xandrew25xs DIY led build

2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
The links arent bringing up the pages on my phone. I posted the links on the second to last page in cyphers build thread just below this one if you want to double check. Should be 1 amp fast blow fuses and 1 ohm-5 watt/5% resistors. Terminal blocks are a nice way to go for hooking that stuff up. The schematics above are also correct for parallel strings.
 
xandrew245x

xandrew245x

Member
Yeah corey, I have 3 2 terminal blocks for my fuses and resistors to go in for my parallel string, and I got a 10 block terminal to mount on my frame to connect everything to.
I just checked, it is a 1amp fast blow fuse, and the resist is 1 ohm and it is 5 watts, so it looks like I have the right ones, I'm ordering everything else to finish the electrical part of my build, going to order that some time this week hopefully.
 
xandrew245x

xandrew245x

Member
Also corey, they have 20 awg wire in 100' rolls, the red stranded cost like 80 some dollars, so I was going to just get the solid wire since is only $23, will it being solid make any difference?
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
Hmmm maybe you were looking at 1000 ft rolls. I see 100 ft rolls all the time for $10 infact you can get em at radio shack for that price. It doesnt make that big of a difference stranded vs solid but i believe stranded solders better and thats what most people are using including myself.
 
xandrew245x

xandrew245x

Member
Also, I'm thinking that I want to hang my fixture over my tank, but I don't think the studs line up where I need them too. My solution is to run two pieces of aluminum across the studs and screw them into the studs, bolt my hangers into the aluminum and drill a whole in the drywall on the opposite side for the bolt to stick through.
I want to use that invisiable wire to hang my light. I haven't double checked yet, but i'm pretty sure the studs don't line up, but I'm going to make sure first.
 
xandrew245x

xandrew245x

Member
Hmmm maybe you were looking at 1000 ft rolls. I see 100 ft rolls all the time for $10 infact you can get em at radio shack for that price. It doesnt make that big of a difference stranded vs solid but i believe stranded solders better and thats what most people are using including myself.
Nope, it is 100' rolls, and I looked at radioshack and it seems all you can buy is a pack of 25' ea of green, red, and black.
 
xandrew245x

xandrew245x

Member
I only need the red and black, but for 8 bucks, you can't really beat it, so I guess i'll try to run in there some time this week, I have enough work to keep me busy for a while now that I have to fix my led string
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
Theyll probably have 100ft rolls in the store when you go in. I got a roll of black from them for around $10. We have a large computer supply store down here which is where i got the stuff for mine for $10. Definitely better than $100. For that price id half expext the wire to solder itself to the leds for me.
 
xandrew245x

xandrew245x

Member
So corey, I wired everything the way I should and hooked the driver and controller up, after a certain level, the lights started blinking again, so I got to thinking, I hooked a different driver up, and took it clear to max, and no blinking, the driver is no good.
Before I wired in parallel(the wrong way) the first time, I did an 8 led series just to see how my controller and driver worked, and it was blinking then, so they sent me a defective driver.
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by xandrew245x http:///t/390400/xandrew25xs-diy-led-build/180#post_3463602
Lol, I will tomorrow, would be halarious if it started working somehow.
Sometimes these things can be something very simple like a poor connection somewhere. Sometimes they could be the driver. Best to eliminate the all the easy possibilities first. You mentioned turning the current adjustment pot before in the thread. Are both drivers currently set to put out the same amount of current?
 
xandrew245x

xandrew245x

Member
Yeah, I hooked the new driver up, the same way, turned the internal pot the whole way up, and turned my controller up to 100 and no blinking, but with the other driver, I could only go about half way and it would start.
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by xandrew245x http:///t/390400/xandrew25xs-diy-led-build/180#post_3463612
Yeah, I hooked the new driver up, the same way, turned the internal pot the whole way up, and turned my controller up to 100 and no blinking, but with the other driver, I could only go about half way and it would start.
Did you say you had a meter? I'd test the voltage signal coming out of both drivers under load and see what that says. Also check voltage across each led in each string and each individual string to see what the total forward voltage the leds are pulling.
 
xandrew245x

xandrew245x

Member
My dad has a multi meter, I would have to borrow it, I'm going to try to get it today, I'm convinced though its something with the driver, since it did this 3 different times I had it wired.
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by xandrew245x http:///t/390400/xandrew25xs-diy-led-build/180#post_3463634
My dad has a multi meter, I would have to borrow it, I'm going to try to get it today, I'm convinced though its something with the driver, since it did this 3 different times I had it wired.
To be honest man, getting a bad driver right out of the gate is pretty rare. What method did you use to check for shorts to the heatsink?
 
xandrew245x

xandrew245x

Member
Its not bad, I don't know what the deal was with it, but I tried it this morning, cranked it to full power, and no blinking, I changed nothing other than I switched to another driver and then back, and now it works.

Unless I had a bad connection to the AC power supply, that is the only thing that changed when I rewired it the new driver.
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
Thats probably all it was then a less then optimal connection somewhere. You may have already fixed it when you swapped the drivers around.
 
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