The Shipyard ( Dry Dock ): Builds & Questions > Bait Boats

How do i dim lights on baitboat

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malcolmfrary:
Feed the LEDs through a forward only ESC.  Control will not be perfect, but you will get proportional control of brightness on the stick you are using now to switch them on and off.
Using a variable resistor is tricky, as very few are designed to handle the kind of power that even LEDs work with.  The ones that can will probably be in the same price range as a low price ESC.

Shipmate60:
Malc,
Dont the ESC's work by pulsing the full voltage?
Wouldnt an old resistor type speed which reduces the voltage be more suitable?
The car ones work in 3 stages.

Bob

malcolmfrary:
Bob
Yes they would, but finding one that is certain to work is the problem. 
The ESC, giving out a mark-space pulse train as it does, has the advantage in that it will regulate a little or a lot, it doesn't care.  A resistor controller for motors has to be closely matched to its load to offer control.  Too much resistance, there is no response until the throttle is wide open, then just full speed, if the resistance is too low, then full speed happens as soon as the throttle is off normal.  The same with lights, but read brightness for speed.  The controller resistance for motors is likely to be way too low to be of use with LEDs.

The LEDs will shine with full brightness while they are switched on, but as the "off" period is longer, so they will appear dimmer.  If you mulitiplex an LED display, you have to offer a scary amount of current to get the elements bright enough.
If it was a kit ESC with a relay for reverse, it would just need the relay coil connection to be missed to prevent reverse happening, which would likely be tragic for the LEDs.

chale02:
Thanks for replies guys but you are losing me fast i don't no where the esc is Maybe better to take photos of what is in there so thay can be identified I'll try and explane what is in there There is a box with 13wires coming from it 2 for LEDs 1pos 1neg 2 switch 1aerial 3right these go to a box that is mounted in middle of the two pumps on right 3left these go to again middle of pump box.
From the two boxers that are mounted above pumps there is pos neg wires that go to batts 2 pos wires that goes to hopper control wire pos neg from both pumps and as said before 3 wires that go to box at front Can not get into these two boxers as that are in potting compond.

thank you all for helping me out leaning more i hope

Chris

malcolmfrary:
Hi Chris
The ESC I mentioned would have been an extra to provide remote control of brightness.  If remote control is not required you will need to just insert a resistor in one of the leads feeding the LEDs.  Once the current being taken by the LEDs is known, and how they are configured, and how much you want to dim them, a sensible guess at the resistor type and value can be made.

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