TC420 Programmable LED Time Controller

[@ssss-df5qz]

Love this unit.... for the money I wasn't expecting much but it turns out it's well bloody good!

[@Darker74]

Can it be used for led lights and led strips too?

[@MrStrat70s]

What LEDs are people using?

[@JoseMaria-qx6ql]

Hi Darren! Congrats for your good explanation. But i have a doubt about the transformer to be used with. Can it be a 12v generic one or must be an especific led driver? Thanks for sharing your video.

[@JoseMaria-qx6ql]

Got it! Thanks for your reply. :)

[@ondrejnavratil5857]

Hi, for some reason my computer didnt recognize device when I plug it to pc...Any ideas how to plug or what I have to do? Thanks for any advice :)

[@michaelshattock5276]

Hi. Has anyone using this seen the following problem. I have it programmed to be on on selected channels over midnight (it comes on at say 9pm and goes off at 9am). However, at midnight (00:00) these channels cut out and 'go low' until the next programmed time. I COULD partially solve this by simply programming in the 'next programmed time' to be 00:01 and have it come on again - this works. But, this gives me 1 minute of 'dark' from 00:00-00:01. For my application, this is unacceptable - I cannot have the lights off for even a minute. Anyone got any ideas how to solve this and stop the outputs resetting to zero output at midnight?

[@M2OOX]

Hi there, thanks for the video. I have found these units on ebay and was wondering if i could use them for sunrise/sunset and fade in a blue tank light during sunset. It would appear it will do exactly as i wish so very happy with that. How do you go about having a smooth transition from 0% to 100% over a time period of 1 hour on a single channel though ?

[@gkooistra91]

Is it possible to use the power in next to the usb to charge te LEDs? Could i use a laptop charger 72 watts and use that to power the LEDs. I ask because i have only found something that said that it can be used for small charges... what does that mean? Can i use 72 watts via the power in or not? Or should i use the 5-24V input and not bother with the power laptop style input?

[@amandafahy9051]

Could you use 10vdc instead of 12vdc? Each Channel could input 0 - 10v to control the PWM of 1 -5 drivers ,which would drive a strings of leds at higher voltage and amps

[@DarrenlinesUk]

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.

[@williamdecker8063]

I was thinking of getting this unit for sunrise/sunset effect on my planted tank. I am also DIYing my own LED and have the three watt LED's. What is the safest number of 3W's I can hook up to this without overloading it?I would love to pick your brain a bit on this.

[@DarrenlinesUk]

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.

[@williamdecker8063]

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 [e-mail].I look forward to conversing!

[@stevegillatt8731]

Hi Darren, I have the same timer & have timed over 24 hours using 24 steps of fade, I'm using 3 channels 2 white & 1 blue but when running the program the fade doesn't seem to work, any help would be much appreciated.

[@rezavalipour2212]

can I using from this controller for making sunrise and sunset and setting brightest 3 w leds?

[@rezavalipour2212]

can I using from this controller for cree led ?

[@DarrenlinesUk]

+Reza Valipour I'm guessing you are talking about 1 or 3w luxeon star type LEDs, CREE is just a manufacturer. In theory it should work. I'm looking into having this unit control 10w LEDs. You would need a power supply that can provide enough watts, and drivers that can be dimmed with PWM. Power the TC420 and the drivers directly from the power supply, then have the output from the TC420 go to the PWM dimming connection on the driver. That's the theory, but I'm yet to test it myself. I'll be adding a section to the site in the description when I get it figured out.

[@Parablennius101]

Darren Thanks for posting the tutorial. I have one of these and have played with it on and off and want to use it now but I have a problem. When I synch the time from my PC, the clock/timer gains 10 minutes each hour. Obviously no use as is. The chinese vendor didn't even know there was an internal battery to store time/settings so they are not much help. Am I missing something here? Maybe in the set-up.Can you help, please?

[@DarrenlinesUk]

+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.

[@Parablennius101]

+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

[@DarrenlinesUk]

+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.

[@Parablennius101]

+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.

[@DarrenlinesUk]

+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 :)

[@yveslemoine5724]

Hi, please, could you explain me how the current limitation is done for each of the five channel ? Let's suppose that the power supply is able to deliver 20 Amps (because when PWM is at 100% on the five channels, it needs 20 Amps), but the leds assemblies connected to each channel are unable to accept more than 4 Amps (remember that leds don't work like bulbs, they don't limit the current by themself). How to avoid, wether only chanel 1 PWM is at 100% , that 20 Amps will be delivered in channel 1 (that will destroy the leds). Thanks for your help.

[@TheDJKIKI007]

Hello Darren! I am watching all thesee videos and I still can't understand about the USB thing. Does my PC needs to be connected all the time if I want the program work correctly?

[@DarrenlinesUk]

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

[@togaf1]

Need something exactly like this except something that supports a 7 day timer instead of 24hr timer, any ideas?

[@ssss-df5qz]

Any progress on the 10w RGB COBs?

[@DarrenlinesUk]

+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.

[@ssss-df5qz]

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 :)

[@DarrenlinesUk]

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.

[@dgons2154]

Hi Darren. Can I connect 3W 5-35V LED Driver 700mA PWM Dimming DC to DC Step-down Constant Current driver for my 3 watt (each driver will drive 6 leds in series) LEDs?? Will be using 24v power supply.

[@tommylangley7817]

Darren Lines - Would love to know how to connect this to My Helialux 700 - could you help at all? Thanks

[@TomGabriele]

Thank you for the overview - I was having trouble finding good info while researching one for my own aquarium lighting. I found your video while googling the generic product names used for this controller on AliExpress, which then led me to finding much more info googling the TC-420 model number. Thank you! Quick question, if you don't mind - let's say I have 3 modes: Normal (with timing set for change from day to moonlight to off), Day (everything full on), and Moonlight (just the low purple lighting). How easy is is to switch between modes on the unit? Is it just a matter of a few button presses? Let's say Normal is running and it's the time of day when all the lights are off - what would I have to press to turn all the lights on by enabling Day mode?

[@DarrenlinesUk]

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 :)

[@TomGabriele]

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

[@DarrenlinesUk]

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.

[@qallaundry]

I need help with this controller please. I think I might have added too many LED's to ch1. It makes an alarm now and I can't reset it. Any advice please?

[@danhubbard4032]

Hi darren hoping you can offer a bit of help if you don't mind. I'm thinking of getting one of these, the led lights I've made / making are: led's stuck to a heat sink and wired in series then wired into a led dimmable driver, then the drivers are powered by a normal plug rather than a power source. I'm unsure as to how to wire the led dimmable driver into this unit though? does the power source power the controller then the controller powers the led driver? The lights have between 8-14 led's on them. Can you offer any advice? thanks alot dan

[@danhubbard4032]

Is there a way I can speak to you on Facebook? I'm based in portsmouth as well

[@DarrenlinesUk]

+Dan Hubbard Hi Dan, as far as I know, those kind of dimmable transformer/driver units are a triac type designed to work with household type lighting dimmer switches, which varies the input voltage to the transformer, but keeps the output current the same. You wouldn't be able to use the output from the TC420 to control this type of driver as that uses Pulse Width Modulation to control the dimming. If you could post links to the LEDs and the driver, as there might be a solution.

[@DarrenlinesUk]

+Dan Hubbard I'd rather keep it on here so that other people can see the answers too.

[@danhubbard4032]

+Darren Lines hi darren thanks very much for the reply, here's the led's I'm using on a heat sink wired in series pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=131345637382&alt=web and this is the type of driver I'm using pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=131678748550&alt=web.

[@DarrenlinesUk]

+Dan Hubbard unfortunately, that setup wouldn't work with the TC420. Looking at the description of the driver, you'll need to find some kind of automated dimmer that uses the DALI dimming standards, this would connect to the 2 "DA" connectors on the driver.

[@reefer9224]

hi are those blue and brown wires 2 different power supplies????? I want to put these on my reef light but the have 3 channels each with a different power supply.

[@DarrenlinesUk]

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.

[@vinvdb4879]

So you have five channels: Three for RGB and one for white? Than there's one channel left for a ventilator? (Ore something like that?)

[@DarrenlinesUk]

+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.

[@vinvdb4879]

Thank you,

[@LunarLedlighting]

Any luck with the demo mode x256 ?

[@DarrenlinesUk]

+Lunar Led I had a discovery yesterday and got the x256 demo mode to work. For this the USB and power transformer need to be connected and on at the same time. This works for some TC420's, but others refuse to work with the power transformer still connected.

[@electricwater83]

Howdy Ive the 3528 rgb led strip with the colors all on the one strip!but I' see you have wires connecting to the the controller how do I go about connecting my strip to the controler thanks!

[@ssss-df5qz]

+Darren Lines - Could I run 4 x 10W common anode RGB COB chips with this controller?

[@DarrenlinesUk]

+ss ss Not directly, 10W LEDs need to be run through a constant current driver. With the RGB version, each colour would also need it's own driver. There's a guy on KZbin called Julian Ilet who has a video on RGB COB LEDs. The only difference is that the drivers for your LED would need to have PWM dimming, which would be operated by the TC420. Here's the video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/q6C6ZpiejcqHe7c He's using a 30w LED, but they principals are the same.

[@electricwater83]

***** thanks for your reply and help

[@DarrenlinesUk]

+ss ss Basically, the 5050 strips are designed to be run in different situations such as in a car where the voltage can fluctuate up to 14.2v when the alternator is running, so the have resistors in line and are made to be pretty robust. The 10w COB LEDs are pure LEDs with no protective circuitry whatsoever. If you put too much current or voltage through them, they will blow. The driver protects the LEDs, however this also means that they way the LEDs are dimmed is also different. With the TC420, it outputs a PWM signal to each of its channels, this depends on what you set the brightness level to in the software. The PWM signal basically switches the power on and off very quickly. The darker the LEDs, the longer the off gap, the brighter the LEDs, the shorter the off gap, until the output is either fully on or off. You can't output a PWM signal straight into the input of a constant current driver. You need a driver that also has a PWM input (in our case it needs to be on the negative side, as the TC420 has a common positive). The TC420 will show the driver how bright to have the LEDs with that PWM input. On the plus side, it means there is hardly any current going through the TC420, so you could have hundreds of drivers running off it. The 60w "driver" you're talking about that came with the strips is most likely just a 12v transformer, however it could be a transformer/driver. If its a silver box with holes, that plugs into the mains voltage, it's likely just a transformer. The drivers I'm talking about do not transform from mains voltage, they regulate energy provided by the transformer to keep the LEDs safe. With these LEDs, they need a constant current driver to ensure that they do not blow up due to too much current being drawn. With your RGB COB LEDs, each channel will be running at approximately 3.33w and will need to have a regulated current. The current will vary depending on the colour. The information for how many mA each colour needs to run at should be in the spec sheet for the LEDs. The supplier should be able to give you this. You also need to find out the voltage draw of each colour and the voltage supplied by your power supply. You could potentially run some of the channels in series of a single driver, so long as the total voltage isn't higher than that of your transformer. I'm guessing your transformer will be 12v as it was running 5050 strips. So if the forward voltage of LED's channel is 6v or less, you could run the blue, green, and red channels of 2 LEDs in series, which would half the number of drivers you need to 6. Have a read of what I've written for Zakri Rahman near the top of this page. A lot of the information will cross over and there's a diagram too. With the diagram, each of his LEDs would only represent 1 channel (R, G, or B) in your set-up. He was also using a 24v supply, so the numbers would be half in your case.

[@ssss-df5qz]

+Darren Lines - That's really informative an well explained. I've got a friend who's dad is really clued up on this stuff, I just wanted to be able to have a basic understanding of why it is how it is, and wanted to get some parts together ready for him to show me how to put it together. I'm kind of thinking that with the 5050 strips (which I have right now) it might save me a lot of hassle. It's just they aren't as bright as I'd like them to be :/ Thanks again for your advise, really appreciated.

[@zacrahman2241]

Hey darren. Im not a tech savvy person. Let alone an electronic guy. do you have a simple diagram that shows how to connect this? lets say i want to make a 10pcs of 3 watt led per channel. i already check out you website but cant understand much. thanks

[@DarrenlinesUk]

+Zakri Rahman at the moment, I';ve not done anything with those kinds of LEDs. As I say on the web site, LEDs such as luxeon star or the large 5W+ SMD CoB LEDs require a different setup with constant current drivers, which I plan on investigating in the future. The 3 watt LEDs require a constant current driver that outputs 350ma. Each LED will use 3.3v so if you have a 12v supply, you can only string 3 in series, or 6 for a 24v supply (the maximum that the TC420 can handle). You could have 9 LEDs per channel running at 12v by having 3 drivers in parallel, each with 3 LEDs in series. That would make each channel draw 27watt/2.25 amps, so if you're using all 5 channels, you'd need a 150watt, 12v power supply. If you go for a 24v transformer, you could run 2 drivers in parallel, each with 5 LEDs in series, giving you the 10 per channel. This would require a 165w+ 24v power supply. To get the fading to work, you would need constant current drivers with a PWM input to change the brightness, the TC420 would control this. To be clear, I'm not meaning transformer drivers powered by mains voltage, I'm talking pure drivers that take a DC input, such as this one www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LED-Driver-350mA-PWM-Light-Dimmer-DC-DC-Step-Down-5-35V-Constant-Current-Module-/301544396658 Sorry this may seem a bit vague. As I haven't done this yet it's all theory, so I don't have any diagrams. I will be getting it working in the next few months with 10w LEDs, which will work the same in theory, you'd just need different drivers and can have more LEDs running off a single driver. I know there's a lot to take in, but research is your friend.

[@zacrahman2241]

+Darren Lines hey darren, its me again. im having a hard time understanding your comments as i said, im not a electronic person (even watt and volt confuse me). Suprisingly, all my friends (whos been into reef tank) is interested in this TC420 thing and want me to investigate further. My question is, what do you mean by "Each LED will use 3.3v so if you have a 12v supply, you can only string 3 in series, or 6 for a 24v supply " ? for example, my old laptop power supply reads output 24V, can i connect it directly to TC420 without connecting any more LED Driver? And what do you mean by 6leds for 24v? does it mean cumulative total of 6leds or 6leds PER channel (totalling 30leds)? Thank you for your answer and sorry for my bad english. I wish you good luck for your next project and i really hope you can update your website with diagram and simple drawing as i cant read schematic. Thank you again and may Allah bless you.

[@DarrenlinesUk]

+Zakri Rahman Hi Zakri. I have drawn a diagram how I'm looking to set mine up when using power LEDs. www.darrenlines.uk/_d/LED_Diagram.jpg Wiring it this way would put very little current through the TC420, so you could potentially have many, many drivers on each channel before getting close to the 4 amp limit. I think you would be wise to look into the basics of electronics, as it would help you out a lot, especially things like ohms law and the difference between parallel and serial circuits. I consider myself only a beginner, however, I will try to answer your questions. Each LED will draw a certain amount of power, which you can find on the specifications for the specific LEDs you are buying. They can also only take a certain amount of current before they blow up, which will also be on the specifications. For 3 watt LEDs the forward current is around 700/750mA and the power draw is between 3.2 and 4 volts, but we'll say 3.5volts to make things easier. When you use these LEDs, you need to use constant current drivers to ensure they do not get too much current and blow up. So for your LEDs you will need constant current drivers rated at 700mA with a PWM interface for the fading. The drivers will allow you to chain LEDs in series (as on the diagram) up to the maximum voltage the driver can handle (usually 36v, which allows for 10 LEDs). When you chain the LEDs in series it increments how many volts you need to light the LEDs to full brightness. For example 1 LED is 3.5v, 2 LEDs is 7v, 3 LEDs is 10.5v and so on. So for your 24v transformer, the most LEDs you can have in series is 6 (24volts divided by 3.5volts and rounded down). This number is per series chain on each driver. You can then run multiple drivers in parallel and it will still only require the 24volts, however this increases the watts of the power supply you need. You can calculate how many parallel drivers you can run by calculating the watts required for each driver and compare it to your power supply. The driver circuit with 6 x 3watt LEDs would be 18watts, though it's good to add a 10% overhead to protect the equipment, which would be 19.8watts. Next, find out the watts of your power supply, which for a laptop could be around 80watts, and divide that by 19.8 and again round down. If this is the case you could have 4 parallel circuits of LEDs, which would be a total of 24 LEDs. It doesn't matter if they are on the same or different channels from the TC420, you could still only have a maximum of 4 driver circuits unless you got a power supply with a higher wattage. I hope this helps. I understand it's a lot to think about, it still takes me time to get my head around things.

[@zacrahman2241]

+Darren Lines Hey darren its me again. Thank you a gazillion for the diagram and the time to reply me. Yea i think i should learn the basic of electronics but fortunately one of my reefer friends is kinda tech savvy (BUT! he is so poor in english so google and youtube is not his thing). Anyway, when i tell them about your answer above, they all so excited and wanna held a meeting this saturday with of course, the printed diagram of yours and even the printed version of your explaination above (with me as the translator haha). Maybe we can figure something out by then. Being in a developed country, a branded reef lamp can cost us about RM$2000 to 3000, but if we can DIY, the cost would be around RM$200 to 300. So, youre really a life saver. Thanks again for your kindness and knowledge. ps : you got a rockin website! We share some hobbies like photography and fish keeping! Keep up the good work and may god bless. Assalamualaykum.

[@DarrenlinesUk]

+Zakri Rahman No problem at all. Good luck on Saturday and I hope you and your friends can get it all figured out. The savings are about the same for me over hear by going DIY, so it's well worth doing :)

[@rallymadboy]

what kind of leds are u running thanks.

[@rallymadboy]

thanks for the info.

[@jianzanella]

Amigo estou querendo ligar 10 leds de 10W nesta controladora TC420 acha que vou ter algum problema, sera que vai funcionar bem?

[@rodrigormoraes]

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

[@jianzanella]

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

[@christianhvid4965]

I have 12v powersupply, when I put the lights at 100% they are very weak and possible only lighting like 50%. Any ideas? I have 1 9w connected to it atm.

[@noah_73]

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

[@M2OOX]

Hi there, I recently bought one of these to enable me to add sunrise/sunset to my led light unit. Im having some issues getting it to work though, when i plug the unit in on USB and download the program file (no 12vDC connected) it will not save the file although it states the download was successful ? I can get it to download and show on the screen when the DC is on BUT it will still not work, and when the 12v DC is removed it looses all program info and displays 'Null' (BUT time and date remain correct) Any help appreciated.

[@M2OOX]

+DeadLines Photography you were quite correct. The unit had a hardware fault and i had a refund. I have just today re installed the replacement, and all is working better than i could have ever imagined.

[@DarrenlinesUk]

+Nick Rees That's great. Glad it all worked out in the end :)

[@tersamdiyaquarium6284]

i have a 12v 250 watt driver and want connect 74 3w led in 4 groups to the tc420, but figure out how to it. it's 16 white, 16 royal blue, 16 uv and 16 mix colour of the same volt and values. can you tell me how to do this? it works with led strips, not the star led

[@DarrenlinesUk]

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.

[@Darksoul985]

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?

[@rafierafie]

I love this unit but does anyone know how to reset it (remove all programs)?

[@teknotronix1736]

how many 3 watts led i can run on this controller

[@teknotronix1736]

+Darren Lines thanks and appreciate it....

[@michaelshattock5276]

Hi. I have just bought this and it works beautifully ......apart from one glitch. I can create 'Packages' containing various 'Modes' and can save them as .pmf (or .tmf) files. I can download a newly created programme onto the timer and it works nicely. However, if I come back to it and try to open a previously saved .pmf file, I cannot open them. They will not open either from within the Pled programme or by double-clicking on the .pmf file. The Pled programme just sits there with empty 'fields' waiting for me to create a new programme. Has anyone seen this problem? Any idea why I cannot open previously save .pmf files?

[@DarrenlinesUk]

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.

[@michaelshattock5276]

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.

[@federicacasulli3483]

ciao il dvd in dotazione non funziona, come posso risolvere ? Mi puoi inviare una copia del driver di installazione?? Grazie Mario

[@mariosavoie4089]

cant u told me wath kind of power supply hi need for this item

[@Lesher201]

i need driver pls help

[@mtillers88]

Hi, can I control my drivers with tc 420 controller, Drivers are 36 v dc dimmable Can I use step down voltage regulator to dim this drives? Thanks

[@DarrenlinesUk]

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.

[@mtillers88]

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

[@mtillers88]

Sorry 4 drivers, witch dimmable by controler

[@DarrenlinesUk]

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.

[@mtillers88]

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