Questions About Rapid LED kit

I have just received an LED kit from Rapid LED. While I was putting things together I ran across a couple things I had questions about. I hope someone here will be able to answer them for me. The first question is, what is the SVR2 dial and why did I have to turn it down? The second is, how can I ensure the optics stay in place, they dont feel like they are locked in very well, but that might just be me. My third and last question is, can I crank a string of 9 LEDs at 100% without fear of blowing them up? I put a volt meter on the driver and turned it up to 100%, the reading was 48.3 volts. The strings with 9 LED should be close to 27 if Im thinking correctly, will it blow up?

My set up is as follows:

4 x ELN-60-48D drivers running 42 LED's. I have 2 sets of 12 and 2 sets of 9. I am also using the Rapid LED Potentiometer to dim the lights until I get a controller.

So far all the LED strings function as designed and blinded me in one eye. I'm just about finished getting everything mounted above the tank. Once that is done Ill be able to finish wiring the lights to the controllers and clean things up. Ill have to post a picture or two if it turns out like I plan.

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

http://www.vinnymarini.com/pictures/rapid_docs/LED DIY Oveview.pdf

 

Thanks Buster, I was looking for those however, they aren't helping me with my questions. Do you know where I might find some more specific information?

 

I am moving this to the RapidLED board. They are a sponsor. They can help you out.

matt

 

The SVR2 only needs to be adjusted if you are running colors other than RB/White. Royal blue and white (cool, neutral and white) can all handle 1.5A, and the driver will output 1.3A max so you're okay there. If you are using other colors then please be sure to adjust the SVR2 accordingly (let me know if you need help with that).

As for optics, you'll want to use thermal adhesive to glue them in place. Put the lens on the LED first, then glue around the edge. If you put glue on the bottom of the lens and press the lens down the adhesive can sometimes seep onto the actual LED itself.

Running 9 LEDs is fine, were you measuring the voltage without the LEDs connected? Typically measuring the voltage without a load connected won't give you accurate results, you can try testing the voltage once the LEDs are connected and lit and I'm guessing you'll see some different results.

 

Thanks for the reply, I used some loctite seal n stick glue to put the Optics on. I used a very fine razor blade to cut away some plastic on the inside of the optic so they would lay flat on the LED pad. Then I used a toothpick to put glue around the bottom. Looks like everything worked out great.

I mounted the lights above the tank and fired them up. I dont know why I waited so long to order these. I cant believe how awesome they are and being able to dim the whites or blues is pretty cool.

I do have another question though, how do you power the fans? I had two extra drivers in my order for some reason. They were LPC-35-700's so being I have a ton of PC fans laying around I had to try something out. ;D I know the driver is 48v and the fans were 12v but I wired the two fans together hoping maybe it would work. Well not so much, they burned up FAST.

How can I power the fans without buying a PC power supply for them? :-/

 

Goto Radio shack and get a wall wart transformer,

 

Typically a 12V adapter is used, if you have an old cell phone charger lying around you can probably use that as well (I've tried it with a 10V adapter and that worked just fine). If you don't have anything we do sell them here: 12V AC Adapter - Rapid LED

And you're right, you definitely don't want to use a regular LED driver on the fans.