Fast Start up LED driver
pjpfeiff
| Posted in General Questions on
I recently added LED strip lighting to the basement and am pretty surprised at the lag between flipping the switch and the lights turning on–timed at about 1.25 seconds. After some research I see my driver has a “setup time” of 2.5 seconds…and have realized I am probably violating a rule by using one 320W supply and should probably go to three parallel < 100W class 2 supplies. I have found some of these with a listed setup time of 0.5s, but does it get any better than that? Does anyone have suggests for fast-start LED drivers? Mainly I have been searching through Meanwell LED drivers.
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Replies
If it matters, it needs to be a 24 V constant voltage supply, dimming not necessary, no flicker.
I am also bothered by the delay.
The delay is the time it takes to get the switch mode power supply up and running. The switch mode power supply is selected because it is much more power efficient than the faster options. I have come to accept the delay in my fixtures.
If you are willing except the standby losses. Connect the driver so it is always on and have the wall switch opens the circuit between the driver and the LEDs.
Walta
I would try your local electrical supply place. They will have a driver that works without delay.
It is very hard to find good drivers, some better ones do provide on-time in their PDF.
The other issue I've run into is 120hz flicker. Most are quite terrible with this, I end up installing large caps to get it somewhat tolerable. Magnetic drivers are the worst for this.
You do need to get that 320W driver replaced. 12V should be limited to 60W and 24V to 96W. You can use multiple drivers (or a single driver with multiple class II fused outputs) to feed sections so you are not violating these power limits.
Well splitting up the power supply sure will make my already oversized 12 ga wire ridiculously oversized.
I have a magnetic supply elsewhere and, yeah, I can detect some flicker, plus an audible buzz. But that one does have an instant turn on. I've found some electronic ones that say < 0.3 seconds turn on. That's probably good enough, but I'll look a little more.