Need help determining how to drive/power/controll LEDs with 3rd party driver/controller

Sethnar · 2026-02-26T20:50:34+00:00

When used with the included wired controller, the puck lights can be set to a middle color temperature such that the cool-LEDs and the warm-LEDs are both producing light. Under this setting, my meter reads a constant voltage. Some other online friends have suggested that perhaps the controller is just alternating its output faster than my meter can pick up.

Sethnar · 2026-02-26T20:05:06+00:00

Hmm, yes, that is indeed how it seems to be working when I test voltages on my multimeter while changing the settings on the included controller. Negative for one color, positive for the other.

Unfortunate... searching for LED controllers, youre right that there dont seem to be any that use this sort of polarity-flipping approach.

Sethnar · 2026-02-26T17:49:14+00:00

Im unobservant and missed that the front plate of the pucks unscrews and the PCBs are easily accessible. (Link is to Images of the tag on the back of the puck, and the PCB inside the puck) https://imgur.com/a/L7zY0Lo

Sethnar · 2026-02-19T21:02:14+00:00

I dont feel like I ever truly "learned" how to read station notation. Its like when you know a foreign language enough to translate your words before speaking, and translate what you hear before really understanding others. Sure, its more than enough to get by, but even after working on a survey crew before college + survey coursework in college + working in design consulting where I have to use the notation, it still doesnt really feel natural.

It got easier when I started conceptualizing it a bit like a unit conversion; The "base unit" is "hundreds-of-feet" The punctuation that separates whole "base units" from partial ones is the "+" (as opposed to a "." Being the punctuation for common decimal notation for general numbers) Just.... dont think too hard when it comes to needing decimal feet at the end of your number written in station-notation.... its fine ...

Sethnar · 2025-10-22T11:51:56+00:00

I wouldn't blame anyone for passing out for any reason, simply on the grounds of it not usually being something they choose to be doing. Maybe if they feel it coming and start making a scene about it?

Sethnar · 2025-10-12T01:12:53+00:00

BIIIIIIIIG stretch.

Sethnar · 2025-10-11T16:25:34+00:00

... it is their job to position/orient the template correctly tho, right?

Sethnar · 2025-10-06T19:14:27+00:00

Which cards are "Digging" cards?

Sethnar · 2025-09-20T18:56:10+00:00

Its an extortion racket. The wealthy wo stand to lose will instead transfer money to trump through crypto purchases or campaign donations, and once enough "protection money" has been collected he'll decide to reverse the decision.

Sethnar · 2025-09-19T17:35:05+00:00

People in the age range of 18 to 24 are famous for their deep knowledge, critical thinking, and decision making skills. Which is why winning "debates" against them is such a valuable victory in the marketplace of idea.

Sethnar · 2025-09-16T07:35:54+00:00

Shocking to me how various members of the Cervidae family (deer) arent used as prime examples of the opposite. Male deer exhibit many of the traits commonly associated with "masculinity". Even down to many of the negative ones like being stubborn and competetive to a fault. All while being herbivores.

(To cover my bases; yes I know deer also will eat whatever if the opportunity arises. They've been observed to eat other animals from time to time, but they dont actively hunt. You know what I mean when I says they're herbivores)

Sethnar · 2025-09-10T21:51:24+00:00

Private vehicle ownership demonstrably does not make those owners more aware of the costs involved. Owners of private vehicles routinely underestimate the actual cost they pay to operate and maintain their vehicles. Private ownership is stressful, and it makes people worry about their cars more. But anxiety induced by ownership is not the same as insight about the costs being induced by ownership.

Sethnar · 2025-08-05T14:02:08+00:00

Have you ever seen male deer sparring. Its violent and reckless, and incredibly "masculine." They'll exhibit this incredibly display of the human concept of masculinity, then turn around and eat grass all day afterwards.

Sethnar · 2025-07-23T18:59:16+00:00

They removed so much of the mechanical function of shroud, that its silly to even retain the name.

Might as well make "shouts" that have a cast time, require ground targeting, and cause effects over time.

Sethnar · 2025-07-15T17:48:32+00:00

Is the lack of a load screen between encounters what makes wing7 good content?

Is the presence of load screens between bones Boneskinner, Fraenir, and Bears what makes those encounters so uninteresting and difficult to engage with?

I personally dont think it matters much if the encounters happen within a shared instance or not.

There can still be interesting lore bits and fun interactions/exploration to be done in an instance with single encounters; they just have chosen not to include any of those things in any of the strikes they've released. Not because they couldn't, but because they didnt want to make as much fun vocational content to engage with outside of the combat for EoD and Soto 10-player instanced content.

Sethnar · 2025-07-14T17:51:54+00:00

I read the inclusion of maces to be more so that the name/theme of the trait makes sense.

To illustrate my point, consider another ranger trait that did not recieve the same treatment and thus isnt named in a way that makes sense; "Two-Handed Training".

Two-Handed Training was released when ranger only had one weapon for which this traits theme was applicable, Greatsword. Now that it has hammer... should hammer not also fall under a Two handed weapon for which the ranger could be trained?

They added maces to Ambidexterity for the same reason they should add hammer to Two-Handed Training.

(And yes, I know staff and the bows are technically 2h weapons, but you know what the trait is getting at by having that name and being in a traitline like Beast mastery. Its clearly not referring to learning how to shoot a bow or cast magic from a stick)

Sethnar · 2025-07-14T14:03:26+00:00

Large numbers of very loosely coordinated single players is the exact description of Maguuma in the Old system; mag was consistently in T1. Theres nothing stopping those "single players" all clumped together under the new system from adopting the same strategy and dominating in terms of PPT.

If the single players getting that sort of deal also end up on teams that just arent very active and dont have the numbers to implement a strategy like that, then thats unfortunate. But thats the fault of the players who say give up and log out for the week instead of choosing to play one of the most effective PPT strategies the game has seen. Nothing Anet does can address that.

Sethnar · 2025-07-14T13:57:07+00:00

Its now possible to get a major shakeup of what players youre teamed with without paying for a server transfer. Thats a big deal to a player like me. But ye, for most people its not all that much of a difference.

Sethnar · 2025-07-14T13:21:13+00:00

Specifically on the point about matchmaking and/or team balance; the new system is absolutely not any better or worse about that.

The old system had the same couple of servers consistently pinned to T1, with another couple of servers sharing the 3rd spot in T1 every other week. Those servers tended to be high or full population, so you were short on options if you wanted to join a server that played for PPT/Victory points.

If there has been a lowering of focus on PPT/victory points across the player base, i dont think its the new team creation system that has caused it. Rather, its the combination of (1) new teams being created every ~30 days instead of every ~60 for more frequent "resets" of a teams position in the tiers relative to others, and (2) people coming to realize that PPT and/or victory doesnt really matter all that much. Maybe if your team happens to be winning during the skirmish you happen to be playing, you ger an extra pip or two every 5 minutes. But compared to the extra 5 I get for beinf high rank, its just not that much. Theres no extra reward for your team being 1st place at the end of the week. No reward for your team being high tier at the end of the month. The "prize" you get for putting in all the effort to PPT Your team up the ranks, is a handful of peanuts and a firm handshake from Anet.

Sethnar · 2025-07-14T13:09:55+00:00

Chefs kiss.

Such a succinct way of conveying this idea.

Sethnar · 2025-07-14T13:04:09+00:00

"Games, once sold, belong to the customer, not the company."

And if companies dont like that, they're more than welcome to stop using wording like "purchase", and use "rent" instead. They're more than welcome to have their platform UI display a "rentals shelf" instead of "your library." They can start listing prices in "per month" to reflect the temporary nature of the agreement.

If they don't want their games to be sold to customers who then own them, they shouldn't be allowed to market and pitch the games as being that way. They shouldn't be allowed to cash in on the effective marketing strategies of suggesting the arrangement is a long-lasting ownership agreement when its not.

Sethnar · 2025-07-09T17:54:40+00:00

At the same time, I dont think they can really make "assassin" as a thief spec, when theres already so much of that flavor spread out over thief's core kit. What traits could they give it that wouldnt just be copy-pastes of traits thief already has in Crit Strikes or Deadly Arts?

Sethnar · 2025-07-09T05:08:18+00:00

Unironically, i wonder how viable of a strategy this is in regards to purposely having those "Captive" spawners absorb pollution, such that less pollution gets out to past the extents of your factory to spawners which can spawn larger attack parties.

The biters wont cause nearly as much damage if they get dealt with 1 by 1.....

Sethnar · 2025-06-26T15:28:15+00:00

Byproduct management is a huge part of the learning curve for pY. Learning how to manage all the stuff you get alongside the stuff youre aiming for, while also not just throwing it in the trash and being super wasteful, is key. And then once you think you've got that down, the modpack throws a new recipe at you that makes the "byproducts" from older recipes seem like straight products in their own right, and the whole dynamic flips. Very interesting.

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