LED Wattage

[SteveMM62Reef]

LED DC wattage verses 120 Watts in. I have two LED Bars at 144 watts each. 288 watts total. At full Power, I’m only drawing 90 watts on the 120 Volts AC, before the Power Supply. There is no mathematical formula for this, as power supplies have different efficiencies, and it depends on the DC Voltage and efficiency of the light fixtures.

 

[oreo54]

Did you measure the 144 watts?
If not why do you think it is 144w?

Since it an even number divided by 3 (48 3v leds) I'd suspect your wall draw IS the led draw.
Just a guess.

 

[ikaros70]

A lot of these light bars and light fixtures wattage is over rated by manu.
Especially the black box style lighting made in China.
I have Viparspectra’s and those are rated @ 165w, in all actuality, mine are 55w per channel, 110w total on my meter.

 

[SteveMM62Reef]

I used my Fluke inline Amp. Meter. It is only good for 10 Amps. So I used an inline Dimmer, “made for this light,” to control the Amps. as not to blow the meter fuse. I still had some range on the Dimmer, so I think the Wattage stated is correct. I don’t think the seller would mislead on this, if doesn’t have the larger power supplies in stock, he directs you to Amazon. oreo5457, your statement goes against the Electrical Laws. I have since realized I can split the power to the light bar, “Between the 12K and the Blues,” and may redo the test. BTW I have over Forty years working with Electricity, everything from 0 to 10 Vdc Controls, to 480 Vdc for Uninterruptible Battery Power for Computer Rooms. Also 0 to 600 VAC Single, Three Phase Delta, Three Phase “Y.” And NO I do not know everything about Electricity, no one does! Don‘t all about LED’s but I’m not building light fixtures.

 

[oreo54]

I'm still going to stand with they gave you "theoretical" watts not actual watts..
Bars run off either a12v or 24V switching power supply correct?

Anyways why not just go to the source (DC side) and forget about wall wattage .
Measuring DC across a bar and Amps in line is a piece of cake..

 

[oreo54]

The " made for this light" dimmer if on the dc side is in all likelihood a pwm dimmer
Doesn't change voltage or current except " on average"
At 50% it is on ( full amps/volts) and 50% off.

Square wave output.