Started my build, had a few questions

Finally started this build, but had a few questions.

I really wanted to test the LEDs/drivers out to make sure they worked before I started soldering everything. To do this I put 7 LED's in series onto the LPC-35-700, screwed them into the Heatsink with the included hardware. I also added nylon washers to the screws to prevent any shorts that might occur. I then used electrical tape to wire all of the LEDs together, plugged the driver in and... nothing.

Is this a poor way to test these out, any advice on a good way to make sure everything's working before I solder, or do I just have to bite the bullet and assume everything is working?

The power cords you send in the kits are 3 wires (pos,neg,groud), but the driver has only AC/L and AC/N wires. What should we be doing with the ground, anything specific? I just taped it up at the moment.



I've also verified that I have the LEDs hooked up in the linked picture configuration.

http://www.reefledlights.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Led-Lights-Chart-12.jpg

As Always, thank you for your help.

 

Hi there,

If you want to test the LEDs individually many times people wire together two AA batteries, which should give you enough juice to power just one LED. I don't see anything incorrect with the way you did it, but it's hard to say why it didn't light because with wiring things in series if there is one missed connection then the entire string won't light. If you don't want to solder the entire thing you can test these LEDs 3 at a time with the LPC-35-700 driver.

Just remember to always connect the string to the driver before you plug the driver into the wall, plugging it in first and then touching the string can cause the entire string to blow.

As for the ground, it's not needed with these Meanwell drivers. You can ignore it for now as it's not necessary.

Please let us know how it goes or if you need more clarification.

Thanks.

 

great, the AA battery trick worked perfectly! Thank you!

 

Have another testing question: what's the best way to test failure points in the dimmable driver?

I just finished soldering everything together for both the 700 and 48 D drivers. The 700 is powering 7 LED's and works great.

The dimmable doesn't do anything after powering it up. It was originally connected to a pot and 9v wall DC power supply at 300ma. I've removed the pot and directly connected the 9v wall power supply to the white and blue dimmer wires and still nothing happens when plugging it in.

What would you do to test the failure points that could exist? My 9V power supply isn't labeled as "Regulated", so i'm not sure if that's the cause or not. Should I try to get my hands on a multimeter to see if that's the issue? If there was more than 10V of power going onto the dimmer wire would that cause problems? Once I get the string to light using the 9V power supply only, I plan on adding the pot into the mix. I've tested all of the LEDs individually before soldering so I doubt it's a fried LED. I'm thinking it's something with the Driver dimmer.

Thanks for the help.

 

Hi,

AC adapters, come in two main varieties. The first is regulated (switched), the second is unregulated. They behave differently electrically. The labels on AC adapters will probably not differentiate between the two types. Our main concern is output voltage, not on the label, but the actual output voltage as measured by a multimeter.

A regulated or switched AC adapter that says 9V on the label will output a constant voltage of 9V regardless of load (in mA). So, a 9V, 300mA, regulated AC adapter will output 9V between 0-300mA.

A unregulated AC adapter on the other hand, is designed to output a specified voltage at a specified load. So, a 9V, 300mA unregulated AC adapter will output 9V if and only if the load is 300mA. If the load is less than 300mA, the AC adapter will output a voltage greater than 9V. Our guess is around 12-13V for a 9V AC unregulated AC adapter with no load. We'll call the load from the ELN-60-48D "no load" because it is extremely small.

So, chances are, if your AC adapter is unregulated, it is outputting somewhere between 12-13V as a Mean Well driver would see it.

The ELN-60-48D driver dimming circuitry can handle ~11V before the zener diode inside is damaged. 12-13V would damage the zener diode such that it would require repair.

The pot likely reduced the voltage to a maximum of 11V and prevented burn-out.

How I would test in your case:
1) wire 8 LEDs to the LPC-35-700, this is the minimum # of LEDs the ELN-60-48D can utilise
2) ensure the 8 LED string works with the LPC-35-700 driver
3) gently turn SVR2 counter-clockwise on the D driver as far as it will turn
4) hook the potentiometer and ac adapter back up to the D driver and hook the driver to the 8 LED string
5) try to power up the known good 8 LED string

If you have a multimeter, you can test:
1) the output voltage of the 9V AC adapter with no load
2) the voltage exiting the potentiometer

Let us know if you need help with performing either of the two tests above.

If the above does not work, the driver likely requires repair. Please contact us directly for support.

Thanks!

 

I got my hands on a multimeter today and tested above. I found that the pot was preventing burnout of the driver and my 9v is unregulated. I think i'm still going to use it though and dial down the Voltage with the pot. I'm going to be the only one to touch it so it shouldn't be too big of a liability. I re-wired everything and started with the pot at a very low turn and slowly turned it up. The multimeter is holding at around 5v right now and is low, so I have some headroom to adjust the color.

Thanks for all of the help on this. Both strings are lighting and now all that's left is mounting them the heat sink and mounting that into the hood. You guys rock.