Short Circuit Protection on MEAN WELL LED Drivers

As Power Supplies Australia mentioned in a previous blog post about MEAN WELL Power Supply’s Hiccup Mode, not all power supplies within the same series will have the same method of short circuit protection.

One such example is the MEAN WELL HLG series LED drivers.

Most of the MEAN WELL HLG series LED drivers go into ‘hiccup’ mode when a short circuit situation arises.

This means that the LED driver will shut down momentarily if it sees an overload, then after a second or so will start up again. If the overload is still present it will shut down again.

The LED driver will only remain on once the overload situation has been resolved.

However the MEAN WELL HLG-100H, HLG-120H, HLG-150H and HLG-185H LED drivers behave differently when a short circuit situation arises. Rather than go into ‘hiccup’ mode, they limit the constant current output to the LED driver’s maximum rated output. Whilst, this will protect the power supply, it may not necessarily protect the LED’s on the circuit.

As a precaution Power Supplies Australia recommends installing a DC fuse to prevent any short circuit damage.

If you would like assistance in determining the fuse rating then please do not hesitate to contact Power Supplies Australia.