thank you @Covertgrower
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@dbrn32,I’m back…made some progress on the new light. Frame is built…cross pieces are done(except for one strip…waiting for last piece of angle). I have attached some pics of the progress. I need to add some aluminum plate for the drivers to attach to, should have that done mid week. I need some help wiring this thing up. I’ve looked around on the web and couldn’t really find anything. I’m not an electrician, but given some instructions I should be able to do it. I have attached a sketch(I guess you can call it that) that shows the layout of the light. @dbrn32… can you help with Wago count, wire type and size, and anything else you might think of?
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Yep! Looking good so far too!
For the wagos it really depends on how you intend to hook it up. Do you plan on each driver having it’s own power cord?
Wire you’re gonna want 18awg solid conductor on the output side of driver. Make sure the insulation is rated for at least 300v. It’s commonly referred to as hookup wire.
You can use a lot of different stuff on the input of driver (ac side). Extension cords with female end cut off work. Or you can get type so cable in like 16/3 or 14/3 and just get male plug ends.
I gotta run for a bit, but I’ll help you get wiring together later.
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We’re doing 5 strips per driver right? So for each driver you’re going to connect the dc+ from driver to one strip, and then the dc- from each driver to a different strip. And then connect the positive terminal from strip to the negative terminal on the strip next to it. Mine aren’t currently connected to driver but I’ll post pic.
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that looks really simple. I plan to run all 3 drivers off one power cord. As far as Wage connectors… looks like I don’t need them…correct??
thanks again for your help
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You’ll need some sort of connectors, but doesn’t have to be wagos. Depending on where you mount driver, you’ll probably need some sort of jumpers from the driver leads to leds. But you could solder, use wire nuts, or just about any other standard method.
If you plan on running all the drivers from one cord, a few of the 5 port wagos would work real nice for that. Better than cramming 4 wires into a wire nut in my opinion, but totally up to you.
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I don’t want to sound like a complete idiot…but can you describe or sketch how to use the Wago’s for wiring 3 drivers using one power cord?
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Gimme a minute. I dig them out of garage.
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sweet thank you
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Ok here you go. Obviously you would want 3 of these, one for earth ground as well. But I could only find two, sorry. I think part number on these 5 ports is 222-415, but double check that. Also make sure that your power cord is rated to carry current from all 3 drivers, I would probably make sure it uses 14awg conductors minimum.
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For the record, I was gonna do it up real nice for you, but cords cold and not flexible at all from sitting in garage. Wouldn’t be very clear at all.
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@dbrn32 you would have all of those items ready for assembly in your garage, but not assembled. What gives? lol.
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If you only knew haha! Between not wanting freeze my behind off, and playing mr mom all the time, I can’t get anything done here. The Cree/qb light is literally sitting on my desk at work. Been tinkering with it when I have down time. It’s getting close though. I mounted dimmers and and half dozen cable glands to a little project box last Friday. Didn’t have bolts small enough to mount the box and drivers though. I ordered a bunch of those waterproof connectors I posted month or so back too, expecting them by end of week. Soon as I get that stuff she’ll glow.
My mind is three builds out right now anyway. I’ve been pulling some solid but small heatsinks out of junk ups units at work. I think they’ll work passive on those cxm 9’s. For $2.50 I’m sure as hell gonna try! Not available til April though. And arrow doesn’t carry the driver I wanted for those 280mm gen 2 eb strips, go figure.
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OK…I guess I am an idiot…can you dumb it down for me whenever you get a moment??
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@dbrn32 lol Mr, Mom. Thought I was the only one that had to do that? All good man, I have several started projects but none completed. I had to poke a little fun. Lol
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Those wagos are nothing but a large wire nut. Each port is connected to each other internally, they just have individual ports and levers. There’s room for 5 wires on that model. So you connect your hot wire from your power cord to all of the acl (ac line) driver leads on one wago. On a different wago, you connect your neutral wire plug and all of your acn (ac neutral) driver leads. On a third wago you connect the ground wire from your plug to all of the ground wires from your drivers.
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Trust me, I can take it haha.
Wifey adjusted her work schedule after baby came. She now works 10 hour days with hour ride home in traffic m-w. But she gets to work from home on Thursdays and off on Fridays. So you know, as long as it suits her I just deal with it. Not like it was much different prior anyways, I’ve always done most of the cooking and cleaning.
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Three line cords connected
Or just go to Home Depot and buy three of the 6 foot extension cords for $1.46 each. Cut the outlet side off the line cords. Voila: Three separate line cords, one per driver. Hook each one up to the AC input terminals on a driver. Plug the three line cord plugs into a three outlet adapter or extension cord, so you can plug that device into your timer.
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ok…that makes sense. What is your opinion on using good quality crimp butt connectors on some connections?
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