Did my Meanwell driver short itself?

B

ben10inches

Active Member
I recently bought some Bridgelux EB Slim gen 3 strips with the Meanwell HLG-60H-C700A for some seedlings I would like to get started. I hooked 9 strips up in series with 22awg wire and connected the meanwell driver to a Leviton Rubber 3 prong plug 5150PR-000. It was going great for a week, had it on a timer and everything. The only issues were my mounting as the plug was being pulled to reach the socket.

Yesterday, just chilling my lights just went off while I was in the room for unexpected reasons. I unplugged it, checked the wiring, saw no faults then went to the 3 prong plug and somehow the negative (blue) wire lead came out the socket, but the ground (green/yellow) and hot wire (brown) were still connected to the plug.

Not too familiar with LED lighting, but have been doing my research for about 2-3 months now so I don't die or burn my house from simple electrical wiring. I do not have any instruments to test whether there is power still being outputted from the driver, but I did test the strips with another driver and they are all working fine. In the end, I plugged the driver to the wall and tested if there is power being outputted by crossing the brown and blue lead wires with no sign of shorting.

Would appreciate all the help, $50 about to head to the trash
 
Boatguy

Boatguy

Well-Known Member
ben10inches said:
I recently bought some Bridgelux EB Slim gen 3 strips with the Meanwell HLG-60H-C700A for some seedlings I would like to get started. I hooked 9 strips up in series with 22awg wire and connected the meanwell driver to a Leviton Rubber 3 prong plug 5150PR-000. It was going great for a week, had it on a timer and everything. The only issues were my mounting as the plug was being pulled to reach the socket.

Yesterday, just chilling my lights just went off while I was in the room for unexpected reasons. I unplugged it, checked the wiring, saw no faults then went to the 3 prong plug and somehow the negative (blue) wire lead came out the socket, but the ground (green/yellow) and hot wire (brown) were still connected to the plug.

Not too familiar with LED lighting, but have been doing my research for about 2-3 months now so I don't die or burn my house from simple electrical wiring. I do not have any instruments to test whether there is power still being outputted from the driver, but I did test the strips with another driver and they are all working fine. In the end, I plugged the driver to the wall and tested if there is power being outputted by crossing the brown and blue lead wires with no sign of shorting.

Would appreciate all the help, $50 about to head to the trash
Click to expand...
Pretty certain that meanwell driver has built in short circuit protection, so your test isnt a test
The blue wire is the neutral wire not a negative.
 
1

1212ham

Well-Known Member
ben10inches said:
I unplugged it, checked the wiring, saw no faults then went to the 3 prong plug and somehow the negative (blue) wire lead came out the socket, but the ground (green/yellow) and hot wire (brown) were still connected to the plug.

In the end, I plugged the driver to the wall and tested if there is power being outputted by crossing the brown and blue lead wires with no sign of shorting.
Click to expand...
Get some help before someone gets hurt!

"In the end, I plugged the driver to the wall and tested if there is power being outputted by crossing the brown and blue lead wires with no sign of shorting."

I'm sorry, but that doesn't make any sense. Crossing the ac power wires creates a short circuit and it's a really bad idea!!! The result should have been a big arc and a tripped circuit breaker.

If one end of the brown and blue wires connect to the driver and the other ends connect to the 3 prong plug, what ends were left to "cross" or short circuit?

"somehow the negative (blue) wire lead came out the socket" "the plug was being pulled to reach the socket"

You said the blue wire came out of the socket... do you mean the 3 prong plug? If so, simply reconnect.
 
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FastFreddi

FastFreddi

Well-Known Member
The reason png was invented...let's fire and rescue crews sleep, instead of putting out fires caused by eager growers and electricity. I wonder how many fires have started due to inexperienced( like myself, hence I buy png) growers with no electrical background and all of these diy lights.
No offense meant OP, just a thought .
FF
 
JavaCo

JavaCo

Well-Known Member
That's not a short circuit which can for sure fry stuff but rather a open neutral , driver should be fine hook the blue back up securely and it should work .
 
B

ben10inches

Active Member
It sounds so simple to reconnect but thats what I did after I saw the fault within the 3 prong plug. I've reconnected the blue wire to the plug and made sure the brown and the green/yellow were secured. Took the advice and rechecked the wiring connecting the output brown wire to hot and blue wire to neutral in series once again. Then, I connected it to an outlet but there's no power being outputted to the lights.
 
JavaCo

JavaCo

Well-Known Member
ben10inches said:
It sounds so simple to reconnect but thats what I did after I saw the fault within the 3 prong plug. I've reconnected the blue wire to the plug and made sure the brown and the green/yellow were secured. Took the advice and rechecked the wiring connecting the output brown wire to hot and blue wire to neutral in series once again. Then, I connected it to an outlet but there's no power being outputted to the lights.
Click to expand...
Get ahold of Meanwell see if they will RMA the driver. They have a 7 year warranty.
 
GBAUTO

GBAUTO

Well-Known Member
ben, verify voltages.
Although it's possible you have a faulty driver, the HLG series drivers are very reliable and based on what you described happened there is probably a wiring fault. The meter will help you find it.
 
Airwalker16

Airwalker16

Well-Known Member
ben10inches said:
I recently bought some Bridgelux EB Slim gen 3 strips with the Meanwell HLG-60H-C700A for some seedlings I would like to get started. I hooked 9 strips up in series with 22awg wire and connected the meanwell driver to a Leviton Rubber 3 prong plug 5150PR-000. It was going great for a week, had it on a timer and everything. The only issues were my mounting as the plug was being pulled to reach the socket.

Yesterday, just chilling my lights just went off while I was in the room for unexpected reasons. I unplugged it, checked the wiring, saw no faults then went to the 3 prong plug and somehow the negative (blue) wire lead came out the socket, but the ground (green/yellow) and hot wire (brown) were still connected to the plug.

Not too familiar with LED lighting, but have been doing my research for about 2-3 months now so I don't die or burn my house from simple electrical wiring. I do not have any instruments to test whether there is power still being outputted from the driver, but I did test the strips with another driver and they are all working fine. In the end, I plugged the driver to the wall and tested if there is power being outputted by crossing the brown and blue lead wires with no sign of shorting.

Would appreciate all the help, $50 about to head to the trash
Click to expand...
Absolutely not. Those drivers got a 7 year damned warranty. It's as simple as emailing (or calling is more effective) the company you bought the driver from, they will send you paperwork. You then mail the driver and the paperwork to them, so that they can then do an RMA (return merchandise agreement) with MeanWell to get your driver replaced. I've done it FOUR TIMES.
 
GreenTools

GreenTools

Well-Known Member
I have also had to RMA 3-4 drivers for replacement, takes time to get it back , and usually was internal fusible link shorted. Had some fixed, and some replaced with new. ...
 
Chip Green

Chip Green

Well-Known Member
Maybe a bad batch run.
Wouldn't surprise me a bit if they we're manufactured in the same time frame.
 
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