LED Driver - UL/ETL Help

Inception24

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Jul 18, 2012
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Hey all,

I am doing an artistic LED installation using some Bridgelux ES chips. They are constant current, and the elec inspector is not going to let it pass because the drivers are recognized components, not listed. I have come up with absolutely nothing in terms of finding an ETL/UL listed constant current supply, but constant voltage is no problem at all.

My question is, could i just use a battery charger? These are all 8v, 1A chips, and they are wired 6 in a series array, so a 48v 1A charger should do the trick, unless I am missing something.

If anyone would could provide any insight, it would be greatly appreciated.
 

nickelflipper

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Sep 27, 2010
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Look up PowerSupplies/off Board/led/constant current in the 60-100W 1A range at Digikey. They seem to skirt the UL issue by saying UL compliant, and therefore not listed???

Edit: Huh, Mean Well, Inventronics same deal.
 
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SemiMan

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Jan 13, 2005
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Hey all,

I am doing an artistic LED installation using some Bridgelux ES chips. They are constant current, and the elec inspector is not going to let it pass because the drivers are recognized components, not listed. I have come up with absolutely nothing in terms of finding an ETL/UL listed constant current supply, but constant voltage is no problem at all.

My question is, could i just use a battery charger? These are all 8v, 1A chips, and they are wired 6 in a series array, so a 48v 1A charger should do the trick, unless I am missing something.

If anyone would could provide any insight, it would be greatly appreciated.


UL listed components are meant to be standalone essentially. A recognized component is meant to be a sub-component of an overall assembly.

By electrical inspector, I am assuming you meant just you local electrical inspector. They are somewhat limited in what they can approve.

Now that said, what you can likely do is treat the installation in whole as a "product" and have a UL field certification. This is akin to having a UL Cert for a product but done on a one off obviously without the same level of detail. Once you have the field inspection label on your product, the local inspector will likely sign off on the total installation. I would not take my word for it though and would talk to your local inspector.

Semiman
 

missionspec

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Jul 26, 2012
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Here are two USA manufacturers of UL listed/recognized Constant Current LED drivers. I have used both of their products and they are both excellent, (and of course not at all cheap).

Magtech Industries (Las Vegas), possibly the LF1048-48 would work for you, you can take a look at them here;http://www.magtechind.com/engine/file_writing/file_uploads/pSBZfy4Os2yuTCKz.pdf
They tend to have some units on hand and they also have stocking distributors listed on their website.

Thomas Research, possibly the LED50W-48-C1050 will be right for you, you can take a look at them here;
http://www.trpssl.com/driver_spec_sheets/LED-50W Series 05-14-12.pdf
You pretty much go direct to the manufacturer for these, they are in IL.

The voltage and current specs you mentioned seem a bit odd to me, and I took a look and couldnt find any bridgelux products that use those, if you tell me which model number you are using I could possibly be more specific about what specific driver might work for you.

The bottom line with local inspectors is that they are GOD and they can approve or reject anything they actually want to in my experience.


We use 3 of the the bridgelux
BXRA-C0802-00E00
in one of our overhead fixtures and it is one 'butt-kickin' LED as far as I am concerned.

good luck!

MC​
 

blasterman

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Jul 17, 2008
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I'm going out on a limb here and take a guess the bigger reason the drivers didn't pass is because they are 'mains in' (120v) and some generic variety without any external certification. Went through this a few months ago where we did a big LED over-haul in a restaurant and the owner already had purchased a pile of generic 120v LED drivers, and I refused to touch them because they had no external certification.

What we did was use a cheap 12v buck on each LED, and then powered each light with a common, central 24volt DC supply. At that point only the 24volt supply needed certification, which it had. Given that everything else was 24volt or lower it didn't matter. Or, so that electrician told me. If he's wrong, I'd appreciate one of the posters above to tell me.

Otherwise, I stick to Xitaniums, Mean Well's, Inventronics, etc., for constant current runs. I don't know what particular Bridgelux this is and can't find an older ES that runs at 8 volts.
 
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