LED Driver Questions

Thread Starter

ben sorenson

Joined Feb 28, 2022
180
Hello, I acquired more or less 2000 of of these TLED Drivers from a business transaction I did some years ago... And I just need some help understanding exactly what they are, as the "datasheet" is extremely vague to me or maybe I just can't understand it... My understanding is that LED's are diodes and as being such for obvious purposes they run on DC, so an LED Driver converts the AC to DC so that they can run the LED's.. however when I take my CAT600V multimeter from fleet farm to it, I get no DC, it only registers AC. So what is going on here? Is my Multimeter not able to read "Pulsed DC" in the DC mode, or since it is Pulsed the multimeter registers it as AC? Or do these LED Drivers output AC? I'd like to play around with these with a DC output, I could always rectify the output to DC but I was under the impression LED Drivers converted AC to DC to drive the TLEDs, or am I wrong on that?
 

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dendad

Joined Feb 20, 2016
4,451
LEDs are current operated devices and these thingos look to be constant current drivers for LED fluro replacement tubes.
The output may be running as a Pulse With Modulated waveform, not smooth DC.
 

Thread Starter

ben sorenson

Joined Feb 28, 2022
180
Man, thank you so much for replying. So you think they are DC then? If it has a modulated output could that be the reason my DMM only registers AC? I was trying to figure out what lead was positive and negative as it doesn't say anything on the datasheet. All it says is ** 400 OCV ** max output 0.43A with an input voltage of 120v. I just don't get why my DMM won't pick up the DC, but picks up AC, thus I can't find pos/neg
 

Thread Starter

ben sorenson

Joined Feb 28, 2022
180
Man, thank you so much for replying. So you think they are DC then? If it has a modulated output could that be the reason my DMM only registers AC? I was trying to figure out what lead was positive and negative as it doesn't say anything on the datasheet. All it says is ** 400 OCV ** max output 0.43A with an input voltage of 120v. I just don't get why my DMM won't pick up the DC, but picks up AC, thus I can't find pos/neg
I just saw on the device it says that the case must be grounded, there is a label that says "TC" located on side of driver. I wonder if that's why I couldn't get it to read DC? But, what would ground there? The ground from the mains or the Ground from the led? Probably the ground from the Led
 

dl324

Joined Mar 30, 2015
16,844
My understanding is that LED's are diodes and as being such for obvious purposes they run on DC, so an LED Driver converts the AC to DC so that they can run the LED's..
This tells you that the LED drivers are powered from line voltage:
1669752616012.png
however when I take my CAT600V multimeter from fleet farm to it, I get no DC, it only registers AC.
It says the output is AC.
 

dendad

Joined Feb 20, 2016
4,451
I would suggest great caution with these devices as they are quite lethal. Contacting a local lighting specialist or good electrician for help sounds like the way to you need to go. I'm not trying to discourage you but by your questions it shows that would be the wisest thing to do. You may even find those you look to for help may also assist you in marketing these if that is your aim.
 

dendad

Joined Feb 20, 2016
4,451
The LED tubes are not polarized and will have bridge rectifiers in them so the output of these drivers could be AC, but it would most likely be chopped at high frequency for the current control. The "RMS"is a bit of a givaway! I missed that earlier.
 
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