Led flood lights failure

M

martinh89

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Evening chaps,
A few months ago I installed 6 x 30w led flood lights around a commercial building, I wired them in series from a ip66 box with a night and day sensor and a contactor, I went to each light via a smaller ip66 box in 2.5 sy cable, everything tested OK so off I went.

I received a phone call about 2 of the lights have gone out so up I went and discovered that 2 of the ip66 boxes were completely filled with water and upon further investigation I discovered there weren't any seals, I replaced the boxes and the lights and left.

I've had another phone call that 3 lights have gone now, and I'm stumped? I'm going down tomorrow bit I'm wondering weather this could be the effect of capillary reaction from what ever water got in to the cable last time?

My plan of action tomorrow is to check the boxes but I'm pretty confident they'll be fine as I sealed them last time as a double measure.
Any ideas?

Cheers
 
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I did, I checked the rest and they were fine, I'm even considering changing the wiring tomorrow including going to a new weatherproof box and then taking individual legs to each light, I'll obviously keep know more tomorrow when I get up there but this will be the third time on the roof, definitely not happy
 
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it'susually the drivers that fail. got one at home need to have a look at when i get the inclination.
 
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Hi,SY cable can migrate and hold water,between the sheath and braid.

You can see the blackened,corroded sections,at the ends,on older installations,and i would not choose it for a job such as described,for this reason.

The water can arrive,via the cable,or travel down it,from a wet junction box,only to return,after the box has been dried/changed.
 
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martinh89 said:
I replaced the boxes and the lights and left.
Click to expand...
Why was it necessary to change the lights? I'm assuming you used the IP boxes to connect the main wiring to the flex tail usual on LED floods. If water had got into the connection box that should not affect the lights.
If you found the lights had failed I'd suggest that the water ingress was coincidental and that you have fitted poor quality lights.
 
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Hi sorry for the late reply, for some reason I've received no notification emails.

Anyway the lights are 30w led tamlite, and 3 out of 9 failed.
I've used ip66 boxes to connect the flex from the lights and also the next light down ect..
I've used sy 3 core because it's cheaper that swa and I've used it before for outdoor lighting with no problem.

I discovered that water had been retained in the cable from when the box flooded and this somehow rusted the strip connector in the first box.
I have changed the 3 lights, and about 20 metres of cable, sealed all screw and cable entries with Sealent , tests came back fine dead and live.

No there wasn't any water ingress in any of the lights, I checked (was hopeing there were on grounds of returning them)
The stuffing glands used were just white plastic ones which I also have sealed inside and out.

When you mentioned the driver has gone what did you mean? Sorry if it seems a stupid question?
 
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martinh89 said:
Hi sorry for the late reply, for some reason I've received no notification emails.

Anyway the lights are 30w led tamlite, and 3 out of 9 failed.
I've used ip66 boxes to connect the flex from the lights and also the next light down ect..
I've used sy 3 core because it's cheaper that swa and I've used it before for outdoor lighting with no problem.

I discovered that water had been retained in the cable from when the box flooded and this somehow rusted the strip connector in the first box.
I have changed the 3 lights, and about 20 metres of cable, sealed all screw and cable entries with Sealent , tests came back fine dead and live.

No there wasn't any water ingress in any of the lights, I checked (was hopeing there were on grounds of returning them)
The stuffing glands used were just white plastic ones which I also have sealed inside and out.

When you mentioned the driver has gone what did you mean? Sorry if it seems a stupid question?
Click to expand...
but are they all working now?
 
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martinh89 said:
Anyway the lights are 30w led tamlite, and 3 out of 9 failed.
I've used sy 3 core because it's cheaper that swa and I've used it before for outdoor lighting with no problem.

I discovered that water had been retained in the cable from when the box flooded and this somehow rusted the strip connector in the first box.
I have changed the 3 lights, and about 20 metres of cable, sealed all screw and cable entries with Sealent , tests came back fine dead and live.

The stuffing glands used were just white plastic ones which I also have sealed inside and out.

When you mentioned the driver has gone what did you mean? Sorry if it seems a stupid question?
Click to expand...
So, it seems you've used incorrect cable, terminated in incorrect glands for it....and the driver's done a runner.
....just for starters.
 
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Yes there working now.

As for the wrong cable and wrong glands, I got taught that each job is designed to its surroundings aswel as it's use, and the lights are completely out the way, and there's no possibility of damage therefore I didn't feel the need to over engineer it, the only reason water ingress occurred to begin with is because the ip66 box fitted had a seal missing which caused the cable to retain water via capillary reaction which caused corrosion on the strip connectors this time round.
Thank you for the replys some were helpful others not so helpful
 
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It's not really a case of over engineering, more a case of using the correct materials for the job.

SY cable is generally not recommended for use outdoors mainly because UV light will damage the sheath and it will crack and eventually fall off. However I have heard rumours of SY cable that the manufacturers claim can be used outdoors. I don't think any decent sparks I know would do so regardless though. Personally I would've considered NYY-J if you thought SWA wasn't necessary.

You should really be using the correct SY specific glands if you're going to use SY - so the braiding is correctly earthed. 'Pig tailing' it is a bit of a bodge in my opinion and leaving it 'floating' worse!

The mention of drivers was in relation to you saying you had wired them in series. It was assumed they were wired via a constant current driver. It now seems clear you got mixed up and you've actually wired them in parallel.

Your last problem is the use of Tamlite. I personally won't use them (or any other CEF brands like Proteus) even if it means a detour elsewhere to get materials. Absolute carp.

Hope that helps for next time and enjoy Christmas!
 
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Cheers for the reply.. A "bodge job" is definitely not my intention, I generally love what I do and pride myself on neatness and reliability.

The point about the sy in uv light is actually a brilliant point, I'll definitely take that on board and anything outdoors from now on I'll just use swa with the correct gland kits. I am aware of sy gland kits but just thought they wasn't needed.

I installed tamlite on the adjacent building well over a year ago and I've had no issues with them (fingers crossed, stays like that).

I'll definitely take it on board for next time, cheers
 
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Just completed some floodlighting down the side of a factory and used hituff cable with stuffing glands and wiska boxes. Never used it before, always used swa but never again for this kind of job.

No glands to make of, nail in clips and a proper water tight seal. Oh and a doddle to strip and prepare.
 
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Amp David said:
Just completed some floodlighting down the side of a factory and used hituff cable with stuffing glands and wiska boxes. Never used it before, always used swa but never again for this kind of job.

No glands to make of, nail in clips and a proper water tight seal. Oh and a doddle to strip and prepare.
Click to expand...
Wait to you use some of the slightly bigger sizes, it can be an absolute nightmare to strip...even 6.0mm
 
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HandySparks said:
So, did you drill a drain hole in each box?
Click to expand...

martinh89 said:
... the only reason water ingress occurred to begin with is because the ip66 box fitted had a seal missing which caused the cable to retain water via capillary reaction which caused corrosion on the strip connectors this time round.
Click to expand...

So, did you drill a drain hole?

I would almost always drill one or more drain holes in an external junction box, irrespective of its claimed IP rating.
 
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Led flood lights failure
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