is it the potentiometer or the driver?

Hey all. I have a custom Samsung strip light that is not coming up to full power. Also there is a bit of random flickering. I have 6 Samsung 4’ F Series strips on a Meanwell HLG-480h-54b driver. It worked fine for a year and now will come in but not to the full. It’s on a 100k potentiometer. It dimmer but full on it’s only putting out about 20k lux at 16”. Do you think it’s the driver or the cheap Amazon Chinese potentiometer?

If you disconnect the potentiometer the driver should run at full power. So that would let you see if it's the driver.

The random flickering, have you checked all the connections? Maybe there is a little corrosion.

Renfro said:

The random flickering, have you checked all the connections? Maybe there is a little corrosion.

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Thanks Renfro. I disconnected it and sure enough full blast. I replaced it with a non Chinese made one and works great. I checked and there was corrosion on the potentiometer where the solder tabs go in. Now I’m thinking I should replace all of them.

Merlin1147 said:

Thanks Renfro. I disconnected it and sure enough full blast. I replaced it with a non Chinese made one and works great. I checked and there was corrosion on the potentiometer where the solder tabs go in. Now I’m thinking I should replace all of them.

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Don't fell bad ,I had 2 of the pots that Rapid led sells that went south also.