Skene Controller

[Shovelhead]

Do y'all know what determines the Skene Controller / dimmer unit being able to work with what type of lights?

I've read where it doesn't hold hands with certain Rigid lights.

What happens when a non compatible light is connected? Does it just not work or is there a possibility of cooking the light, the Skene, and / or the wiring?

I've found a 6" light bar local to me that I want to buy and install. The guy that builds the lights has not heard of Skene but stated the "dimming" of these lights is just a matter of voltage control.

 

[Checkswrecks]

You hope it's not an issue but won't know till somebody has hooked the two together. It'll work great with the incandescent lights and most LEDs. I doubt with LED that you will damage anything but it may get all hooked up and nothing will happen.
Long story short is that the controller is a pulsed width modulator (PWM), meaning that the power is digitally turned on and off REALLY fast, as opposed to the old-style analog variable resistors. The more time the power is on, the brighter a light will appear, because in the end the light delivered is just how much power gets put to it and which doesn't come out as pure heat.
That said, some of the light emitting diodes (LED) are picky about getting enough power. The Skene guys out to be able to tell you which brands and units they have experience with which worked or which did not work.

And as a side note for anybody considering HID, the PWM controllers may not work, especially with the cheap Chinese HIDs. The HID starter circuits put out a lot of electrical EMI which can interrupt the digital designs of the controllers.

 

[Shovelhead]

Thanks CW. ::008::

I emailed Skene yesterday with my question and had a reply in 30 minutes, now that's customer service which is a lost art these days.

He had not heard of the light I'm looking at but said if the Skene did not work I could send it back for a full refund. Then I asked him about damaging any of the components and here's his reply ---

Troy;

If these lights will not play well with an external dimmer, they will respond with intermittent flickering or flashing or running at the same brightness for several different power settings.

Neither the lights nor the IQ-175 will be damaged in any way.


Best Regards;

Jerry Skene

I suppose I could order the Skene unit and ask the fella with the light bar if we could bench test it before I buy it.

 

[AVGeek]

I'm using the Skene controller for my handlebar lights. One of they other things to keep in mind is the controller uses the ground side of the light to control it's output. If the light you are interested in grounds through it's body in any way, the controller won't work. I ran into this with one of the lights I am using; it was wired backwards, so I had to use plastic hardware to insulate the light body from chassis ground.

 

[Shovelhead]

One of they other things to keep in mind is the controller uses the ground side of the light to control it's output. If the light you are interested in grounds through it's body in any way, the controller won't work.

yes sir, they tell you that on the Skene website.
The guys who build the light I'm looking at also said they chased a ghost on a light once and found that a poor solder job on the board was contacting metal resulting in a case ground.