Any lighting or ele...
 

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[Closed] Any lighting or electrical engineers in da house, household LED lights problem.

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Any electrical or lighting engineers in the house?

Anybody know anything about household LED light fittings? I put in a fitting and have many more of the same to go in. Everything is OK then after say 20 mins, it just starts flashing on and off say every half-second. After a few mins of that it stops flashing then after 20 mins does it again. I know getting the drivers right is the trick but I have bought all of them (and can’t get any money back!). When you turn the lights off, it flashes once as if there’s some residual current in there.

Help!

Fitting says on it 18w natural light, IP40/IK04,24V DC,
Driver says on it 0.5-18W, PRI:220-240V, 50/60Hz, SEC 24VDC, 0.75A

Any ideas?

C


 
Posted : 28/11/2015 6:26 pm
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MY guess is the driver cannot cope and is switching off

Not that helpful but at least you get a bump


 
Posted : 28/11/2015 6:36 pm
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Take the driver back.

If you got a proper constant current driver then it should not be possible to overload it. If your LED string voltage was too high for the driver it might flash on and off as the over voltage protection is triggered however LEDs forward voltage drops as they heat up so if this was the cause I'd expect it to flash on and off when cold but stop or reduce as it heats up. The opposite of what is happening in your situation.

The type of fault you have would not have been picked up at final test when manufactured.


 
Posted : 28/11/2015 6:50 pm
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Sadly I got a load of fittings and bought the drivers on fleabay so can't easily send anything back.

The fitting isn't getting at all hot now.

Do I need to buy shedloads of these? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Part-No-PCC70018TD-Dimmable-Constant-Current-LED-Driver-18W-6-To-26V-0-7A-/221944619252?hash=item33acee20f4:g:cPYAAOSw~OdVgBJ8


 
Posted : 28/11/2015 6:53 pm
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Sound similar to the symptons you get when you put non dimmable LED on a dimmer. it flashes on and off then smoulders and dies. Even dimmable LEDS don't seem very stable when dimmed.


 
Posted : 28/11/2015 7:00 pm
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How many fittings are you connecting to each transformer/driver, it maybe you're not loading them up enough ?
TBH the best drivers for 12V LED's are the old school wire wound tranformers if you can find them ? or use the 230V GU10 type lamps.


 
Posted : 28/11/2015 7:07 pm
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Just one fitting per transformer.


 
Posted : 28/11/2015 7:09 pm
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fitting is something like this http://switch-made.com/indoor/palaos-300x300-standard


 
Posted : 28/11/2015 7:11 pm
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From the info it looks like you need the specific driver or one similar i.e. with a seperate switching LV control ?


 
Posted : 28/11/2015 7:28 pm
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Is there anything else on the same circuit? If there is try disconnecting them. I have had problems with leds flashing when switched off


 
Posted : 28/11/2015 9:56 pm
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There is nothing else. Just one driver feeding one light fitting


 
Posted : 29/11/2015 6:45 am
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As Junkyard said, if the driver is rated at 18W, and the fitting is 18 W, then I'd suspect the driver couldnt cope with the output (manufacturers lie about their products capabilities), so you'll need a higher rated driver.

Or, occasionally, the drivers are just poor quality and will not keep any laod constant for a long period. We put 20 600x600 fittings up recently, 2 of those failed with the same problem - flickering.


 
Posted : 29/11/2015 7:53 am
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All of the lights I get have tridonic or Phillips drivers, never had a problem yet.


 
Posted : 29/11/2015 8:32 am
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I take it these are not for your house then..... Unless you have a suspended ceiling throughout?
Just get a different driver and try it out. If that works you'll have to bite the bullet and replace all of them I reckon.


 
Posted : 29/11/2015 9:42 am
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They sit in a plasterboard ceiling. My bike workshop has 24 of these (yes it is a big space)


 
Posted : 29/11/2015 2:07 pm

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