LED electrical question

[stephenhall1987]

In parallel circuit, is the amperage divided between each leg of the circuit?
What about the voltage?

I am assembling the Aquastyle 120 LED DIY kit. It uses 5 meanwell ELN-60-48 drivers. Aquastyle recommended 2 parallel circuits of 12 LEDs on each driver. I have them all assembled and am trying to correctly adjust the amperage on the drivers.

Max current on the LEDs is 700mA at 3.5v. that comes to 42 volts on each leg, 84v for both legs. Do I simply adjust the driver to 0.7 amps?


It's been too long since I learned about this stuff in school...

 

[oreo57]

In parallel circuit, is the amperage divided between each leg of the circuit?
What about the voltage?

I am assembling the Aquastyle 120 LED DIY kit. It uses 5 meanwell ELN-60-48 drivers. Aquastyle recommended 2 parallel circuits of 12 LEDs on each driver. I have them all assembled and am trying to correctly adjust the amperage on the drivers.

Max current on the LEDs is 700mA at 3.5v. that comes to 42 volts on each leg, 84v for both legs. Do I simply adjust the driver to 0.7 amps?


It's been too long since I learned about this stuff in school...

It will split the 1.3A in 2...
Effectively lighting each w/ 650mA..
Voltage doesn't matter (really)..as long as you are in the additive V(f) of the series LED's
BTW. Voltage adds in series.. i.e 12x3.5= 42V roughly TOTAL, regardless of how many equal parallel strands you have..
@650ma technically your voltage will be less.. but that doesn't really matter either.
Doesn't matter how many legs except for amp draw..
as an example for clarity: Adding a 3rd parallel strand and you'd get 433mA at each..More or less.
Voltage (V(f)) stays the same as for one series strand. 42V.........
There are balancing circuits you can add since each will not be "exactly' the same..

Amps add in parallel.. IF you wanted 700mA in each "leg" the driver needs to output.. 1400mA w/ 2 legs..

Most people would recommend 1A or less fuses at the ends of the legs.. IF one fails "open" all 1300mA will go through the one remaining strand..

You really don't need, in this situation, to concern yourself much w/ adj. amps.. unless you already messed w/ the pot...

Best way to test it is use a shunt resistor in series and measure the voltage across it..

http://www.measurementest.com/2010/08/how-to-measure-current-using-shunt.html

simplest explanation........

 

[stephenhall1987]

Awesome! This is exactly what I needed to find out.

Thank you for your help oreo57!!!