LED's and The APEX?
- Thread starter reefboarder
- Start date
That would certainly be a viable workaround. The drawback would be that the drivers would still be drawing a bit of power even if the LEDs are dimmed to 0%.
ChuckLawson
New member
I'm sure every situation is different, but I've got 8 ELN-60-48D drivers divided between two EB8 outlets, and just added a "Defer 000:30 Then ON" to one of the outlets so that they don't all start at once.
Seems to be working okay.
cediss
Active member
Thank you RussM and Chuck for your replies. I have two EB8's so that makes sense to have the current divided between them and the start times delayed to avoid drawing too much current. I think I'll try that.
Unfortunately I will eventually need more LED's and I should have used a different driver.
Unfortunately I will eventually need more LED's and I should have used a different driver.
nuclearheli
Member
There are lots of ways and "better" has become a matter of opinion on the threads. For yet another way, successful way for me I might add, take a look at my post. If you like it please comment on it.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1975251
nuclearheli
Member
IMHO: There is some confusion with inrush current and LED drivers. I also did extensive research on this and discovered that inrush current is minimized in a well designed LED driver by using a concept of "soft start current". This is why on many LED drivers you will not be able to dim the driver to "off", typically drivers can only be dimmed to 10%.
To put it into prospective think of your garden hose. You have 50' of hose and a valve on the end. Once you open up the water valve your hose will become pressurized and once you open the nozzle on the end you will get a sudden burst of water at a higher pressure (inrush?) until the pressure equalizes. This is called Hot Switching when it comes to drivers and power supplies. Now think of what happens if you open the nozzle at the end of the hose first then open up the water valve. The transient or initial spike is minimized at the end of the hose. This is called Soft Start Current when it comes to drivers and power supplies.
See graphs below for examples of hot switching and soft start current.
Again if you check out my build you will get some of the answers you are looking for. You should be concerned if you use a driver that dims to 0 (off). You may experience inrush issues on both the LED's and your Apex energy bar on your household circuit. If you use a driver that never allows you to dim to zero (off) then you will minimize the transients and the inrush current will not be an issue.
cediss
Active member
Thanks for that helpful description. I will read your build thread completely. That being said, I believe the mean well dimmables don't go below 10%, but there are people who feel they have experience "inrush" or hard start damage.
Maybe the cause of damage is from another reason, but the experience of those reporting this seems to have a high association with implementing the LED fixtures. I'll have to keep researching this, I don't want to waste money on blown EB8's!
Maybe the cause of damage is from another reason, but the experience of those reporting this seems to have a high association with implementing the LED fixtures. I'll have to keep researching this, I don't want to waste money on blown EB8's!
nuclearheli
Member
Could be in the circuit design, I don't really know, I use TRC drivers. For protection my drivers specifically list:
Output Over-Voltage, Output Over-Current, Output Short
Circuit Protection with Auto Recovery, Over Temperature
Protection
I have never had an inrush problem, at least that I know of. Both of my two high voltage drivers are on the same EB8. Never been an issue. They have a soft start circuit specifically to minimize transients. The MW drivers might have one also, I am just not familiar with them as I didn't consider using them for my build.
Ninja1
New member
I also have relative questions about the eb8 now. At first I'd didn't know which controller would work for me but now I'm not sure if I need the eb8. I have 4 eld48d drivers and want to dim using the apex. I understand that I will need a vdm but am I going to plug the drivers power cables to the wall outlet or the apex outlets (eb8).
Thanks for reading.
Thanks for reading.
nuclearheli
Member
I don't know much about the eld48d drivers however most good drivers on the market will not allow you to dim below a preset value. On my TRC drivers that is 10%. There is an excellent reason for this (check out my post in this thread #27). I use an EB4 built directly into my light fixture. The VDM controls the dimming cycles and the EB4 controls ON/OFF.
SC Reefaholic
Member
The ELN 60-48Ds are the same as the TRCs. They go from off to 10%. I have my 2 ELNs pluged into separate EB8 sockets and they get powered up 5 min apart and 10 min prior to my ramp-up starting. Then they power off 5 min apart and 10 min after my Ramp-Down finishes.
When I build my large fixture I will be using 2 HLGs and will configure them the same way.
When I build my large fixture I will be using 2 HLGs and will configure them the same way.
SC Reefaholic
Member
By the way Heli, I totally stole your voltage regulator/limiter deal and have given numerous people the link to your thread. I hope thats ok. Thing works perfect and I feel much more comfortable knowing my system is protected from an Apex overdrive. Thanks a ton!
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