LED Drivers/power supplies

[WatercolorsGuy]

Looking for some help with my Evo 200W LED light.

Need to replace, among other things, at least two of the drivers.

1. If I end up replacing the drivers, can I replace them with dimmables?

2. Does anyone know a source for the original drivers or dimmable drivers?

View attachment 12154

3. Since I have it apart are there any other mods I should think of doing?

Thanks for the help.

 

[Craigar]

LED Drivers/power supplies

Contact reef koi I'm sure he will hook you up

 

[WatercolorsGuy]

Re: LED Drivers/power supplies

Thanks Craig. I did call him this morning. Just waiting for him to call me back.

I am just a little impatient lately, lol...that and I enjoy fixing this kind of stuff and am trying to learn about these new (to me) light systems.

 

[WatercolorsGuy]

Re: LED Drivers/power supplies

Any DIYers out there that can help?

 

[jahmic]

Re: LED Drivers/power supplies

I repaired my Chinese fixture you saw over the 20...they're pretty similar.

Yes you can go dimmable, you will just need to add a potentiometer to control the dimming.

Reefkoi will get you sorted, I'm sure, but fwiw I bought one replacement driver from ledgroupbuy.com ...the other I had shipped from China. Besides matching the wattage of the old driver, you would also want to make sure the output voltage (mA) of the replacement driver doesn't exceed the old driver... just to be safe.

 

[reefkoi]

The problem with that unit is getting parts out of the factory, I no longer use them and I havent for well over a year now so thats the biggest issue.

 

[WatercolorsGuy]

Re: LED Drivers/power supplies

Well I decided what the hell I can't screw this up much worse than it is and went to rewiring the fried wires. I was a little apprehensive about setting my house on fire so I opted for the stove as my work bench, lol.
After removing the newly welded on power cord connectors from the chasis and fixing the wiring I was ready to power up the light with a different cord....
Ready to unplug the cord fast, and preparing to scream like a little girl I plugged it in...
Poof the lights and fans came on and there was no spark show or fire!
I am amazed the drivers that were covered in burn residue and looked like they were fried still seem to work fine. They have been running for about 45 minutes with no problems.
I do need to find a permanent wiring solution for the plugs and may try to return the power cord connectors to original style or may try to find an alternative. Any suggestions?
Chris (ReefKoi) do you have the power cord connectors on hand? I would need both sides (power cord and chassis side...2 sets).

 

[BPreefer]

LED Drivers/power supplies

Nice Mike! Glad to hear you got it working.

 

[WatercolorsGuy]

Re: LED Drivers/power supplies

Nice Mike! Glad to hear you got it working.

Thanks

I should have tried it before I took my metal halides out of my fowler and put them over my reef. Just glad the light works again.

 

[jahmic]

That's great that it was an easy fix! Those drivers are packed full of some silicone-like material that protects the electronics...probably helped that you were home and pulled it out of the tank right away too. Either way though, glad to see your back up and running.

 

[WatercolorsGuy]

Re: LED Drivers/power supplies

That's great that it was an easy fix! Those drivers are packed full of some silicone-like material that protects the electronics...probably helped that you were home and pulled it out of the tank right away too. Either way though, glad to see your back up and running.

Thanks
I may just eliminate the connectors and hard wire it. Probably add some on/off switches as well while I am at it. Not sure if I can add potentiometer to dim them if they are non dimmable drivers...do you just add them after the drivers?

 

[jahmic]

Thanks
I may just eliminate the connectors and hard wire it. Probably add some on/off switches as well while I am at it. Not sure if I can add potentiometer to dim them if they are non dimmable drivers...do you just add them after the drivers?

You would actually need to replace the current drivers with dimmable ones. There would be 3 extra wires on a 10v output for the potentiometers to hook up to on a dimmable driver. The only issue I ran into with replacing one of my drivers, was that it was larger than the one that was originally in my fixture...I ended up having to rearrange some things in the case and moving a fan to get it to squeeze in there.

If you decide to switch to dimmable drivers, make sure you take some measurements first to make sure you can fit everything in the case, as I think the dimmable ones tend to be slightly larger. I just replaced one dimmable with another and still had issues.

 

[WatercolorsGuy]

Re: LED Drivers/power supplies

You would actually need to replace the current drivers with dimmable ones.

That's what I thought. I will wait on doing this then until the current drivers fail. Thanks for info.

 

[WatercolorsGuy]

Re: LED Drivers/power supplies

So here is what I ended up with...
View attachment 12297
Rewired power cords to come in from the same side as opposed to opposite ends. Decided the disconnects were not needed and just hard wired it.

Added three switches to give me individual control over what lights are on and the intensity of the blues.
I can adjust to the following...
50w whites with or without blues.

50w, 100w or 150w of blues with or without the whites.

LEDs are not out in the lower corner, just strange effect from camera angle.
Fans operate anytime any of the blues are powered.