Hey guys, I posted on here for help with my build a few times. I finally got all my parts sorted and wired up (HLG-600H-20-A, 32 2 ft bridgelux gen 2’s, using 18 solid core AWG wire to the wagos and 12 AWG stranded wire from wago to wago) and when I went to turn on my lights, they were completely off except for about 8 individual diodes which were flickering. I figured this might be due to the fact that I fully dimmed the driver down. In the 15 seconds it took me to find a screwdriver, I noticed that it started smoking from one of the wago connectors, so I immediately pulled the cord out.
Any ideas on what I might have done wrong? The wiring isn’t the neatest, but I’ve connected all of the driver leads to different wagos. Then used 12 AWG wire to run one set to the far left (positive side of frame) one to the middle left (negative) one to the middle right (negative) and one to the far right (positive). The 12 AWG wire running from the driver connected wagos is connected to the middle port of each wago, then I have a bit of 18 AWG wire connected to either side of the wago running to strips on the left and right of the wago connector, then another 12 AWG wire on the far left and right port of the wagos running to the next wago connectors to the left and right of the original wago connectors. So basically my set up is like a big H with the driver running through the middle with a line of positive and a line of negative wagos on each side of the driver, if that makes sense. Is this an issue? I seen most builds basically connect everything in a straight line, but I figured the direction doesn’t matter so much as long as the black leads lead to all the negatives and the red leads to all the positives, is this correct?
Sorry for the wall of text, just trying to put in as much information as I can, I’m really stumped as to what I did wrong and any criticism or ideas are apprciated. I really hope it’s something I can fix and my strips aren’t just fried now.
Bridgelux strips not working
Update: The smoke seems to have been from a frayed bit of wire on one of the 12 AWG stranded wires. At least I assume this is the case, as after I noticed and re twisted the wire, it hasn't smoked again since. Ill be keeping an eye on it though. If anyone thinks it may have been something else though, any input would be great.
With the smoke issue fixed, I tried turning up the voltage, and that made all the lights come on. So everything seems to be working now. I just can't figure out how to adjust it to 700 ma. Using my multimeter on the 10A setting, I tested the current by removing the wire between the 2nd last and the last positive wago. Adjusting the current potentiometer doesn't seem to change the current at all, but adjusting the voltage does. I'm just unsure how to read the meter. It reads 0.01 at the lowest voltage that allows the lights to turn on, and turning it all the way up takes it up to 0.44. I assumed that 0.07 would be 700ma, but I wasn't sure. Also do I have to test all the connections to make sure the current is the same throughout all of them, or is just the one enough? Cheers in advance.
With the smoke issue fixed, I tried turning up the voltage, and that made all the lights come on. So everything seems to be working now. I just can't figure out how to adjust it to 700 ma. Using my multimeter on the 10A setting, I tested the current by removing the wire between the 2nd last and the last positive wago. Adjusting the current potentiometer doesn't seem to change the current at all, but adjusting the voltage does. I'm just unsure how to read the meter. It reads 0.01 at the lowest voltage that allows the lights to turn on, and turning it all the way up takes it up to 0.44. I assumed that 0.07 would be 700ma, but I wasn't sure. Also do I have to test all the connections to make sure the current is the same throughout all of them, or is just the one enough? Cheers in advance.
That's what I thought. I just figured that since the multi-meter is on 10 amps, but only has one digit before the decimal it might mean that it would display 10 amps as 1.00 meaning that .10 would be one amp, so maybe 0.07 would be 700ma? That was my best guess, and at 0.07 it seems to be about half dimmed, I'm not sure about the .44 with the voltage turned up though, as using my theory that would mean it was at 4.4 amps, which can't be right since that would be way over the max current for the strips right?
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WhiteRecluse
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What's wierd is .44 is half the overall current of the maximum draw current . What is the current potentiometer set at? Turned all the way down by chance?
Cheers!
I’ve tried playing around with the voltage and current, and I’ve noticed a few things that I think are weird.
Firstly the current potentiometer doesn’t seem to do anything unless the voltage is turned all the way up. Secondly adjusting the current past a certain point dims it down again. For example it started at .44, I can turn it up to .47, but going past that just dims it down to .37 and then I can turn it up to .47 and it just repeats. Thirdly I’ve managed to take it from dimming at .47 to being able to get up to .51 before turning further takes it back down, and I’ve done this gradually by turning both voltage and current up to the max it will go before dimming down, then turning the voltage down until the lights go out, turning the current up a bit, then turning the voltage back up. By doing this I seem to be able to turn it up another .1 higher each few times I do this, unless I go too far and dim it again. I’m thinking this might be a broken potentiometer but I’m not sure.
Has anyone encountered anything like this before? Do you think this is probably just gonna be something that stops me from dimming, or could this be something signifying me doing something wrong, leading to an upcoming fail? I can deal with not getting enough power until I can add more strips, I just don’t want to risk a fire or something obviously.
Firstly the current potentiometer doesn’t seem to do anything unless the voltage is turned all the way up. Secondly adjusting the current past a certain point dims it down again. For example it started at .44, I can turn it up to .47, but going past that just dims it down to .37 and then I can turn it up to .47 and it just repeats. Thirdly I’ve managed to take it from dimming at .47 to being able to get up to .51 before turning further takes it back down, and I’ve done this gradually by turning both voltage and current up to the max it will go before dimming down, then turning the voltage down until the lights go out, turning the current up a bit, then turning the voltage back up. By doing this I seem to be able to turn it up another .1 higher each few times I do this, unless I go too far and dim it again. I’m thinking this might be a broken potentiometer but I’m not sure.
Has anyone encountered anything like this before? Do you think this is probably just gonna be something that stops me from dimming, or could this be something signifying me doing something wrong, leading to an upcoming fail? I can deal with not getting enough power until I can add more strips, I just don’t want to risk a fire or something obviously.
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WhiteRecluse
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I do not have any experience with that particular problem. I do have a c2800b driver that only puts out 2100mA. They do make bad ones. I'm starting to see more and more threads about defective drivers. Can you return the driver for a new one?
Cheers!
I don’t think so as where I got it from only has a 30 day return policy and its outside of that as I was waiting on all my other parts. Guess I either gotta get a new driver, or deal with it being underpowered until I can get new strips. I’m not having much luck with my first build haha.
I might possibly be measuring current incorrectly as it’s hard to get the multimeter prongs inside the wago connectors without them wobbling around and changing the number, so it could also just be that I have a poor connection, but I don’t think that would cause max to read as .5 and it wouldn’t account for the weird dimming. The strips do seem super bright and hot, as if they are at max when the multimeter shows .5 though.
I might possibly be measuring current incorrectly as it’s hard to get the multimeter prongs inside the wago connectors without them wobbling around and changing the number, so it could also just be that I have a poor connection, but I don’t think that would cause max to read as .5 and it wouldn’t account for the weird dimming. The strips do seem super bright and hot, as if they are at max when the multimeter shows .5 though.
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WhiteRecluse
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You are aware that the wago opens completely right? Meaning the little orange clasp is hard to lift until it's at about 90 degrees open and then it releases allowing you to insert your leads for the multimeter and get a good bite on the wire.
When you say "dimming" are you referring to the current reading on the multimeter or are the lights actually dimming also? If the lights aren't dimming when the current drops on the multimeter I would suspect you have a faulty multimeter.
When you say "dimming" are you referring to the current reading on the multimeter or are the lights actually dimming also? If the lights aren't dimming when the current drops on the multimeter I would suspect you have a faulty multimeter.
Cheers!
Yeah I’m aware about the wagos opening up, I open them up, push the multimeter prongs in as far as they will go, then flick it back down. It helps keep it in, but it still moves around in the wago enough to make the multimeter fluctuate. I have to position the prongs so they’re pushed up against the strip behind them to keep the connection steady at all, and then it fluctuates whenever the frame wobbles slightly.
Also when I say dimming, the lights are actually dimming and raising in brightness along with the displayed current.
Just to make sure I’m doing everything correctly, I’ve taken out the wire that runs between the 2nd last and the last wago connector, and put the prongs in the slots in the wagos where the connecting wire would normally be. Thank you for all your help
Also when I say dimming, the lights are actually dimming and raising in brightness along with the displayed current.
Just to make sure I’m doing everything correctly, I’ve taken out the wire that runs between the 2nd last and the last wago connector, and put the prongs in the slots in the wagos where the connecting wire would normally be. Thank you for all your help