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LED Driver Troubleshooting Question

4K views 7 replies 6 participants last post by  dspiffy 
#1 ·
Hi guys,
First time post here. Im troubleshooting a customers LED channel letter sign and have a question about the driver. Intial problem was dim light. System is about 7 years old outside. Upon inspection, found led modules with some nonworking leds, some working and all dim. replaced all leds with new 12v .72w 2 mods(3leds) per ft, about 75 ft. system still dim. traced back to driver and found that under load that driver was only producing 6 v with 120v at input. removed driver and found not under load it produces 12 v. My question is, is that normal. I did order a new driver, $48, which is, btw, dc 12v/5a/60w. I believe that is fine for this led setup. Would appreciate any input plz. I did visually inspect wiring and didnt notice any problems.
Thanks in advance.
Jim
 
#3 ·
I noticed right away that the driver wasnt even warm, normally they are quite warm. Also, Im not sure how the driver interacts with the LEDs. driver fails = causes leds to drop off or fail due to fluctuations in... Or Leds fail and cause drivers to fail, not sure why that would happen, but never know.
 
#5 ·
Some cheap SMPS's work on a very simple principle of delivering a preset
amount of power to a circuit.

provided that the load is stable in current draw,
then this system works fine.

So your particular unit is delivering a preset amount of power,
But it's not enough, probabily due to a faulty component,
like a worn out electro.

If voltage is fine under no or very light load,
And voltage is too low under load,
Then it's simply not delivering enough power.

Faulty ! fix it or replace it !
 
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