ION console light

Might seem a strange question but here it is anyway.  I worked with a sound company last weekend who was using a Yamaha console.  He showed me he had a Littlelite that changed from red (led) to white (led) and dimmed the white just using the board pot.  Seems as the pot is controlling the output it automatically causes the lite to go to red or dimmable white.

I contacted Littlelite and they told me all their new lights (3 pin and 4 pin) have both red and white however by no planning of their own, some consoles control the red and white that way and some don't.  Some just control the intensity of the red and white combined.  They basically said they added the red to cause a better color temp.  They also told me the console MUST have 12 volt output, NOT phantom power.  In the world of electronics I find this a little strange as normally red and white would be connected in series or parallel on one 12 volt circuit.  But that's what they told me.

So my question to someone who knows; can the ION, or has anyone experimented with this new Littlelite, control the red / white and dim with the rotary pot and does it output 12 volt; which my guess is yes since it controls the older style halogen Littlelites.

  • On the Littlite website they have the wiring diagram for the X-LED series.

    The current XLR-4 LED Littlite have Red positive on pin 2 and White+Red (common) positive on Pin 3, common negative on Pin 4.
    - Thus it's possible to turn the white off while leaving the red on with this particular one.

    The XLR-3 LED Littlites have White+Red (common) positive on Pin 3, common negative on Pin 2.

    Eos and Congo Family consoles have the XLR-3 connector and support XLR-3 Littlites and similar that have Pin3 Positive, Pin 2 Negative.

  • Thanks.  It didn't make sense to me that they just happened to build them and some consoles just happened to work that way and some didn't.  Looks very intentional to me.

    So since ETC is 3 pin there would be no need to switch unless someone just wanted the combo red/white led lite.  Too bad they didn't work it out with both 3 and 4 pin since the 4 pin only uses 3 pins anyway.  But of course then the consoles would have to be wired to match also.

    Thanks again.

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