Inrush current protection

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friendlygrower

Member
I am switching over to LED. Thinking of going 4x 600w of the LED strips from Kingbrite. They are run on 4x 600w meanwell drivers. I am running off a 30amp 240v dryer plug. I am learning all of the nuances about LED lighting. One of them being the inrush spike. I have heard about inrush current limiters but unsure how they work and what the installation process is. Anyone with experience able to help would be great. Thank you.
 
Gorillabilly

Gorillabilly

Well-Known Member
friendlygrower said:
I am switching over to LED. Thinking of going 4x 600w of the LED strips from Kingbrite. They are run on 4x 600w meanwell drivers. I am running off a 30amp 240v dryer plug. I am learning all of the nuances about LED lighting. One of them being the inrush spike. I have heard about inrush current limiters but unsure how they work and what the installation process is. Anyone with experience able to help would be great. Thank you.
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Basically you want a soft start. It will come online and regulate the amperage on an even escalation ascension. So if your light pull 28 amp for example, it will allow only 5 for a time, then 10, then 15, etc... there are other methods but that is essentially whats going on. Google inrush current control, that should get ya there.
 
F

friendlygrower

Member
Gorillabilly said:
Basically you want a soft start. It will come online and regulate the amperage on an even escalation ascension. So if your light pull 28 amp for example, it will allow only 5 for a time, then 10, then 15, etc... there are other methods but that is essentially whats going on. Google inrush current control, that should get ya there.
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Thanks for the reply. Have a link to any of the ones that work with LEDs?? Do you have any experience with them? Where do they install in the line?? Do I need one for each driver??
 
Gorillabilly

Gorillabilly

Well-Known Member
I use them everyday, but not on leds. I know there are a few guys out there that use a sunrise and sundown feature on a controller that sounds like it should work.

Question tho... at 3x600 watt you get about 22 amps. With inrush, you get close to 30 but it shouldn't trip the breaker. But if you want one, ametherm has one that should work for you
 
Gorillabilly

Gorillabilly

Well-Known Member
your questions,

1...Google ametherm
2... yes, I use the brand, but for another application
3... you will need one for each driver, yes. You should also stagger them by 2 min or so for best effectiveness.
 
F

friendlygrower

Member
Gorillabilly said:
I use them everyday, but not on leds. I know there are a few guys out there that use a sunrise and sundown feature on a controller that sounds like it should work.

Question tho... at 3x600 watt you get about 22 amps. With inrush, you get close to 30 but it shouldn't trip the breaker. But if you want one, ametherm has one that should work for you
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I am planning on running four 600w drivers on a 30amp 240v line. Not sure if that changes much. I was planning on running from a Powerbox 6000 right from the wall dryer line. I could add timers to two of the lights to stagger their start times. So it is only two at a time firing up.
 
Gorillabilly

Gorillabilly

Well-Known Member
if your on 240 rather than 110 then your amperage will be 12 running and 20 at peak inrush. Would be a waste of money in my op8
 
F

friendlygrower

Member
Gorillabilly said:
if your on 240 rather than 110 then your amperage will be 12 running and 20 at peak inrush. Would be a waste of money in my op8
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Is that by staggering the start times going 2 and 2?? Would the second set of two lights turning on be at risk because of the already power draw from the first two??
 
Gorillabilly

Gorillabilly

Well-Known Member
at 240vac 3600 watts is only 15 amp.

So you don't need to worry about i rush on a 30 a circuit. Inrush will barely hit 25 wide open
 
F

friendlygrower

Member
So 4x 600w meanwell drivers at 240v pushing 2400watts at the drivers I am pushing 10 amps. Is there an equation for the inrush current? I have read what I thought said was up to 70x!!! Pretty sure I read that wrong but it is where this journey has began.

Thank you again for all the help!!! Trying to get this set up and get all of the lights ordered asap
 
Gorillabilly

Gorillabilly

Well-Known Member
please keep in mind I do this on motors, drivers etc all the time, not leds. Though I don't think the physics change.
 
1

1212ham

Well-Known Member
friendlygrower said:
So 4x 600w meanwell drivers at 240v pushing 2400watts at the drivers I am pushing 10 amps. Is there an equation for the inrush current? I have read what I thought said was up to 70x!!!
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The HLG-600 has the dim to off feature. If you use that rather than switching the AC power, you can avoid an inrush problem, except in the event of a power failure and they all come on at once.

I never heard of an equation, but there are specs in the datasheet.

"MAX. No. of PSUs on 16ACIRCUIT BREAKER1 unit (circuit breaker of type B) / 2 units (circuit breaker of type C) at 230VAC"
 
Gorillabilly

Gorillabilly

Well-Known Member
1212ham said:
How did you arrive at 25 amps? The data sheet shows 70A for 1000 micro seconds.
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It would be difficult to trip a 30a. 240v circuit with 1000 microsec 70a. Im not training him to be an electrical engineer, im trying to keep him from spending a bunch of money on gear he don't need


I agree with you assessment tho, just didn't want to get to technical with him.

Welcome fellow traveller.
 
1

1212ham

Well-Known Member
Gorillabilly said:
It would be difficult to trip a 30a. 240v circuit with 1000 microsec 70a. Im not training him to be an electrical engineer, im trying to keep him from spending a bunch of money on gear he don't need
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It would be 280a, 1000 microsec with 4 drivers, but I don't know if it would trip the breaker.
This would be a great time to hear from those experienced running multiple HLG-600 drivers! ;-)
 
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