Question about rgb leds

[John_appleseed231]

Hi i recently got rgb strip lights for the footwells of my truck. They run off the standard rgb IR controller ull see on amazon. They are on a relay that is controlled by my bcm (switched negative) to turn on when the trucks door opens. I fed the relays coil and common with power directly from the battery. I put the leds on a three position switch, one position the relay the other constant power. My problem is when ever the leds turn on they flash once for a milisecond before turning on. Its a small brief flash then the light stays on. The kit came with a cigarette lighter adaptor that can be used to power the rgb controller and has its own switch. I used it to test if the flash still happens when using this and it dosnt. That means the problem is sumwhere on my circuit. Yes my relay is diode protected, regardless when i eliminate the relay an only use the switch it still flashes before staying constant. Can anyone tell me how to fix this

 

[John_appleseed231]

Also its not the switch either because ive swapped out multiple switches And still does the same thing. Small flash before turning on

 

[Harald Kapp]

I put the leds on a three position switch, one position the relay the other constant power.

Please show us a schematic diagram of your circuit. A verbal description is hard to understand, easy to misunderstand.

 

[John_appleseed231]

Please show us a schematic diagram of your circuit. A verbal description is hard to understand, easy to misunderstand.

Sorry im new to this im not sure how to do that

 

[Harald Kapp]

Give it at least a try.

 

[John_appleseed231]

Give it at least a try.

Ill give u a run down.
First i ran power from my battery to feed my relay
I jumped power off the relays coil and brought it to the bottom terminal of a three position toggle switch.
On the middle position is the led rgb module.
On the third position is the load end of my relay.
Regardless of my circuit the rgb module still glitches once when power is applied to it.
If i hook it up direct from my battery it will flash when i turn it on once and stay on.
If i use the cigarette lighter to power it, it works just fine no glitch. How could this be? My connections are fine too

 

[Harald Kapp]

Try connecting the cigarette lighter adapter in between the LEDs and their connection to the relay. For a temporary connection you should be able to just wrap some wire around the contacts on the plug side of the adapter to test. For a permanet installation either solder the wires to the adapter or, if you want to go non-destructive, buy a cigarette lighter socket to solder the wires to, then insert the adapter into this socket.
The adapter may have an internal electronic that suppresses the glitch.

 

[John_appleseed231]

I was thinking that aswell its kind of bulky to keep permanent in the kick panel of my truck. Do u know what components would be suppressing the glitch? I opend the adaptor up and all that was in there was a small board with a resistor for the push button illumination led.

 

[Harald Kapp]

I have no idea.

Could you at least give it a try to see whether it works as intended?

 

[John_appleseed231]

I have no idea.

Could you at least give it a try to see whether it works as intended?

I did what u said and put the adaptor on the load end of the relay going to the lights and it still had the glitch. Is it possible there is some type of device smoothing out the current to my cigarette lighter that fixed the glitch? I ran 12 gauge wire from my battery (i know its over kill) to feed my rgb control circuit, maybe i need some type of resistors inline? What do u think

 

[Harald Kapp]

I'm sorry but I do not seem to understand your setup correctly. Without a schematic of the connections I'm lost.

First i ran power from my battery to feed my relay

Without a switch in between the relay will be pemanently on.

I jumped power off the relays coil and brought it to the bottom terminal of a three position toggle switch.

Which power (+, -, both)? What do you mean by "bottom terminal"?

On the middle position is the led rgb module.
On the third position is the load end of my relay.

How are the "load end" and the LEDs related to each other?

 

[John_appleseed231]

Positive from My battery to relays coil. The coils negative comes from my bcm (switched Negative to close circuit when Door is open).
My switch has three positions. One has constant power (positive) the middle position (common) is my led control box and the last position is my relays load (positive). This means that the relay will only control my lights when i have it in the last position. The constant power position by passes the relay. I put the three position toggle switch so that i can turn my lights on even if my bcm hasnt activated the relay. When the switch is down, when i unlock my truck or open a door the lights turn on. When i have the switch in the up position the lights will always be on. The middle position is off of course.

 

[John_appleseed231]

When i put the adaptor on my circuit to test, i simply wired it inline from the relay to the lights. This would mean when my relay is activated power would flow through the adaptor to lights. When i tested it like this i still had the glitch. But when i plug in the adaptor to the rgb box and plug it to my cigarette lighter there is no glitch.

 

[Martaine2005]

Use a pencil and paper, draw your connections, take a photo and post it here or copy and paste it here.

Martin

 

[John_appleseed231]

Use a pencil and paper, draw your connections, take a photo and post it here or copy and paste it here.

Martin

 

[Harald Kapp]

The part in the red circle ,makes no sense:

Can you please clarify what this mean?

 

[John_appleseed231]

The part in the red circle ,makes no sense:
View attachment 48374
Can you please clarify what this mean?

The negative and positive is the relays coil. The line on the right side of the relay is the load end. (Switched load that relay is controlling that comes from the same feed as the coil)

 

[Harald Kapp]

The line on the right side of the relay is the load end.

The term "load end" is afaik not common when talking about relays. A relay has a coil and one or more contacts. With at least one contact (I assume that is what your relay has) you'll have two connections, as with any switch.
Please have a look e.g. at this website. There you'll see how a relay can be drawn in a schematic diagram, showing clearly the coil side and the contact side.
Please update your sketch accordingly and show all connections, also those implicit connection to battery - that are not shown in your current version of the diagram.

There are other ways to draw this, but I do not want to get you confused. The way it is shown on that page clearly shows what is the coil and what is the contact.

 

[John_appleseed231]

The term "load end" is afaik not common when talking about relays. A relay has a coil and one or more contacts. With at least one contact (I assume that is what your relay has) you'll have two connections, as with any switch.
Please have a look e.g. at this website. There you'll see how a relay can be drawn in a schematic diagram, showing clearly the coil side and the contact side.
Please update your sketch accordingly and show all connections, also those implicit connection to battery - that are not shown in your current version of the diagram.

There are other ways to draw this, but I do not want to get you confused. The way it is shown on that page clearly shows what is the coil and what is the contact.

Regardless of any schematics, if i hook it up directly to my battery it will glitch. If i hook it up through the cigarette lighter it will not glitch. So again, the rgb control box has a positive and negative wire. If i put those to my battery it will glitch before turning on. If i use the cigarette lighter it will not. How can this be

 

[Harald Kapp]

Regardless of any schematics,

not regardless: maybe you don't, but we need the schematic to understand what you are doing.