dansyr
Active Member
Would love some suggestions of what to test, or if it i'm completely going at this the wrong way. Minor background, I'm not that new to electronics or DIY'ing, have done lots of plant/terrarium fixtures and the light over my current main reef. But on this I'm going a little insane, since it's wired "correctly" but something new keeps burning every time I swap something out, and i'm getting inconsistent readings
Setup: 3x LED circuits, one should be (is) ~30v @ 1050mA, one 34v @ 700ma, third 30v @ 350ma. Each has its own LDD driver matching that mA, on a carrier board, with a LRS-48v. Carrier board is coralux (currently) , or old Steve's LED's carrier I had lying around. Here's the frustrating part (i've had this pattern, order slightly different, but same happen with brand new board + LDD's).
Twice now, after wiring it up, it works initially - Plug it in, no PWM, nothing lights up. perfect. PWM 1050ma and 700ma channels, each work and dim. leave them off, move to 3rd. Then when working on 3rd, there's a "pop", and all strings start flickering max intensity. Quick shut off, now check continuity. LDD-350 is clearly bad, has continuity between all posts. I didn't check before putting in, but was brand new so unlikely was bad. Laboriously unsolder it, no continuity between the solder pads on the board so I assume board is OK, replace it with a good LDD-350.
Now it gets crazy. the replaced LDD-350 circuit works (well, turns on and puts out the expected 30v without any PWM, does this mean coralux's resistor blew?). BUT, now 1050 and 700 ma circuits are flashing. PWM pins on those seem shorted between Vin and Gnd, double check and indeed 48v hitting the PWM leg of the LDDs so that seems bad.
But... what's the problem? I'm about out of ideas what could go wrong, and what to test. Here's options I've got so far, can you help me think of others / what to test first?
Coralux board: resistors on 1050 and 700 ldd's blown - how to test?
Coralux board: traces melted somewhere inside board - again, how to test & where to look?
LDD's: Any way to test if the 1050 /700 are blown without removing from board? Coralux carrier has them soldered in, which is a pain....
Broader question: are carrier boards getting poorer / more finnicky? I'm really reconsidering using them. Before it's always been super convenient, but this is getting reaaaaally frustrating to debug and figure out when it's board blowing driver, driver blowing board, both, etc.
Setup: 3x LED circuits, one should be (is) ~30v @ 1050mA, one 34v @ 700ma, third 30v @ 350ma. Each has its own LDD driver matching that mA, on a carrier board, with a LRS-48v. Carrier board is coralux (currently) , or old Steve's LED's carrier I had lying around. Here's the frustrating part (i've had this pattern, order slightly different, but same happen with brand new board + LDD's).
Twice now, after wiring it up, it works initially - Plug it in, no PWM, nothing lights up. perfect. PWM 1050ma and 700ma channels, each work and dim. leave them off, move to 3rd. Then when working on 3rd, there's a "pop", and all strings start flickering max intensity. Quick shut off, now check continuity. LDD-350 is clearly bad, has continuity between all posts. I didn't check before putting in, but was brand new so unlikely was bad. Laboriously unsolder it, no continuity between the solder pads on the board so I assume board is OK, replace it with a good LDD-350.
Now it gets crazy. the replaced LDD-350 circuit works (well, turns on and puts out the expected 30v without any PWM, does this mean coralux's resistor blew?). BUT, now 1050 and 700 ma circuits are flashing. PWM pins on those seem shorted between Vin and Gnd, double check and indeed 48v hitting the PWM leg of the LDDs so that seems bad.
But... what's the problem? I'm about out of ideas what could go wrong, and what to test. Here's options I've got so far, can you help me think of others / what to test first?
Coralux board: resistors on 1050 and 700 ldd's blown - how to test?
Coralux board: traces melted somewhere inside board - again, how to test & where to look?
LDD's: Any way to test if the 1050 /700 are blown without removing from board? Coralux carrier has them soldered in, which is a pain....
Broader question: are carrier boards getting poorer / more finnicky? I'm really reconsidering using them. Before it's always been super convenient, but this is getting reaaaaally frustrating to debug and figure out when it's board blowing driver, driver blowing board, both, etc.
