How should I wire my LEDs

[gfxcomplex]

I don't know a whole lot about Volts vs mA ect... I do know what it means to run in series and parallel.

 

Any how I have 4 CREE XR-E Q5 Cool White 3W and 4 CREE XR-E Royal Blue 3W both at 1000mA max

 

Though I don't know I think I might want to run 4 series in parallel.

 

 

The thing is I dont know.

Here is my power supply

[gfxcomplex]

bump?

[evilc66]

Run them all in series. Running in parallel divides the current up by the number of parallel strings. As it stands right now, that picture would have your LEDs running at about 250mA.

[Warehouse41Ant]

Run them all in series. Running in parallel divides the current up by the number of parallel strings. As it stands right now, that picture would have your LEDs running at about 250mA.

 

 

Do whatever evil tells you to do.

[gfxcomplex]

I thought that may be the case, the driver will out put 40v and I was worried that I would be pushing too many volts if they were all in one series,

 

Also if I don't have a analog nob for the dim and if I just tie the -+ together for the time being, with that being 100% output will that burn out my leds?

 

Run them all in series. Running in parallel divides the current up by the number of parallel strings. As it stands right now, that picture would have your LEDs running at about 250mA.

[evilc66]

The driver will adjust the voltage to whatever is required. No need to worry about that. Anyway, running in parallel would mean fewer LEDs to divide the voltage if things worked the way you were thinking.

 

You need 10v across the dim wires to get 100% output. Twisting them together does nothing.

[xcracer]

yeah if they drew full power they would be drawing like 20V and some serious amps from the PS which couldnt handle that sort of amperage

[gfxcomplex]

You need 10v across the dim wires to get 100% output. Twisting them together does nothing.

 

Thanks for the input. I thought there was current coming from the + wire and that the analog nob limited the volts and that was how it knew how much to dim. But looks like it was a good think that I asked first.

 

Since there is no current coming from the positive how do most people wire up their nob? were does the 10v come from, the output of the ps? a second ps?

 

Thanks for you help btw

- Josh C

[sammy113]

You will need a second PS for the DIM + - When I bough this drivers I didn't knew that either. I though I wold just run them at 100% without dimming capabilities until I get to build an arudino or something. Since that remaining wires needs a PWM to dim, no voltage coming in, means 0% cycle. So its not gonna turn on. 10V will be = to 100% PWM cycle so you get at least On/Off with no dim.

[gfxcomplex]

You will need a second PS for the DIM + - When I bough this drivers I didn't knew that either. I though I wold just run them at 100% without dimming capabilities until I get to build an arudino or something. Since that remaining wires needs a PWM to dim, no voltage coming in, means 0% cycle. So its not gonna turn on. 10V will be = to 100% PWM cycle so you get at least On/Off with no dim.

 

That's a bummer.

[redfishsc]

In a pinch with this model I think you can get one of the multi-voltage power supplies that goes up to 9v. You can toggle in between the voltage settings to dim the lights, and at 9v they would run, theoretically, at about 90% (900mA).

[gfxcomplex]

man I feel really dumb right now. Burnt out all but on of my LEDs. God F'ing dam it I wish I knew WTF I'm doing.

 

You can put a big fat "FAIL" on this one. Dont think I have another $100 dollars to throw away again.

 

After wiring up the PS I plugged in a a 5v 850mA for the dim,

 

I tried just one LED and I got a blue pop and two of the little wires inside the LED looked burnt. It never lit again even after I ran them all together. I look and it looks like I burnt out all the LEDs.

 

when ran the the out put volts on the multimeter I was getting 48.1v out when I used a 5v 850mA for the dim, that 100% .

 

Bottom line is I dont know wtf I'm doing and this sucks.

 

Looks like a $50 dual coral life is what I should have got. It's just a shame the LEDs are way over priced to the point that you have to try to BIY if you want a led rig.

 

what a disappointing day.

[gfxcomplex]

Last good LED.

 

All the rest:

 

man I wish I never read this forum.

[sammy113]

Dude that sucks. Guess your mistake was to try just one LED at a time? or after burning just one you ran the entire rig?. Maybe there was too much voltage for it. If you hook up the entire array the driver suppose toauto adjust and that should not happen.

[gfxcomplex]

Dude that sucks. Guess your mistake was to try just one LED at a time? or after burning just one you ran the entire rig?. Maybe there was too much voltage for it. If you hook up the entire array the driver suppose toauto adjust and that should not happen.

 

After running the PS on the multimeter

 

with nothing ("0 volts") on the dim I get 20v and 40mA output on the v+ v- of my PS.

With 5v 850mA on the dim I get 48.1v and 1.5amp on the v+ v-.

 

I did test a two one at a time and popped a few. Then I tried 4 at once and that popped them all.

 

I have one left that works when ran by it's self. It looks like it's at 50% with nothing on the dim and then when I run the 5v on the dim it gets brighter.

 

WTF is going on.

[sammy113]

Hmm, I don't really know much about meanwells. I heard you shouldn't run just one or just a few. Its better to test with all the LEDs. You will have to make sure and re check everything is in its right place. Also heard that Meanwells sometimes comes from factory set at high current levels (seems to me its your case) and you can adjust the current opening the driver and turning counter clockwise the SVR2 screw. I tried it with one of my drivers, ended up damaging the screw cause it just turns 270 degree left to right and I gave it like a thousand turns. Left the other like it came and had no problems at all. I was connecting 12 LEDs per driver though. Hopefully someone with more experience will chime in to see the possible causes. But i feel you man, it happened to me when I build my first rig with buckpucks. The driver was damaged, it really wasn't my fault but yeah, I cooked 11 LEDs at the same time, just one survived. Had to wait for driver replacements and they didn't paid the damaged LEDs. Gave me a better price but still

[redfishsc]

Gfx, calm down a bit, man. You might not believe this but you and I are in the EXACT same boat. TODAY.

 

I wired up my ELN 60-48D and tried it on one single LED. When it blew (absolutely identical to what you described, pop and click, and toast) I stopped and decided I'd better wait on it. I'm a carpenter and a theology grad student, so electronics is kinda over my head at the moment--- even simple stuff like this.

 

Anyhow, when I blew it, I had my potentionmeter set to put out around 7.5v, which should equate to 750mA. I also tested the voltage and got 48.2. When I read you're post, I thought you were QUOTING me in the main LED thread. I said nearly the same thing, lol.

 

Give Evil a chance to show up, I'm sure he'll know what went on.

 

I'd really like a way to test the amperage output of this Meanwell before it's connected to an LED, but I'm not sure it would give me a true no-load reading.

 

 

 

Also heard that Meanwells sometimes comes from factory set at high current levels (seems to me its your case) and you can adjust the current opening the driver and turning counter clockwise the SVR2 screw.

 

 

Wait a minute. I DID know of this, and I did change the setting. HOWEVER you say counter-clockwise.

 

I took what Evil said in the Meanwell thread--- to bottom it out turning CLOCKWISE.

 

 

It's a good idea to adjust SVR2 to set the max current lower. If you turn it all the way clockwise, you should be at about 975mA at 10v input.

 

 

But perhaps COUNTER-clockwise is right? Here is another quote I searched up:

 

Counter clockwise. It should stop. It's only a 270 degree rotation pot.

 

 

Whichever way it is, I am very thankful for Evil's help---- without all he's done to help me out here, I would have never gotten past gluing them to the heatsink, lol.

[gfxcomplex]

well in any regards I don't have another $100 to spend on LEDS and hope they work.

 

I'm given up on this idea. I would rather play it safe with a $50 dual compact that wont burn down my home.

[evilc66]

I did mean counter clockwise. Not sure why I said clockwise.

 

After looking at the datasheet it seems the Meanwells have a minimum requirement of 6 LEDs to work (24-48v operating range). This is something that I overlooked in the past, and I'm sorry for the inconvenience that it has now caused. I have run just one LED on a driver, but it seems like that was more of a fluke than anything.

[redfishsc]

Thanks Evil.

 

I need to look online for the data sheet. Mine came with absolutely no info other. I'd like to look at it myself.

[gfxcomplex]

Sadly the last LED I have that works will run by it's self.

 

I did mean counter clockwise. Not sure why I said clockwise.

 

After looking at the datasheet it seems the Meanwells have a minimum requirement of 6 LEDs to work (24-48v operating range). This is something that I overlooked in the past, and I'm sorry for the inconvenience that it has now caused. I have run just one LED on a driver, but it seems like that was more of a fluke than anything.

[redfishsc]

Set your unit aside, leaving it all the way it is. Over the next month or two, or however long it takes to set aside enough money for 5 or 6 more LED's, save up.

 

That's what I did. Since I fried one yesterday, I had to order a replacement today from Nanotuners.com.

 

I also ordered 6 extra Berquist thermal pads since I plan on adding several white XP-G's to this array later on.

 

I couldn't afford to do this all at once. Had to do this in steps.