LED flicker, possible driver issue?

Hi all,

Havent posted here for a while since making my last round of LED lights. Everything has been going great but a month ago one set of led lights went out. I messed around and eventually used a second meanwell driver and it s all working again but it could have been a loose wire too as I replaced the wiring and driver at the same time.

So now I'm building another round and the issue I'm having is getting none of the chain of leds to turn on. If I test each one individually it will just flicker on and off. I am using the driver I originally replaced so I am thinking it could have been the faulty driver all along, if indeed it is faulty.

Its a meanwell HLG 185 C1400B and I have been powering 4 Cree CXB3070 leds.

Anyone possible diagnose this?

Thanks.

Flicker means low voltage

VegasWinner said:

Flicker means low voltage

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thanks bud, I was thinking that too, must be the meanwell thats gone bad then.

Wow. You too ay? I'm only running two Vero 29C's and my driver does the same thing when turned down to its last third of dimming range. I'm not using a Meanwell driver though. I've got some largely mystery brand Erao driver.

Nugachino said:

Wow. You too ay? I'm only running two Vero 29C's and my driver does the same thing when turned down to its last third of dimming range. I'm not using a Meanwell driver though. I've got some largely mystery brand Erao driver.

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The driver has been running for about 18 months then suddenly the lights didnt turn on anymore. Testing it on a single cob resulted in it flickering but once I added a second cob none would light up. At first I thought wiring but now I'm thinking its the driver so just wanted to get some feedback before I bought a new one.

Serious turn it off and on, I get shitty driver issues too from time to time. Offy onny seems to sort it out

Los Reefersaurus said:

Serious turn it off and on, I get shitty driver issues too from time to time. Offy onny seems to sort it out

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The driver has been unplugged since it possibly went bad. I put up a different cob set up I had built for veg room. Went to use the driver on another set up I am in the process of building and its then that I found the leds would not turn on and only when powering a single cob would it show life with a flicker.

Mine does it all the time at the first third of dimming range. Just depends on how high I've got my lights. Also I can't test mine with just one cob. Even at 69.4v is too low for the driver. Which does a minimum of about 80~ v.

Do you have a voltmeter anywhere? Test out its output with load and without any. See what it does. If the numbers constantly change. It's not stable.

hummmm this sounds like something you have to throw money at

Nugachino said:

Do you have a voltmeter anywhere? Test out its output with load and without any. See what it does. If the numbers constantly change. It's not stable.

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I have one but honestly dont know how to use it other than testing if a wire is a positive or negative. I'm still learning the electronics side of things.
What settings do I put the voltmeter on?

Los Reefersaurus said:

hummmm this sounds like something you have to throw money at

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Thats what I'm thinking too. Oh well, its lasted 18 months and plenty of quality nugs in that time

Because mine is under 200Vdc I've got it on 200. Bigger drivers might need the 500v setting. If you're testing ac. You want the V~ side. Not the one I've got it on. That's DC. Mine is only a cheapo meter.

This light stabilises at 130v.

The reading is taken from across the cobs on the driver supply wires. I imagine the voltage drop would be different if taken from one wire of the driver and the other lead placed on the out-side of cob number one. Rather than across both.

Nugachino said:

Because mine is under 200Vdc I've got it on 200. Bigger drivers might need the 500v setting. If you're testing ac. You want the V~ side. Not the one I've got it on. That's DC. Mine is only a cheapo meter.

This light stabilises at 130v.

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Thanks for that pic and easy explanation.
I did a few tests on different settings. at 200Vdc its showing 38 and on ACV 200 setting its showing between 81 and 82
But thats plugged into the wall and no cobs connected to it, just checking the readings from the wires that would connect to the cobs

Any of that any use?

hehehemann said:

The driver has been running for about 18 months then suddenly the lights didnt turn on anymore. Testing it on a single cob resulted in it flickering but once I added a second cob none would light up. At first I thought wiring but now I'm thinking its the driver so just wanted to get some feedback before I bought a new one.

Click to expand...

Flickering with one COB means its out of its voltage range. One COB requires too low of a voltage for it to operate properly - as the voltage rises to the low end of its range, its too much for the COB and it overcurrents and shuts back down. Try two of your COBs in series and see what it does.

Nugachino said:

Do you have a voltmeter anywhere? Test out its output with load and without any. See what it does. If the numbers constantly change. It's not stable.

Click to expand...

Not a good idea to power up a CC driver with no load.....

hehehemann said:

Thanks for that pic and easy explanation.
I did a few tests on different settings. at 200Vdc its showing 38 and on ACV 200 setting its showing between 81 and 82
But thats plugged into the wall and no cobs connected to it, just checking the readings from the wires that would connect to the cobs

Any of that any use?

Click to expand...

It needs a load to run properly. Its running the voltage all the way up, not seeing any current and then cycling back down - that's why you are getting a rather large AC reading. It needs a load. If you give the model number I can look it up and calculate a resistive load for testing it.

nfhiggs said:

Flickering with one COB means its out of its voltage range. One COB requires too low of a voltage for it to operate properly - as the voltage rises to the low end of its range, its too much for the COB and it overcurrents and shuts back down. Try two of your COBs in series and see what it does.

Not a good idea to power up a CC driver with no load.....

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With two or more COBs there is no life at all, one COB produces the flickering.

Model is the Meanwell HLG 185 C1400B

I can wire it all back up in the morning and test under load.

nfhiggs said:

Flickering with one COB means its out of its voltage range. One COB requires too low of a voltage for it to operate properly - as the voltage rises to the low end of its range, its too much for the COB and it overcurrents and shuts back down. Try two of your COBs in series and see what it does.

Not a good idea to power up a CC driver with no load.....

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Oh. Well, I'm glad you told me. Because that's another thing I didn't know.

hehehemann said:

Thanks for that pic and easy explanation.
I did a few tests on different settings. at 200Vdc its showing 38 and on ACV 200 setting its showing between 81 and 82
But thats plugged into the wall and no cobs connected to it, just checking the readings from the wires that would connect to the cobs

Any of that any use?

Click to expand...

It's not much use to me. I just thought I'd ask if you could bring up the info in case it's relevant to someone else.

I just tested my lights with the voltmeter to see if it was doing anything odd. And within ranges.

hehehemann said:

With two or more COBs there is no life at all, one COB produces the flickering.

Model is the Meanwell HLG 185 C1400B

I can wire it all back up in the morning and test under load.

Click to expand...

53 ohm resistance (or a bit higher) should load it near the bottom of its voltage range. A LARGE 53 ohm resistor as it will heat up quickly. That will allow you to take a voltage reading and see if its stable. Sounds like its shot to me though, if two of your cobs in series won't let it power up at all.