LED floodlight issue

funkey_monkey

Have a 50W led floodlight with the driver installed in a shed powered by a generator.
It has been working fine for a number of years until today.
I disconnected it at the junction box and then subsequently reconnected it.
It worked again for a period of time fine, but then started flashing and eventually went out.

What could have happened here?

Also, I repaired some blown disfigured by putting in a 50W COB LED chip. Are these known to not work on generator power - or worked fine on mains power when I set it up. Admittedly these were ebay purchases but the one I have on mains is working fine, yet the two I have tried on generator power have failed.

Irish Steve

if the generator is a smaller petrol type, and the only load is the LED lights, there is a strong chance that they've been blown by over voltage, small generators are not well regulated, and if very lightly loaded, they can go over voltage, which won't be good for the power supply units in the LED's. If you have a decent volt meter, check to see what the voltage output is off load, it should be close to 230V, but a lot of gen sets were made for 240v, which is a factor before you start.

funkey_monkey

You might be onto something there, as I switched out 2 halogen floodlights to lighten load on generator.
Is there anything I can do to prevent failure of the new leds I installed?

Got a total of 5 50W leds and 6 fluorescent tubes too (rarely used). Was only using about 200W of led floodlights when the failure occurred.

LenWoods

Would a mains conditioner help regulate the voltage?
I have a few Tachima mains conditioning socket leads in my house for televisions and computer equipment; they have a series of electronic parts to eliminate noise and regulate current,
Bought them from Amazon,
Might help; thought I'd put it out there for discussion

2011

I think you are correct Steve but 240V should not be an issue.
Like many others I sometimes see 240V in my on home from the mains supply.

funkey_monkey

Is there anything I can add to generator output to prevent this issue - is it spikes on startup that are the issue?
Just seems that it is too much of a coincidence that when I disconnected and then reconnected it that it failed.
It was always switched on so that when generator powered up the light illuminated.

Irish Steve

2011 wrote: »

I think you are correct Steve but 240V should not be an issue.
Like many others I sometimes see 240V in my on home from the mains supply.

Agree, 240 per se not an issue, but if the genset is rated 240 on load, the off load or low load voltage could be a good bit more, and if the LED drivers are designed for 230, that difference could be a factor, and if the voltage is unregulated and relies on the rotation speed of the motor, that could be another factor in the issue. if the motor is running slightly above the nominal 3000 rpm that is the norm on small single cylinder petrol gen sets.

LED drivers are not well suited to regular switching on and off, we had some at a local garage running off a PIR, which was switching very frequently due to passing traffic, the result was that all 4 of them failed within the 12 month warranty period.

funkey_monkey

Does the rcd in the consumer unit not protect against this issue?
The shed was wired by a proper spark. From recollection the 4 lights that blew were all running on a smaller genset not the larger one.

funkey_monkey

This is the generator currently on it;

https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/23003306260

funkey_monkey

I notice that there is a high frequency flicker in the leds with this generator.
Is there anything I can get to smooth the output of the generator without breaking the bank?

Yuser.

funkey_monkey wrote: »

Does the rcd in the consumer unit not protect against this issue?
The shed was wired by a proper spark. From recollection the 4 lights that blew were all running on a smaller genset not the larger one.

No

funkey_monkey

Will a ups be the ideal solution here or what else can I use.
The max load on the generator will be around 2.2kW, but mostly will be around 500W of lighting.

Irish Steve

From your comments earlier about high frequency flicker, that suggests that there is an issue with the supply that the inbuilt power supplies do not like. A UPS will separate the load from the supply, so as long as the UPS provides a sine wave stable supply (some cheaper models are more square wave) you should see an improvement .

funkey_monkey

Is it a financially viable option though?
As this is in an of grid cattle shed, it will be a hard environment for a ups.
The ones I've seen don't seem to be cheap for the max load rating of the shed.