_shorty_
New member
Okay.. This is my first bigger sized LED build, and I let the smoke out of an LDD driver, but I'm struggling to figure out why this happened. Are these drivers pretty sensitive? What are possible scenarios where you can ruin an LDD driver and eventually let out the smoke?
more info:
I have a 36V PS plugged into an O2 driver board. The other channels/colors work fine, but I'm having problems with my red string.
I am using radion pucks and added my own red to the center of each puck, which gives me 6 reds across two pucks that I'm trying to drive with LDD 500-H
PWM signals and ground come in via cat6 to the driver boards. PWM plugged in appropriately, ground from arduino joined with DC- from the PS. DC+ and DC- plugged in appropriately to inputs on the driver board. Output DC+ is going to input pin of puck 1, output of puck 1 attached to input of puck 2, output of puck 2 attached to DC- (output) from the driver board. Pretty straight forward... so you'd think... :headwally:
At first, the string wouldn't light up. I found a loose pin in one of the plugs. I corrected that, and it still wouldn't light up. So, after more troubleshooting, I found that one of my added LEDs was not working, so I disconnected that puck and replaced it with another puck in its place. After that, it still didn't work so I conducted some more troubleshooting that I'll try to explain: I know that all 6 LEDs in the string are functional. I have a 5V wall wart with 750mA output, and can put across any single LED to make it light up. I can also put it across any three LEDs in series on this string and succesfully light them up. I tested all links on the string with this method from the DC+ output of the driver board around to the DC- output of the board...
In addition, before the driver popped, if I adjust my voltage on the PS itself up or down, my DC output from the driver would always match exactly what the input voltage was. Because of that, I thought that maybe I had a short somewhere to the heatsink or something, but I can't find any continuity anywhere to the heatsink with my meter. I will need to order a couple more drivers now, but don't want to try another unless I think I have my problem fixed.
Oh - one additonal piece that is maybe normal, but I thought was questionalbe - if i put my 5V DC+ on the + of my LEDs on the puck without adding the DC-, they just barely light up. Is that normal?
I'm wondering if the drivers are a little sensitive, could the initial bad LED or unattached PIN cause the driver to fail, and it only blew up later? Or if I probably still have an issue somewhere?
Any ideas?
more info:
I have a 36V PS plugged into an O2 driver board. The other channels/colors work fine, but I'm having problems with my red string.
I am using radion pucks and added my own red to the center of each puck, which gives me 6 reds across two pucks that I'm trying to drive with LDD 500-H
PWM signals and ground come in via cat6 to the driver boards. PWM plugged in appropriately, ground from arduino joined with DC- from the PS. DC+ and DC- plugged in appropriately to inputs on the driver board. Output DC+ is going to input pin of puck 1, output of puck 1 attached to input of puck 2, output of puck 2 attached to DC- (output) from the driver board. Pretty straight forward... so you'd think... :headwally:
At first, the string wouldn't light up. I found a loose pin in one of the plugs. I corrected that, and it still wouldn't light up. So, after more troubleshooting, I found that one of my added LEDs was not working, so I disconnected that puck and replaced it with another puck in its place. After that, it still didn't work so I conducted some more troubleshooting that I'll try to explain: I know that all 6 LEDs in the string are functional. I have a 5V wall wart with 750mA output, and can put across any single LED to make it light up. I can also put it across any three LEDs in series on this string and succesfully light them up. I tested all links on the string with this method from the DC+ output of the driver board around to the DC- output of the board...
In addition, before the driver popped, if I adjust my voltage on the PS itself up or down, my DC output from the driver would always match exactly what the input voltage was. Because of that, I thought that maybe I had a short somewhere to the heatsink or something, but I can't find any continuity anywhere to the heatsink with my meter. I will need to order a couple more drivers now, but don't want to try another unless I think I have my problem fixed.
Oh - one additonal piece that is maybe normal, but I thought was questionalbe - if i put my 5V DC+ on the + of my LEDs on the puck without adding the DC-, they just barely light up. Is that normal?
I'm wondering if the drivers are a little sensitive, could the initial bad LED or unattached PIN cause the driver to fail, and it only blew up later? Or if I probably still have an issue somewhere?
Any ideas?
