Led's are a headache!

[JonsReef]

maybe space the fan an 1/8" or so above the heatsink so that the plastic fan doesnt sit directly on top of the aluminum. use some rubber washers or something.

 

[Mr.Rodrigo502]

ill see how i can put these back on....so when can u check these out for me?

 

[JonsReef]

http://www.zbattery.com/Connecting-Batteries-in-Series-or-Parallel

your LEDs should be mounted in series, in which case you add the voltage (i.e. 6 x 3.3V LEDs = 19.8V)

your fans should be mounted in parallel, in which case you add the amperage and the voltage is constant at 12V.

 

[Mr.Rodrigo502]

i think the leds are series..............the fans are just going to sit on top of heatsink running its own 12v constant wall adapter

 

[JonsReef]

the LEDs have to be in series or else they will not work and blow the drivers.

when you wire the fans, you need to wire all of the + leads together and all of the - leads together and then wire the positives to the + on the power supply and all the negatives to the - on the power supply.

take a look at your fans, they should have the amperage rating on them. add the amperage rating on each and compare it with the rating on the power supply.

 

[Mr.Rodrigo502]

they are thermaltake 0.38 amp

 

[JonsReef]

ok, so if all four of them are wired together, that's a total of 1.52 amps or 1520mA.

what is the rating on the power pack that is running the fans?

 

[Mr.Rodrigo502]

12v---500mA

 

[JonsReef]

well theres part of your problem. the power supply cannot handle the demand of the four fans. it is only rated for less then 1/3 of what the fans require. that is most likely why they do not run when vertical and are probably not moving nearly enough air to cool the heatsinks. you need either independent power supplies or a 12V supply rated for 2A.

alternatively, you could run two separate 12V 1000mA power supplies and have two fans on each power supply.

 

[Mr.Rodrigo502]

well i have 4 power supplies...each fan had its own power.......

 

[JonsReef]

oh, in that case your fans should be fine. there is no reason they shouldnt run in the vertical position. i'm still thinking that heat and bad soldering joints may be your issue.

i was reading through the post again, and noticed that you had said that they light up only slightly. im thinking that may be a bad solder joint causing that problem.

also, did you use plastic washers on the screws that hold down the LED modules? you need to make sure that the screws themselves are not shorting out the bulbs by creating a ground between the bulb and the heatsink.

 

[Mr.Rodrigo502]

idk y the fans dont spin when vertical.........time for new fans i guess..............
yea its wierd.....let say i put my hand on the heatsink they slightly light up, and when i remove my hand they turn off again.........in going to have to look for rubber washers...im sure there is electrical conduct runnin to the heatsinks if it is doing this.......................

also there was one time that one of the fixtures.....the white led's were flashing............on and off on and off........

 

[Mr.Rodrigo502]

ok i removed all the screws from the led's to the headsink....led's are in just layin on heatsink with thermal paste....hit the switch and no blast! no luck

 

[JonsReef]

let say i put my hand on the heatsink they slightly light up, and when i remove my hand they turn off again.........in going to have to look for rubber washers...im sure there is electrical conduct runnin to the heatsinks if it is doing this.......................

yup, i think there is a soldering/grounding issue going on, especially if you are seeing some illumination when you put your hand on the heatsink.

i used thermal adhesive stickers on mine and i do not use any screws at all.

 

[Mr.Rodrigo502]

i also noticed that when i removed the screws...some of the led's "motherboard" metal was touching the screws........and another solder was lose...really lose

 

[JonsReef]

Yup, sounds like you def have some bad connections. The screws should not be in contact with the circuits on the LEDs.

How big is the fixture the LEDs are mounted to?

 

[Mr.Rodrigo502]

4 6x9 panels......24 led's each.............i did not do the diy part on these fixtures.......i bought them off a friend......

 

[beckbrass]

Do you have a dimmer? Could be a problem, bad solder in a manual dimmer. Just a thought.

 

[JonsReef]

Do you have a dimmer? Could be a problem, bad solder in a manual dimmer. Just a thought.

i believe his drivers have integrated dimmers. and the junction block he's using would (in my estimation) make it unlikely that there is a wiring issue with the drivers themselves. im leaning towards bad solder joints on some of the LED connections. OP, did you tin the ends of the wire before soldering or just hold the bare wire on the LED and solder it in place? did you use flux?

4 6x9 panels......24 led's each.............i did not do the diy part on these fixtures.......i bought them off a friend......

i guess what i meant was how big is the ENTIRE fixture? would it fit into the back of an SUV?

 

[Mr.Rodrigo502]

yea but the hood ways a ton.....need at least 3 people to carry it .....i removed the leds today and put my mh....as my corals need lighting to stay healthy.......my led's are sitting on my sofa.....i have them layed off for while.........