Help led build

[howyegettinon]

Ok, i have finished up wiring me LEDs and now trying to test them.

I am using chineese CRE XPE royal Blue in a series of 10 with a MEANWELL ELN 60-48D.

My results are....... I initially had issues with soldering continuty. that was solved and everything tested with a multi meter.

NOW LEDs are lightning up but very very dimm. I am trying to use the SVR2 to increase current but they same.

The strange thing is when I disconect the AC power after about 10-30 seconds all the LEDs light up really bright and then switch off.

The driver is dimmable and I dont have dimmer at the moment so I connected the + and - together now to bypass it, this is the only thing i can thing of that i am doing wrong?

Do i need a dimmer to test this properly?? or what am i doing wrong?

 

[rwb500]

i don't think you can just connect the two dimmer leads to bypass the dimmer. you need to supply a 0-10V signal. by connecting them, you are supplying 0V.

 

[pwreef]

Connect 9v battery between the dimming leads. Don't forget to put it back into the smoke detector.

 

[oreo57]

Ok, i have finished up wiring me LEDs and now trying to test them.

My results are....... I initially had issues with soldering continuty. that was solved and everything tested with a multi meter.

NOW LEDs are lightning up but very very dimm. I am trying to use the SVR2 to increase current but they same.

Make sure you test from the LED to heat sink. It is easy to bridge to it.
Neg to heat sink.. set on ohm. positive to heat sink ect.

The strange thing is when I disconect the AC power after about 10-30 seconds all the LEDs light up really bright and then switch off.

Somewhat common and annoying. One of the reasons to switch to Ldd-h's and a separate power supply. That along w/ the 10v hassle..

The driver is dimmable and I dont have dimmer at the moment so I connected the + and - together now to bypass it, this is the only thing i can thing of that i am doing wrong?

Do i need a dimmer to test this properly?? or what am i doing wrong?

Yes you need a "signal".. as mentioned above a 9v battery will work as a substitute.
Your going to need to check current now that you tweaked the pot.. once you get a decent 10v signal..
Using the 9v you can "fool" the driver by adjusting current to be at max @ 9V..but that is a different story.

 

[zachts]

i don't think you can just connect the two dimmer leads to bypass the dimmer. you need to supply a 0-10V signal. by connecting them, you are supplying 0V.

This is your issue. You need to supply voltage to the dimming leads. If you just want on/off for now any old wall wart from 5 to 10 volts will do the job after applying power and making adjustments to the driver pots. For dimming you would want 10v to get better dimming resolution but it will work either way.

 

[scoot15638]

You need to power the dimming circuit And since you have that might as well buy a couple of 10k ohm (don't quote me on that i cannot remember) potentiometers from radioshack for 2 bucks a pop. Voila, you have a dimmable led curcuit.

 

[zachts]

You need to power the dimming circuit And since you have that might as well buy a couple of 10k ohm (don't quote me on that i cannot remember) potentiometers from radioshack for 2 bucks a pop. Voila, you have a dimmable led curcuit.

10kohm is correct.

 

[howyegettinon]

Thanks everyone for the help. The 9v battery did the trick for testing. I have 3 drivers so gonna get the potentiometer for them.

How would I wire the potentiometer? From the wall wart (which needs to be 10v) I would have the + to go to the potentiometer and from there to the plus on the driver. And just connect the two negatives between the wall wart and driver? Would that be right?

 

[zachts]

With the pot. wall wart + goes to one of the outside pins. Then connect the wall wart - and the driver's dim wire - to the other outside pin. Connect the driver dim wire + to the center pin.

 

[howyegettinon]

Thanks very much for the diagram that cleared everything up. One last question i think i know the answer too. The 10v wall wart can I share the one? Or would i need 3x10v warts?

Also if i cant get a 10v one i know i could get a lower volt wart, but if I was to get a 12v would that work? The pot is 10kohm so that wouldn't send any more than 10v to the driver, correct?
Sorry for very basic questions im only learning this about 3 weeks, and dont wanna burn anything out over a stupid mistake.

 

[oreo57]

Thanks very much for the diagram that cleared everything up. One last question i think i know the answer too. The 10v wall wart can I share the one? Or would i need 3x10v warts?

Also if i cant get a 10v one i know i could get a lower volt wart, but if I was to get a 12v would that work? The pot is 10kohm so that wouldn't send any more than 10v to the driver, correct?
Sorry for very basic questions im only learning this about 3 weeks, and dont wanna burn anything out over a stupid mistake.

One should do.. As to over 10V .. NO .. Last I heard the dimming circuit does not like over 10v ( like 10.1 is max) by much before burning out.. Pot can go to zero ohms (all 12V to the dim circuit)..

 

[zachts]

You can use a lower voltage wall wart just fine though like 8 or 9v no problems. just make adjustments as needed to the driver to get your max level output (I use 8.4v from an old printer for the ones I have running that are outputting 1 amp to the led strings. works great.

If all you can find is 12v wall wart you could use it but would need to use a pair of resistors as a voltage divider to make sure only 10v is going to the pots and driver. (google it to find a calculator to pick resistor values) and extra pot could be used for the same purpose as well. (actually you might be able to only use one resistor across two of the pot leads for this purpose but I'm not 100% sure on the value you'd need or if it would work right. Maybe someone else will chime in on this?)

 

[howyegettinon]

thanks for the info, really helped have it all up and running now!!

here is the thread on the build if anyone is interested to take a look http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2474729