Michael Shattock I’ve had this, it’s not looking in the right place for the files. Try searching for the .pmf files on your system, copy them and paste them in the open box on PLed. That might work.

Hi Darren. Thanks for that. Yes - that's the problem. Solved it by putting all the .pmf and .tmf files in the same folder. I have now taken to creating a Package from the start in it's own folder - one folder per 'Package'. That keeps everything neat (and functional!). Thanks.

geoffers47 Thanks Geoff. I’m getting my practice in for the summer, think I’m getting there. Going to try and start/fly a Spitfire tonight.

Simon Tufnail by the park. That was a well timed look around then 😄

I don’t know, I’d need to take the RTX 2080 out for that. But I’ll look in to Xeurope.

You do realise this is an import. I live in the UK lol

@@DarrenlinesUk I'm just here for the purple hornies

Darren Lines where in the UK do you live?

@@WyoCutlass71 I live in Frostburg Maryland USA

Funciona normalmente, lembrando que a controladora tem a saída de no MÁX 20A. Eu tenho uma T421 Wifi com 42 Leds. Abs.

Rodrigo R. Moraes certo, podes me dar alguma dica tenho 21 led 10w, 11 brancos, 6 azuis, 2 verde 2 vermelho, que tipo de ligacao posso fazer? Sendo q os 11 led branco nao consigo ligar em apenas 1canal

The first power source I used only gave me blue lights, when I got another it worked correctly. Try another power source.

The brown is positive, blue is negative. Both wires go to the same power supply. The power supply has 2 sets of cables, I could have blanked one set off, but its easier to just put them in the TC420.

I'd let you have a go, but I've just flattened the batteries lol I'll have to get them charged up :)

geoffers47 thought I'd see how high I could get it, there are some nice views.

geoffers47 better than getting stuck in a tree which I managed earlier on too. Shame I wasn't filming that 😄

mmmmmmmmm Mine was up a tree for 6 months! LOL.

geoffers47 I had a lucky hit with a bottle and it fell out. Think I might have to invest in a retractable stick of some kind, just in case 😄

geoffers47 you can just see the spec of it crashing at the end. I think it lost signal to be honest, but I glad it did or I'd have had to walk further to get it 😄

geoffers47 oh definitely. I should have charged my battery again and headed back out. I've ordered another 4 now so lots more fun to be had.

geoffers47 I'm having loads of fun. Think I need to get more batteries though. 7 minutes could easily turn into 28 😄

Think i may have to upgrade, but best get a phone first!!!

Hi Gonçalo, This is a common problem at the moment caused because the manufacturers released a bad batch of controllers have been made. There should be a firmware update soon to fix this, but I am recommending that people return them as faulty until a solution is available. Replacement units may work fine, when I have a solution I will post it on TC420.net and will post a twitter update to let people know.

No problem Tom, glad I can help. I also have a web site for the controller at www.tc420.net and am setting up a dedicated KZbin channel for this at kzbin.info It's very easy to change between the modes on the controller it's self. Press the ENTER button to enter the menu, "1. Mode" should be displayed on the screen, press the ENTER button again. Use the up and down buttons to cycle through your modes until you find the one you want, then press the MENU button to exit. You'll now be in that mode until you change it again. If you need any more help, please feel free to give me a shout over at the web site on one the channel :)

Awesome! Was just checking out that site too, didn't realize it was yours too. Thanks again for the help.

You're welcome. Hopefully I'll be adding a lot more soon. I'm currently setting up an area to record the videos as I want them to look good so that they're easier for people to follow. I should have something set up by the end of next month, fingers crossed.

Hi Maris, can you be more specific with your drivers, do you have a link to them? The way drivers are usually connected is shown on this page www.tc420.net/connecting-high-power-LEDs-to-the-TC420.php, but its seeming to me that you have transformer/drivers which are a different thing altogether.

hi, I'm using k3 key led light for my marine tank, only problem is light ramping in 1 H time and go till 100% How far I investigate they using 5 drivers

Sorry 4 drivers, witch dimmable by controler

I can't really find too much information on them. Your best bet is to look up the drivers and find out how they are controlled. My guess is it will either be via PWM or 0-10v dimmer. Once you know that, we can try to come up with a solution.

(10pcs/lot) 0/1-10V / PWM/ resistor 3 in1 dimming 32-54V 1150mA 62.1W dimmable LED driver power supply

Hi Amanda. If using external PWM driven drivers, you don't want to take the output voltage of the channels directly as this would be too high for the PWM input of the driver in most cases. For example the Mean Well LDD-700H takes a PWM input up to 6vdc. The TC420 may run on 10vdc, I've not tried it. The better way would be to access the PWM signal directly, which you can get from the gate of each channels MOSFET. I've started a page for this, but it's still very much a work in progress as I'm limited on time at the moment. www.tc420.net/connecting-high-power-LEDs-to-the-TC420.php Please check out my new KZbin channel at kzbin.info where I'll have much more information on this in the future.

Hi Phillip, This is the best I can do at the moment due to work commitments. I will add some photographs and diagrams soon. www.tc420.net/connecting-high-power-LEDs-to-the-TC420.php Please make sure you understand before attempting this. I have not built this yet myself, so use this information at your own risk.

Hi, regarding this matter, can you exceed the 24v limit? is just that the unit says Max Output 24v, 10a, and the 3w leds usually go from 3.1V to 3.4v, meaning that at most he could connect 8 right?

I'm still in the process of writing up the how to for high power LEDs, but the limit is pretty much determined by the wattage of your power supply. The unit it's self only supplies the PWM signal to the LED driver, so there is pretty much no draw through the TC420. I'm away today, but if you give me a day or 2 I'll add a brief description to my web site (see the video description) on how to set this up.

Thank you Darren. It has been a while since I did anything with electronics. I would nto consider myself a novice, or even intermediate, but It would like to be able to create a lighting system for my 75g heavy planted tank. currently, I am using 4 30W Biltek LED floods that seem to be working wonderfully, and of course, they add that shimmer effect that I was hoping to get pulling away from my fluorescent tubing. What I really want to do is add a sunrise/sunset effect, as well as a moon light.I have in stock 10 3W Royal Blue, 10 3W Red and 50 3W 10000K Day light LEDs. I still need to get drivers and power supplies (maybe only one?). I can use the help, and would be happy to donate to your website for any help you can give.feel free to email me at [email protected] look forward to conversing!

+ss ss I should have something reasonably soon which will work with pretty much any high power LED from 1w up. I'll be building a 3w set-up, but the only difference to the 10w set-up would be the model of constant current LED drivers to use (3w = 700mA, 10w = 1000mA). I'm just waiting on a bit of cash to buy the parts I need to make the complete system, and document it in detail.

That's really good to hear.... I'm desperate to set these 10w COBs up to my controller for my morning/evening sun but am an absolute noob when it comes to electronics. I'll literally buy the plans from you when you have something available, help you recoup some costs :)

If you drop me an email on my web site, I'll send something over. Unfortunately due to other expenses and time I've not had a chance to work on the lighting yet for the web site, but I can send over a brief how to.

+Parablennius101 Hi, There is nothing in the set-up to correct the time in that way, only sync with the current time. Gaining 10 minutes every hour sounds like something has been put together incorrectly with the internal electronics. I would say your TC420 is faulty and should be replaced by the vendor.

+Darren Lines Thanks for your speedy response. That's what I thought. Should it make a difference switching between 12V DC input and the on-board back-up? I would have thought not but my plan was to feed the TC420 via a timer controlled PSU, on before lights on and off after lights off, save having the PSU running all night for no reason. what do you think? Cheers

+Parablennius101 Personally I have my PSU running 24/7 as I don't think it would save much, if any power, and the device it's self is the timer. In some cases (mainly marine or another application with a reversely lit sump) a light will be on most of the time. A power supply will throttle back and only transform the power devices attached needs. There is a little overhead and some power supplies will be more efficient than others. But, when the lights are not on, the energy draw should be very low, most likely under 0.25 watts plus whatever the TC420 its self uses to keep the backup battery charged and run it's program. It's a good question though, and I'll try and find out the "standby" watts for the TC420. I would guess that it wouldn't be much different to a wall timer. The wall timer has to operate a motor in the case of a mechanical timer or a circuit very similar to what is in the TC420 in a digital timer. If I were you, I would try having the PSU in the mains 24/7 and attached to the power + and - on the right side of the unit. If the time still goes out by 10 minutes in an hour, it's definitely a faulty unit and should be replaced. Thanks though, I'll be adding a section on this on my tutorial web site, especially once I get the power results.

+Darren Lines Hmm. did some more tests today. When fed by PSU the clock keeps perfect time. When disconnected and left to the on-board cell and then reconnected, the clock is all over the shop!! Looks like the internal cell doesn't store time, only settings? Must say, though that light control, fading in/out, moonlight etc are spot on.

+Parablennius101 I'm going to do a bit more investigating and put the results on my site. In the past I've had a TC420 disconnected for about 12 hours and it kept the time ok, but I guess it depends on the quality of the internal battery and how long it takes to charge after it's depleted. The programming/settings will most likely be stored on some flash memory, so it will not go, even if there is no power at all. The battery backup will be purely for the time. It's good you have it working though. I'll have some stats on power usage soon :)

+Vin vdb All the channels are designed to control LEDs, it doesn't really matter what colours on which channels, it would depend on your set-up and wants. For example, you could just use 4 channels in an RGBW situation, or you could have 2 channels as blue and 2 as white to spread the current draw or control 2 different aquariums with 1 controller. You could even have all 5 channels as white and program it to fade them across the aquarium to mimic the sun travelling across the sky. If you wanted to, you could potentially link up other equipment to a channel, you'd just need to build a circuit to read the PWM signal from the TC420 and output that in a way suitable for your equipment. For example, you could program a channel in instant mode to switch a solenoid for a CO2 canister on and off in a planted aquarium. There is a lot of potential with this controller.

Thank you,

+TheDJKIKI007 No, you just use the USB to set the time and program the controller.