Possible Bad Dimmer

Rivendell

Rivendell

Well-Known Member
480w Meanwell driver, Standard 4 board set up from over seas. Started to flicker and doesn't want to go to full brightness most of the time. When running the dimmer up and down there is a definite spot were it seems like it is "jumping", As if there is a bad spot. If I were to remove the dimmer switch from the leads, would the light run at full power?
 
MustGro

MustGro

Well-Known Member
Rivendell said:
480w Meanwell driver, Standard 4 board set up from over seas. Started to flicker and doesn't want to go to full brightness most of the time. When running the dimmer up and down there is a definite spot were it seems like it is "jumping", As if there is a bad spot. If I were to remove the dimmer switch from the leads, would the light run at full power?
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Most of the Meanwells will run without the dimmer switch attached. My 240’s are AB models and they have Lo and Vo ports on the driver. So if it were me, I’d unplug the driver and remove the dimmer switch. I put electrical tape around each of the two ends of that lead and tape them solid on opposite sides of the cord, so you can’t accidentally touch those ends together. Pop the plug out of the Lo port and using a smaller Phillips head gently feel around until it settles into the screw in that port. You can then adjust the wattage output to the board(s). My 240’s will turn up to 300 watts but it’s probably best not to do that. A 480 might output 600 watts at full clip. I had a Meanwell driver fail on me and it would start and run fine but after an hour or so it’d heat up and start to flicker on and off. It wouldn’t respond to the dimmer switch and instead of drawing 240 watts at the plug it was pulling twice that. Lots of warranty on most meanwell’s. 7 years on the HLG ones.
 
Pedro Mello

Pedro Mello

Well-Known Member
MustGro said:
Most of the Meanwells will run without the dimmer switch attached. My 240’s are AB models and they have Lo and Vo ports on the driver. So if it were me, I’d unplug the driver and remove the dimmer switch. I put electrical tape around each of the two ends of that lead and tape them solid on opposite sides of the cord, so you can’t accidentally touch those ends together. Pop the plug out of the Lo port and using a smaller Phillips head gently feel around until it settles into the screw in that port. You can then adjust the wattage output to the board(s). My 240’s will turn up to 300 watts but it’s probably best not to do that. A 480 might output 600 watts at full clip. I had a Meanwell driver fail on me and it would start and run fine but after an hour or so it’d heat up and start to flicker on and off. It wouldn’t respond to the dimmer switch and instead of drawing 240 watts at the plug it was pulling twice that. Lots of warranty on most meanwell’s. 7 years on the HLG ones.
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Yo dude, good night!
I have the 240 XLG AB as well.
Is it perfectly ok to use it without the dimmer? What would be the difference? Always the maximum wattage?
 
Pedro Mello

Pedro Mello

Well-Known Member
Rocket Soul said:
You can use the Io adjust hole with a small screw driver for for dimming up and down.
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Wow, thats good!! Thanks!!
Here in Brazil the dimmer switcher are about 30 dollars, really expensive!
Anyway, if I don't use the Io adjust hole, the wattage would be sending as maximum, is it right?
 
Pedro Mello

Pedro Mello

Well-Known Member
Rocket Soul said:
If you unhook the external dimmer your driver should revert to whatever Io adjust is set to.
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Nice! I pretend to install 3 cobs which are 90cri, 1800mA; 52V; 93,6W (vero 29 BXRC-35G10K0-B-7X) on the 240 XLG AB.
In that case, I don't run the risk of screwing everything up, right?

Thanks again!
 
Pedro Mello

Pedro Mello

Well-Known Member
Rocket Soul said:
Which xlg? There is XLG-L, XLG-M & XLG-H.
In series or parallel?
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Sorry lol!
Its the XLG-H.
3 cobs in parallel connection.

One more thing: considering that I'll use active cooling, do you suggest using fuses too? In case one cob dies, I'd save the other two?
 
Pedro Mello

Pedro Mello

Well-Known Member
Jeeyah said:
Dimmers flicker and break. They’re annoying.
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Yes they are. I've lost a loot of time trying to find some affordable before I realized it is not essential.

Anyway, I will proceed with this setup:

3 cobs which are 1800mA; 52V; 93,6W (vero 29 BXRC-35G10K0-B-7X)
for 1 XLG-240H-A/B

I am going to unhook the dimmer wires and use the current aprox. 4-5A connecting in parallel (~1,5A for each cob).

Hope it works. Do you have any advice for me please?
 
Star Dog

Star Dog

Well-Known Member
The dimmers on some popular lights are horrific with the accuracy, some move from 70/75% to 100% with nothing in between, some of them limit the power of the light, removing them at 100% can increase the output by another 2/4%.

I'd recommend getting a watt meter for adjusting your lights accurately, cheap dimmers are more than questionable.
 
Boatguy

Boatguy

Well-Known Member
Star Dog said:
The dimmers on some popular lights are horrific with the accuracy, some move from 70/75% to 100% with nothing in between, some of them limit the power of the light, removing them at 100% can increase the output by another 2/4%.

I'd recommend getting a watt meter for adjusting your lights accurately, cheap dimmers are more than questionable.
Click to expand...
That is why a linear potentiometer should be used.
 
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