AquariusPanta
Well-Known Member
Looking good SG. How far are your lights from canopy? What would you recommend with the V18's @~30W given your experience?
DIY LED Grow Light Vero 18 (Economy light)
- Thread starter SomeGuy
- Start date
AquariusPanta
Well-Known Member
churchhaze
Well-Known Member
AquariusPanta
Well-Known Member
I received my power supplies for my fans today. I bought 2x of the http://www.ebay.com/itm/230771615333?_trksid=p2060778.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT and 2x of the http://www.ebay.com/itm/231292911090?_trksid=p2059210.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT to power the fans.
I went to test them each out earlier and to much of my surprise, the fans didn't run as imagined. Instead of running at a constant pace, they sort of gimped for a sec, then paused for a few seconds, followed by gimping again. This whole process repeated itself over 5 minutes of my observation. I brought together the yellow cord from the fan to the red of the AC/DC and the blacks to each other, just as SomeGuy explained (the simple stuff).
When I used my multimeter, I noticed that the DC amperage between the supply and load would hit about 7mA (super low) every few gimps and then every other 3rd gimp it would reach 168mA (the anticipated load average). The amperage never seemed to remain constant though. However, the voltage remained around 12V.
Now the amperage on my fans match the listed amps on the item's description on the sellers page BUT when I looked at the photograph of the advertised fan/heatsink, previously included above, it read .6A.
This could be the underlying problem for this setup, as the AC/DC power supply is rated at the same voltage as the fan but the amperage is rated at .5A.
I could be wrong about any of this, so any outside wisdom is welcome
I went to test them each out earlier and to much of my surprise, the fans didn't run as imagined. Instead of running at a constant pace, they sort of gimped for a sec, then paused for a few seconds, followed by gimping again. This whole process repeated itself over 5 minutes of my observation. I brought together the yellow cord from the fan to the red of the AC/DC and the blacks to each other, just as SomeGuy explained (the simple stuff).
When I used my multimeter, I noticed that the DC amperage between the supply and load would hit about 7mA (super low) every few gimps and then every other 3rd gimp it would reach 168mA (the anticipated load average). The amperage never seemed to remain constant though. However, the voltage remained around 12V.
Now the amperage on my fans match the listed amps on the item's description on the sellers page BUT when I looked at the photograph of the advertised fan/heatsink, previously included above, it read .6A.
This could be the underlying problem for this setup, as the AC/DC power supply is rated at the same voltage as the fan but the amperage is rated at .5A.
I could be wrong about any of this, so any outside wisdom is welcome
SomeGuy
Well-Known Member
My latest two fans for a two cob bar kind of do a little pre ignition bump a few times also. I am running two of them on a converter like yours but 9v 1amp. takes just a few and they both start up fine. been running them on and off to test it and seems all a-ok. Dont know if that helps you.
SomeGuy
Well-Known Member
12-20" away. These can easily sit 20" above canopy and still penetrate.
AquariusPanta
Well-Known Member
The pre-ignition bump is never ending. I ran the same fans, rated at 12V .28A, on the 12V .5A PSUs for over an hour and they never seemed to take off. Would you agree that one PSU per fan, under these numbers, should theoretically work?
SomeGuy
Well-Known Member
I had some 700ma that were doing the same thing. I think you need more amps. It is odd though. My first batch didnt do this bumbing. Just these 4 I got a week or so ago. However, they do work. Two fans on the 1amp converters. might be ignition draw is a bit higher. I notice they each kick on separate.
I would think what you are running would work though.
I would think what you are running would work though.
AquariusPanta
Well-Known Member
I'll just have to order some different power supplies (and return some tweaked ones). You managed to get away with the 9V 1A PSUs, do you think I'll have any trouble with the 9V, as the fans are 12V?
I tried a 5V 1A AC/DC earlier, in all desperation; thinking that the 1A would do the trick, with no movement of the blades.
Also, I'm thinking of incorporating some V18's into a wooden built enclosure. Any foresight on how these V18's and fans will fare being encapsulated within wood? The buildup of heat is my only concern and you know how hot these babies get
I tried a 5V 1A AC/DC earlier, in all desperation; thinking that the 1A would do the trick, with no movement of the blades.
Also, I'm thinking of incorporating some V18's into a wooden built enclosure. Any foresight on how these V18's and fans will fare being encapsulated within wood? The buildup of heat is my only concern and you know how hot these babies get
SomeGuy
Well-Known Member
you need to be able to feed the fan air and it will keep cool. Any enclosure will retain some heat. These veros seem to like driving hard. I tried a 5v too.. no go. the 9v 1amp works for me with one running up to 3 fans. I have a 9v 2amp running 4. so.... I am pretty sure It would work for you. it does take a minute sometimes for them to start up. Keep a fan for air circulation from the top if possible Lots of air movement in the grow area is good anyway. All my bars are running really cool. I just built two 2-cob 18" bars for veg with. I ripped parts out of the sylvania floods and made 2 fixture.
FranJan
Well-Known Member
^^^Yeah rippin apart a light works for me too SG. I took some 4' T8 fixtures and used them as a mount, (3 Veros per light), to hide all the effin wires, fans and drivers. I'm very impressed with what's starting to go on in my tent in just a few days since adding these. Should of ditched my CREE bulbs months ago.
Anyone using these heatsinks? I was gonna go with them and may still if the Xmas bonus this year is big enough. Actually they're not that expensive but I'm a cheap bastard.
http://www.led-heatsink.com/Bridgelux_LED_Cooling.phtml
Anyone using these heatsinks? I was gonna go with them and may still if the Xmas bonus this year is big enough. Actually they're not that expensive but I'm a cheap bastard
.http://www.led-heatsink.com/Bridgelux_LED_Cooling.phtml
stardustsailor
Well-Known Member
Most 12 VDC Fans ,start 'rotating' at 6.5 - 7 VDC ..I'll just have to order some different power supplies (and return some tweaked ones). You managed to get away with the 9V 1A PSUs, do you think I'll have any trouble with the 9V, as the fans are 12V?
I tried a 5V 1A AC/DC earlier, in all desperation; thinking that the 1A would do the trick, with no movement of the blades.
Also, I'm thinking of incorporating some V18's into a wooden built enclosure. Any foresight on how these V18's and fans will fare being encapsulated within wood? The buildup of heat is my only concern and you know how hot these babies get
Some might need a bit more voltage to start up ..( i.e. 8.5-9.5 VDC ) .
Amperage of the PSU ,denotes how many fans can this CV PSU can operate .
( i.e. a 1000mA 12 V PSU ,will operate 10x fans ,if every fan draws 100mA at 12 VDC.
stardustsailor
Well-Known Member
WOW !^^^Yeah rippin apart a light works for me too SG. I took some 4' T8 fixtures and used them as a mount, (3 Veros per light), to hide all the effin wires, fans and drivers. I'm very impressed with what's starting to go on in my tent in just a few days since adding these. Should of ditched my CREE bulbs months ago.
Anyone using these heatsinks? I was gonna go with them and may still if the Xmas bonus this year is big enough. Actually they're not that expensive but I'm a cheap bastard
http://www.led-heatsink.com/Bridgelux_LED_Cooling.phtml
These are some juicy ,yummy buds ,heading towards your bowl ,Fran !
( Still I consider these Surexis ,pretty 'sexy' ! ) .
I think those Veros 'cooperate' awesomely with the Surexis and the Han's ...
Amazing job ,Fran !
Well done !
As for the heatsinks ,MechaTronix ,are COB/Array dedicated heatsinks ...
Ideal for the Veros ...
Are you going passive or active ?
( Those shown at the pic ,the 'pin-fin' ones ,I think they're passive ..
If you drive the 18's ,under 500-600mA ,I guess that they are a perfect match ,for the Veros )
Once more ...
Amazing job!
Combining both "worlds" of Horti SSL ...
Successful Monos along with highly efficient PC white arrays ...
Along with excellent growing skills !
What can beat this combo ,eh ?
Small gift for brother Fran ..
A nice -technical - read :
http://www.sandia.gov/~jytsao/2013_02_wiley_photonics_ssl_final.pdf
Cheers.
FranJan
Well-Known Member
Hi SDS, hope you are doing great. Best of luck with your latest job btw. Hope you build a killer rig for your customer. And thanks for that read. There's some awesome info in there it seems. That's gonna keep me busy for a while I bet.
And also thanks for the kind words. I still have quite a bit to learn about growing but I guess these COBs I added are really helping me look like I know what I'm doing
. And I'm running them at 900mA with active cooling, one 80mm fan strapped to the back of each heatsink and shrouded by the fixture. I'm still a bit shocked at how the fans made those heatsinks workable. Without the fans they were almost too hot to handle and are now practically cool to the touch. Plus they only added 2°F to the grow area. Gotta love all that light and only a nudge to the temps. Ideally though I want to run passive though right now they seem to be working great, so 10 to 20 watts "wasted" on fans isn't going to kill me .
Yeah the COBs and Surexis are a great combo IMO, though I guess the COBs should be the main lighting on top with the Surexis surrounding the grow area and angled in. Temps are still a bit high in the grow area, 84°F right now, but I'm really expecting some fireworks with this setup once winter sets in and I can keep the room at 78-80°F at lights on with a nice 10° dip at lights off. I'm thinking I got that intensity, got that spectrum, got that efficacy/efficient light source and got some decent genetics too, and once the environment becomes better, I'm expecting some really good meds from this setup. So far so good.
And also thanks for the kind words. I still have quite a bit to learn about growing but I guess these COBs I added are really helping me look like I know what I'm doing
. And I'm running them at 900mA with active cooling, one 80mm fan strapped to the back of each heatsink and shrouded by the fixture. I'm still a bit shocked at how the fans made those heatsinks workable. Without the fans they were almost too hot to handle and are now practically cool to the touch. Plus they only added 2°F to the grow area. Gotta love all that light and only a nudge to the temps. Ideally though I want to run passive though right now they seem to be working great, so 10 to 20 watts "wasted" on fans isn't going to kill me .Yeah the COBs and Surexis are a great combo IMO, though I guess the COBs should be the main lighting on top with the Surexis surrounding the grow area and angled in. Temps are still a bit high in the grow area, 84°F right now, but I'm really expecting some fireworks with this setup once winter sets in and I can keep the room at 78-80°F at lights on with a nice 10° dip at lights off. I'm thinking I got that intensity, got that spectrum, got that efficacy/efficient light source and got some decent genetics too, and once the environment becomes better, I'm expecting some really good meds from this setup. So far so good.
AquariusPanta
Well-Known Member
Yeah the math I have down, it's just the reliability with the equipment that I'm finding issues with.
If you check out the page before this, it should have mentioned that I was using a 12V PSU @500mA with a 12V Fan @.28A and the flipping blades weren't a'flipping. They were instead gimping, which led me to believe that: a.) the PSU was overrated at @500mA, and/or b.) the fan runs at a higher amperage.
stardustsailor
Well-Known Member
Check the PSU case with your hand ,after it operates the fan for 5'-10' ..
If you can not hold your hand in touch with the psu for longer than 30" .
If it really burns ,then yes one of the two cases you've mentioned (or both..) might be happening for real .
If the case of the PSU has relatively low temperature ,that allows to be in contact with your hand for longer than
30" -60 " then :
A) Either the psu is faulty
(protection from inductive spikes from fan ? !! Nah... ) B ) Either then fan is faulty
(or is a 'weird' Fan ..4 wired ? Is the fan rated 12 V ? )Or ...
The 12 V psu ,outputs ...Alternative Current
( Although those psus are used for ' driving 'halogen lamps ...
And usually they output lots more than 500mA )
Right now, I can't think of anything else ...
Cheers.
AquariusPanta
Well-Known Member
After some additional testing, I've concluded that:Check the PSU case with your hand ,after it operates the fan for 5'-10' ..
If you can not hold your hand in touch with the psu for longer than 30" .
If it really burns ,then yes one of the two cases you've mentioned (or both..) might be happening for real .
If the case of the PSU has relatively low temperature ,that allows to be in contact with your hand for longer than
30" -60 " then :
A) Either the psu is faulty
B ) Either then fan is faulty
Or ...
The 12 V psu ,outputs ...Alternative Current
( Although those psus are used for ' driving 'halogen lamps ...
And usually they output lots more than 500mA )
Right now, I can't think of anything else ...
Cheers.
The PSU is not overheating after extended amounts of on-time
The PSU output is indeed DC (~12.4V)
I tested 2x fans and 2x PSUs, each one respectively a duplicate of the other. Both showed identical signs of occasional gimping (no movement for 3-5 seconds or ", followed by a sudden jolt of energy of around 7mA, allowing spin with short-lived rotation. Process repeats itself over and over and occasionally a spin will hit around 168mA but nothing higher).
My guess is that the AC/DC converter is overrated at 500mA and is really around 250mA, while the fan is no less than 280mA and could be higher.
I'm still new with my multimeter but I've tested DCV, ACV, and DCmA/A successfully with these items.
AquariusPanta
Well-Known Member
So luck showed up in my mailbox earlier tonight.
A few weeks back I ordered an OEM AC/DC PSU for the intel fan/heatsink. I was persuaded by Supra that OEMs were legit and were worth looking into. I decided that I would order one, while later on ordering some generic plastic ones (thanks a lot SomeGuy! jk
) . The generics arrived earlier last week and were the first ones I played with. They didn't power my fans 
.
After playing with my OEM PSU, my fan is spinning!
The kicker is that the OEM PSU was rated lower at both voltage and current in comparison to the generic PSU but actually powered the fan.
This below is the Generic PSU
This below is the OEM PSU
And below is the average current for OEM running fan
A few weeks back I ordered an OEM AC/DC PSU for the intel fan/heatsink. I was persuaded by Supra that OEMs were legit and were worth looking into. I decided that I would order one, while later on ordering some generic plastic ones (thanks a lot SomeGuy! jk
) . The generics arrived earlier last week and were the first ones I played with. They didn't power my fans .After playing with my OEM PSU, my fan is spinning!
The kicker is that the OEM PSU was rated lower at both voltage and current in comparison to the generic PSU but actually powered the fan.
This below is the Generic PSU
This below is the OEM PSU
And below is the average current for OEM running fan
AquariusPanta
Well-Known Member
It's also worth mentioning that the OEM PSU ran the fan at 12.4V, similar to the generic PSU and that around three seconds after the power was turned on to the OEM, the current spiked to ~450mA and gently descended down to the average of ~121mA