Please help with driver issue on LED setup

[gunguy05]

Just setup my BC29 from Steve's this weeked with 3 of his drivers

 

1 - single to run 2 3up stars

 

1 - double to run whites (8 luxeon)

 

1 - trip to run all the royal blue (luxeon)

 

 

Long story short, I think I over adjusted the power supply.. .I checked and it was 27.4V with a load on it. So, turned it down and the single driver has lost ability to use the pot The double is dimmed, and will not adjust as well. The triple seemed to make it ok.

 

So, I moved some of the white to the triple with the blues and it worked ok (just for sustainability of the corals purpose). But last night the the triple seems to have gone bad. The white channel on it is now dimmed like it was on the double driver that it was hooked up to before. The RB will adjust with the pot.

 

Question for the LED experts out there is this:

 

I'm pretty sure I damaged/kililed the the single, double initally.. and want to know did the triple eventully give in (I checked with no load and the PS is now at 24.7V) OR is there an issue with a possible short in 1 or more strands of the LED's (the whites possibly) that is killing the druivers or making them not able to be adjusted with the pot?

 

How do i check the strands of LED's to make sure they aren't shorted on the stars themselves? Is this somethings that is easily a problem if the solder is touching the edge of the pad on the star?

 

I have emailed steves, and am waiting on a reply, but want to make sure I have my bases covered before I buy more driver (or I hope have these repaired) and burn them up too..

 

 

Thanks,

Brian

[jedimasterben]

The CAT4101 support a maximum input voltage of 25v. More than that and they'll likely blow, which is what appears to have happened.

 

You can test the individual LEDs with a pair of AA or AAA batteries, they should at least faintly illuminate.

[gunguy05]

The CAT4101 support a maximum input voltage of 25v. More than that and they'll likely blow, which is what appears to have happened. You can test the individual LEDs with a pair of AA or AAA batteries, they should at least faintly illuminate.

They all light up in some form or another now if I hook them up to a working driver. It is just on the blown parts of the driver, that they are dimmed permanently to about 1/3 brightness, and the POT doesn't affect them.

 

Are we saying then that if they illuminate, that they aren't shorted on themselves?

 

Thanks for the help

 

Brian

[jedimasterben]

Right, as long as the LEDs strike, then they are fine.

 

If you don't need the potentiometer control, I would look into Meanwell LDD instead of Steve's drivers. They're more efficient and on a 48v power supply can run ~14x Rebel ES.

[gunguy05]

Right, as long as the LEDs strike, then they are fine.

 

If you don't need the potentiometer control, I would look into Meanwell LDD instead of Steve's drivers. They're more efficient and on a 48v power supply can run ~14x Rebel ES.

 

10-4.

 

I was going to go that route, and then I chose Steve's just for simplicity sake of having everything in the hood, as built by them. I do like the LDD stuff though and on my *next build*.. that will probably be the route I take.

 

Thanks again for the help

 

Brian

[gunguy05]

Well, according to Jeff at Stevens it sounds like I burnt up all three drivers. New ones are on the way and should be here by Friday.

[gunguy05]

I give up....

 

I received 3 new drivers from Steve's today. 1 single 700ma, 1 double (whites) , 1 triple (blue)

 

triple hooked up to blues works fine. Pot works, no issues, is wired into old switch on BC lid for on/off.

 

double.. hooked up, ran a couple minutes.. slightly flickering. Now it will not dim, and only 1 channel of it will run at full power, other side is dimmed, almost out.

 

I give up. I have checked all of my solder connections on the white stars. Redid a couple that looked remotely questionable, tested some with 2 AA batteries. All seem to work fine until I hook them to the driver. I have 8 whites total, so they are spit 4 and 4 on the two channels of the double driver.

 

Strange thing also is that before I had to have a pot connected for the driver to work. Now, pot is disconnected and (the white channel that works) is running full blast.

 

Not sure what to do from here, but I am tired of burning up drivers. Just cost me 70 bucks to purchase new ones.. But I have to get this working

[farkwar]

Tested some?

 

I don't understand that.

 

 

 

Test each and every LED before you hook the up, right after you break them out of the package.

 

Test the driver output before attaching LEDs. For polarity at least, voltage at most.

 

After you mount the LEDs to the heatsink test each and every solder point against the heatsink for continuity, before powering them up. One stray little wire hair, or one of those little solder beads that usually seem to end up on your work bench can ruin your whole day if it lands on the wrong spot.

 

 

Ive not used Steves drivers, the business end of them from pics look like an SCR rectifier. If it is, those things can build up a lot of heat. If thats what those are, I would heatsink them before powering them up. Nothing fancy just temporarily screw them to some aluminum.

 

A blown LED can act like a fuse or a resistor, depending on how it blew. It can be completely open allowing no further current through, it can sometimes let a little current through, sometimes it can make the rest of the string flash and do weird things like that.

 

Thats all I got considering ive not used Steves drivers.

[gunguy05]

Tested some?

 

 

 

After you mount the LEDs to the heatsink test each and every solder point against the heatsink for continuity, before powering them up. One stray little wire hair, or one of those little solder beads that usually seem to end up on your work bench can ruin your whole day if it lands on the wrong spot.

 

 

 

 

AHhhhhhhhh THIS!

 

Think I have it figured out.

 

One of the 3 up stars. One of it's contacts was shorted to the heatsink. Multimeter to the rescue!

 

Took that off and between all of the extra drivers I have now, I found one with 2 channels that work properly. Attached that and it seems to work now.

 

Thank you!

 

Sometimes I get so wrapped up in the details that I forget the basics....