LED'S ARE THE BEST!!!!!!!!!

Pics and lots of details on the build!!!!!!

Use caution and make sure in the event of a power outage that those drivers don't fire all at the same time.....Could be a real issue with 8 ELN's firing at the same time.....

I think he might be talking about the high in-rush current of all of those drivers firing up at the same time.  I think the ELN's have an inrush of current of 65 amps, 8x65= 520amps on a circuit that's only designed for 20 amps.  Heat and degradation of your homes circuitry is the issue with using alot of those drivers.  It's best to fire them up slowly, one at a time if possible, or at least just a couple at a time.

Are you planning on building an enclosure for the fixture?  All those wires above the tank look a little bit dangerous.  Plus, without a splash guard on there guys are running into problems having to replace leds after a couple of years due to moisture issues reaching the starboards.  Just a little FIY.  Nice work on the build though, let us know what you think of that rapid dimmer.

I think any type of surge suppressor would either simply trip or divert the excess current away from the drivers and down through the ground.  The drivers wouldn't be able to fire in that case since they wouldn't be getting supplied with the proper amount of current needed in order to fire up.  Depending on the rating of the device used it could theoretically be possible to use one and maybe get away with firing one or two of them up one at a time, it just depends.  But in this case if the power went out during mid day when all the drivers were running and they all tried to come back on at the same time then they wouldn't.  And I honestly don't know if a situation like this would or could cause damage to the drivers.  But I think it might so I'm not sure that I would attempt it.  Now that the newer HLG series of Meanwell drivers are hitting the market a lot of folks are moving away from the ELN's for these reasons on bigger builds like this.  Less drivers, better technology and more protection built in.  But you're right if one goes bad then you lose a lot of light until you can get it fixed or replaced.  All in all though it's just a much safer way to go on larger builds.

Definitely would try to encorporate some type of splash shield to protect from the moisture/humidity coming off of the tank, unless you're going to hang it a couple feet above the tank.  It's probably worth it for the longevity of the leds from what I've been hearing.

If I'm not mistaken you're supposed to leave the power to the controler on at all times and just have the power to the drivers cut on just before ramp up time and cut off just after ramp down?  Not a 100% sure with that controler.  I thought that it was supposed to keep the settings that you had it set to when the power goes off and comes back on to the controler from what I read about it before?

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2Quills 

I think he might be talking about the high in-rush current of all of those drivers firing up at the same time.  I think the ELN's have an inrush of current of 65 amps, 8x65= 520amps on a circuit that's only designed for 20 amps.  Heat and degradation of your homes circuitry is the issue with using alot of those drivers.  It's best to fire them up slowly, one at a time if possible, or at least just a couple at a time.

 

Are you planning on building an enclosure for the fixture?  All those wires above the tank look a little bit dangerous.  Plus, without a splash guard on there guys are running into problems having to replace leds after a couple of years due to moisture issues reaching the starboards.  Just a little FIY.  Nice work on the build though, let us know what you think of that rapid dimmer.

 Thanks Corey for explaining what I meant......Those 8 even spread out on a couple circuits is still a hazard.....A good person for him to talk to would be Kcress over on RC.....

It might not be an issue at the start, but over time the heat build up and such in the house wiring is were the concern lies....Something no one can see.  Another issue is the harmonics of the drivers, and that many could play havoc on other items in the house as well.  Not really sure how you would go about checking, but have you tried going to the breaker box and and flipping the breaker while the lights are on??  Then give it a couple seconds and flip it back and see what happens.  I'm curious if it would trip the breaker????

Quote:

Originally Posted by 242bats 

ok now i know what you are talking about the charging of the (caps) in the driver. what will i see or how do i check to see if thay are all coming on at the same time. with the rapid controler the leds all come on a the same time and go off at the same time. now with that said after turning the power is turned off to the drivers i get a flash from the leds, but not all at the same time, just one at a time. so that must be the (caps) discharging. so do thay charge in the same order????? and if so i should be ok???

 

 

thanks

If the leds are all coming on at the same time that means the drivers are all firing up at the same time I would think.  They may flash at different times when they go off but the initial inrush current to charge them would/should all happen essentially at the same time.  And as Acrylic51 mentioned an even bigger concern than the inrush current is the harmonics that all of those drivers produce.  The actual damage that can be caused is not always apparent.  It could mean you may start seeing other electrical appliances on the same circuit start to crap out well before there time.  And the continuous heat that is produced would be slowly degrading the wiring in your home.  How long is not really known it just all depends on different variables in your particular situation.  It could just simply mean that the wiring in your walls lasts only 20 years instead of 30.  Or it could mean that your house may potentially catch fire a year from now.  Or you may find that your breaker starts triping every time the fixture fires up a month from now.  No way to really know for sure, just saying that the potential for these things is real and it is there.  So I'm of the mindset that if it can be built safer then why not just do it that way.