DIY LED panel problem - Flashing

[Rouxdy]

Hi guys, hope someone can help.

I've built a diy LED light panel and am having some issues. First plug in returned very dull light, but a constant light.

I retraced everything looking for sloppy solder joints and possible grounds and addressed several potential issues.

I plugged back in and I have extremely bright light, but now it is flashing...

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance!

 

[PetFlora]

A few pictures would likely help anyone who can help. I can't, but Im just sayin

 

[vukman]

pics and some tech specs would really help..

 

[Rouxdy]

I'll try to put some tech and pics up later this afternoon.

 

[medmaker420]

are you overdriving the driver?

how many leds, whats the wattage and what is the driver being used?

also is it a flashing driver as well as is this ac or dc

 

[vukman]

are you overdriving the driver?

how many leds, whats the wattage and what is the driver being used?

also is it a flashing driver as well as is this ac or dc

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
why I asked for tech specs..

 

[Rouxdy]

OK, Gents, here's some pics...



This is the best I've got on the LED's... Ebay descriptions...

I bought them back in 2011 and just now got around to putting this together.

5 pcs High Power LED Lamp Red Color Light 1 Watt 660nm
5pcs 1W White HIGH POWER LED Star 100LM 140°light
1W Power Red Led 50Lm 20pcs
1W High-Power Blue Led 20Lm 20pcs

Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[Rouxdy]

are you overdriving the driver?

how many leds, whats the wattage and what is the driver being used?

also is it a flashing driver as well as is this ac or dc

Not overdriving, well, I wouldn't know how so assuming...

28 total LED's. Supposed to be 1w

Shouldn't have been a flashing driver... ordered one somebody here had recommended.

AC - DC... hmmm don't know... could I need a DC cord? How would I know voltage to use?

 

[Rouxdy]

Just looked at the driver again... it says AC in - DC out...

 

[medmaker420]

What I would first check is to make sure none of those wires are touching the heatsink, it looks like you cut off alot of the wire wrap itself. It might be shorting itself out. With your DC out what voltage does it recommend and what are you using?

 

[rives]

If you have 28 leds and the minimum voltage that the driver can source is 85v, you are driving each led with a shade over 3v average. Without seeing the specs on your leds, I would suspect that you are going way over the 300ma that the driver is capable of, and it is shutting itself down. At 2.6v, my 1w leds are pulling 1000ma.

 

[medmaker420]

If you have 28 leds and the minimum voltage that the driver can source is 85v, you are driving each led with a shade over 3v. Without seeing the specs on your leds, I would suspect that you are going way over the 300ma that the driver is capable of, and it is shutting itself down. At 2.6v, my 1w leds are pulling 1000ma.

I was wondering that, now when you look at his led driver I swear in red it shows (25 - 36) x 1w

 

[rives]

I was wondering that, now when you look at his led driver I swear in red it shows (25 - 36) x 1w

Yes, I saw that. Different colors of leds are going to have a wide range of forward voltage drops - I was just giving an average across them all. The figure that I quoted for mine is for Osram 660nm leds. He really needs the full specs on his chips, figure the voltage drop across them at 300 ma, and then use the number of each of them that will get him into the range that his driver is happy with the total voltage drop and the current capacity.

 

[tenthirty]

Yes, I saw that. Different colors of leds are going to have a wide range of forward voltage drops - I was just giving an average across them all. The figure that I quoted for mine is for Osram 660nm leds. He really needs the full specs on his chips, figure the voltage drop across them at 300 ma, and then use the number of each of them that will get him into the range that his driver is happy with the total voltage drop and the current capacity.

Just a shot in the dark, but you have 2 choices here.

Build a voltage divider to drop the voltage to the diodes so they draw the appropriate amount of current, or add more diodes (LEDs).

The flashing is probably the crowbar circuit in the driver that you got.

Based on the specs for the driver, it looks like you will need at least 40 1w LEDs to match everything up. (based on 2.1v per led)

 

[Rouxdy]

What I would first check is to make sure none of those wires are touching the heatsink, it looks like you cut off alot of the wire wrap itself. It might be shorting itself out. With your DC out what voltage does it recommend and what are you using?

It says 85-128v

I'm testing with straight house current.

If one of the lights goes out, would that cause the rest to flash?

 

[rives]

It says 85-128v

I'm testing with straight house current.

If one of the lights goes out, would that cause the rest to flash?

The 85-128v is the range on the DC side that it can output while sourcing 300ma. The input for the AC side looks to me to be 185-265v - are you feeding this driver with 240v? When I first looked at it, I thought that it was for 85v-265v, but that doesn't appear to be the case. "Straight house current" varies with your location - Europe would be 240v, I believe, and in the US it would be 120v. Yes, one led opening up would cause the rest to flash because it is a series string.

 

[vukman]

Rouxy...please don't take this the wrong way man but you need to get some reading done before you go any further with this project.

I would hate to think that you might blow the LED's or mess something else up. There is tons of very good literature out there that you need to acquaint yourself with.

I admire your intestinal fortitude in taking on such a project. I'm pricing out chips as we speak so I'll be having my own comedy show soon as well..

Good Luck

 

[Rouxdy]

Rouxy...please don't take this the wrong way man but you need to get some reading done before you go any further with this project.

I would hate to think that you might blow the LED's or mess something else up. There is tons of very good literature out there that you need to acquaint yourself with.

I admire your intestinal fortitude in taking on such a project. I'm pricing out chips as we speak so I'll be having my own comedy show soon as well..

Good Luck

Thanks for the advice.

Truth be told, I read everything on this site and the aquarium site when I ordered all this stuff. But, that was well over a year ago and at my age, memory is really iffy!

I posted about what I was buying way back then including the ebay ads links and got several thumbs up... while I don't know much about the differences in performance between series and parallel, I do know the difference in wiring series and parallel...

I was hoping other DIY'ers might have run into the flashing thing before and could help with a kind of "this is what was wrong with mine when it did that" kind of thing.

I think I corrected all the shorts and grounds on my first pass. I do have a led that's bad, so I'll replace that and see if that helps.

Thanks for the advice... I'll post if I can figure it out.

 

[guvoo]

hi Rouxy

all Leds in one String(series) right?

then i think you underdrive the Power-supply.

to check this out do some simple Math

multiply all blue and white Leds by 3
multiply all red Leds by 2
add this 2 Values

if this sum stays below 85 than i´m right and you need more Leds.

 

[vukman]

Thanks for the advice.

Truth be told, I read everything on this site and the aquarium site when I ordered all this stuff. But, that was well over a year ago and at my age, memory is really iffy!

I posted about what I was buying way back then including the ebay ads links and got several thumbs up... while I don't know much about the differences in performance between series and parallel, I do know the difference in wiring series and parallel...

I was hoping other DIY'ers might have run into the flashing thing before and could help with a kind of "this is what was wrong with mine when it did that" kind of thing.

I think I corrected all the shorts and grounds on my first pass. I do have a led that's bad, so I'll replace that and see if that helps.

Thanks for the advice... I'll post if I can figure it out.

Hiya:

As everyone else is saying here, you've got too much power in that driver,,, either get a driver with a lower forward voltage or add some more leds which in the end isn't a bad idea...more light is always good but.........I seen the layout you got there and I do not know how you attached them to the heat sink so....the driver should be changed.....sorry to be the bearer of the bad news but....well......that's only my opinion.. Maybe someone else can give you a better way out of this situation...

Also,, I don't care where you live but please tell me you're using 220V....the input for that driver is AC 185-265V....

Good Luck