Strobe question

[bigoldealmaster]

Coming from the strobe pack to the strobe head the strobe cable has three wires in it. Generally they are a red, a white and a black wire. What is the purpose of each wire and their function. Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[MtnMan]

Red and black are the two electrodes inside the strobe tube. Red is the anode (+) and black is the cathode (-). These apply a voltage of about 500 V to the xenon gas inside the tube, which is normally non-conductive.

White is the trigger, which is the wire or band wrapped around the outside of the tube. When the strobe fires, the trigger briefly applies 7,000 V to the tube, which causes the xenon gas to ionize and become conductive. Current flows though the gas from anode to cathode, producing an intense flash (basically a lightning strike in a tube). The gas goes back to the non-conductive state within a few microseconds, which is the flash is so brief.

 

[bigoldealmaster]

Thanks for the reply. The reason I was asking is I am going to replace the strobe head and replace it with a led. I was hoping the red and black were simple positive and negative in which I could hook the led to and let the power come from the power supply. The white wire would be disconnected all together

 

[Carlos SpicyWeiner]

you dont want it to go to the strobe power supply unless you want to burn out the led products

 

[dmathieu]

I think you can use the same cables, just don't connect to the power supply. Connect to your switch system. Save you from running new wires.

 

[daniel_medic]

I agree. Use the same wires. At least you have your + and - and then a 3rd wire to sync lightheads or to change patterns. Unless you are going with a unit that requires more than 3 wires per head like some of the Feniex products. Just remove the strobe power supply from the equation.

 

[Jsherman88]

As everyone has said, strobe wire is fine to use for LED just don't run it back to the strobe power supply. Usually strobe cable is a larger gauge, smaller number, which is also a plus.