My Led fixture is driving me crazy. Out with the techy stuff

[Fiesta90150]

Well it worked well untill the day i decided i would put the LEDs onto another heat sink. (a large square one). And now, i have everything wired up correctly and well i only have one channel of leds working.

Anyways what i want to do is make the setup alots easier if possible.



So its controlled by a typhoon. and powered by two (in series) meanwell Switching power supplies of each 12 to 24V output.

What i want is this:

SIMPLE!!!!!!!!!!

1) Have them come on and turn off via a timer on the wall outlet
2) Dim the leds with a potentiometer so that i can get correct color of lighting i want.

The leds are the following:
11 Royal blue: http://www.rapidled.com/cree-xt-e-royal-blue-led-1/
4 Violet UV: http://www.rapidled.com/semileds-violet-uv-led/
8 Neutral white: http://www.rapidled.com/cree-xm-l-neutral-white-led/
6 Blue: http://www.rapidled.com/cree-xp-e-blue-3w-led-on-star/


each on their own channel and i want 4 dimmable channels.

The Power supplies:
http://www.meanwell.com/search/nes-150/default.htm



So what i need to know is:

1) Can i keep the power supplies i have now?
2) What would i need to buy apart form the 4 potentiometers?

 

 

Or can someone figure out what is wrong with my setup? thanks

 

[Grumblecakes]

It should be + to - not + to + like your drawing shows.

[Fiesta90150]

okay. thanks, i will check tonight if its really like my drawing...

[Fiesta90150]

hum actually not sure about which + and + you are talkig about... the + from the driver to the + on the LED is what i have so is correct... am i right?

[jedimasterben]

Your wiring is correct for the LEDs, but you have the pins on the Typhon backwards. The top row is PWM, the bottom row is ground according to the board pictured.

 

And WTF do you have two power supplies for? Don't connect them together.

[Fiesta90150]

i have two 12 to 24V in series because here in france you cant get 48V. you can put them in series since a certain part of the circuit is isolated from the rest of the power supply. I have no idea thougu, its the guy at the electronic store that told me i could do this. he even plugged it all in and wired it, showed me that the output was 48V. So i guess it works. i have no problem powering my royal blue string which is above 35V ( if i remember correctly )

 

are you saying i got screwed ? lol.

 

for the pins on the typhoon well the bottom are postiive they go too the PCB with the drivers on it right?

[Formula462]

I remember when this hobby was about fish and stuff.

[jedimasterben]

i have two 12 to 24V in series because here in france you cant get 48V. you can put them in series since a certain part of the circuit is isolated from the rest of the power supply. I have no idea thougu, its the guy at the electronic store that told me i could do this. he even plugged it all in and wired it, showed me that the output was 48V. So i guess it works. i have no problem powering my royal blue string which is above 35V ( if i remember correctly )

 

are you saying i got screwed ? lol.

 

for the pins on the typhoon well the bottom are postiive they go too the PCB with the drivers on it right?

I've never seen power supplies connected like that to fix a simple issue (buying the right gear lol), just saying that you have multiple points of failure. Why can't you get 48v? If that electronics store guy told you that, then yes, you may have gotten screwed lol.

 

For the Typhon, look at the board to the left of the PWM output pins. The connector is right angle, so the pins closest to the edge (which are on the bottom) are ground, the ones on the outside (which fold over to make the top row) is the 5v signal that goes to the LDD.

 

And if you're using a 12v and a 24v power supply and getting the voltage to combine, they will only ouput 36v, and the LDD will output 33v at maximum, so if you're pulling more than that on any string, I would fix that soon.

 

I remember when this hobby was about fish and stuff.

Well, it's not like any of the animals we keep need light or good filtration or anything like that.

[evilc66]

Connecting supplies in series can be done, but some don't like it. You should be fine with these though.

 

I would start by checking the LEDs out that you didn't connect anything incorrectly. You state you have one channels working, so connect each LED string to that channel to make sure the LEDs and you wiring are correct. If that all works out, then start checking the drivers themselves. Rotate each LDD into the spot that you know works. If those work, then it's time to start looking at the connections to the controller. Again, rotate through each dimming channel wiring on the known good channel to make sure it's correct. If everything is good up to this point, then the Typhon is toast.

[Fiesta90150]

Thx will report back in a couple hours

[Fiesta90150]

I've never seen power supplies connected like that to fix a simple issue (buying the right gear lol), just saying that you have multiple points of failure. Why can't you get 48v? If that electronics store guy told you that, then yes, you may have gotten screwed lol.

 

For the Typhon, look at the board to the left of the PWM output pins. The connector is right angle, so the pins closest to the edge (which are on the bottom) are ground, the ones on the outside (which fold over to make the top row) is the 5v signal that goes to the LDD.

 

And if you're using a 12v and a 24v power supply and getting the voltage to combine, they will only ouput 36v, and the LDD will output 33v at maximum, so if you're pulling more than that on any string, I would fix that soon.

 

Well, it's not like any of the animals we keep need light or good filtration or anything like that.

so, here is the picture of the controller. I am assuming that i have done it correclty by having the grounds on the top and the postiives on the bottom, like mentionned here:http://stevesleds.com/uploads/Typhon_LED_Controller_4114.pdf

 

http://s1300.photobucket.com/user/fiesta90150/media/photo_zps2613830f.jpg.html'>

is it okay? cause you mention that the bottom nearest to the edge are the grounds...

 

One more question about the typhoon: why dont we use the 10V PWM instead of the 5Vpwm?

 

 

 

Connecting supplies in series can be done, but some don't like it. You should be fine with these though.

 

I would start by checking the LEDs out that you didn't connect anything incorrectly. You state you have one channels working, so connect each LED string to that channel to make sure the LEDs and you wiring are correct. If that all works out, then start checking the drivers themselves. Rotate each LDD into the spot that you know works. If those work, then it's time to start looking at the connections to the controller. Again, rotate through each dimming channel wiring on the known good channel to make sure it's correct. If everything is good up to this point, then the Typhon is toast.

 

 

okay here it is:

 

All my drivers + the two extra work on that channel + all strings of light light up.

All the wires from the LDD to the led strings work

Switched the drivers to each channel and they all work too.

 

When i plug in one channel lets say Blue, then i plug in the whites, they wont work. (they did work when i tried strings one by one).

i can still continue to connect the two other channels... so i have three channels working. Blue RB and violet. they work great but the whites wont come on... I dont think its apower supply issue since my highest total voltage is on the blue string. + the white string works normally on its own...

 

 

anything else i should test out?

 

oh yeah and all wiring of led strings is perfect.

[jedimasterben]

so, here is the picture of the controller. I am assuming that i have done it correclty by having the grounds on the top and the postiives on the bottom, like mentionned here:http://stevesleds.com/uploads/Typhon_LED_Controller_4114.pdf

 

is it okay? cause you mention that the bottom nearest to the edge are the grounds...

That's what is in the manual, but that is not what is printed on the PCB. The silkscreen on the controller may be incorrect, or the manual may be incorrect. If it is dimming how you have it right now, then it has to be the right way, the negative doesn't send a signal, the positive does.

One more question about the typhoon: why dont we use the 10V PWM instead of the 5Vpwm?

The LDD dimming circuit is 5v PWM, not 10v.

[Fiesta90150]

That's what is in the manual, but that is not what is printed on the PCB. The silkscreen on the controller may be incorrect, or the manual may be incorrect. If it is dimming how you have it right now, then it has to be the right way, the negative doesn't send a signal, the positive does.

The LDD dimming circuit is 5v PWM, not 10v.

okay, well it is dimming correctly so i got it right.

 

back to the power supply, its two 12 to 24V PS.

 

no idea on what could be wrong with the white LEDS when i have at one string connected they wont work

[CrazyEyes]

Maybe I missed this but, are the whites NOT working on ANY of the drivers? Have you tried to swap drivers around to make sure one isn't bad? Also, why does the light only have 11 RBs, did you remove 3 of them? Also, are you using the pcb I sent you with the light, the one from o2surplus.

[Fiesta90150]

Maybe I missed this but, are the whites NOT working on ANY of the drivers? Have you tried to swap drivers around to make sure one isn't bad? Also, why does the light only have 11 RBs, did you remove 3 of them? Also, are you using the pcb I sent you with the light, the one from o2surplus.

 

3 of them werent working anymore, same thing with one white.

 

So actually all drivers + tetwo extra i have work.

 

Lets say i take channel one only, i can plug it into each of my 4 color strings and they will all work. But, if i connect like

channel 1 to RB

Channel 2 to white

channel 3 Blue

Channel 4 to violet

 

then the whites wont come on... the other three work fine...

 

even if i have just two channels turned on lets say:

 

Channel 1 Blue

Channel 2 White

 

then the whites wont come on either.

[CrazyEyes]

You should try putting different strings on different channels on the actual board itself, maybe the pcb is going bad.

[Fiesta90150]

ive done that aswell lol. I could rewire the whites into the UV string but cant be bothered. you know i like it when its blueish so ill just not go with the whites =P.

So now that i have temporarily reoslved my issue... well kind of.

 

could some one do a quick diagram of how some one would set up LEDS with potentiometers?

i have checked around internet but havent found anything =( there mus tbe something out there showing how too

[jedimasterben]

Potentiometers and LEDs don't coexist. Potentiometers are for drivers, and the LDD need a PWM signal and cannot be dimmed via resistance.

[Fiesta90150]

I saw at rapidled builds with dimmable drivers with pots how do they work?

[jedimasterben]

They have drivers that dim via resistance.

[Horerczy]

Well there's a way to make pots work for ldd but for the non tech minded they are expensive. Makers drivers do it but at $62 a piece they're kinda blah. I own three just so you know I'm not bashing what i haven't tried.