Dimmable Driver Help

baseballfanatic2 · May 26, 2016

Hey guys,

I need some help choosing a dimmable driver.
Right now, I have this driver...
Mean Well ELN-60-48D dimmable driver

But I want a driver that can run about 20 LEDs. Any suggestions?

I saw this one...
Mean Well HLG-240H-C2100B

But it's kind of expensive. I was looking for something just a bit cheaper.

ifarmer · May 26, 2016

Yes you can. You can run the led in parallel set as oppose to series. Make 2 set of 10 led and run them in parallel.

baseballfanatic2 · May 26, 2016

ifarmer said:
Yes you can. You can run the led in parallel set as oppose to series. Make 2 set of 10 led and run them in parallel.

Not understanding what you are saying. sorry

TheEngineer · May 27, 2016

If you run one string of 20 LEDs, that's called a series circuit. Each LED is connected to the one before it and the one after it. If instead you run two groups of 10 LEDs in series and then connect the input and output of both together at the driver, that's two parallel runs of 10 series LEDs. Does that make a little more sense? Here's a link in case it doesn't:
http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/tex...chpt-5/what-are-series-and-parallel-circuits/

Voltage adds in series circuits and current adds in parallel circuits. The limiting factor for the ELN-60-48D is that it can only run up to 48V. Assuming a forward voltage of 3V per LED (I'm just picking a number), you can run 16 LEDs.

Total Voltage = 3V * 16 LEDs = 48V

If instead, you break the circuit into two parallel strings of 10, the total voltage needed is only 30V. That is well within the limits of that driver. Now you need to check the current capacity of the driver.