysler Sunbeam
1981 Ford Cortina
1985 Volvo 340
1989 VW Golf
1989 Volvo 240
1991 Volvo 240
1991 Jaguar Soveriegn
1996 BMW 730
2003 Honda CRV
1999 Jaguar Soveriegn
2003 Range Rover HSE Epson Green with Sand trim.

have the lights got a controller , if so that might be faulty...normally leds ar eon or off unless a controller of some form makes them dim. ... - .- -.




Y. O. L. O.
.

Wot he said - LEDs are either on or off - never 'dim' except if that is the maximum output they can manage - ie I do not believe you can get variable output LEDs 2012 FFRR Westminster Orkney / Ivory and absolutely no pimp-glass!

Interesting,
Led drl's on cars are dimmable, commonly used when dimming the leds to reduce their brightness at night when either sidelights or dipped beam is selected.
My drl's dim to about 70% output when dipped beam is selected.
They noticably dim.
Just thought, I have an led torch that dims.

leds do dim but needs some electronic stuff to do it , ie a controller.. ... - .- -.




Y. O. L. O.
.

Hmm..m,

As far as I am aware stan leds are current sensitive so if you reduce the current thro them they dim.
To reduce the current in a circuit containing leds you can simply install a resistor in series with the leds, the resistor reduces the voltage in the circuit and hence the current flow and the leds dim. The power taken by the resistor doing this causes the resistor to heat.
I've seen circuits for dimming led drl's based on adding a resistor to the circuit and even calculations for the value of the resistor.
It's normally done with a 5 pin relay which switches in the resistor when required.
I think some of the peeps on D3 do it this way.

my understanding is that led dimmers unlike halogen dimmers actually rapidly switch the lamp on and off rapidly reducing the total amount of light emitted - to our eyes it looks dimmer. you can see this illustrated when you shoot video of dimmed leds. apparently this is called Pulse Width Modulation and allows brief periods of full voltage to the leds.

^^^ I agree, noticed that myself, but for some reason some led Drls use resistors.

I just thought that LEDs had a trigger voltage/current that produced a 'fixed' output and that it was not possible to actually vary directly as it is the chemical make up of the LED itself that controls the lumens produced?

...happy to be corrected 2012 FFRR Westminster Orkney / Ivory and absolutely no pimp-glass!

back to Stormins question, i reckon clean the connections and check the power supply and if it does have some kind of controller , check that.. ... - .- -.




Y. O. L. O.
.

Thank you every one for all your suggestions, managed to get home from work whilst it was still light today.

Ive traced the problem to the Plug timer. Swopped it for another all bright again,SWMBO will be happy.



Again many thanks


Stormin Three things in a blokes life his dog,his car and a Cornish pasty,nothing else matters.

2010 Range Rover Vogue SE Santorini Black, Arabica Aniline seats

Previous cars
1973 Mini 1000
1971 Hillman Avenger
1975 Chrysler Sunbeam
1981 Ford Cortina
1985 Volvo 340
1989 VW Golf
1989 Volvo 240
1991 Volvo 240
1991 Jaguar Soveriegn
1996 BMW 730
2003 Honda CRV
1999 Jaguar Soveriegn
2003 Range Rover HSE Epson Green with Sand trim.