LED Flood issue

multipass

multipass

Active Member
Hey, I just received 3x 30w LED Floodlights and wired them up to some plugs.
They work fine for about 4-5 minutes, but then will start staying on for 40ish seconds, then off for 1ish seconds..then repeating that cycle. And it's happening on all 3.

My only thought is that maybe its to deal with heat... Or its defective.

-Drivers have no writing on them, cant tell if they are the right size
-Wiring seems to be ok

Has anyone heard of this?
If its for some reason intended.. Would it be ok to still use the lights for vegging, or would the weird 1-2 second off cycle hurt the plants.

thanks
 
S

SnotBoogie

Well-Known Member
Yeah sounds faulty to me for sure.

Maybe some kind of failsafe mechanism is malfuncitoning and causing it to turn off briefly.

Does tapping the flood while it's on cause it to flicker too? i.e jarring it??
 
PSUAGRO.

PSUAGRO.

Well-Known Member
All three having the same issue makes me wonder if indeed it's safety temp switch? pics of the units and how you wired them would help grower.
 
S

SnotBoogie

Well-Known Member
Good point...

Also: though i think it would be unlikely for them to function in the first place if it was this, are you sure the driver's input voltage is ok with your AC supply? If you bought them off the internet?

edit: Are all 3 on a single plug? Are they wired in parallel or series?
 
multipass

multipass

Active Member
Hey, I will get some pics later today.
This is the product: http://www.aliexpress.com/snapshot/223330204.html

They provided 3x USA/na plugs and were already wired up to some chinese plugs. So I re-wired each unit to its own USA plug.

The drivers were basically all unglued and loose in their boxes.
When I was checking everything out/unscrewing I noticed that the driver was very hot and basically reactivated the glue.

Also on one floodlight, one strip of LEDs does not seem functional.

Will post some pics in a bit. Thx guys
 
PSUAGRO.

PSUAGRO.

Well-Known Member
If you don't want to send them back and are willing to void the warranty........remove the glass covering the leds and drill a couple of holes (carefully!) into the driver casing to dissipate the heat/I see no raised cooling fins on those drivers which may be an issue. Try it on one and if it doesn't alleviate the issue send the other two back for a warranty claim......it's a tough call and your money.
 
multipass

multipass

Active Member
Sending them back is not really a option I want to do.
They took about a month to get here.. so using warranty will probably take like 2x months and cost a lot for shipping.

I asked the seller last night, but still no response. (usually they respond in minutes :\)

I've already taken the heavy glass off of them.
I was thinking about keeping the driver box open, with the driver freely showing. So I'll definitely try that first thing as it may be a heat issue. (ambient temps of room are 62-70)

ty
 
Chronikool

Chronikool

Well-Known Member
FranJan

FranJan

Well-Known Member
Something tells me those aren't drivers but transformers and those lights have an IC in the wiring acting as the driver, just like my cheapie spots. That chip or for that matter the array may be soldered improperly, causing that problem, though it sounds like one of the series is blown. Those transformers get real hot and is why I rewired my spots to get them out of my veg cab. I think you should try to send them back or get them to send you some new spots or arrays. Good Luck.
 
Sativa Dragon

Sativa Dragon

Active Member
Shit is right, money back now please. Likely a heat issue, there are cooling fins on the driver that is inside a enclosure that is not vented, it will eventually get tired of bouncing off the thermal overload and die a un natural death, a complete loss.

Peace
 
FranJan

FranJan

Well-Known Member
On photo 3 there is a strip of electrical tape or rubber. Is there an IC in there or is that just where they soldered/twisted the wires together?

You can always say fuckit and rebuild it. Ebay LED arrays and drivers are pretty cheap. And you can move that driver/transformer pretty easy if heats an issue. Just make sure there is no IC before you cut. And taking off the driver and it's casing should expose some holes in the rear of the spotlight, which will help with cooling a bit.

All this reminds me I need to order some 20 watt 5000Ks to replace my 10s :).
 
650baquet

650baquet

Active Member
Has no one else ever seen this. I've had it happen to me with a cheapo 26w cfl. It stayed on for a while, no clue how long but few hrs or less, then off for 1 sec on for a bit off for 1 sec...repeat. I watched it for a while and it seemed as thought the on-off was happening with a quicker frequency, possibly as the whole unit reach a high and high temp and would probably level off at some point. This is assuming it's a temp issue...bottom line it was CHEAP
I have had plenty of cheap lights go out due to what i would blame on cheap soldering
Hope you find a solution man!
 
multipass

multipass

Active Member
Well, with the back all of the way off and the driver exposed... there is no change.
Will blink off for 1-2 seconds every 25 seconds after being on for a few minutes.

Hard to believe the build of these is such crap for $100.

Not sure if it is even worth it to ship back to china, unless they want to pay for everything...
 
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