Rapid Leds only light up when I touch heatsink...

[SaltwaterNuB]

Last night I finished wiring my leds. Its a biocube 8 kit. I was given the fixture with the kit in place. I replaced the potentiometer and rewired the leds. Now the leds only light up very little and its only when I touch the heatsink. The leds are lit up the whole time theyre plugged in, but supper dim. Then they get a little brighter when I touch the board. Ive read that it may be a short. Thoughts from anyone else....

 

[fort384]

You definitely have a short somewhere, or a bad potentiometer. Kind of like christmas lights, you will have to go back and work each one over again to find the problem.

 

[SaltwaterNuB]

You definitely have a short somewhere, or a bad potentiometer. Kind of like christmas lights, you will have to go back and work each one over again to find the problem.

Ok I will go back over each wire and solder point. There is 1 wire that I didnt change out. The pot is brand new. Just received it yesterday. All leds flash 1x when I power off. Ive heard this is normal...

 

[fort384]

yes thats normal for some power supplies.

 

[SaltwaterNuB]

Ok cool. Good to know.

 

[SaltwaterNuB]

Got it. It was the positive and negative on the 10w ac adapter being switched

 

[fort384]

That'll do it. A reallllly short short I suppose . Glad you got it.

 

[SaltwaterNuB]

Thanks, the motivation is back. I need to out the fixture back together and mount it over my 40g breeder.

 

[raheelahmed]

check my diy led fixture.
led light fixture part 1 - YouTube
led aquarium light part 2 - YouTube

it has 60 dimmable led of 3w each