Hi People.
Please could someone help me find a driver that would power these LED tubes direct to mains 240v. The originals burnt out as I was supplied with the wrong tubes to an incompatible ballast.
A driver outside the tube will be fine if needs be. All the LED emitters work fine and I got to keep all the tubes! I have 5 of them.
Thanks in advance
Maybe I posted this in the wrong section :FACEPALM: LOL
As its written on tube a 40-60VDC 500mA PSU should work replacing the original stuff
Likely 48V 500mA is the 24W rating
Thanks Lexel .
Did you mean 40-60v AC? it says AC on tube
ETA I see what you mean now
Something like this ?
It says 20-75kHz so I guess they mean PWM
The LEDs are driven with DC so I would simply remove every PSC or ballast and connect DC directly
First I would measure how much voltage the LEDs need,
On a Lab PSU or counting LEDs inseries *3.3V
Hmm, Philips say it is direct replacement for fluorescent bulb compatible with electronic balasts.
I think you must have a fixture that has an electronic balast (it was designed for fluorescent).
30-80V is what fluorescent tubes are running on (besides few hundreds V to start them)
https://www.assets.lighting.philips.com/is/content/PhilipsLighting/comf2168-pss-global
http://www.lighting.philips.com/main/prof/led-lamps-and-tubes/led-tubes/master-ledtube-instantfit-hf-t8/929001300402_EU/product
https://www.assets.lighting.philips.com/is/content/PhilipsLighting/fp929001300402-pss-global
There are two kinds of drivers used for LED fixtures, one delivers a constant voltage and the other a constant current. The problem here is that the Philips lamp information is very confusing. No LED works on AC. The 30-80 VAC at 20,000 to 75,000 Hz on the label is gibberish. Standard house current is 120V and 60 cycle in the US or 240V 50 cycle in most of the rest of the world.
The driver you show from Aliexpress is a constant current driver and is within the nominal current listed on the lamp. They are usually sold by the watt output. You can get them on eBay without the fancy case. Output current 260-280 ma, 18-24W, AC 85-240V input, DC output 54-90V $2.06 postpaid from Hong Kong https://www.ebay.com/itm/1-36W-LED-Driver-Input-AC100-265V-Power-Supply-Constant-Current-for-DIY-Lamp-E-F/152898222985?hash=item239971bb89:m:mTEvY8hb5j4bvDuAJoEeZoQ
Thanks for all the replies, in answer to this would a higher current output be better? say 500ma
I think specs on tube (30V-80V AC 20K-75K) are confusing because these are actually specs for fluorescent tube it is intended to replace.
OP, can you call place where you bought them.
You wrote “supplied with the wrong tubes to an incompatible ballast”, so you have a fixture with balast that was originally using fluorescent tube?
I believe you can put this tube in without doing anything. This is a tube that people buy go home and install it. Should not need any messing with fixture.
From Philips spec:
• HF compatibility: no wires to replace, no hassle changing drivers; our InstantFit solution
works with High Frequency electronic ballasts, making it easy and safe for all installation
methods
Long story but goes something like this.
I originally had 10x T8 Fluorescent tubes with HF ballasts ( not compatible I now know ) The tubes I bought were 5x Philips instant fit T8 UO 24w from any-lamp.co.uk
Same place as I bought the original lights as mentioned. I told them what lights I had and that I had bought them form same company yrs ago, and asked them to check if it was still on their system.
It was, so I asked which tubes I could use LED wise. The reply I got was any that used a HF ballast. So I bought 5 to try out. When they came I simply fitted them in and thought wow! these are awesome.
I left my workshop and went for a cuppa. Came back 15 mins later and only 1 was working. All the drivers on them had burnt out. They gave me a full refund and said I could keep the tubes!
I bought another couple of tubes to try which are the Philips master T8 universal type. Can use with HF ballast ( to which my original is still not compatible ) a starter, or direct to mains.
I cut the ballast out and used 1 tombstone socket non shunted. They work a treat. Now my 5 tubes that I got to keep all the LED emitters still work! Hence why I have posted up a help request.
Very grateful for all the help too!
Dave
O, I get it now, my bad.
So then do what Lexel said, remove/baypass all electronics and connect AC/DC LED diver directly to LED string.
500-700mA should be fine.
You just need to figure voltage, to get driver with enough.
One you linked may not be enough, probably what Lexel said 40-60V would be better.
Remember that voltage is forced by LEDs driven at particular current.
Count the LEDs and multiply this by 3.3V (assuming they are all in series). If there is more than one string you will need to account for it (higher current, lover voltage)
Let say you have 20 LEDs, voltage will be 66V (this is with margin of error, we don’t know exact Vf of these LEDs)
For that example I would look for driver with voltage range about 50-80V.
Thank you ever so much
I have a 10A 64v bench lab supply so I will test the strip with that
there are 164 emitters I think .
So just find a compatible driver and wire the DC output straight to this?
More on the other end though but I’m just concerned with V+ V- correct
How about something like this if I wanted them a bit brighter but not at maximum output?
or this?
Hmm, I would try small connector and blue and brown wire for LED connection.
Is there 162 LEDs on this thing?
162LEDs will be in multiple strings
Usual strings contain like 6-20 LEDs, best is to test out with lab power supply which voltage and current they need for 24W
So 162 could be 9 times 18 LEDs or 18 times 9LEDs both need different power supplies usually
Ok, it looks like it has 3 parts, 54 LEDs each.
I think A & B just carries voltage from board on one end to board on other end.
LED+ and LED- provides the same voltage to each of 3 parts.
My guess would be each part has 3 strings in parallel, 18 LEDs in string.
No idea what LEDs are these but assuming Vf voltage somewhere between 2.8V-3.7V it gives around 50V-67V for whole string.
24W stated in spec gives current between 360mA-480mA (each part will get 1/3rd of that)
So, I would look for driver around 400mA with voltage range that includes 50V-67V
Maybe you can overdrive them and get 500mA, I think LEDs should survive that but whole lamp may heat tooo much.
Or go safe and get 300mA driver
Thanks again! You have no idea how grateful I am to you and others.
