help...my blue LED's won't turn on (fixed..but there were casualties)

Well good thing you got the lights running but bad news they don't get any brighter. Try to discharge them

 

I have other loose connections in the strip because now some will go on and some won't but when I test them they all work. I think I need to step back for abit and deal with it tomorrow before I totally screw it up.... so yeah I will let them discharge and take a look at them tomorrow.

man this is frustrating.

 

Hey tharsis, sorry about the hassle, and the whole situation is really strange tho. It was working just fine when you got it, and the blue stopped working, re-soldered them, now you cant dim them? Sorry I wish I can help and hope you figure out what the problem is.

 

yeah, I feel like I may have made things worse. When I resoldered the wires and plugged it in, they all came on. Then i started messing with the Pot, I detached it and then I plugged the driver in without the pots attached. It was then that some of the leds went out. They don't appear to be burnt out but they weren't firing when the driver was plugged in.

I am just going to sleep on it because I am too annoyed and I am doing things without really thinking it through.

 

After a break I was able to get back to the light with a clear head. I resoldered the connections between the LEDs and the drivers for both the blues and whites. I then tested both drivers on the white bank and they dimmed fine for both.

I then tested both drivers on the blue bank and they don't even fire up anymore. I am going to go and get a tester tomorrow morning and see what the damage is to the LEDS. If they all still look good then I guess I will resolder all the Blues.

Question: When I tested the leds with my battery some would light up full blast and some would light up but only the minimum...is this abnormal and does it mean that those leds are faulty?

thanks

 

Sounds like faulty/exhausted LEDs.. Are you still using the same drivers that come with the kit? (sorry if you said this in the post in the past)

 

well in my builds a few problems i came across and fixed my self.

If there are too many leds attached, than you may have problems seeing them at full power, its trying to pass the same amount of current over too many lights so as a result it appears dimmer.

If one led went out my string did not work. replace the led and it works.

I had this exact problem you did, the only thing i found that fixed it was replace the wiring you have going through that string, clean the led from old solder and redo it. I have re soldered a few of my leds it doesnt affect them. just for obvious reasons you are using 20 guage wire and rosin core solder?

 

Are you saying that in response to my bolded question? Some go full blast while others are just sort of glowing when I test them. If they are burnt out do they not light up at all or do they just glow like I am seeing?

And yeah they are the same drivers that were working before. I am quite sure its not a problem with the drivers cause they both lit up the white string no problem.

I think that one or more must be burnt out. I will undo all the soldering, clean the leds, test them out and replace the burnt ones.

 

I replaced the burnt ones (4 of them) and the lights turn on now but they still won't increase??

They are stuck on low... any ideas?

I resoldered everything...I am wondering if it is related to the fact that when I test some of the blues with the tester they don't light up fully. Could one of these be limiting the whole strip?

 

I took out the ones that wouldn't go full blast, I had to add in a couple whites and rewire a bit so that the drivers had the appropriate # of LED's, but the light is now functioning properly.

Unfortunately I am down to 9 RB's instead 16

So on that strip I have 9 RB's and 4 CW and then I have 15 CW on the other line. Not an ideal scenario... I haven't tested it out over the tank yet but I think it will be lacking in the blue department.

Instead of ordering replacements I am thinking of harvesting 14 LEDs (7RB and 7CW) from the fixture and just adding them as a retrofit to my existing T5 light. Then I will use the remaining whites to set-up a fixture for my 10G FW shrimp tank.