DIY Build Guidance

Alright, so I've been putting together my little 85 watt led rig and I've run into a bit of a snag. I wired up my cree 2530 to a meanwell LPC 60-1400 and also two 10w 6v chinese LED's in parallel to a meanwell LPV 60-12 that I had accidentally ordered. After wiring those up, I soldered both of the drivers to a single cord rated for 13 A. When I plugged in the cord the Cree lit up like a charm, but the two chinese LED's just blink on and off. Approximately a second on and a second off flicker. I've done research and from what I can tell, the voltage should match for the two led's and the extra wattage shouldn't matter seeing as they should only draw the current needed for 10v. Anyone have a solution to this? It could be the soldering job's i've done. This is my first time building one of these/soldering electronics.


Driver for the Chinese LED's


Wiring of the LED's



Wiring of power cord.

The LEDs are 6V and you put 12V over them...... Thanks to the overload protection of the meanwell driver they are not fried. The protection is also what makes it flicker, it keeps trying until the fault situation is remedied.

You can connect the LEDs in series instead of parallel but it's still not a good idea to drive LEDs with a constant voltage driver. And use a heatsink...

Fuck that's what I thought. For some reason i thought wiring them in parallel would divide the 12v in half between them, but I think I have gotten that wrong. I bought two of those damn drivers before I knew what I was doing. Alright I think I can still salvage one for use with all my 12v fans in the cab. I guess its time to order a new driver or two.

Edit: Ya I am using heatsinks haha it'd be crazy not to. They aren't mounted in the pics but they are going on an aluminum strip about 1" wide and 8" long with two heatsinks on the strip. Plenty of coolling for 85 watts I believe.

Wiring in a series will add up voltage

Wiring in parallel will add up current


Looks good, those LPC's are good cheap drivers, what Multichip are you using, 730's?

Ah thanks for the breakdown man. I'm using a cree 2530 5000K for the main led, but I think I just fucking broke that. The terminal came clean off after I soldered the wires on, i think i used to much heat when soldering.
For the chinese ones, they are just 10w a piece, 8:2 red to blue ratio heres the link, http://www.ebay.com/itm/321223414334?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

SNEAKYp said:

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Be careful with that soldering iron on the sides of your LED's.

Chron: Yea man I was using this shitty 25w iron I've had for years and the sides would get hot while the tip wouldn't so I would melt part of the plastic while trying to solder the wires on . Today I just bought a beast of a soldering gun (100-140w), but I didn't know it's power and now I'm out of a 2530 b/c I put way to much heat on it. Live and learn when it comes to DIY. Next go round I won't be falling in the same pits.

Its all good....i've had the same 'melting moments'. Nice to see another DIY'er getting their handz dirty.

That remindz me...i need another tip for my soldering iron....i think i use a 40w iron. Works well.

Onwardz!

I had a choice between a 60w iron for $30 or a 100w gun for $35.. My testosterone won out haha. Prob should have gotten the 60w.

Solder Tip Refresher - this stuff is brilliant. Probably available at your local electrical DIY component shop, or order it online from China for $8.

http://dx.com/p/solder-tip-refresher-7207


I'm an untrained solder monkey who has abused the heck out of my decade old tip - heaps of oxidation/crud build up resulting in awful performance. This DX stuff cleans it up a treat and restores that new shine and heat conductivity on the tip.

The little tub is probably good for a decade or more for the occasional DIYer. Clean iron thoroughly afterwards and re-tin.

I had no idea this shit existed - I always thought you'd need to buy a new tip/iron. Definitely worth buying to keep your new and old irons in tip-top shape for the future.

SNEAKYp said:

I had a choice between a 60w iron for $30 or a 100w gun for $35.. My testosterone won out haha. Prob should have gotten the 60w.

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I was also interested in the idea of a DIY Led -
You seem to be finding it a little more tricky that expected....?

Well, its more of a learning curve type of deal. I've only ever soldered piping before, electronics and circuitry are new to me. I definitely think I have what it takes to put a LED panel together after these few hiccups. It's really simple, as long as you get the right drivers for the LEDs and have some sort of heat sink you should be A-OK. I Improvised a lot with this plan as well, I never really set out with a design for it. Sort of winged it. Next time I'm gonna get everything drawn out before I go buy and waste money haha.

edit: grammar

SNEAKYp said:

Well, its more of a learning curve type of deal. I've only ever soldered piping before, electronics and circuitry are new to me. I definitely think I have what it takes to put a LED panel together after these few hiccups. It's really simple, as long as you get the right drivers for the LEDs and have some sort of heat sink you should be A-OK. I Improvised a lot with this plan as well, I never really set out with a design for it. Sort of winged it. Next time I'm gonna get everything drawn out before I go buy and waste money haha.

edit: grammar

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I'll be following your progress on this.
And, as much as is possible, learning from your mistakes.
It's promising that you regard these things as 'teething problems' and part of a learning curve.
I'm looking forward to seeing photo's of the finished article and maybe even a grow journal?

Good luck

Yessir. I'll post some pics of the final product as ugly as it might be hahaha. The grow journal might a bit, about to move so I'll be taking a bit to get situated.