LED Retrofit

[CPLMayo]

I bought a Steves LED retrofit kit for my Biocube 14. I has a total of fourteen Philips 3 watt LEDs. I was using the POTs for dimming until last week when I hooked up an Arduino for PWM dimming and to run one bank as moonlights. Two days ago the drivers stopped dimming at all. I was just going to purchase new drivers from Steves. However I noticed that the Meanwell LDD drivers are much cheaper. What I am unsure of is which LDD driver I need. The Power Supply is set to output 24v.

 

Also looking at the Storm LED controller has me drooling and thinking that I may have to get one for my Biocube until I get better at writing sketches and can build my own controller when I put my 72G Bowfront back together.

[Horerczy]

The LDD drivers you would want are the ones with a similar current profile to steve's little drivers.

 

For instance if you were sent a bunch of 1A drivers you would want to use the Meanwell LDD-1000H unit or the LDD-1000L, if you could find it.

 

They're quite a bit superior to Steve's Drivers as well.

[jedimasterben]

The only problem I see is that seven LEDs on a 24v input to the LDD driver will be running them either right at or above their maximum voltage output (which is 21v, 3v less than the 24v input). The good thing, though, is that the power supply output voltage is adjustable - there is a little screw that is off to the side (if you take a picture we can circle it for you) that you turn very gently to adjust the voltage up. Preferably you'd have a multimeter hooked up to it to measure the voltage.

[CPLMayo]

The only problem I see is that seven LEDs on a 24v input to the LDD driver will be running them either right at or above their maximum voltage output (which is 21v, 3v less than the 24v input). The good thing, though, is that the power supply output voltage is adjustable - there is a little screw that is off to the side (if you take a picture we can circle it for you) that you turn very gently to adjust the voltage up. Preferably you'd have a multimeter hooked up to it to measure the voltage.

 

Absolutely!

 

The LDD drivers you would want are the ones with a similar current profile to steve's little drivers.

 

For instance if you were sent a bunch of 1A drivers you would want to use the Meanwell LDD-1000H unit or the LDD-1000L, if you could find it.

 

They're quite a bit superior to Steve's Drivers as well.

 

This is my main problem. It doesn't say on the driver what current profile it is; at least if it does I haven't found where it is written yet.

[jedimasterben]

Does your kit use any deep red? If not, then both are 1A.

[CPLMayo]

 

Does your kit use any deep red? If not, then both are 1A.

No Deep Red just Royal Blues and Cool Whites. So I would need the 1000ma LDDs? I was thinking about adding some violet to the blue channel. Would this be okay I know the Drivers I was looking at will handful to 16 LEDs.

[jedimasterben]

The LDD can only handle 16 'typical' LEDs if the input voltage is at 56v, and finding a 56v power supply that is quality isn't common (and probably not cost effective). An LDD with 48v input can handle ~14x LEDs, or 13x typical violets since they usually have a higher forward voltage. In addition, I wouldn't recommend running violets over 700mA. While some can tolerate it (such as genuine SemiLEDs chips), others can't and will fail over time or shortly.

[CPLMayo]

The LDD can only handle 16 'typical' LEDs if the input voltage is at 56v, and finding a 56v power supply that is quality isn't common (and probably not cost effective). An LDD with 48v input can handle ~14x LEDs, or 13x typical violets since they usually have a higher forward voltage. In addition, I wouldn't recommend running violets over 700mA. While some can tolerate it (such as genuine SemiLEDs chips), others can't and will fail over time or shortly.

So I should stick with the LEDs that I have or add additional drivers. Also I should be using the LDD-1000H for each group of seven LEDs. The power supply I have is outputting at 24v but I can adjust up a little.

[jedimasterben]

That's right, you're on 24v input, not 48v. You'll be able to run almost seven LEDs per LDD driver. You'll need to make your power supply output 26-27v to be able to run seven LEDs from an LDD driver.