Building a Home Made LED
- Thread starter tenthirty
- Start date
Can you measure the output current with all 10 leds connected to the driver ? It's very possible that the over-voltage protection to kick in, making the leds to flicker.
If so, try to remove one led and measure the current again. If the driver is ok, the leds should be bright as hell
If so, try to remove one led and measure the current again. If the driver is ok, the leds should be bright as hell
tenthirty
Member
Use one of these and all will be good. $26.00.
Will run 10 xm-l's at a time.
http://www.rapidled.com/mean-well-lpc-60-1750-constant-current-driver/
constant current vs constant voltage.
Leds want constant current.
Will run 10 xm-l's at a time.
http://www.rapidled.com/mean-well-lpc-60-1750-constant-current-driver/
constant current vs constant voltage.
Leds want constant current.
cococola36
Member
I have an apollo led unit that shit the bed, now yes i'm a bit mad about it, but i also want to rebuild it better...only prob is im having trouble finding the circular boards or pcb boards whatever they are called lol. I just need the same 15 led cluster modules or just the boards themselves to replicate with my own choice of leds. Does anyone know where to find them? I have googled the shit out of this to no results. Any help would be awesome.
@cococola36: try to do a Google Image search for "aluminium PCB" and you will find what you are looking for.
However, you can recycle the PCB, by heating them on a hotplate to remove the old LEDs. If the new LEDs have the same size you can solder them back on the PCB using some soldering paste and the same hotplate.
Please share the process of rebuilding with us, if possible.
Good luck !
However, you can recycle the PCB, by heating them on a hotplate to remove the old LEDs. If the new LEDs have the same size you can solder them back on the PCB using some soldering paste and the same hotplate.
Please share the process of rebuilding with us, if possible.
Good luck !
cococola36
Member
Wow thanks a lot hempfield, i might just reuse the old pcb's...it will be a lot of work and maybe money because it has 16 modules.. but i want to rebuild it with the use of ww and nw with maybe a handful of 660nm and will surely document the process!
Keep in mind that different color leds have different voltage drops and may have different Imax limits.
Design accordingly.
Aloha,
Weeze
cococola36
Member
duly noted, i do have some knowledge after hours of research , and to make it easier i will be keeping it too prob just ww and nw color leds. not going to be easy or cheap as i will need new drivers, leds and might even get better heatsinks...will be an apollo unit on steriods
cococola36
Member
heres the pics, im assuming all the led chips just died somehow, as all the fans and drivers seem to be totally fine...the driver says 70 watts total power and 1450ma, not 100 % sure about led jargon lol but was on rapidled and was hoping i could switch to cree xpg and just use less in a different configuration or maybe even less of the new cree xml 2
Can you please take pictures of the LED drivers , showing the labels and input/output cables , and the LED clusters without lens ?
It's very curious that all clusters have died in the same time - this means that one of the LEDs on each cluster was poor quality or the drivers do not have over current protection system. If so, you could change only the dead LEDs and save a lot of work and revive the entire fixture.
It's very curious that all clusters have died in the same time - this means that one of the LEDs on each cluster was poor quality or the drivers do not have over current protection system. If so, you could change only the dead LEDs and save a lot of work and revive the entire fixture.
cococola36
Member
I think the leds themselves are def poor quality, thats why i might just rebuild it, here's the pics i think your asking for...I also added a photo of what i may do with cree xpg replacements
Attachments
So each driver power two led clusters, right ? Judging from pictures, I guess that each pair of led clusters are connected in parallel to a single driver. That means that if one led cluster fail, the driver will push twice the current in the remaining cluster , forcing it to sudden death .
If the clusters are connected in series, if one dies, the other one will won't work, as no current flow through it.
If the clusters are connected in series, if one dies, the other one will won't work, as no current flow through it.
cococola36
Member
Makes a lot of sense to me as i did the math myself, it def pushes two clusters per driver....with that knowledge from what you see on the driver info do you think it has the power to drive 5w cree leds?
cococola36
Member
trying to do a lot of my own research, and will buy new drivers if need be but does anyone know if from my previous post of pics of the drivers in my apollo will drive cree xml 10w or xpg 5w?
tenthirty
Member
Not a good choice for xm-l's, current to low and voltage is to high.
XPG's would be happy at 3w more or less, don't know off the top of my head what voltage they run at.
XML driver, note the voltage and current ratings.
http://www.rapidled.com/mean-well-lpc-60-1750-constant-current-driver/
XP-G driver.
http://www.rapidled.com/mean-well-lpc-60-1050-constant-current-driver/
XPG's would be happy at 3w more or less, don't know off the top of my head what voltage they run at.
XML driver, note the voltage and current ratings.
http://www.rapidled.com/mean-well-lpc-60-1750-constant-current-driver/
XP-G driver.
http://www.rapidled.com/mean-well-lpc-60-1050-constant-current-driver/
cococola36
Member
you can check my thread running area 51 sgs-160 panels , they finished as well as under my hps runs..930 watts and 19.5 oz dry...obviously with my 1000 watt hps i can get close to 24 oz or more, it was close enough for me with a tiny bit less watts and a hell of a lot less heat.
