We have to change the lights in my tabletennis club. We are going to put up around 50 panels in 3 strings Each panel is 40w and 24vdc. I was wondering what the best and most cost-effective way to do this might be.

One of the things I was looking to do was to get a single driver for several panels. Maybe a 200w driver for 5 panels? But would it then be better to do it in series with 120v or in parallel. And should the driver be constant power, or?

I will appreciate any and all help!

  • @A_Union_of_Kobolds
    3•2 months ago

    Electrician here.

    So are these lay-in lights for drop ceiling I’m guessing?

    These days pretty much every light you can buy has the drivers built-in. The real choice is between buying integrated LED lights, or regular fluorescent-style fixtures with LED bulbs retrofitted. In the former the drivers are in the light, the latter, the bulbs.

    I wire them in parallel straight off the 120v switch leg as a rule. You only need a constant hot if they’re being run off occupancy sensors or something like that, since those act as the switch.

    I wouldn’t fool with engineering a lighting system using LEDs, personally. They can be finicky and most purpose-built lights work pretty well for a long time.

    • @boojumliussnarkOP
      2•2 months ago

      I don’t know how you would call them in English, but they are 60cmx60cm panels, with built in LEDs. They are 60x60 because that is a standard size for ceiling panels here. So you can just take out a ceiling panel and put in one of these LED panels instead. The driver is external - mainly so you can choose different types of dimming (simple or DALI mostly). I am considering using a common driver for several panels, to save money (the club is not for profit, we don’t have a lot of money) mainly on lighting sockets. Having to buy and set up 50 sockets instead of 10, can be a good chunk of money. I hope this makes sense. I have no experience with AC, only low power DC.

      • @A_Union_of_Kobolds
        3•2 months ago

        Ah gotcha. Yeah as an American sparky, we don’t see those external drivers much. Most LED lay-ins are dimmable right out of the box.

        Outlets themselves are usually less than $1 apiece, but if you wanted to you could just cut the plug off and wire them directly to your hot and neutral.

        I don’t know what would be most economical for you to be honest.

        • @boojumliussnarkOP
          1•2 months ago

          Ah, outlets are around 15usd for the cheapest here and look like this:

          And then we need the box, which is also around 15usd.

          So maybe 1.500usd, which is quite a bit of money for us.

          The thing is, regulations don’t allow us to simply daisy chain mains voltage without one of those outlets for each link - except maybe if the driver had daisy chaining in it, but I can’t seem to find one.

          This is why I was hoping to maybe find a driver that would at least let us daisy chain 5 or 6 panels, since I’m allowed to do just about anything I want with DC, it is hardly regulated.