diy led lights

[xandrew245x]

I have 26 royal blue, 6 reg blue, 8 cool, 8 neutral white.

Couldn't I do it this way
Driver A- two strings of 10 royal blue 2 regulars= 20 royal blue 4 regular blue
Driver B- Series wiring of 6 royal blue and 2 regular
Driver C- Series of 8 cool/neutral white mix
Driver D-Series of 8 coo/neutral white mix

Or I could do what you said, but I would need to order two more regular blues to run on one of the drivers(since its minimum of 8)

 

[birdsandsoap]

I think a couple of violet lights would add a little oomph, as opposed to four regular blues.

 

[xandrew245x]

I think violet would look pretty cool, but i'm not going to order them and put them on yet, if I see that there is something lacking in my spectrum after I get it finished, I'll think about adding some.

 

[MHG]

I added just three 420nm violets and it is a nice pop without going overboard...They are inly 1 watt though...

 

[xandrew245x]

I need to buy some resistors and fuses for my parallel string, I also need some more wire.

will these resistors and fuses work?
http://search.digikey.com/us/en/products/UB5C-1RF1/UB5C-1.0-ND/2176624
http://search.digikey.com/us/en/products/0251001.MXL/F2313-ND/700718

I will be running two strings, which will have 650ma to each string

Also will this wire work, its 20AWG
http://search.digikey.com/us/en/products/3053/1 RD005/A3053R-100-ND/281587

 

[xandrew245x]

Hey guys, its been a long time since I have been on here, I have been really busy and haven't had time to work on my led project, but I have found some time and started again.

I was tinkering with it the other night and was testing out my parallel string when the one string wouldn't light up, so I figured bad connection. I forgot to unplug the power and took the wire nut apart, when I put the wires together it sent a small arc across the wires and blew out all the leds on my one parallel string, so I'm going to be ordering new ones for that string I suppose.

Other than that, I have one of the blue strings wired.

Heres the question, I'm getting ready to order my fuses and resistors. I am only running on parallel string. Do I need a fuse and resistor for each string in the parallel, or do I only need one for both the strings?

 

[2Quills]

Run them on each string, Andrew. Are you certain ALL of the leds in the one string blew or is it that just one of them blew causing the whole string to go dark?

 

[kcress]

2Quills has a good question.

Use your multimeter in DIODE mode to test every LED. They should each light dimly - if any light at all. If none light then your meter may be useless in this test. If it is go with the two battery test.

Yes resistor and fuse for EACH string.

NEVER EVER reconnect an open string to a powered LED driver. About 90% of the time it blows LEDs.

 

[zachts]

Any more I just use the battery tester to trouble shoot for bad LEDs. even with a decent meeter some LEDs will not light on the diode test. I've even had one that wouldn't light on the batterys but worked just fine soldered and wired up to a driver........... dirty solder pads or something.......

 

[2Quills]

Any more I just use the battery tester to trouble shoot for bad LEDs. even with a decent meeter some LEDs will not light on the diode test. I've even had one that wouldn't light on the batterys but worked just fine soldered and wired up to a driver........... dirty solder pads or something.......

You talking about using two AA batteries in series? If so that's 3v, if you have certain leds that require 3v or above to light up it wouldn't be surprising to see some not light up. May only be getting 2.8-2.9v coming from the batts.

 

[zachts]

Yep, I may have to start using an old 3.7v cellphone battery for the stuborn LED's :lol2:

 

[2Quills]

Yep, I may have to start using an old 3.7v cellphone battery for the stuborn LED's :lol2:

Then you gotta be careful not to fry something.

 

[zachts]

only as a last resort!
I really should have thrown that one LED away and not hooked it up to a driver........

 

[xandrew245x]

Thanks guys. I used two double A batteries and tested each LED on the string, they all friend unfortunately.

 

[xandrew245x]

going to order 8 more LEDS tomorrow to replace the blown ones, Ive been working on the case for my driver and controller. I was wondering I have 4 drivers, how can I wire them so I only have 1 plug to power them all, can I just wire all 4 drivers to 1 plug or is it not that easy.

 

[zachts]

going to order 8 more LEDS tomorrow to replace the blown ones, Ive been working on the case for my driver and controller. I was wondering I have 4 drivers, how can I wire them so I only have 1 plug to power them all, can I just wire all 4 drivers to 1 plug or is it not that easy.

Yes you can wire them all to one cord.