1 of my drivers is hot to touch.

Just hung my lights ( diy cutter strips) and fired them up a few hours ago, ive been periodically checking the room and noticed 1 of my HLG 480 drivers is very hot to the touch, the other is barely even warm.

Any idea what could be going on here?

Before i fired them up i turned the voltage pot and the dimmer all the way up, so both should be running the same.

Im a little concerned about leaving it running like it is.

diggs99 said:

Just hung my lights ( diy cutter strips) and fired them up a few hours ago, ive been periodically checking the room and noticed 1 of my HLG 480 drivers is very hot to the touch, the other is barely even warm.

Any idea what could be going on here?

Before i fired them up i turned the voltage pot and the dimmer all the way up, so both should be running the same.

Im a little concerned about leaving it running like it is.

Click to expand...

Doesn't take much to cool one down. Maybe a slight breeze is on the one and not the other. They can handle up to 90c which would burn rather then be hot. But the cooler they run the longer they will last as with pretty much all electronics. Got a Temp gun to get some readings how much hotter is it then the other?

There's a pretty good difference for sure.

No fans blowing on either at the moment. They are wall mounted away from fixtures.

Since I posted I dimmmed both down and it's seemed to have cooled down some

It would be interesting to put a DC clamp on ammeter on and compare the two currents.

@diggs99 is like, damn gotta buy another tool? lol your electrical guy probably has one handy.

diggs99 said:

There's a pretty good difference for sure.

No fans blowing on either at the moment. They are wall mounted away from fixtures.

Since I posted I dimmmed both down and it's seemed to have cooled down some

Click to expand...

I always have a fan on mine to get the maximum life out of them, getting a amp reading for both drivers Would help to see if one is pulling more power. DC clamp meters will break the bank At least the cheapest fluke is 275 dollars here in the states. You can get one for the AC side for a lot cheaper. If you have a wattometer that will work also just turn one drive off at a time for a reading if they are wired together. what drivers do you have ? you running the strips in series ?

They do make those cheap volt / amp / watt meters that you can wire into a light. Been thinking of adding one to my light just for dimming purposes.

I just found this one, there are a ton of different ones:

https://www.amazon.com/DROK-Display-Digital-Multimeter-Voltmeter/dp/B07B4CWKRJ/ref=sr_1_10?keywords=dc+meter&qid=1561513484&s=gateway&sr=8-10

JavaCo said:

I always have a fan on mine to get the maximum life out of them, getting a amp reading for both drivers Would help to see if one is pulling more power. DC clamp meters will break the bank At least the cheapest fluke is 275 dollars here in the states. You can get one for the AC side for a lot cheaper. If you have a wattometer that will work also just turn one drive off at a time for a reading if they are wired together. what drivers do you have ? you running the strips in series ?

Click to expand...

Im running strips in parallel...2 fixtures...each with a HLG-480H-48A driver running it.

2 fixtures have been built, the first i used terminal blocks for the wiring. The second i used wago 5s...Its the terminal block light that the driver is running hot.

I dont have any tools or meters for reading this stuff yet. I have a couple ordered
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00F8ZMNWA/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_4?smid=A34H6JHKG2TDM6&psc=1

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07S1PSL1P/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_1?smid=A38HGLQ8A10QYW&psc=1

Renfro said:

@diggs99 is like, damn gotta buy another tool? lol your electrical guy probably has one handy.

Click to expand...

lol ya basically . I can ask to borrow my bros if he has one, i assume he does. He wont be home until friday tho, so not much help until then.

diggs99 said:

Im running strips in parallel...2 fixtures...each with a HLG-480H-48A driver running it.

2 fixtures have been built, the first i used terminal blocks for the wiring. The second i used wago 5s...Its the terminal block light that the driver is running hot.

I dont have any tools or meters for reading this stuff yet. I have a couple ordered
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00F8ZMNWA/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_4?smid=A34H6JHKG2TDM6&psc=1

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07S1PSL1P/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_1?smid=A38HGLQ8A10QYW&psc=1




lol ya basically . I can ask to borrow my bros if he has one, i assume he does. He wont be home until friday tho, so not much help until then.

Click to expand...

Yeah sometimes people get issues when running them in parallel. Really need some amp readings to trouble shoot. I would triple check the wiring on the one that running cooler, does it look like it is less bright ( use sunglasses to look ).

No, they both looked the same while running at full power and again dimmed down. Only difference was the hot driver. It was also making a slight clicking noise when at full power and running hot. Once i turned it down the noise went away and it stated cooling down. If you touch both right now , one is still noticeably warmer than the other, but both are pretty cool when dimmed down.

I know it cant be easy trying troubleshoot tech stuff without proper readings , it also dont help that i am pretty useless on the subject.

I appreciate the help.

diggs99 said:

It was also making a slight clicking noise when at full power and running hot.

Click to expand...

The clicking noise bothers me. I would say return it and get another.

Identical setups, one running hot and making noise sounds like a reason to return it as defective. Easier to replace it now.

Renfro said:

The clicking noise bothers me. I would say return it and get another.

Click to expand...

Ya it bothers me too, i run my lights during night so i wont be up to monitor them all night, as i said, it went away after i dimmed them but it,still dont really ease my mind too much tho lol

If you wanted to eliminate the rest of the system as the cause you could swap drivers.

Renfro said:

Identical setups, one running hot and making noise sounds like a reason to return it as defective. Easier to replace it now.

Click to expand...

No quite indentical in that one was wired using wagos and the other using terminal blocks, same concept tho, just wanted to point that out, just in case it matters.

Renfro said:

If you wanted to eliminate the rest of the system as the cause you could swap drivers.

Click to expand...

Ya thats a good idea to troubleshoot the wiring of that actual fixture, make sure it really is the driver causing the issue.

Yeah if the driver does the same thing on another light then return that fucker lol

diggs99 said:

No quite indentical in that one was wired using wagos and the other using terminal blocks, same concept tho, just wanted to point that out, just in case it matters.

Click to expand...

Well you are gonna find out with a swap lol.

Probably smart to put a piece of tape on the bad one to make sure you don't get them mixed up during the swap. Thats what I would do anyways because I know my stoned self.