Hi,

I've just ordered these; http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/281217715713?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

The lights arrived with the wire cut (not quite what I expected!), exposing the Live, Neutral and Earth wires. How do I connect one of these lights to a mains plug?

The item arrived with a 12V 5A Power Supply, but I'm not sure if this is of any use??

Thanks

Claire

 

hold on.. are you talking about the wire coming from the lights.. Because that should be just a DC+, DC- and ground wire NOT hot/neutral.. What color are the wires?
That light should run off the power supply NOT directly to mains..
You "should" just be able to cut off the DC end of the plug from the ac/dc power supply (or get a jack) and attach the + lead to one of the wires and - lead to the other. Then the 3rd wire..(hopefully at least green) can just be tied back to ground (AC main ground).
Then you can just plug the supplied AC cord into the power supply and wall and hopefully ...voila.. DONT LOOK DIRECTLY INTO THE LIGHT..it can cause permanent eye damage...

 

How do I connect one of these lights to a mains plug?

You don't. You connect the lights to the 12 volt supply. Tell the vendor to send you a power cord that doesn't have its end cut off? Buy a light that has a connector for the 12 volt supply?

 

I'd add the appropriate female power adapter to the end of the light's cord, to receive the plug from the 12V power supply. I like the flexibility of being able to unplug the supply. If the installation is "permanent", you can do as mcgyvr said and cut off the plug from the 12v supply. Then solder and heat-shrink the splice. I don't think the cord from the power supply will have a 3rd conductor for ground. Not sure.

A photo of your bare wires might help us guess which is which, if you have doubts.

 

So there is a blue wire and brown wire coming out the back of the light (there is actually no Earth wire as I said above).

Thanks

Claire

 

And you've been provided no information as to which is which?

 

If you look closely at the 3rd picture of the listing (the one with the various color patches), to the lower right of the lamp assembly, it shows two stripped wires. Those are probably the DC feed wires for the light. What are the input specs for the power supply? What is the voltage of your house power? since you don't say where in the world you live we can only guess.

 

If you got everything pictured, then you have an AC line cord for 220 VAC British service, a universal-input 60 W power supply that has a single output with a coaxial power output connector, and two lights that *do not* have a mating power input connecor. Yes/no?

If yes, then the problem is the wire colors. Blue and brown are the European version of white and black, the standard AC power wire colors for neutral (blue) and line (brown). This actually makes some kind of sense, as putting a small power supply inside the light housing is easier than cramming one into the base of an LED light bulb. But the text is pretty clear about these being LVDC lights.

First step, call the vendor and get them to explain exactly to hook things up, icluding a wiring diagram with colors indicated. Kinda stupid not to tell you that you have to cut the connector off the end of the power supply cable and splice the wires to the lights, but that's ebay.

ak

 

On Ebay beware of cords that go off the picture! I'd complain, maybe they will refund some money.

 

I'm not at the studio until tomorrow now, but here's a picture showing the exact light I have and the wires coming out the back.

Sorry, I'm in Edinburgh - UK (I thought it listed my location in the top right hand corner of my listing? It states where all of you guys are… Ohio, St Louis etc…)

Analog Kid - Yes I have everything pictured in the ebay listing; the two lights and the power supply, but no way to connect the two… :-/

I have emailed the ebay supplier, but haven't heard anything back yet.

Cheers

Claire

 

Oops, I forgot to include the picture; http://i.ebayimg.com/t/HOT-Waterproof-10W-RGB-16-Color-Changing-Outdoor-Remote-Control-LED-Flood-Light-/00/s/NTAwWDUwMA==/z/wFQAAOxy69JTCpg6/$_12.JPG

 

I don't know where the controller is that the remote is for, but to hook up the PSU to the LEDs is simple.

Cut the tip off the power supply, there will be two wires. Wire positive to blue on the LED, and negative to the brown wire on the LED.

how many amps is the power supply rated for? you probably want to wire the LEDs in parallel, so you would connect both blue wires to the postive of the power supply and both brown wires to the negative.

 

If you click on the User CP tab at the top, you can edit your profile and let folks know some things about you such as general global location, time zone, etc.

 

Cut the tip off the power supply, there will be two wires. Wire positive to blue on the LED, and negative to the brown wire on the LED.

It would be conventional to wire the positive to the brown*, but without documentation it's rather hard to be certain. Do you have a variable bench supply with a current limit? Then you could bring them up slowly to verify correct polarity without risk of damage.

* I'd say 80-20 that brown will be positive.

 

You can't count on China getting color codes correct.
And it seems we can't count on the OP either.. As they stated 3 wires then just blue/brown but then the picture they just posted is red/blue..

 

Maybe he's colorblind?

 

It would be conventional to wire the positive to the brown*, but without documentation it's rather hard to be certain. Do you have a variable bench supply with a current limit? Then you could bring them up slowly to verify correct polarity without risk of damage.

* I'd say 80-20 that brown will be positive.

I only say blue is positive because I just bought a driver from china that used the same colour scheme.

But, since it's an led if it's wired backwards, it just won't come on, flip wires, problem solved.

you could also test it with a multimeter, which I should have actually mentioned doing in the first place.

 

I only say blue is positive because I just bought a driver from china that used the same colour scheme.

But, since it's an led if it's wired backwards, it just won't come on, flip wires, problem solved.

you could also test it with a multimeter, which I should have actually mentioned doing in the first place.

The picture shows red and blue wires. Are you color blind too or didn't you read all the follow up posts? I would suspect that red or color blind brown would be positive...

 

ass u me...

 

Even if you test it with a meter, you might have to ASSUME that the red wire is positive.

I have a similar LED spot light that has red and white wires. Reading it with an ohmmeter, I get 150 decreasing to 100 one way and 50 increasing the other. This may indicate nothing if an internal circuit is involved. I'd assume there is more inside than just the LED.