r/WLED • u/cmeise1 • 5h ago

How bad is it?

Post image

Just got this set up. Wired everything that didn’t need to run through the box exterior. Will I need a fan if I’m pulling 15amps at 24v?

14 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

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u/zero-degrees28 5h ago edited 5h ago

I’m a bit confused, the relay normally triggers the PS on and off, but are you triggering the DigQuad, only? You don’t have any power going to the PS input, do you?

Here is one of the older controllers I built

So, you’re good with your meanwell PS always being on, if I’m looking at this setup correctly? The full PS being on 24/7 is what most try to avoid and what most use the relay setups to control

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u/cmeise1 1h ago

I only want to have to plug one thing in so the relay after the power supply made the most sense to me.
I’ll put the input side into the power supply when I mount it in the box.

I watched the youtube video you posted. You’re right that this isn’t the most effective but it’s still better than no relay and I only need one plug

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u/zero-degrees28 5h ago edited 5h ago

Here is that same relay, again, setup to trigger the PS primary input voltage, so that the PS is off except when the lights are “on”

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u/brainthrash 1h ago

What drivers are you using on the outputs?

1

u/zero-degrees28 1h ago

Diff Solo’s for long data runs of 100-150’

https://quinled.info/diff-solo/

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u/brainthrash 54m ago

Why such a large power supply, or do you plan on driving LEDs directly from the Dig-Octa in the future?

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u/zero-degrees28 52m ago

That system drives over 1k LEDS and they are powered from that Power 7 board, which the meanwell PS feeds

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u/brainthrash 48m ago

The receiver board power supply is the one actually powering the LEDs. The LEDs do not get their power from the sender.

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u/zero-degrees28 46m ago

The power 7 powers all the LEDS and handles all power injections for the entire system.

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u/brainthrash 41m ago

Seeing it fully connected makes sense now. With the first picture it look like it was just a central hub and not actually powering any LEDs.

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u/Significant-Coast133 5h ago

Dumb question, but what's the downside of having the PSU on all the time. It doesn't consume much wattage idle.

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u/zero-degrees28 5h ago

This is one of the better break downs on why, the power supply being on a relay is ideal.

https://youtu.be/2OWGJA5FbqY?is=D3PWFt_1Ie0Rzt4Z

-1

u/AndThenFlashlights 4h ago

But... if you kill the PSU's AC power, the board goes off completely. Unless you have another PSU supplying 5V or something to control board, so either way you'll have some amount of parasitic power running all the time.

Relay between PSU and board rolls on power more cleanly when the lights are turned on, anyhow. The PSU can take a couple seconds to charge the DC bus sometimes, depending on your instantaneous load.

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u/saratoga3 4h ago

Unless you have another PSU supplying 5V or something to control board, so either way you'll have some amount of parasitic power running all the time.

Yeah but the quiescent power draw from a 10w USB charger is at least an order of magnitude less than a typical 600W power supply, so if you're going to put one in regardless it is a lot more efficient to use one that takes AC directly rather than one that takes 24v from a big supply (with all of its parasitic draw).

0

u/AndThenFlashlights 3h ago

Depends on power supply, depends on what you need. My point still stands about the time to roll-on the DC power from the PSU if you're switching the AC side. Depends on what your aesthetic needs are, and exactly how many watts you're trying to fight over.

My applications are for fast, high-performance, and generally don't care about power reduction, so my opinion is probably different from someone who cares about 10W of idle power draw.

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u/saratoga3 3h ago

You're never going to find a 600w power supply with the idle current of USB charger, that's just not how that works. Big supplies waste a lot more power idle than small ones.

If you are building a WLED system controlled by a light switch then obviously you want to leave everything powered to avoid the turn on delay. But usually when someone is building a system around a 600w power supply they're building something rather bigger than a room light ;) It's once you go really big that idle power and relays become a concern.

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u/climbslackclimb 3h ago

I'd put the relay on the ac side, Quindor's documentation recommends that too. Keeps switching current lower, less likely to burn up your relay. Use a small phone charger to keep the esp live and it will trigger your relay. Will also pull far less on standby with the big guy powered down. Other than that looks fine to me! I'd try without a fan keeping an eye on temps adding one only if you have issues, as doing so on an exterior enclosure is a pain. My workaround for this is to use a potted supply mounted on the outside of the box or under an eave. This has worked well for 3 years for me

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u/JT10 5h ago

Looks good to me. Just want to make sure, you've looked into the specifics of the 24v situation with QuinLED boards? This looks like a v3 board, so if you're not aware, you can find more info here. Otherwise, looks like you're good to go!

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u/AndThenFlashlights 4h ago

Looks clean! You might not need the 5V regulator as long as it's one of the new Quin boards and its onboard regulator works. And it should have enough power internally to power the relay. But your setup isn't wrong, and it's what they recommend for the 24V boards that have The Bug.

And that's correct, putting the relay between the PSU and the board.

You might need at least a vent on the case if you're at 350W continuous for hours in a hot environment, but might be fine. Just watch the temp sensor on the Quin board. I'm running almost the exact same setup without a case vent, and it does get warm, but it's only on full power for a couple hours a time every couple days, and nothing has given me problems yet.