Samsung LED strip build having concerns. Wattage dropping

Hey all,
I’m in week 2 of flowering now. Having concerns. seems im not getting full power.

its brand new, i just built it, moved the plants to the new lights 2 weeks ago now.

I used the LedGardener website tool to come up with the setup, check it out:

My diy Samsung Led strp build:
2’x4’ space
14 Samsung LED lt-F562b strips (2’ strips single row)/heatsinks
Meanwell 480-24b driver

I wired in parallel, following the diagram from ledg website.
Used 18 g wire to strips, and 16 gauge to the wagos.

I also have a sonoff pow hooked up to it to check wall wattage and as a timer.
All seems working well and plants look great

But
When I first started using it, it was only pulling max 350watts at the wall. Ok I figured 25watts each strip plus voltage drop maybe thats all it could go with that amount of strips, so haven’t been worried about it.

But I’ve noticed it staring to drop daily, now it will max out at around 300w today was 288w for awhile.

Driver issues possible?
Maybe my wiring? paralel wiring using wagos and 18g wire

Edit- also, i have the B version driver, so i use a potentiometer, even with it disconnected and running 100% im only pulling 300w at the wall.

Driver is only warm to touch full on.leds are only very warm. my other QB for veg tent let me crank um up to hot, but not this one. must be i wired something wrong?

Thx for any help

Some images, sorry little blurry, each one on its own heatsink, mounted pvc frame

current flower tent

Cinderalla 99
2 weeks into flowering

Here is what the LedGardner tool pops up with my build specs:
I planned on running them at 75%, and should pull about 449 watts...im getting like 300w right now...

Time to break out the voltmeter and check for voltage drop on sections of your drive circuit. That will show if any of your conductors or connections have excessive resistance.

Three possibilities I can think of, one like GBAUTO said, a connection is deteriorating for some reason leading to voltage drop, your driver is starting to poop out, or maybe you have a few (all?) of your strips requiring max production voltage. This is listed as 24.2V +/- .3V. Problem with this scenario is your driver is capped at 24V. Only way to be sure is to measure. Let us know what you find.

Thx, just checked Samsung specs on my strips

my 2’ F562B strips are rated at minimum 21.9v to max 24.2v. Should be ok right.?

Maybe some wire I coming loose somewhere?

it is running fine, but only going up to 301watts today, is it possible I’m running outta juice at the wall with all my other systems running in the room?

SMT69 said:

...is it possible I’m running outta juice at the wall with all my other systems running in the room?

Click to expand...

I sure hope not, as your circuit breakers are designed to trip in that case.

This morning my lights kick on and now I'm running at only 276w, I'm monitoring this thru the sonoff pow. I'm losing power everyday. I should be able run run these babies much higher !!

maybe i should pull the light out and then rewire it ? i was thinking maybe a wire is not completely snug in one one the connectors. theres just a shit load of connections here uggh what a pain.

Any ideas ?

SMT69 said:

Thx, just checked Samsung specs on my strips

my 2’ F562B strips are rated at minimum 21.9v to max 24.2v. Should be ok right.?

Click to expand...

Yes, BUT, that's at nominal current. Since your driver is rated at 20A output and you have 14 strips, the current to each strip would be around 1.43A, that's 300mA over the nominal (1125mA), so they require a bump in voltage over nominal as well to reach full power.

Try this test since you have the 100k pot hooked up: sweep the pot slowly from min to max keeping an eye on the wall watts. Is there a point where the watts don't increase but you still have much more to dial up? If that's true, you are most likely running out of voltage.

omg, let me check, thx alot for taking a look

Nope
Sweeps from 33w-289w all the way smoothly,
when i hit max on the pot its at 289w, power doesnt stop anywehere it smoothly increases from 33-289.

dmn, i dont have enough juice on this driver?

Edit: 2 weeks ago when first setup she was pulling 350 or so watts, over 2 weeks its been going down....hmmm

BTW, Plants are freakin luving this light.....these lights are killer so far....i can't wait to dial this in, I'll do a journal here

shimz said:

Yes, BUT, that's at nominal current. Since your driver is rated at 20A output and you have 14 strips, the current to each strip would be around 1.43A, that's 300mA over the nominal (1125mA), so they require a bump in voltage over nominal as well to reach full power.

Try this test since you have the 100k pot hooked up: sweep the pot slowly from min to max keeping an eye on the wall watts. Is there a point where the watts don't increase but you still have much more to dial up? If that's true, you are most likely running out of voltage.

Click to expand...

I agree with this dim your driver a bit I bet it will up the power

thx, ok tried that too, it just smoothly powers down slightly. So at 100% its running 289w , i dial it back a bit here and there it just goes down accordingly say 270, 265 etc.

289w is about half what i was expecting, I figured my build would pull 475w or so at max and i would dial it down safely to 75% and run um you know 350-400w or so...that was the plan

maybe i need a different driver? i could always use this one in a another tent

Ok, time to measure all the voltage drops. Let me know if you need help with that.

Sounds like a failing driver or a wiring issue on the DC side. Do you have a voltmeter? A cheap one will do, and we can guide you through the troubleshooting. It's good to learn this stuff.

yep, i just bought one for checkin this couple days ago

SMT69 said:

thx, ok tried that too, it just smoothly powers down slightly. So at 100% its running 289w , i dial it back a bit here and there it just goes down accordingly say 270, 265 etc.

289w is about half what i was expecting, I figured my build would pull 475w or so at max and i would dial it down safely to 75% and run um you know 350-400w or so...that was the plan

maybe i need a different driver? i could always use this one in a another tent

Click to expand...

How far away from the fixture do you have your driver? Maybe you need a different gauge wire?