Need help with controller!

[Balz3352]

Beeping means it is touching somewhere

 

[Sophie1213]

Oops I had accidentally touched both to the metal. None of the solder joints are grounded. https://vimeo.com/118457110 this is what happens and if I do it on the other end it'll light up most of the strands

 

[Sophie1213]

Maybe I'll just take it to Seth haha.

 

[Highway66]

I'm happy to continue to try and troubleshoot it here? Let me know if you want me to continue.

Or you can bring it to Seth or myself, since we are both north of you, that will involve a little drive.

 

[Sophie1213]

Please do continue!!

 

[Highway66]

question: In the video, what are you powering the led's with?
I am assuming you glued down the led's with thermal epoxy?

 

[Sophie1213]

That's the weirdest part, there's no power attached. Everything is unplugged.
And yeah I used heat sink glue

 

[Highway66]

did you have a meter attached? Meters have an internal battery that is used to measure the resistance and continuity, and I'm guessing that's what making it light?

 

[Sophie1213]

I haven't attached any thing. The wires are attached to the drivers but the drivers aren't plugged into power. Unless I'm giving it power I'm stumped.

 

[Sophie1213]

Actually I think it may have been coming from my controller. After I unplugged that it stopped

 

[Sophie1213]

Should I now check grounding with the diode setting since it's all off?

 

[Highway66]

I'm wondering if something isn't connected right since your controller is sending power directly to your led string, it should be isolated by the driver.

But we can rule out the grounding first. Make sure everything is disconnected, then set your meter for continuity (so it beeps if you put the probes together). make sure one lead is attached very well to your heat sink, and then check every pad on your leds individually. If it beeps you've got a bad joint.

 

[sethsolomon]

Maybe I'll just take it to Seth haha.

I am free this weekend if you want some help.

 

[Sophie1213]

Could having different colors on the same string cause it not to work?

 

[sethsolomon]

Could having different colors on the same string cause it not to work?

It could cause them to burn out if the max currents are different.

 

[Highway66]

you can use 2 AA batteries in series (~ 3 volts) to check each led. make sure the string is unhooked and you have the polarity right or it wont light.

 

[Sophie1213]

When I used my meter on dc power it lit each light. I haven't gotten any beeps with continuity. I have some free time on Sunday that I can bring this thing somewhere before I end up lighting it on fire

 

[sethsolomon]

When I used my meter on dc power it lit each light. I haven't gotten any beeps with continuity. I have some free time on Sunday that I can bring this thing somewhere before I end up lighting it on fire

I am free on Sunday if you want to bring it up.

 

[Sophie1213]

I'll pm you

 

[sethsolomon]

So the problem was trying to run 36 3w LEDs on a 48v in series. It needed to be 3 strands of 12 LEDs ran in parallel. So now each strand of 12 is being ran at 624mA. Also, the dimming wires were pluged into the 1-10v PWM dimmer plugs instead of the 1-10v analog dimming plugs. Now that everything is working. It is a wicked bright light and I am seeing spots...


Some pics...