electrical help

[cent36]

Is there anyone who can help me out? I just bought a used led light and I can't tell if there are bulbs out or one of the controllers. I have taped and labeled all the lights and the ones out appear to be random. Is there an electrician or electrically savvy reefer out there willing to take a look at it?
Please help soon as I don't want to leave my tank in darkness for too long. A few days will help with hair algae tho

 

[zombie]

Bad timing. I would help if I werent leaving for indiana tomorrow.

 

[halmus]

If you are close to Golden, you can stop by my place and I'll take a look at it. Just PM me. I'm pretty good with electronics but can't make any promises.

 

[cent36]

Thanks balms but I live in Parker and rarely get up your way.

So I did some more troubleshooting. And I belive it to be the driver. I opened it all up and disconnected all the drivers then connected them only one at a time and one of them didn't respond at all. I them connected one of the other drivers to that string of lights and they worked. I'm gonna shop for a driver. Will let you all know how it turns out

 

[halmus]

No problem. Sounds like you did a good job troubleshooting it. Good luck.

 

[cent36]

OK so I have scoured the interwebs (a little) and cannot seem to find anything. I need to replace the led driver. This is the info posted on it:
[attachment=68786:name]

 

[zombie]

You will either need to contact the ligh manufacturer directly for a replacement or you will need to find one with the same specs.

 

[cent36]

Was wondering if any DIYers out there could recommend a good replacement. Thanks

 

[lpsouth1978@msn.com]

How many LED's were powered on that driver?

 

[zombie]

How many LED's were powered on that driver?

With the voltage it runs at it has to be at least 35, if not many more. I did a quick google search and Im not finding anything that meets those specs exactly. You will either need to split the leds into multiple strings to use more standard driver specs (like 24V output) or contact the light manufacturer for a replacement.

 

[cent36]

I want to say there are 18 BUT I only have 16 lights out with that driver gone. Hope that makes sense

 

[zombie]

Check the voltage across the whole string when you hook a different driver up to that string (at the output if the driver). You might be able to get away with one or two meanwell drivers.

 

[cent36]

Alright. I can't make sense of this stuff and honestly would like someone to tell me what to get. I'm not the type of person to ask someone else to do the work for me, but in this case I am thoroughly lost. I would like to replace the driver with one comparable driver. Thanks in advance guys and gals

 

[zombie]

I can tell you if you check the voltage. Just hook one of the drivers up to the dead string and measure the voltage between LED+ and LED-. Without knowing that, I cant tell you what kind of driver will be compatable.

 

[lpsouth1978@msn.com]

I can tell you if you check the voltage. Just hook one of the drivers up to the dead string and measure the voltage between LED+ and LED-. Without knowing that, I cant tell you what kind of driver will be compatable.

Not necessarily. While this would be ideal, we know that he needs to power 16 LED's with whatever driver he gets. We also know that the typical 3W LED (assuming that is what was ised in the fixture) has a voltage forward of 3.0-3.3V. So, doing some simple math tells us that he will need a driver with 54V (16*3.3=52.8). Knowing this we can say that something like this http://www.bravoelectro.com/hln-60h-54a.html would do the trick. He would have to be sure to adjust the output (using the internal potentiometer) so it matched the 600mA output of the other drivers, or risk blowing this string entirely. This, of course, is assuming that all of the LED's are in a single string, and NOT 2 parallel strings.

 

[zombie]

That one has a minimum output current of 690 mA, and may overdrive the LEDs beyond their capability. We also dont know that the voltage drop is 3.3V, it could be higher (considering ohms law tells us that a 3W LED would be 5V if it is designed for 600mA of current running at rated power), which would require 75V and not 54V

 

[cent36]

This, of course, is assuming that all of the LED's are in a single string, and NOT 2 parallel strings.

I can see the connection pathway and physically followed it from input all the way back around. I could b wrong and will check again but am almost positive it's a single string.

 

[cent36]

Looks like a single string, 16 lights, dimmable.
Please help me replace my driver:help:

 

[zombie]

We have to know the voltage or there is no way to know what driver will work.

 

[cent36]

Oh yeah! Gotcha. I missed that post. I'll check