DIY-HP-LED
Well-Known Member
This is a cabinet rig that runs off 12 volts and uses four 30w Bridgelux design chips (1WW 3000K & 3CW 5000K) and four 30 watt 12 volt drivers that limit current to 1 A. The rig draws 160 watts off the DC power supply (an old ATX PC power supply) at a whopping 15A! I had to use thick wire from the lamp to the power supply to avoid overheating and power loss. This is a very inefficient design from an electrical perspective, each chip/driver uses 40 watts of power. I haven't measured the power consumption of the chips but I'd be surprised if it was over 28 watts each.
Since the driver input voltage is 12 volts and the output voltage is in the 30-36 volt range the boost converter in the driver has to work harder to bump up the voltage 3 times over input, this is costly in terms of energy. So if each chip uses only about 28 watts of power where does the rest go? Well, the fans use .5Ax12V=1.2W, but each driver (really a current limiting dc-dc boost converter) uses 12 watts.
I wouldn't recommend this design to anybody and the only reason I built it was because I had the parts laying around. A better, simpler and cheaper design would be to use two 50w 120 VDC drivers and run pairs of chips in parallel off them, that way you can switch them on or off in pairs. Always place the switch for LED drivers on the supply side, meaning if your using an AC driver place the switch between the plug and the driver
Parts List:
Since the driver input voltage is 12 volts and the output voltage is in the 30-36 volt range the boost converter in the driver has to work harder to bump up the voltage 3 times over input, this is costly in terms of energy. So if each chip uses only about 28 watts of power where does the rest go? Well, the fans use .5Ax12V=1.2W, but each driver (really a current limiting dc-dc boost converter) uses 12 watts.
I wouldn't recommend this design to anybody and the only reason I built it was because I had the parts laying around. A better, simpler and cheaper design would be to use two 50w 120 VDC drivers and run pairs of chips in parallel off them, that way you can switch them on or off in pairs. Always place the switch for LED drivers on the supply side, meaning if your using an AC driver place the switch between the plug and the driver
Parts List:
- 12VDC 30W drivers -- http://www.ebay.ca/itm/10w-20w-30w-50w-Constant-Current-LED-Driver-DC12V-to-DC30-38V-For-high-power-led-/321461904029?pt=US_Light_Bulbs&var=&hash=item4ad89f629d
- A 2"x12"x1/4" piece of aluminum plate, three heat sinks, a couple of switches, screws, connectors etc.
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