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In 2016 Australia introduced the new Regulatory Compliance Mark (RCM). This replaced both the Electrical Safety Approval number and the C-Tick. Though it is worth mentioning that any stock still showing the older markings can still be legally sold until existing stocks are exhausted. After that newly imported power supplies need to show the new RCM mark. One of the purposes of the new RCM scheme is to provide more funds to both increase the number of inspectors out in the field and the number of prosecutions of importers who don't abide by the law. The inspectors will be on the lookout for non

Many Australian businesses make the decision to buy power supplies directly from overseas, rather than use an Australian based supplier. This automatically makes them responsible for ensuring that any power supply, or LED driver they import is electrically safe and fully compliant with Australian electrical safety regulations and ACMA’s EMC regulations. In this article we discuss the most common mistakes that are made when it comes to checking if a power supply or LED driver is fully compliant with Australia’s regulatory compliance scheme. But before we go any further let’s just clarify what

Many of our readers will already know that ADM has a strong commitment to educating our customers and the wider community about the importance of electrical safety approvals. Our knowledge in this area comes from selling LED drivers before the Australian Standards were introduced. ADM first started to sell MEAN WELL LED drivers before the International Standards for LED power supplies, EN61347-1 had been finalised. Soon after the standard was introduced, many LED driver manufacturers were scrambling to meet the requirements and have their testing completed. MEAN WELL was ahead of the

Australia’s EMC compliance and electrical safety regulatory regime changed in 2016 . The introduction of the new RCM mark has caused some confusion, especially around what happened with C-Tick. First of all let us clarify what C-Tick was not. C-Tick was not an electrical safety approval mark. It was purely an EMC compliance mark. All power supplies sold in Australia must conform to Australia’s EMC regulations, as laid down by the Australian Media and Communications Authority (ACMA). ACMA is a Federal Government agency. Next we need to touch on the Australian electrical safety regulations that

We take a look at the range of constant current LED drivers available for powering LED strip, and discuss the benefits each model has to offer.

The MEAN WELL HLG 'B' & 'AB' series, and ELG ‘B’ & 'AB' series LED drivers utilise a common dimming method, where the amplitude of the current fed to the LEDs is varied. This method of dimming works very well, but there is a key factor that you need to be aware of, when selecting a LED driver for your particular application. That is 'Dead Travel'. One problem that many installers experience with dimmable LED drivers, is an uneven rate of dimming. This phenomenon doesn't affect constant current LED drivers, only constant voltage drivers such as the HLG 'B’ and ELG series. Typically, when the

ADM stocks a comprehensive range of dimmable LED drivers from reputible suppliers, such MEAN WELL, Philips, and Power Source, all with Australian approvals. Probably the most commonly used models are the constant current 12V and 24V dimmable LED drivers and this is where you have the widest range of models to choose from. However, ADM also stocks a number of constant current dimmable LED drivers as well. These are the type that are most commonly used on dimmable LED downlights. Before we go into the different models of dimmable LED driver available, let us first explain what a LED driver is

All switched-mode power supplies have an inrush current rating, including LED drivers. For a switched mode power supply, the inrush depends on what phase the mains is at when the power switch makes contact. If it switches on at the positive or negative voltage peak, then there will be a large positive or negative current spike. The spike rises almost vertically, then drops back more slowly. Power supply manufacturers attempt to minimise inrush with a variety of circuit ideas, which reduce the size of the spike. However, in smaller power supplies the inrush current is typically around 40 to 70

Most wall plate dimmers are a trailing edge TRIAC dimmer. A particular type of LED driver is required that is compatible with this type of dimmer. If you want to dim your LED lights using a wall plate dimmer, then you will need a LED driver that has AC phase cut dimming. These are also refered to as a TRIAC dimmable LED driver. ADM stocks two different series of TRIAC dimmable LED drivers. Constant Voltage LED Drivers with AC Phase Cut Dimming The Power Source PDV series LED drivers are compatible with most of the leading, or trailing edge TRIAC wall plate dimmers, which are commonly used in

The Power Source D1-10 is an analogue 1-10V dimmer that can be used with MEAN WELL 3-in-1 and 2-in-1 dimmable LED drivers.In fact, it can be used with any 1-10V and 0-10V LED driver. However, please note that if you are using this dimmer to control a 0-10V LED driver the lowest the driver will dim to is 10%, regardless of what is stated in the LED driver's data sheet. This dimmer has two terminals. One for positive and one for negtive. All you need to do is to connect it up to the two dimming wires, or terminals on the MEAN WELL LED driver. It's that simple. No external power supply is