DIY LED assistance
 

I built a very large DIY LED fixture over my tank about 6 years ago. It's done me proud during that time and I would consider myself quite knowledgeable about DIY LED..but i am recently having an issue that I can't seem to figure out.

I run multiple strings of lights in parallel using large Meanwell Drivers. All of the work is done correctly with fuses and resistors to protect the strings. Each of these runs 3 strings of Actinic blue for me on one side of the fixture and another for the other side. For some strange reason, during my light cycle on my APEX, one driver will shut off the LED's. This happens with no consistency. Some days the string runs all day while others it shuts off in first hour. At first I thought that the driver might be getting too hot. All my drivers are mounted to shelves in my cabinet and it can get very warm. I added some fans to the area and opened the doors to those shelves. One fan blows right on the specific driver and I can verify that it no longer gets ultra hot. Still the light turns off. I've checked that there are no fall back issues on the APEX either. The lights will not turn back on for a while after I have the APEX shut them off. If I don't interfere, then the next day they will come back on with the APEX commands. I've tracked the time it takes to allow it to come back on and it's variable...sometimes 20 min but other times over 1hr.

It's a real pain to rewire in a new driver if I don't have to...so any suggestions from LED wizards out there?

With any troubleshooting, I follow a rule of process of elimination or use simplistic methods to verify suspicions.


if it were me, I would try swapping the Apex feed wires with the other driver that isn't causing issues. This will confirm at least which area the problem lies... and we can continue to zoom in after which.



BTW - I'm currently doing some repairs on my DIY light, and it appears that the DIY concept has just fallen off the face of the earth with many articles disappearing and vendors getting out of the market!


Hope you fix yours!

I know what you mean. There are very few DIY sections left out there. I've narrowed out the apex by completely removing it from the equation.
Might have to replace the driver.

Remote troubleshooting is pretty tricky on someone else's setup. Not knowing what type of LEDs specifically are in the string etc. Could simply be one of the LEDs on the way out causing the string to fail after things warm up a little.

DIY hardly worth it any longer with prices of commercial units coming down.

Can you give some info about the drivers you use and the general setup.

I'm using HLG150H-48B for those strings. Three strings in parallel that are balanced and running at around 1200mA. XP-E royal blues. I've got resistors and fuses protecting each string.

Hello

@mseepman what you described is straight forward. Not suggesting we can find the solution here with remote troubleshooting but a schematic can help. I have my whole place wired with 0-10V controller + Meanwell drivers and sometimes it's difficult to see visually think what goes to what.

First thought came to my mind is when the light don't come on do you have any meters to check if there are any voltage across the Meanwell terminals? Next is do you have anything at the 0-10V control?

Titus

Those are both excellent questions that I have not investigated. I will try to climb into the cabinet this weekend to see. Was very frustrating recently as they have gone out more quickly than usual each day.

Hello

Hope that helps. Usual disclaimer. Make sure you have your meter set to voltmeter and not ampmeter before you use it.

Titus