Not getting full power

Sativant · Tue May 15, 2018 11:47 am

My light is great, but it’s not making full power. From 6 LT-F564B strips paired with an HLG-480H-48B I expected to be able to get it running easily over 400 watts, but it currently tops out around 364 watts. 75% would be 386, but I’m not even getting there.
I’m attaching the copy of the build tool that shows my light data-

sdfoster22 · Tue May 15, 2018 4:04 pm

Have you measured voltage of each strip?

Do you have a pic of how it's wired?

Do you have a potentiometer hooked up? If so, what kind?

The math on that driver says it should power 6 strips at 1.6a. For about 460w max. ( I'm not sure you can run them that hard.)

Sativant · Tue May 15, 2018 4:19 pm

I haven't measured voltage yet of each strip. I've wired the strips in parallel. I have a 100K Ohm linear taper potentiometer hooked up (tried with and without a 10K Ohm resistor).

sdfoster22 · Tue May 15, 2018 6:40 pm

I would measure voltage and current running through the whole system, the voltage and current on individual strips. That might help determine where the fault lies.

Sativant · Tue May 15, 2018 6:45 pm

Yes- I'll see what that uncovers...

Tue May 15, 2018 8:31 pm

There are a lot of variables that go into those estimates. If your ambient temperature is different or you get a different voltage bin for your diodes, it will affect the output. I wouldn’t worry too much about power draw.

Also, are you taking these numbers right as soon as you plug the light in, or after running for a few hours? I would imagine the longer you leave them on, the more they’re going to draw and the closer they will get to that number.

Sativant · Wed May 16, 2018 3:20 am

I understand- but 80-100 watts shy of potential seems like a lot. If I leave it on as high as I can get it it eventually goes up to 380 Watts.

sdfoster22 · Wed May 16, 2018 11:08 am

I see you are in the USA. This may be a dumb question, but it's something I've been wanting to ask. Did you happen to buy the elg series driver instead of the hlg?

Sativant · Wed May 16, 2018 11:41 am

No - it’s the HLG.

Aolelon · Wed May 16, 2018 12:11 pm

Make sure your potentiometer is actually 100k. If its not then it will not provide the 100% dimming. Some dimmers when shipped as 100k fall short. So I would check there. If you unhook the potentiometer it should provide 100% power all the time, so if you unhook the potentiometer does it then give you full power. if so that would be your problem. If not the problem stems elsewhere.