Teardown of a cheap (but amazing) disco light

For such a low cost, this little disco light is incredible. Internally it has the same physical structure as many professional lights, but all scaled down to make it affordable.

While testing it I connected my DMX-cat by City Theatrical, a piece of specialist test equipment used in the entertainment industry for diagnostics and configuring lights on a network.
I was absolutely stunned when the light correctly identified itself on RDM (Remote Device Management) protocol and was able to accept remote commands over the network to change various parameters including its network address. I've never seen that in any of the listings or manuals for these lights. I subsequently found the same functionality in a cheap LED PARcan that also uses an ARM Cortex processor, so I think the software is coming from a common source.

In the past the software used to be quite flakey in this style of light, but I think that a geek is now writing it. It manages to cram incredible functionality into a single very small ARM Cortex processor.

In hindsight I now realise that the unpopulated power supply area on the main PCB is actually the LED driver. I'd guess the use of an external driver in the yoke gives them better options for upgrading LED power.

One thing to note about these cheap disco lights is that their power supplies may not have electrical separation up to many countries standards. That's especially significant in the way the transformer is wound. In the event of insulation breakdown it's possible for a light to cause full mains voltage to appear on the common network, and potentially cause significant damage to other lights and control systems.

All in all I'm blown away by how well designed this light is.

This one (and the other variant I showed) came from AliExpress, but they are available from many other platforms. It's definitely a good idea to shop around, as the same light is rebranded under many names with a staggering price difference. As soon as one of the "brands" gets popular with DJs its price rockets.

Here are some links to the items on AliExpress (not a sponsor).
These are affiliate links, but that will not affect the price you pay.
Keep in mind that these products may not meet your country's standards.

The light that I took apart:-
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_c36FaSg9
Guide price around £45.

The other light I showed:-
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_c3r6cNfR
Guide price around £35.

The mini lighting desk I was using to test the lights:-
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_c3fvfy7T
Guide price around £20.

All these listings are for UK shipping from a local warehouse. To find other listings try searching for 120W or 150W LED moving head. Noting that the power ratings are entirely made up.
Definitely hunt around for a good deal as there is major price variation for what appears to be identical lights.
For the lighting desk, search for 192 channel dmx, and again shop around for the best deal as the price varies from £20 to £100!

If you buy the desk and lights, remember to buy some 3-pin DMX cables for them too.





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