jason the filter freak November 28, 2011 November 28, 2011 (edited) I'm sooo frustrated. Its been a while since I've blatantly whined on the board but are you kidding me? I've got all 48 of my leds wired up and only 34 of them light up. I think 2 on one string are bad oh well. Its the entire string of 12 thats not lighting thats killing me. I'll PAY someone in coral, cash, or beer to help me get this done. Initially when plugged in they would flash for just a sec then go off, I went though and re-soldiered a fair number of the leds and tried again now none will light up... please help. Edited November 28, 2011 by jason the filter freak
jason the filter freak November 28, 2011 Author November 28, 2011 On another note check my mounting and cooling Air intake to be topped with fan Other side of air intake into the hood/canopy turns air so 1. There is no splashing up into the fan, 2. air blows across the led heat syncs. LOC LINE, WEEEEE! Basically each led heat sync hands off of a Loc Line hose module and can be pivited to direct light in any direction I please. I think its pretty nifty
hlem November 28, 2011 November 28, 2011 Where are you located? If you are using rob (thefishman) heatsink, then I might know what's going on. I can bring my tools by and help if needed.
jason the filter freak November 28, 2011 Author November 28, 2011 I'm in laurel/Columbia, but I'm desperate to fix this I can meed pretty much anywhere.
hlem November 28, 2011 November 28, 2011 (edited) Are you using rob's heatsink ? Edited November 28, 2011 by hlem
BowieReefer84 November 28, 2011 November 28, 2011 Did you test the led's before starting? I had a couple where the positive and negative terminals were not labeled correctly... had me scratching my head for a while, then I figured it out with the multi-meter test. I would let you come see my setup in Elkridge (running two meanwell drivers and 24 led's), but I don't know if that would help you. Aren't you using some other form of driver?
jason the filter freak November 28, 2011 Author November 28, 2011 Are you using rob's heatsink ? yea or heat syncs there are 8 of them.
jason the filter freak November 28, 2011 Author November 28, 2011 Did you test the led's before starting? I had a couple where the positive and negative terminals were not labeled correctly... had me scratching my head for a while, then I figured it out with the multi-meter test. How do you test leds?
BowieReefer84 November 28, 2011 November 28, 2011 How do you test leds? Get a cheap multi-meter from radio shack and you touch the positive and negative terminals. The led's will light up very dim if they work. I have a multi-meter you can borrow if you want. This is the one I have: http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=4214667&CAWELAID=548682822\ Not a bad investment though at $20. Rapidled even has one at $10, but you would need to pay shipping http://www.rapidled.com/servlet/the-115/7-Function-Multimeter/Detail I forget what setting you use, but it is pretty easy to figure out. I was glad to find out all I had was the +/- mixed up. Easy fix!
jason the filter freak November 28, 2011 Author November 28, 2011 Btw guys I used thermal epoxy for the leds, not sure how hard it will be to undo and re do LEDS
BowieReefer84 November 28, 2011 November 28, 2011 Btw guys I used thermal epoxy for the leds, not sure how hard it will be to undo and re do LEDS If the led's work just move the wires. No need to take them off the heatsink imo.
hypertech November 28, 2011 November 28, 2011 I'm in Alexandria and available next Sat. I could help you if you bring it here.
Guest thefishman65 November 28, 2011 November 28, 2011 Jason, I was away for the week end. Where do you stand? I haven't read this yet, but give me a quick summary of wait for me to catch up
Guest thefishman65 November 28, 2011 November 28, 2011 Well I am caught up. A good multimeter is your friend. If you buy one get one that goes to 10 amps. The cheap ones sometimes only go to 200 or 500 milliamps, which is not enough to measure the current in the strings. I can help any day this week (except tonight) or next week end. Process 1: Are any of the solder locations grounded to the heat sink 1) Set the meter for the lowest ohms setting. If your lucky it beeps when there is no resistance. Place one probe on the heat sink. May sure it makes contact (a cut edge or screws works well). After you know you have good contact touch each solder joint on that heat sink and make sure there is no connection (infinite resistance) 2) Repeat step one on each of the other heat sinks Process 2: Are the LEDs still good 1) Does the meter have a diode check (if so set it there). Place the red probe on the + for an LED. Place the black on a minus. It should glow slightly. Alternate is to go to radio shack and get a battery holder that holds 2 AA batteries with wire leads. In this case where sun glasses. Process 3: Are the solder locations good 1) This is like process 2, but rather than using the + and minus of the LED under test touch the probes to the adjacent LED. So probe - wire - LED - wire - probe Process 4: Asssuming all of the above test passed seek further guidance What was connected to dim + and dim - pf the driver?
jason the filter freak November 28, 2011 Author November 28, 2011 What was connected to dim + and dim - pf the driver? Nothing was connected, the other ones light up the string or most of the string just very dim with nothing connected to the pwm lines.
jason the filter freak November 28, 2011 Author November 28, 2011 I don't know as much as I wish I knew. This is the multimeter I have, will this do for what I need?
Guest thefishman65 November 28, 2011 November 28, 2011 You need a signal across those pins or you will get unknown results. Did you turn down the internal pots? If so anything less than 10.2 volts is good. If not try 5 volts.
jason the filter freak November 28, 2011 Author November 28, 2011 (edited) I don't know how to mess with the internal pots, I was using a 9 v battery for testing to make them brighter. What does a pot mean? I'm looking at a controller that has two 10v boosted pwm outputs and one 5 volt un-boosted output. Is there a way to have it control all 4 strings? I was just going to hook up my all blue string and my all white sting to the 10 volt ones then figure out a way to feed constant 10 volt though the other two drivers and just have them turn on and off. Edited November 28, 2011 by jason the filter freak
BowieReefer84 November 28, 2011 November 28, 2011 Ok, I have meanwell drivers as well. It is pretty easy to set them up once you get the basic ideas. Rapidled has a few good guides on this: http://www.vinnymarini.com/pictures/rapid_docs/Using%20Your%20Dimmable%20Driver.pdf http://www.meanwell.com/search/eln-60/default.htm (not sure what all this means...) I think you are using the pwm though, and I am not totally sure on how to dim with those. Fisherman can probably help with that. In terms of getting them running the first link should help you...
Guest thefishman65 November 28, 2011 November 28, 2011 I have you down as getting ELN-60-48P. So you need a pulse width signal from 0 - 10 volts. You need to open them up and turn down the SVR1. I would read the rapid site. DO NOT FORCE THEM THEY TURN VERY LITTLE. If oyu get stuck let me know, but they explain it better than I do. What controller? I bet each signal out can drive at least 2 ELNs. 9 volts should be enough for testing.
BowieReefer84 November 28, 2011 November 28, 2011 (edited) Did you get 4 drivers? How are you wired up? I use 12 led's on each of my two drivers... What made you chose the pwm type driver over the other one? Edited November 28, 2011 by BowieReefer84
jason the filter freak November 28, 2011 Author November 28, 2011 the controller I wanted to use was the reef angel due to price and flexibility. I guess I clearly didn't do enough research before making this purchase which is a mistake I very rarely make. I thought dimming was dimming was dimming. I have 4 drivers with 12 leds per strand.
Chad November 28, 2011 November 28, 2011 You can make a simple PWM generator using a 555 timer and parts that you can find at radio shack. Here is a link for the schematic http://www.instructables.com/id/Yet-Another-Simple-Pot-controlled-555-PWM-generato/step2/What-will-be-needed/ . I would be happy to help you through it (or perhaps do it), but I am leaving the country shortly so it will be a few weeks before I can help. P dimming is basically accomplished by turning the lights on and off very quickly to achieve a desired intensity (intensity = on time / [on time + off time]). More simply controlled by computers since they deal with 1s and 0s, but more difficult for us to deal with since it requires simulating a computer. D dimming is basically accomplished by lowering the steady state current sent through the LEDs. More difficult to control by a computer since the setpoint is an analog signal, but easier for us to control because it requires fewer things. Accomplishes the same thing by two very different means.
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