Apexlaxfrog Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Awaiting reply from LEDGroupbuy, but may have found the issue Link to comment
Apexlaxfrog Posted June 12, 2014 Author Share Posted June 12, 2014 Jedimasterben - Not sure yet. I had actually written that as filler. Evidently the OP cannot delete their own thread ... Anyway, I had originally posted a frustration-enhanced rant (a mild version of such will follow this reply) and then decided that it wasn't fair to LEDGroupBuy to post defamatory comments without giving them a chance to rectify the issue. Unfortunately my issue still persists; therefore, I'm sourcing advice from the public in hopes that someone can aid me in getting my lights running. Link to comment
Apexlaxfrog Posted June 17, 2014 Author Share Posted June 17, 2014 Here's a really long update... I thought it’d be best to get things wrapped up because I dislike seeing a promising thread title with zero useful info. It's long, and may will have MANY mistakes; so, I'm always open to corrections, criticisms, and suggestions. I want to preface by saying that the following information, details, descriptions, methods I employ are just that: methods that I employ(ed). I will explicitly state here that I am not an electrical engineer, not an electrician, and can't even say I'm an electrical hobbyist… I’m just a regular guy that really enjoys nature (I have all sorts of pets) and DIY’ing (what I like to call multi-faceted competency ). With that said, please proceed with caution. Background/Synopsis: I received and unpacked my goodies from LEDGroupbuy. Tested continuity on all LEDs. I wired my “warm” LED series to Channel 1, and I wired my “cool” LED series to Channel 2. After triple checking my wiring, I plugged it all in and… nothing I see my PSU has power but there’s no light! So, what did I do? Supplies I needed for my MakersDRIVER assembly (steps 1-8) and troubleshoot (steps 9-14): 1. DC Power Supply (180w, 48v, 3.75A DC) and a wired AC plug 2. 2 Meanwell LDD Constant Current Drivers (700mA and 1000mA) 3. Digital Multimeter (DMM) 4. An LED 5. Insulated wire, or jumpers, to make connections 6. Needle-nosed pliers, screwdriver... 7. A ‘dispensable’ LED (may be needed for testing) 8. Nitrile gloves (don't like to get hand oils on my components) Steps: 1. Set out my DC power supply, wired AC plug, LDD driver, MakersDRIVER, LED(s), wire, and DMM. First step was the wiring, and functionality verification, of the DC power supply. So I wired the AC plug’s black lead to NEG, white lead to POS, and the green lead to the GROUND. In my experience, white is almost always the LIVE (aka HOT) wire. So, when possible, that’s how I'll keep it the entire build (white to positive) to reduce confusion. Also, I was sure to check that my PSU was set to 110-120 VAC. 2. Plug my PSU into my wall house outlet and looked for the PSU indication LED to light up. Next step is to verify that juice is flowing to the terminals. I set my DMM to volts and put the black DMM probe on the first (left-most) COM terminal and the red probe on the first (left-most) V+ terminal.. I saw 48v, so my PSU is good. 3. UNPLUGGED MY PSU! 4. Next, wired the PSU to the MakersDRIVER by running a red lead from PSU COM to the MakersDRIVER 48v INPUT (-) and a white lead from the PSU V+ to the MakersDRIVER 48v INPUT (+). My PSU, and therefore my MakersDRIVER, should now be ready to receive power. 5. Next I prepared the MakersDRIVER and an LED, so I seated an LDD driver onto the MakersDRIVER backside (Channel 1), then attached a white lead to my LED Ch.1 (+) terminal and a red lead to the LED Ch.1 (-) terminal. I’ve installed a 1000mA LDD driver into LED Ch.1, so I will be wiring my test LED to Channel 1. Something to note: during my actual troubleshoot, Ben @ LEDGroupBuy suggested that LDD drivers should NOT be installed onto the MakersDRIVER unit UNLESS it is loaded. Basically, if you don’t plan on running LEDs off of the LDD driver, remove it. That is why I’m suggesting to seat, and test, one LDD driver at a time. 6. The last thing is connecting my LED to the MakersDRIVER… so connect a white lead from MakersDRIVER LED Ch.1 (+) to the LED (+) and the red lead from MakersDRIVER LED Ch.1 (-) to the LED (-). 7. And a final check: AC plug wired to PSU? PSU wired to MakersDRIVER 48v Input? LDD driver installed in Ch.1? Does our LED Ch.1 (+) have a white lead to the LED’s (+)? Now, does LED Ch.1 (-) have a red lead to the LED’s (-) terminal? this was my actual submission to LGB, hence the two LDD setup... the wiring is right though! 8. Time to test! Plugged my AC plug into the wall to power up your PSU, crank up the MakersDRIVER knob and, hopefully, enjoy! If you’re not enjoying the fruits of your labor, then you’re in my position… So, on to the actual troubleshoot! MakersDRIVER Troubleshoot You’ve wired it all up and there’s no light… well… 9. Hopefully we checked our PSU during assembly, but if not... Unplug your PSU and grab your trusty DMM. Place the red probe into “V” and the black probe into “COM”. Verify that your dial is set to Volts (DC) and that your range is greater than your PSU’s voltage. In my case, I have a 48 volt DC PSU, so I’ve selected the 200v on my DMM dial. If you do not know your range, select the highest number. Because we’re not looking for absolute readings, any signal is likely ‘good enough’ Place black probe to COM and red probe to V+ and plugged back into the wall? No reading = bad power supply. 10. My power supply was good, so I tested voltage across the 48v Input of the MakersDRIVER. Got a reading... So I swapped my DMM to amps (10A fused) and couldn't get a reading across LED Ch.1 when the knob was ~50% (being out-of-the-box new I didn't know what on/off was lol). So I get in touch with LGB. 11. A few days and emails later, we discovered that a fan doesn't work when plugged in... and it's probably not the LDD driver since they tend to die "enthusiastically, with a slot of smoke" 12. Set my DMM to ohms to check for resistance at the fuse and no reading! Great news, now I can 'fix' it. It might be relevant to know that I work at a small start-up semi-conductor company so we tend to "engineer" alot of solutions lol. And to quote my colleague "fusing is not an exact science". True, it's just circuit protection. So to truly identify my problem, I rigged a fuse... with an LED! 13. I weaseled the old fuse out (located just north of the green 48v input block), and I carefully placed a cheap, old-school (long lead) into the fuse through holes and to my surprise it worked! I was actually able to run the entire series of 12 LEDs with my jury-rigged fuse lol. 13. Good test, but had to find a real solution. Need to replace a Bel MQ 2.5 amp 125v uber teeny fuse? Found that Digikey.com sells the fuses (currently out of stock of course). So I ordered up 10 of the 2amp version, clipped the leads short and now I'm wondering how fast I can get the wiring done so I can thermal paste it all and get my MakersCONTROLLER working! 14. Troubleshot. Cheers, Wes Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted June 17, 2014 Share Posted June 17, 2014 LOL at the LED as a fuse! That's badass! Link to comment
Apexlaxfrog Posted June 17, 2014 Author Share Posted June 17, 2014 Hehe thanks... it was incredibly irritating that a simple little wire was stopping me from getting everything bolted down and installed. plus a lot more elegant than the inline glass automotive fuse I was fixin to throw on there lol Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.