I built a power supply box with 6 Meanwell 5-350's for powering my 36 5VDC WS2811-WS2812B strips. Each strip is actually a 'half strip' being 2.5 meters long and only 75 pixels.
Everything is actually working fine however lately I have been having a problem powering up the power supply box without tripping out the GFI circuit breaker. Power from this is from my garage and all outdoor outlets in America by code have to have one of these GFI outlets to safeguard against electrical current going to ground. We have had this safety standard in America for as far as I can remember. Decades.
These six meanwell power supplies each have their individual 'hot' shutoffs as well as a master shutoff for removing the 'hot' for ALL power going to these six meanwells. I have tried individually to isolate as to which meanwell might be tripping the GFI. But it appears to be random and 'additive'. No individual power supply seems to be the culprit. I usually can get 5 of them power up but when I energize the 6th one it blows the GFI circuit every time. I need reliability.
These power supplies are wired up very simple. A hot(switchable and fuseable), a commen neutral to ALL of them, and the green ground is wired to the steel frame of my enclosure.
This problem is a MAJOR show stopper. If power drops out from this outlet. I lose ALL of my RGB project as well as anything else plugged into that outlet. I also have my D/A converter, my transmitter and several LOR controllers plugged into that outlet. Right now ONLY my RGB power box is plugged into that outlet and it is tripping the GFI fairly consistently. Seems to happen more in the morning. All of my 36 light strips are in the garage in a dry environment for testing and for deployment for Halloween. We live in as very dry climate so moisture is not the problem. I'm at my wits end trying to figure out why this design is tripping the GFI. BIG NUISIANCE!!
Also, each power supply has a fine tune adjustment for voltage output. I believe that the voltage out is set fairly exact at 5.00 however I want to turn it up 100mv to 5.1 so the strips get at least 5.0 when energized. Thoughts??
Any ideas what to do?? --Greg in Denver Colorado
Everything is actually working fine however lately I have been having a problem powering up the power supply box without tripping out the GFI circuit breaker. Power from this is from my garage and all outdoor outlets in America by code have to have one of these GFI outlets to safeguard against electrical current going to ground. We have had this safety standard in America for as far as I can remember. Decades.
These six meanwell power supplies each have their individual 'hot' shutoffs as well as a master shutoff for removing the 'hot' for ALL power going to these six meanwells. I have tried individually to isolate as to which meanwell might be tripping the GFI. But it appears to be random and 'additive'. No individual power supply seems to be the culprit. I usually can get 5 of them power up but when I energize the 6th one it blows the GFI circuit every time. I need reliability.
These power supplies are wired up very simple. A hot(switchable and fuseable), a commen neutral to ALL of them, and the green ground is wired to the steel frame of my enclosure.
This problem is a MAJOR show stopper. If power drops out from this outlet. I lose ALL of my RGB project as well as anything else plugged into that outlet. I also have my D/A converter, my transmitter and several LOR controllers plugged into that outlet. Right now ONLY my RGB power box is plugged into that outlet and it is tripping the GFI fairly consistently. Seems to happen more in the morning. All of my 36 light strips are in the garage in a dry environment for testing and for deployment for Halloween. We live in as very dry climate so moisture is not the problem. I'm at my wits end trying to figure out why this design is tripping the GFI. BIG NUISIANCE!!
Also, each power supply has a fine tune adjustment for voltage output. I believe that the voltage out is set fairly exact at 5.00 however I want to turn it up 100mv to 5.1 so the strips get at least 5.0 when energized. Thoughts??
Any ideas what to do?? --Greg in Denver Colorado