Christmas tree mod help !!! One for the geeks :P

[greens117]

Hi guys can you help me with this?, I bought a fiber optic tree from homebase 7ft tall loverly tree!
Here's the butt! there is no control to slow down the led lights i really love the tree and the effect but the light display is like a
fookin rave !, is there a way of stopping the said light display just or to a slow pace or just one light effect all the time?
please help
Included photos of the board


It seems like the U2 big blob is the brain !

[Mule]

Just a guess, been years since I did any real electronics but I think you'd need to put in another capacitor parallel with the current one though I think you'd struggle to do it.

Like I say, just a guess, I'd like to know what the real answer is.

EDIT: Oh, I suppose you could short the capacitor (c2) that should stop it flashing altogether.

[greens117]

im willing to keep the tree ,and get a solder gun just to sort it out but im imagineing there must be a chip to teel it flicker ?

[greens117]

How do i short the c2 capacitor?

[Mule]

I'm kinda guessing that C2 on the board is a capacitor... I wouldn't follow my advice if I was you, I'm just guessing.

[greens117]

okay ill crunch the c2 with a pair of pliers will get back in a mo lol
dont worry to much ill just take it back and start again

[greens117]

lol fucked it just flashes red now lol taking it back tommorow

[Mule]

LOL, did you just squish it with pliers?

[tronads]

thats making it open circuit, not short !

Timing in such circuits is usualy based on a resistor combined with a capacitor (RC timer). I would harbour a guess that R22 and C2 establish the timing for the IC (blob). If it were me, Id be removing R22, measuring it, and replacing it with either a variable resistor, or experimenting with resistors either side of the original value. It doesnt help I suppose that its surface mount, so you might want to solder wires to those points to take the component off the board, so you can use normal old size resistors.

[DejaVu]

I am probably way off as I'm no sparky. I just look at things logically.
Are we sure that the Capacitors at C2 and R22 are timings? I would look at this and think that U2 is the culprit for the timings.
C2 and R22 seem like they are just controlling the voltage into the circuit as they are the first port of call for the Live feed.
U2 then looks to send the current to the bulbs independently from the lower half. Neutral also enters U2, so this would signify perhaps a timer in the 'blob'?

Like I said, a logical guess...!

Me personally, I would return it to Homebase and say your sick of looking at red beams of light shooting around the room, it's sending your cat nuts and the neighbours have called the police 3 times thinking your winding them up with laser pens and demand a Variable Speed Controlled Multi-Coloured Fibre Optic Fake Christmas Tree.

[tronads]

Actualy Dejavu is probably quite right, I didnt even look at the rest of the circuit, just jumped on the only RC I could see and made a quick assumption...... U2 is probably something akin to a pic chip with an internal clock to govern the flash rate, so the speeds are quite likely fixed in this case. If it were RC timer based, U2 would have been something more like an NE555 which doesnt have internal clock.

[Mule]

Could you not cut U2 out of the equation altogether just leaving all the lights permanently on?

[greens117]

It was the u2 in the end when i cut the blob off the lights where not flashing, but looked crap.
Thanks for all your input took the said tree back.
Replaced with a nicer tree .

[DejaVu]

Took said butchered tree back with the 'it's not flashing fault'.
Classic.