Which sort of drivers to use!?

S

sexycybe

New Member
I am trying to figure out what sort of drivers i need for my LED lights.

1.If you have any advice on different circuits (eg. reduced numbers of lights per circuit, parallel, mix and match) let me know :thumb:

All have a forward current of 700mA in every light

The lights in these circuits have 3.2-3.4V and are 3W each
One series of 25
One series of 11

The lights in these circuits have 1.9-2.3V and are 3W each
One series of 27
One series of 9

Please help me out, even the electricians i know don't seem to give consistent answers... :helpsmilie:

If you could also point me in a direction of a good site selling the drivers i would be sooo grateful. Ebay just isn't cutting it.

:Namaste: SxC
 
Re: Which sort of drivers to use!?!?

SxC :cheesygrinsmiley:

Do you want to DIY the drivers? I found a site that claims 1-2 dollars to make them... but they want $ :cheesygrinsmiley:

I did some searching around... you may consider reducing the size of the larger arrays for redundancy. Do you want a pulse driver or constant? I found lots of products out there like this one Waterproof 120W Constant Current Source LED Driver (100~240V) - Free Shipping - DealExtreme I use this only as an example of what I found as I have no idea if it fits. I see you have spoken to an electrician... good! Show that person the link above and see if that gets the ball rolling
 
Re: Which sort of drivers to use!?!?

Mono, he is attempting to build his own panel. As we stated in a previous post you are in need of an electrical engineer, not an electrician. A few things to note: You don't really want to drive your 3 watt LEDs at 700-750 mA unless you have a great heatsink and thermal dissipation setup, you will get better performance and life when you drive them at ~600mA. Secondly, you want a constant current driver. Likewise, you do not have to run all reds all whites all blues etc on the same circuit. You simple need to insure that each run is not going to pull more than 90% of the rated power for the drive. The link that Buckshot provided is a reliable source for cheap drivers. You can also use rapidLED Steve's LED, reefkeepers, Maker's or a thousand other places. Search for the component that you are looking for and you will find more than enough resellers.
 
Re: Which sort of drivers to use!?!?

Check out U tube I watched a few how to make your own panel videos but I couldn't tell you how they worked or how long they lasted.
 
Thanks for the help guys!!

How about 6 of these drivers Waterproof 670mA 36W Power Constant Current Source LED Driver (85~265V) - Free Shipping - DealExtreme if i do the circuits like this:
The lights in these circuits have 3.2-3.4V and are 3W each, they are in series
One series of 13
one series of 12
One series of 11

The lights in these circuits have 1.9-2.3V and are 3W each, they are in series
One series of 14
One series of 13
One series of 9

Would the output voltage damage the lights?
Would the 90% that Hosebomber was talking about mean that i could only wire 11?
SxC
 
The max output voltage on that driver is 45 volts. You wouldn't want to load it it more than 40 volts. A constant current driver will maintain the current at 600mA to 730mA (the +- 10%) and the voltage will change based on how much of a draw you are pulling from it. If all 13 of your diodes are pulling max voltage (which they won't because you are not pushing them to max amperage), you would pull 47.6 volts on a component that is only rated for 45 volts. When the voltage of an LED is too low, it will not light or be very dim. When the voltage is too high, it will overheat or have a catastrophic failure (burn out). When you run your diodes in a series and a diode has a failure all of the voltage and current from that is routed to those that remain OR will circumvent the circuit as a whole and none will work. This all depends on your circuit and failure systems that you have in place.
 
Great answer, thank you :)
what do you mean by 'This all depends on your circuit and failure systems that you have in place'
could you please give some examples?
 
It's possible to create a circuit that has your series diodes and off of each LED you have bypass zener. The draw of the zener will be the same as or slightly more than the LED and the current will not flow threw the zener unless there is a failure in the LED. If the failure occurs, the zener takes up the extra current, completes the circuit, and allows the series to continue to work even after the failure.
 
Hosebomber said:
It's possible to create a circuit that has your series diodes and off of each LED you have bypass zener. The draw of the zener will be the same as or slightly more than the LED and the current will not flow threw the zener unless there is a failure in the LED. If the failure occurs, the zener takes up the extra current, completes the circuit, and allows the series to continue to work even after the failure.
Click to expand...

You are a champion! Thanks mate
 

Similar threads

D
LED Driver Help
Replies
5
Views
1K
Densenug
D
T
Inventronics Driver Problem
Replies
1
Views
767
PurpleGunRack
PurpleGunRack
P
Help with driver replacement
2
Replies
21
Views
783
TorturedSoul
TorturedSoul
J
LED driver wattage
Replies
10
Views
1K
JoeHawkins
J
llewop211
Differences between HLG, ELG and LPC drivers?
Replies
1
Views
2K
415friendly
4
Back
Top Bottom