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LEDs

High Power Component LEDs

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brightness from many brands, including Cree, luxeon, Nichia & more.

Cree LEDs
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EmitterRebel Color Bare Emitter
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Heatsinks

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Heatsinks and housings give your project a clean enclosure while maintaining a low
temperature.

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Closeout

Understanding LED Drivers and How To Choose the Right One

10 Replies

LED drivers can be a confusing part of LED technology. There are so many different
types and variations that it can seem a little overwhelming at times. Thats why I
wanted to write a quick post explaining the varieties, what makes them different, and
things you should look for when choosing the LED driver(s) for your lighting
application.

What is an LED driver you might ask? An LED driver is an electrical device that
regulates power to an LED or a string of LEDs. Using one is very important in
preventing damage to your LEDs as the forward voltage (Vf) of a high-power LED
changes with temperature. Forward Voltage is the amount of volts the light emitting
diode requires to conduct electricity and light up. As temperature increases, the
forward voltage of the LED decreases, causing the LED to draw more current. The LED
will continue to get hotter and draw more current until the LED burns itself out, this is
also known as Thermal Runaway. The LED driver is a self-contained power supply
which has outputs that are matched to the electrical characteristics of the LED(s). This
helps avoid thermal runaway as the constant current LED driver compensates for the
changes in the forward voltage while delivering a constant current to the LED.

Things to consider before selecting an LED driver

What type of LEDs are being used and how many?

Find out forward voltage, recommended driving current, etc.

Do I need a constant current LED driver or a constant voltage LED driver?

We go over constant current vs. constant voltage here.

What type of power will be used? (DC, AC, batteries, etc.)

Running from AC? See how an AC driver will benefit you!

What are the space limitations?

Working in a tight area? Not a lot of voltage to work with?

What are the main goals of the application?

Size, cost, efficiency, performance, etc.

Any special features needed?

Dimming, pulsing, microprocessor control, etc.

First Off, You Should Know

There are two main types of drivers, those that use low voltage DC input power
(generally 5-32VDC) and those that use high voltage AC input power (generally 120-
277VAC). LED drivers that use high-voltage AC power are called Off-Line drivers, or AC
LED drivers. In most applications using a low voltage DC input LED driver is
recommended. Even if your input is high voltage AC, using an additional switching
power supply will make it possible to use a DC input driver. Low voltage DC drivers are
recommended as they are extremely efficient and reliable. For smaller applications
there are more dimming and output options available compared to high voltage AC
drivers so you have more to work with in your application. If you have a large general
lighting project for residential or commercial lighting, however, you should see how AC
drivers might be better for this type of job.

Second Thing You Should Know

Secondly, you need to know the drive current that you want to put to the LED. Higher
drive currents will result in more light from the LED, and will also require more wattage
to run the light. It is important to know your LEDs specs so you know the
recommended drive currents and heat sink requirements so you dont burn the LED
out with too much current or excess heat. Lastly, it is good to know what
you are looking for from your lighting application. For example, if you want dimming
then you need to choose a driver with dimming capabilities.

A Little Bit About Dimming

Dimming LEDs varies with what kind of power you are using; so I will go over both DC
and AC dimming options so we can better understand how to dim all applications,
whether DC or AC.

DC Dimming

Low voltage DC powered drivers can be easily dimmed in a couple different ways. The
simplest dimming solution for these is using a potentiometer. This gives a full range of
0-100% dimming.

20K Ohm Potentiometer

This is usually recommended when you only have one driver in your circuit but if there
are multiple drivers being dimmed from one potentiometer, the value of the
potentiometer can be found from K/N where K is the value of your potentiometer
and N is the number of drivers you are using. We have wired BuckPucks that come
with a 5K turn knob potentiometer for dimming but we also have this 20K
potentiometer that can easily be used with our BuckBlock and FlexBlock Drivers. Just
connect the dimming ground wire to the center prong and the dimming wire to one
side or the other (choosing a side just determines what way you turn the knob to make
it dim).

Your second option for dimming is to use a 0-10V wall dimmer,

like our A019 Low Voltage Dimming Control. This is the better way of dimming if you
have multiple units, as the 0-10V dimmer can work with several drivers at a time. Just
hook the dimming wires right to the input of the driver and youre good to go.

AC Dimming

For high voltage AC power drivers there are a couple options for dimming as well
depending on your driver. Many AC driver work with 0-10V dimming, like we went
over above. We also carry Phihong LED Drivers that offer TRIAC dimming so they work
with many leading-edge and trailing-edge dimmers. This is helpful as it allows LEDs to
work with very popular residential dimming systems like Lutron and Leviton.

How many LEDs can you run with a driver?

The maximum number of LEDs you can run from a single driver
is determined by dividing the maximum output voltage of the driver by the forward
voltage of your LED(s). When using LuxDrive drivers, you determine the maximum
output voltage by subtracting 2 volts from your input voltage. This is needed because
the drivers need a 2 volt overhead to power the internal circuitry. For example, using
the Wired 1000mA BuckPuck driver with a 24 volt input, you would have a maximum
output voltage of 22 volts.

What do I need for Power?

This leads us to finding what input voltage we need for our LEDs. Input voltage, after
all, equals our maximum output voltage for our driver after we take into account the
driver circuit overhead voltage. Make sure you know the minimum and maximum
input voltages for your LED drivers. For an example we will stick with the Wired
1000mA BuckPuck, which can take input voltages from 7-32VDC. In finding what your
input voltage should be for an application you can use this simple formula.

Vo + (Vf x LEDn) = Vin

Where:

Vo = Voltage overhead for drivers 2 if you are using a DC LuxDrive driver or 4 if you
are using an AC LuxDrive driver

Vf = Forward voltage of LEDs you wish to power

LEDn = The number of LEDs you want to power

Vin = Input voltage to the driver

Product Specifications from Cree XPG2 Product Page

For example, if you need to power 6 Cree XPG2 LEDs from a DC power source and
youre using the Wired BuckPuck from above, then Vin would need to be at least
20VDC based on the following calculation.

2 + (3.0 x 6) = 20

This determines the minimum input voltage you need to provide. There is no harm in
using a higher voltage up to the maximum input voltage rating of the driver, so since
we dont carry a 20VDC power supply, you will probably stick with a 24VDC power
supply in order to run these LEDs.

Now this helps us make sure the voltage works, but in order to find the right power
supply we also need to find the wattage of the whole LED circuit. The calculation for
LED wattage is:

Vf x Drive Current (in Amps)

Using the 6 XPG2 LEDs from above we can find our watts.

3.0 V x 1A = 3 Watts per LED

Total Wattage for the circuit = 6 x 3 = 18 watts

When calculating the appropriate power supply wattage for your project, its
important to allow a 20% cushion to your wattage calculation. Adding this 20%
cushion will prevent the power supply from being over-worked. Overworking the
power supply can cause the LEDs to flicker or cause premature failure of the power
supply. Just calculate the cushion by multiplying the total wattage by 1.2. So for our
above example we would want at least 21.6 watts (18 x 1.2 = 21.6). Our 24VDC 1.7A
power supply would be more than sufficient for this project as you can find wattage by
multiplying your 24VDC by the 1.7A which comes out to 40.8 Watts, so we have almost
double the wattage we need.

What if I dont have enough voltage? Using an LED Boost Driver (FlexBlock)

The FlexBlock LED drivers are boost drivers which means they can output a higher
voltage than what is supplied to them. This allows you to power more LEDs in-series
with a single LED driver. This is extremely helpful in applications where your input
voltage is limited and you need to get

FlexBlock

more power to the LEDs. As with the BuckPuck driver, the maximum number of LEDs
you can power with a single driver in-series is determined by dividing the maximum
output voltage of the driver by the forward voltage of your LEDs. The FlexBlock can be
connected in two different configurations and varies when it comes to input voltage. In
Buck-Boost (standard) mode the FlexBlock can handle LED loads that are above, below,
or equal to the voltage of the power-supply. You find the maximum output voltage of
the driver in this mode with this formula:

48VDC Vin
So when using a 12VDC power supply and the XPG2 LEDs from above how many could
we run with the 700mA FlexBlock? Your max output voltage is 36VDC (48-12) and the
forward voltage of the XPG2 running at 700mA is 2.9 so by dividing 36VDC by this we
see that this driver could power 12 LEDs. In Boost-Only Mode the FlexBlock can output
up to 48VDC from as little as 10VDC. So if you were in Boost-Only mode you could
power up to 16 LEDs (48/2.9). Here we go over using a FlexBlock boosting driver to
power your LEDs in depth.

Checking wattage for High Power AC Input Drivers

Now with AC input drivers they give off a certain amount of watts to run so you need
to find the wattage of your LEDs. You can do this by using this formula:

[Vf x Current (in Amps)] x LEDn = Wattage

So if we are trying to power the same 6 Cree XPG2 LEDs at 700mA your wattage would
be

[2.9 x .7] x 6 = 12.18

This means you need to find an AC driver that can run up to 13 watts like our Phihong
15 Watt LED driver.

NOTE: It is important to consider the minimum output voltage of off-line drivers when
designing your application. For instance, the driver above has a minimum output of 15
volts. Since the minimum output voltage is greater than that of our single XPG2 LED
(2.9V), you would need to connect at least 6 of these together in-series to work with
this particular driver.

Tools for understanding and finding the right LED driver

So now you should have a pretty good idea on what an LED driver is and on what you
need to look for in selecting a driver with a power supply that is sufficient enough for
your application. I know there will still be questions and for that you can contact us
here at (802) 728-6031 or sales@LEDsupply.com.

We also have this Driver Selector tool that helps calculate what driver would be best
by inputting your circuit specs.

Thanks for following along and I hope this post helps all those wondering what LED
drivers are all about.