Cheese-Lover Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 Bump any advice lads Yes. You can use other drivers. If you want to use the boards that the LEDS are soldered to they are 12v 350ma. Or you can cut the traces and solder jumpers to make them parallel rather than series and treat them as one 3v 750ma led. Link to comment
BGJ223 Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 Do you have a Volt Meter? Is there power coming from the power supply? Also, any pics of how you have it wired? Link to comment
gimptastic matt Posted May 8, 2012 Author Share Posted May 8, 2012 Cheers guys Which drivers are good i want to run 2 rings on a 1 driver and 2 on another so 6w 0n each driver i have no pics atm but ill sort sumthing out andrew the reason i havent gone with the par 30 / 38 is solely cost atm the total cost of this light will be about £30 / $48 thats with buying the new drivers plus i like tinkering with stuff i shouldnt Attached it to an oak stand i made for it just waiting for a project box and sum switches oh and sum new drivers Link to comment
gimptastic matt Posted May 8, 2012 Author Share Posted May 8, 2012 Also are these leds dimmable? Cheers guys Link to comment
BGJ223 Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 All LEDs are dimmable. The problem is that not all drivers are dimmable. Link to comment
gimptastic matt Posted May 8, 2012 Author Share Posted May 8, 2012 All LEDs are dimmable. The problem is that not all drivers are dimmable. So what dimmable drivers do you recommend and is it easy to wire together cheers for getting back so quick josh Link to comment
BGJ223 Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 So what dimmable drivers do you recommendand is it easy to wire together cheers for getting back so quick josh It is hard to recommend any without knowing enough about your particular LEDs. Link to comment
gimptastic matt Posted May 8, 2012 Author Share Posted May 8, 2012 Right theres 3 1w leds on each ring and they came out of sum cheap chinese gu10 fittings Cheese lover says above that there 12v 350ma Link to comment
BGJ223 Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 Right theres 3 1w leds on each ring and they came out of sum cheap chinese gu10 fittings Cheese lover says above that there 12v 350ma The only way I can think of for the 3 leds to run on 12v at 350ma is if there is an inline resistor. You will need to determine the Vf (Forward Votage) for each LED at 350ma. My guess is they are somewhere in the 3 to 3.3 volt range. Which puts you at roughly 9 volts per 3 led cluster. To play it safe the VF range is probably between 2.8v to 3.3v Not much of a swing, but too much v can reduce the life of your LED. With all that being said, if you want to run all LEDs on 1 driver. Then you are looking at a constant current power supply that pushes no less than 27v. If you want to make these dimmable you might have a hard time finding a driver for this. Most of the drivers current far exceed that of your max current for this setup. But a Buckpuck might work for this application Link to comment
gimptastic matt Posted May 8, 2012 Author Share Posted May 8, 2012 Not to bothered about dimming but could i run 2 drivers so i can switch off 2 rings thanks again Link to comment
BGJ223 Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 Not to bothered about dimming but could i run 2 drivers so i can switch off 2 rings thanks again Of course you can. Just need to find the drivers. do a good search for buckpucks, that is probably going to be your best bet Link to comment
gimptastic matt Posted May 8, 2012 Author Share Posted May 8, 2012 Cheers ill go look now Link to comment
Cheese-Lover Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 The only way I can think of for the 3 leds to run on 12v at 350ma is if there is an inline resistor. You will need to determine the Vf (Forward Votage) for each LED at 350ma. My guess is they are somewhere in the 3 to 3.3 volt range. Which puts you at roughly 9 volts per 3 led cluster. To play it safe the VF range is probably between 2.8v to 3.3v Not much of a swing, but too much v can reduce the life of your LED. With all that being said, if you want to run all LEDs on 1 driver. Then you are looking at a constant current power supply that pushes no less than 27v. If you want to make these dimmable you might have a hard time finding a driver for this. Most of the drivers current far exceed that of your max current for this setup. But a Buckpuck might work for this application The LEDs themselves are rated for 3.6v running. Testing with both of my multimeters showed that they were being run at just short of 12v instead of 10.8v... Which would mean that they are being run at a higher voltage than spec. (Take this with a grain of salt if you want, that's just how it worked out when I was measuring.) If you want to look at cheap ebay drivers: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Dimmable-3-7-X1...=item1e64c8e3ba 240v http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/3-7-x1W-LED-Dim...=item1e64a57c67 110v Link to comment
BGJ223 Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 The LEDs themselves are rated for 3.6v running. Testing with both of my multimeters showed that they were being run at just short of 12v instead of 10.8v... Which would mean that they are being run at a higher voltage than spec. (Take this with a grain of salt if you want, that's just how it worked out when I was measuring.) If you want to look at cheap ebay drivers: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Dimmable-3-7-X1...=item1e64c8e3ba 240v http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/3-7-x1W-LED-Dim...=item1e64a57c67 110v Good data. I purely speculating based on LEDs I have seen. These things are quite different, a little more inefficient. Any idea what current they were running at? Link to comment
gimptastic matt Posted May 8, 2012 Author Share Posted May 8, 2012 How about two of these Check out this item I found on eBay: Aurora 1-6W 350mA Constant Current LED Driver- AU-LED0635CC Link: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aurora-1-6W-350m...C-/360410348242 Link to comment
Cheese-Lover Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 Good data. I purely speculating based on LEDs I have seen. These things are quite different, a little more inefficient. Any idea what current they were running at? They are very inefficient. Driving them lower actually makes them look better.... But this is what I found: The whites were being driven at 350ma. Which I guess means ~1.4watts (3.87x0.350=1.3545w) The Blues were being driven slightly less at 310ma. Which means ~1.2watts (3.87x0.310=1.1997w) Personally. I'd run them at 3-3.6v and anywhere from 280-340ma. (When I was playing around with mine, that was really where they ran really cool and looked about the nicest colour-wise.) *Edit: That is a non-dimmable driver. It'll work if you don't want any dimming, but I'd personally aim for a ~300ma driver rather than a 350ma driver... Just because I didn't like the colour that the blues went at full 350ma. (Looked best 300-310ma @ 3.3v) Link to comment
gimptastic matt Posted May 8, 2012 Author Share Posted May 8, 2012 Cheers ill look for a 300ma Sorry to bother you guys again but would this run all 4 rings? Check out this item I found on eBay: 8W 12W 8-12X1W LED Constant Current Driver for High Power LED 300mA UK Stock Link: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/8W-12W-8-12X1W-L...k-/280832948141 (Sent from eBay Mobile for Android) Link to comment
Cheese-Lover Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 Cheers ill look for a 300ma Sorry to bother you guys again but would this run all 4 rings? Check out this item I found on eBay: 8W 12W 8-12X1W LED Constant Current Driver for High Power LED 300mA UK Stock Link: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/8W-12W-8-12X1W-L...k-/280832948141 (Sent from eBay Mobile for Android) Yes that would run all of them. But it looks like its non-dimming. And you would not have the ability to turn any off. It'd be all on or all off. Link to comment
gimptastic matt Posted May 8, 2012 Author Share Posted May 8, 2012 I think thatll be fine it doesnt need seperate switching anyway or dimming cheers cheese lover and josh u guys really know what you doing and have given great advice thankyou Link to comment
BGJ223 Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 I think thatll be fine it doesnt need seperate switching anyway or dimming cheers cheese lover and josh u guys really know what you doing and have given great advice thankyou Before you pull the trigger on ordering that, are you sure you want to run that many LEDs? Link to comment
Cheese-Lover Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 Before you pull the trigger on ordering that, are you sure you want to run that many LEDs? He will be fine... He will just have his SPS corals under 4 inches of gravel. But seriously. Look at getting a dimming one. You'll kick yourself otherwise. Link to comment
BGJ223 Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 He will be fine... He will just have his SPS corals under 4 inches of gravel. But seriously. Look at getting a dimming one. You'll kick yourself otherwise. They still might bleach. LOL. Link to comment
gimptastic matt Posted May 9, 2012 Author Share Posted May 9, 2012 Im gona try it first because im hopefully upgrading my tank in few weeks or so because cleaning the tank the other day and not paying attention ive scratched the hell out of the front so looking to change for a 12" cube or bigger Link to comment
gimptastic matt Posted May 9, 2012 Author Share Posted May 9, 2012 Jusy ordered a dimmable one aswell just to keep u guys happy lol So how do i dim them whar ate my options? Link to comment
gimptastic matt Posted May 11, 2012 Author Share Posted May 11, 2012 Wired up my driver today and when o turmed it on the leds flashed for a bit then burnt out the diodes have black inside them now Dont know what ive done wrong really confused as what to fo next any suggestions Oh and with a testing sctewdriver i was picking up a ligjt current on my heatsink so ive messed up somewhere Link to comment
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