A word of caution regarding Steve's LEDs LED Drivers

[ksicard]

Steve's leds recommends running 7 leds (if the 1000ma Luxeons) per slot of led driver, so if your using 14 rb/nw using 2 double led drivers for each color would be correct. You can always test with a meter and adjust the PSU as necessary.

But this thread is making me question something for the build I'm planning. I want to use OCW with steves led drivers, I'm curious as to how many OCW per driver would be needed to run properly? My choices are 700ma or 350ma for the drivers, I was thinking 2 OCW on a 700ma driver would be right around the correct amount or 3 OCW on a 350ma driver. Does this seem correct for my usage? The OCW would be on their own driver.

Sorry for reviving an old thread.

 

I ordered Steve's LED Biocube 29G stock lighting with the typhon controller.

 

I tried to ask an engineer to explain to me what are mA, volts and watts, but that got me to understand a little. My question is, am I safe with the setup?

 

Is this the right calculation?

 

If i have a PSU with 200w 25v, it goes to the 28 LED (each LED is 3W = 1000mA X 3 volt) hence i need either 84W or 84v, when I only have 25v to share... so I would be under driving the LEDs?

 

Thanks!

[jedimasterben]

But this thread is making me question something for the build I'm planning. I want to use OCW with steves led drivers, I'm curious as to how many OCW per driver would be needed to run properly? My choices are 700ma or 350ma for the drivers, I was thinking 2 OCW on a 700ma driver would be right around the correct amount or 3 OCW on a 350ma driver. Does this seem correct for my usage? The OCW would be on their own driver.

Their forward voltage doesn't change hardly at all from 350ma to 700ma, you can only run two OCW per channel on Steve's 24v drivers.

 

Sorry for reviving an old thread.

 

I ordered Steve's LED Biocube 29G stock lighting with the typhon controller.

 

I tried to ask an engineer to explain to me what are mA, volts and watts, but that got me to understand a little. My question is, am I safe with the setup?

 

Is this the right calculation?

 

If i have a PSU with 200w 25v, it goes to the 28 LED (each LED is 3W = 1000mA X 3 volt) hence i need either 84W or 84v, when I only have 25v to share... so I would be under driving the LEDs?

 

Thanks!

You have the basics (volts times amps equals wattage), but not quite on how the drivers work. The drivers are channels of 24v, and the power supply only gives each driver how much amperage it asks for (depends on the driver and how far you have it set via PWM or potentiometer).

[MeepNand]

Interesting thread. At least now I know what chip is on the steve's drivers.

[ruffyruff]

This is what I ordered from Steve's LED

 

Biocube 29G Retro

Typhon Controller

 

So i presume the setup is

 

PSU --> Driver (in between Typhon Controller[is this the PWM??]) --> 2 Strips of LED

 

PSU outputs 200W 25V

 

Driver creates 2 channels of 1000mA 25V hence, channel 1 1000mA 25V and channel 2 1000mA 25V

 

Each strip has 7 LED, hence forward voltage means that it will use 21V, leaving 4V to be absorbed

 

Since theres 2 strips of LED, there will be an excessive of 8V to be absorbed

[MeepNand]

Their forward voltage doesn't change hardly at all from 350ma to 700ma, you can only run two OCW per channel on Steve's 24v drivers.

 

You have the basics (volts times amps equals wattage), but not quite on how the drivers work. The drivers are channels of 24v, and the power supply only gives each driver how much amperage it asks for (depends on the driver and how far you have it set via PWM or potentiometer).

So does that mean that the power going through the driver is (V difference * led amps) W?

So a 24v power supply running 7 leds at 3.1v 1a each, for a total of 21.7v going through the driver, would lead to 2.3w wasted?

[BigAl07]

Just to clarify... some of the initial information is off a tad bit . . .

 

StevesLED uses a 5Mhz linear-bucking driver, not a straight linear driver, so it will efficiently buck down the bulk of the extra voltage and dissipate the rest via heat. There are some other variances but I've spoken with tech support at StevesLED and they use very high-end components that meet high efficiency standards as well as have an incredibly insane long run time (in excess of 200,000 hrs). They chose this 5Mhz linear-bucking driver not because it was the MOST efficient or because it was the cheapest... but because it performs great and it's extremely reliable. When you have thousands and thousands of $$ of coral on the line you want reliability to be high on your list of requirements.

 

 

Yes there is some loss due to various reasons but this is common and not something to worry about or even consider. It's a rock solid system that performs great and should perform for a long time to come.

 

If anyone has any additional concerns the gang over at StevesLED are not only there to help they are EAGER to talk tech so don't hesitate to drop them an email. That's exactly what I did

[MeepNand]

Could you put this in layman's terms and give an example?

[jedimasterben]

Laymans terms: the drivers don't dissipate 100% of extra voltage as heat, it is a very small percentage that will depend on the voltage input and total voltage load.

 

If the drivers were linear, if you input 24v DC and only have 10v of LEDs on it, the driver would use all 24v and waste 14v as heat (the total wattage of heat would depend on the amperage).

 

Since they are not linear, but linear-bucking, they only waste a few percentage of the excess voltage as heat.

[MeepNand]

Ah okay. Good to know!

[BigAl07]

Very well said jedimasterben

[ruffyruff]

Now it all makes sense to me!

 

Thanks to jedimasterben & BigAl07!!

[dacdaddy]

So safe to say if I ran 5 steves drivers all between 20-24v with a 48v 7.3a power supply, they wont waste off an extra ~24v heat?

 

*Thread rises from the ashes*

[disaster999]

you cant run those drivers with a 48V power supply. the max volts this thing take is 25V. So if you have 2 drivers in a series, you can run both of them with the 48V power supply. you can run 4 or 6 drivers with this setup, but not 5.

 

basically what they are warning you is, unless you load up the drivers with the maximum amount of LED it can drive, you are basically wasting energy.

[jedimasterben]

basically what they are warning you is, unless you load up the drivers with the maximum amount of LED it can drive, you are basically wasting energy.

Though not nearly to the point that some went to lol

[dacdaddy]

you cant run those drivers with a 48V power supply. the max volts this thing take is 25V. So if you have 2 drivers in a series, you can run both of them with the 48V power supply. you can run 4 or 6 drivers with this setup, but not 5.

 

basically what they are warning you is, unless you load up the drivers with the maximum amount of LED it can drive, you are basically wasting energy.

Ugh, the more I know, the less I know. Steve's "Double" driver is still two drivers on one board correct? In my mind Id use 3 singles and a 1 double.

 

The other question I have now that we're on the subject. Theres only 3 V+ and V- terminals. If you have more than 3 drivers, how does everyone usually run them?

 

Thanks in advance for the help. Seems like I'm better off getting a 24v higher amp power supply, no?

[PoseidonIncarnate]

Since were on Steve LED, I just got mine and I have a couple of questions:

 

1. The fan NEVER turns off?! Is this normal? Even when all the LEDs are off, the fan is still on. The only way I can turn the fan off is if I unplug everything and that erases my typhon programming.

 

2. Am I suppose to control the intensity of the LEDs with the pot (I think that is what they are called), the typhon or both? When I turn the knob in one direction, the LEDs are dim even if the typhon is turned up. When I turn the pots the other direction the LEDs are bright but the typhon can't completely turn them off.

 

3. Has anyone had problems with the moonlight remote not communicating when the splash shield is on?

 

Thanks in advance.

[jedimasterben]

The other question I have now that we're on the subject. Theres only 3 V+ and V- terminals. If you have more than 3 drivers, how does everyone usually run them?

Connect them all to the terminals? The power supply doesn't really care how many things are connected to it as long as they're not pulling too much power.

 

Thanks in advance for the help. Seems like I'm better off getting a 24v higher amp power supply, no?

Yes, CAT4101 can't use more than 25v.

 

Since were on Steve LED, I just got mine and I have a couple of questions:

 

1. The fan NEVER turns off?! Is this normal? Even when all the LEDs are off, the fan is still on. The only way I can turn the fan off is if I unplug everything and that erases my typhon programming.

The fan is powered by the main power supply. If that is on, the fan is on.

 

Pulling the power to the Typhon does nothing to it. It keeps time and everything on its own.

 

2. Am I suppose to control the intensity of the LEDs with the pot (I think that is what they are called), the typhon or both? When I turn the knob in one direction, the LEDs are dim even if the typhon is turned up. When I turn the pots the other direction the LEDs are bright but the typhon can't completely turn them off.

I would use one or the other.

[dacdaddy]

Yes, CAT4101 can't use more than 25v.

Thank you. I think I am finally ready to get this going. I have a 20Long with 2-24w T5s going. Im gonna get a nice array going, and dim it the hell down, still keep T5 to supplement

[dacdaddy]

Or another way, I can use the Meanwell LDD drivers that run up to 52v and control them with a Typhon controller? (using the 48v ps)

 

Just figuring out the best plan of action. I used to want Apex controllability but using a PWM light controller is cool with me.

 

I guess the question now, if my first assumption is correct, is which drivers are better quality, meanwell or steves. And then tailor the power supply to that?

 

Edit: Also, has anyone heard if the Meanwell drivers have the same issue as the OP here suggested, wasting off heat if you don't dial the array voltage up high enough?