Is anyone running LED Rider LX5's?

[Shawn K]

I recently acquired a pair of used LED Rider LX5 lights with the outboard ballast. The prior owner made some modifications to the input wire to the ballast, and I'm not sure what the original wiring scheme was.

I'm looking for either a copy of the Owner Manual, or someone who can tell me what the 3 wires going into the ballast are for (I assume that two of them are power and ground, but I don't know what the third one is for.)

 

[Larry Fine]

Perhaps two beam patterns or brightness levels? What are the wire colors?

I looked online and couldn't find more than you obviously could.

 

[Obo]

I'm guessing they are for the intelligent controller?

IQ-275 Intelligent Lighting Controller (smart dimmer)

The IQ-275 Intelligent Lighting Controller from Skene Design allows you to quickly and conveniently set the brightness of your auxiliary LED or incandescent lights to match riding conditions.Often auxiliary lights are too bright or have too wide a beam pattern to operate at full power during the day

ledrider.com

 

[Shawn K]

Perhaps two beam patterns or brightness levels? What are the wire colors?

I looked online and couldn't find more than you obviously could.

Black / white / green

I'm guessing they are for the intelligent controller?

IQ-275 Intelligent Lighting Controller (smart dimmer)

The IQ-275 Intelligent Lighting Controller from Skene Design allows you to quickly and conveniently set the brightness of your auxiliary LED or incandescent lights to match riding conditions.Often auxiliary lights are too bright or have too wide a beam pattern to operate at full power during the day

ledrider.com

To the best of my knowledge, the lights were not sold in conjunction with the Skene controller.

 

[Shawn K]

I can at least confirm that the black/white leads to the ballast are 12V+ and ground, as I just connected them to a battery to test.

(Note to self: Point lights away during testing)

Now if I only knew what that green wire was for...

 

[Larry Fine]

Now if I only knew what that green wire was for...

Presuming white was +, try green to + and black to -.

If that doesn't work, try white to + and black to - and then add green to +.

 

[Shawn K]

Presuming white was +, try green to + and black to -.

If that doesn't work, try white to + and black to - and then add green to +.

You're correct, white is positive.

Green+ / Black- : No activity
White *and* green+ / Black- : No activity

 

[Larry Fine]

White *and* green+ / Black- : No activity

Are you saying that powering the green also extinguishes the light?

 

[Shawn K]

Are you saying that powering the green also extinguishes the light?

No, I'm sorry. I didn't word that clearly.

White+ / black- : Lights come on normally.

Adding green+ while lights are already lit: No change in activity.

 

[Larry Fine]

Hmmm. Time to open one up. Well, I would.

 

[Shawn K]

Yeah, I was thinking about that.

 

[Andrew Shadow]

Another option would be to, instead of putting 12+ to the green when the lights are on, try testing for any output on the green wire when the lights are on. Maybe the green is intended to be wired to an indicator light that illuminates when the lights are on.

You could also try putting 12- to the green wire when the lights are on. Maybe it is ground activated instead of activated by 12+.

Be aware that doing any of the tests that you are performing always carries the risk of damaging whatever is in that box if power is applied in a way that it is not designed for.

The Skene controller shows as an available accessory for the LD5 lights so that might still be a possible use for the green wire.

 

[Shawn K]

The Skene controller shows as an available accessory for the LD5 lights so that might still be a possibility.

I have a Skene IQ-175, thanks to @kiltman . The way I'm thinking about writing it in, I won't need the green wire to work, but I really want to know what it's supposed to do.

 

[Andrew Shadow]

What I meant to type was that the green wire might still be a possible trigger for the Skene controller. Since you have a Skene controller, I'll assume that you have already investigated that.

 

[Larry Fine]

I see things like this either of two ways:

1. Keep trying connections until the magic smoke comes out.

2. Open it and trace the wires, hoping I can get it closed again.

 

[Shawn K]

What I meant to type was that the green wire might still be a possible trigger for the Skene controller. Since you have a Skene controller, I'll assume that you have already investigated that.

Negative, Ghost Rider. I've not gotten that far.

1. Keep trying connections until the magic smoke comes out.

That doesn't seem cost-effective.

2. Open it and trace the wires, hoping I can get it closed again.

I'm leaning towards that option.

 

[Shawn K]

@Larry Fine - Well, that didn't help...

 

[Andrew Shadow]

Would you know if this ballast is part of the LX5 kit form LED Rider? If so, contact them and ask them about it. If not, is there is a name, or model number, or other markings on the ballast that can be used to try and search for information on it?
If no to all of the above, I have no further useful suggestions to offer you unfortunately.

 

[Shawn K]

All attempts to contact LED Rider have failed. I'm not even sure they're open for business anymore.

I've also been searching online for a manual, with no luck.

 

[Ron]

Did anyone GTS (goggle) the green wire question? Some one on the world wide net will have an explanation.