Renfro
Well-Known Member
A hardware store should have a basic multimeter.
Still no swap test? Thats the cheap way to find the bad part.
1 of my drivers is hot to touch.
- Thread starter diggs99
- Start date
diggs99
Well-Known Member
no I never swapped yet. I wanted to run it all day yesterday just to see how it acted. It was perfectly fine until turned up to full power. At full power it started getting way hotter than the other driver and the electricity noise came back. So something not right at full power.
I'll swap this morning before doing anything else.
Any certain specs the meter needs to have? Canadian tire has a few on the shelf
Renfro
Well-Known Member
Well you want it to measure at least the voltage and current that your driver is rated to put out. Thing is to measure current you either need a meter with a hall effect clamp probe (probably not at the hardware store and pricey) or it has to be wired in series with the device. Seeing as you have stated that electricity isn't your cup of tea I think saving your money and just figuring out what part is bad will get you going. If you planned on building lots of lights then buy a meter. Your cash is better spent on a good CO2 controller now lol. Just my 2 cents. There is nothing wrong with buying more tools 
diggs99
Well-Known Member
Ya I don't plan on building any other lights anytime soon. Would prefer to not spend a pile more cash on a tool I'll rarely ever use lol. I'll def buy what I need tho. It is what it isWell you want it to measure at least the voltage and current that your driver is rated to put out. Thing is to measure current you either need a meter with a hall effect clamp probe (probably not at the hardware store and pricey) or it has to be wired in series with the device. Seeing as you have stated that electricity isn't your cup of tea I think saving your money and just figuring out what part is bad will get you going. If you planned on building lots of lights then buy a meter. Your cash is better spent on a good CO2 controller now lol. Just my 2 cents. There is nothing wrong with buying more tools
So just a basic meter that needs to be wired to the driver in series? Does it matter if the fixture is all wired in parallel?
ChiefRunningPhist
Well-Known Member
This is quick mock up to help.
Imagine the break in the loop below like one of your driver leads being un-hooked from its terminal strip.
For a current measurement, wire the meter in series, but make sure to plug your probe or lead into the 10A hole, notice pic below and where the red/positive wire is plugged, farthest right hole is the 10A hole on my meter. Then select 10A on the multimeter dial.
You may have to use tape or hold the wires so they make contact, if you're wired up through your multimeter and the driver is on but no light is shining, you probably aren't making a good connection in the holes.
Once you have it in place plug the driver in and look for the current reading...
To take voltage measurement no need to break the cct. No need to un wire the terminal, just place the multimeter positive probe on the positive terminal block and place the negative multimeter probe on the negative terminal block.
Also make sure to switch the positive multimeter probe to the 200mA hole. And then also the multimeter dial has to be rotated to select the max V you think you may read. The straight line is DC, the wavy line is AC, make sure to select DC.
The driver in the mock up is rated at 60V so the 20V setting was too low, and the 200V setting will not be exceeded and be safe with only 60V, so 200V it is.
Looks like about 30V (I traced the negative wire with a bold line so you can see the cct is not broken and looping a little easier)...
I sure hope it's nothing to do with the terminal blocks, sorry you're running into issues, hopefully you get it figured out.
I think its either pulling to much from the wall on the AC side, or maybe trying to push too high V on the DC side from too many Ω's in the terminal block connections? I sure hope not but the AC side is checked easily with the kill-a-watt device that someone posted earlier, and checking DC voltage doesn't require any un hooking, so you could check those things easily. Just check what the kill-a-watt reads on each driver when they are full blast, and then test the DC voltage of both setups when the drivers are full blast, if its due to the terminal blocks I think the VDC will be higher on the terminal block setup. If this is the case you could try tightening the screws to make better connections.
Imagine the break in the loop below like one of your driver leads being un-hooked from its terminal strip.
For a current measurement, wire the meter in series, but make sure to plug your probe or lead into the 10A hole, notice pic below and where the red/positive wire is plugged, farthest right hole is the 10A hole on my meter. Then select 10A on the multimeter dial.
You may have to use tape or hold the wires so they make contact, if you're wired up through your multimeter and the driver is on but no light is shining, you probably aren't making a good connection in the holes.
Once you have it in place plug the driver in and look for the current reading...
To take voltage measurement no need to break the cct. No need to un wire the terminal, just place the multimeter positive probe on the positive terminal block and place the negative multimeter probe on the negative terminal block.
Also make sure to switch the positive multimeter probe to the 200mA hole. And then also the multimeter dial has to be rotated to select the max V you think you may read. The straight line is DC, the wavy line is AC, make sure to select DC.
The driver in the mock up is rated at 60V so the 20V setting was too low, and the 200V setting will not be exceeded and be safe with only 60V, so 200V it is.
Looks like about 30V (I traced the negative wire with a bold line so you can see the cct is not broken and looping a little easier)...
I sure hope it's nothing to do with the terminal blocks, sorry you're running into issues, hopefully you get it figured out.
I think its either pulling to much from the wall on the AC side, or maybe trying to push too high V on the DC side from too many Ω's in the terminal block connections? I sure hope not but the AC side is checked easily with the kill-a-watt device that someone posted earlier, and checking DC voltage doesn't require any un hooking, so you could check those things easily. Just check what the kill-a-watt reads on each driver when they are full blast, and then test the DC voltage of both setups when the drivers are full blast, if its due to the terminal blocks I think the VDC will be higher on the terminal block setup. If this is the case you could try tightening the screws to make better connections.
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ChiefRunningPhist
Well-Known Member
^^^This meter in the link has the negative in the middle and the 10A on the left and the 200mA on the right. It's the same thing. Wal-mart carries em, I think mine ran ~$10.
Renfro
Well-Known Member
To measure Amps (Current) you need to have the meter wired in series with the load. You could test the load between the driver and all the strips or just test one strip at a time depending on where you wire it in. Really though you shouldn't have to get this deep into it, just swap the driver, if it's the faulty item then send it back and get a new one before you start your run.
diggs99
Well-Known Member
Thanks so much chief. On way to town now to get a meter. Will check Canadian tire and Walmart.
I'm gonna read that post of yours numerous times, very detailed and explains it perfectly to a guy like me.
diggs99
Well-Known Member
The electricity noise that comes from the driver when powered to full is what worried me at first and the hotness in comparison to the other driver.
What could be causing that sound? Like u can hear the juice flowing to or from driver. That's what leads me to think it's all connected and I either messed up the wiring or it's a bad driver
The other light seems to be working perfectly I think lol
What could be causing that sound? Like u can hear the juice flowing to or from driver. That's what leads me to think it's all connected and I either messed up the wiring or it's a bad driver
The other light seems to be working perfectly I think lol
ChiefRunningPhist
Well-Known Member
Check the kill-a-watt or test DC voltage, if one driver is higher than the other in either way, kill-a-watt or VDC, then I'd try the swap. Or I'd try the swap first. I think the electric whine is from the driver PWMing at a Hz that you can hear. Does the whine change pitch as you dim?
ChiefRunningPhist
Well-Known Member
https://www.howtogeek.com/200466/WHY-DO-SOME-AC-ADAPTERS-AND-POWER-SUPPLIES-MAKE-A-WHINING-NOISE/
You might just have a defective driver. Swapping them could tell you for sure.
If you unhooked the WAGO driver from its setup and re-attached it to the terminal blocks on the other setup, and when fired up you get the same whine, then it's the terminal blocks. With this method you wouldn't need to unhook your whining terminal block driver, just unplug it from the wall, and then run your WAGO driver leads to the terminal blocks on the whining setup and fire up the WAGO driver, if it's the terminal blocks your WAGO driver will also whine, if your WAGO driver doesn't whine then it's time to get a refund on the whining driver imo.
You might just have a defective driver. Swapping them could tell you for sure.
If you unhooked the WAGO driver from its setup and re-attached it to the terminal blocks on the other setup, and when fired up you get the same whine, then it's the terminal blocks. With this method you wouldn't need to unhook your whining terminal block driver, just unplug it from the wall, and then run your WAGO driver leads to the terminal blocks on the whining setup and fire up the WAGO driver, if it's the terminal blocks your WAGO driver will also whine, if your WAGO driver doesn't whine then it's time to get a refund on the whining driver imo.
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ChiefRunningPhist
Well-Known Member
On the left is perfect. Make sure it comes with a 9Volt battery or make sure to buy one.
Swapping the drivers is free, but you'll use the meter plenty if you're building LED lights. Its a must-have tool for electrical and once you get the hang of it you'll be testing everything lol
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ANC
Well-Known Member
Multimeters are like fire extinguishers, they all look the same until you need to kill a fire that it isn't made for. Whenever I am in a pawn shop or the like, I pick up whatever good multimeters or old wood planes are on sale.. not that I use either much anymore... just habit.
diggs99
Well-Known Member
Thanks bud.
Ya this community is amazing, so much help and guidance. I appreciate every one of you
I'm just getting back from town. Lights went out before I got home. They comeback on in 5 hours and 45 mins
So I either wait till then or wake them up lol
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diggs99
Well-Known Member
Well as a first step to trouble shooting i switched drivers around.
Same result, the bad driver still making a weird flowing electricity sound and getting hot. The other driver is quiet and running warmish
Guess ill pull this multimeter out of the package and see if i can figure it out lol
Same result, the bad driver still making a weird flowing electricity sound and getting hot. The other driver is quiet and running warmish
Guess ill pull this multimeter out of the package and see if i can figure it out lol