SOMA 564548 Illuminator Installation Guide
- June 11, 2024
- SOMA
Table of Contents
564548 Illuminator
Installation Guide
564548 Illuminator
ILLUMINATOR comes without LED strips, wires or PSU. The reason is simple — we
don‘t know what colors and length of strips you need as well as what length of
cables. Each installation is very per- sonal and we can‘t supply something
that could be called „a universal solution“. You need to connect the strips
yourself which requires basic soldering skills as well as simple soldering
equipment. Therefore, using ILLUMINATOR requires some basic technical skills
and understanding.
First of all you need to buy LED strips of desired length and color. You need
12V LED strips 1.
Typically, one meter (3 feet) of a LEDstrip consumes 0.2–0.35 ampere.
Werecommend limiting the total lengthof all LED strips connected to
ILLUMINATOR to a maximum of 16 meters(52 feet). Different strips connected
todifferent channels can have differentlengths.
Secondly, you need to buy wire for connecting LED strips to ILLUMINATOR. We
recommend standard speaker wire used for audio speakers 2. It’s important
that the copper core is at least 0.35 square millimeters. 0.5–1 square
millimeters is the optimal thickness.
Cut your LED strips and wires into their desired lengths and connect them
together and to the DC sockets supplied with ILLUMINATOR.
- LED strips have special places where you can cut the strip, usually they are copper pads like in the photo below. It’s important to cut the strip on the middle line of these copper pads 3.
- You can solder the wire either directly to the copper pads or using a short wire that is often soldered to one or both ends of the LED strip by the factory. Before soldering to the copper pads you need remove the silicon layer (if present) covering the pads using a sharp knife.
- Be aware of polarity! The plus and minus on the LED strips are usually marked by + — signs. The plus wire on the speaker cable is usually marked by a special color or line on one of the wires. It doesn’t really matter which of the two wires on the cable you use for plus and minus. What matters is that the plus of the LED strip is connected to the central pin on the DC jack. But don‘t worry. If you mix up the polarity of the strip nothing will be damaged, the strip just won’t light up. In this case just try to reverse the polarity.
- The connection between the strip and the wire should be covered in several layers of isolation/electrical tape or heat shrink tubing. This serves to both isolate the connection and to give it additional mechanical strength. In case of excessive stress, this is the place where the wire will likely be ripped from the strip.
The strips are ready for use when all of them are soldered to the wires, the
wires are soldered to the DC jacks and all connections are insulated.
Now you need to choose a proper power supply. You can buy a high quality PSU
from us (at an additional price) or use a PSU that you already have. The PSU
must be 12V and the output DC jack needs to be center plus. To calculate the
current your LED strips will need, use the simple formula:
PSU max current in A is equal or more than total length of all LED strips in
meters x 0.3.
If your LED installation is not big, a 1–2A
PSU can be enough.
If you use a modern switching mode PSU you don‘t need to worry about overload.
All of them have overload protection and will be shut down automatically if
the load is too big. So no damage will occur. You can use a powersupply that
is much more powerful thanyour LED installation. In this case, it willjust
take as much power as it needs andno damage or overload will happen. It’s
better to use a PSU that is morepowerful than what your installationneeds than
vice versa.
Now everything is
ready to launch the ILLUMINATOR! Connect your PSU to the DC IN jack, the
strips to the output jacks and CV ins to the CV outs of your analog gear using
mini-jack cables or alligator clips. If you use alligator clips don‘t forget
to connect the ground of ILLUMINATOR (the GND pin) to the ground of your CV
source!
Now it’s time to adjust the sensitivity of each ILLUMINATOR channel. Set up
your musical gear so that the CV outputs you use with ILLUMINATOR produce
maximum voltage swing. All eight ILLUMINATOR channels have trimmer pots that
you can reach through the holes on the front panel using a small screwdriver.
By default, all channels are set to a 5V range which is a common voltage range
for a lot of music gear. To adjust ILLUMINATOR to fit a different CV range,
turn the trimmer pot of each channel from the minimum clockwise until the
connected LED reaches its maximum brightness, or a lower level of brightness
if desired. We recommend not setting channel sensitivity much above this level
as ILLUMINATOR with proper adjustment of input sensitivity has output short-
circuit protection. It’s not easy to damage ILLUMINATOR even with improper
use, but following our guidelines ensures maximum protection.
- You can use different channels of IL- LUMINATOR with different musical gear with different CV output ranges. Just adjust each ILLUMINATOR channel sensitivity according to its CV source.
- If the brightness of a channel is too high you can decrease its sensitivity using the trimmer pot.
Now ILLUMINATOR is ready for use. Attach the LED strips to any surface you
want and go!!
Of course the possibilities of ILLUMINATOR are not limited to driving LED
strips. It can drive many more devices including any types of LEDs that accept
12V, electromagnets, electromotors and more. The ILLUMINATOR output contains
protection diodes that dampen reverse polarity voltage that arises in
electromagnets due to self induction. If you are experienced in circuitry, you
can use ILLUMINATOR in much wider applications. For example, the DC supply
voltage that feeds ILLUMINATOR can, in fact, vary from 3 to 20 volts. Peak
current for one channel can be up to 5 ampere and average power dissipation on
the commutation circuits up to 4 watt per channel. But such modes demand some
understanding in engineering. For advanced users, here is the circuit diagram
of one channel of ILLUMINATOR with DC input chain. All 8 channels are
identical.
SPECIFICATIONS
Number of channels ………………………. 8 independent channels
Supply voltage ………………………. DC 12 V
Supply voltage socket ………………………. 5.5 x 2.1 mm center plus
Output voltage ………………………. DC 12 V
Output LED socket……………………….. 5.5 x 2.1 mm center plus
Maximum total power of all channels ………………………. 48 watts
Maximum total current of all channels ………………………. 4 A
Recommended maximum current for one channel ………………………. 0.5 A
Absolute maximum current for one channel ………………………. 1.5 A
Input voltage range ………………………. 3–20 Volts
Input impedance ………………………. > 5.7 kom (with correct adjustment of the input
sensitivity — 100 kom)
Input sockets ……………………….. Eurorack mini-jacks and Pulsar-23/Ornament-8 pins
Number of mini-jack sockets…………………… 8 (1 for each channel)
Number of Pulsar-23 pins……….. 9 (1 for each channel + 1 common ground)
Dimensions ………………………… 275 x 70 x 40 mm
Weight ………………………. 300g
If you want to use ILLUMINATOR in a permanent setup and avoid jack
connections, you can use special pads that duplicate DC IN and all output
sockets. The pads are big and comfortable for soldering and have + — marks. To
access these pads remove the top panel.
WHAT‘S IN THE KIT:
ILLUMINATOR — 1 pc
5.5 x 2.1 mm DC jack — 10pcs
Optionally available is a 12V 5A 60W power supply that allows using
ILLUMINATOR at maximum power.
Enjoy your music‘n‘light connection!
SOMA 2022