Cheap CXA3050 Build

jayay

jayay

Member
Hey guys, I wanted to share my upcoming starter panel with you guys. I've been wanting to build a cheap panel to learn before attempting something serious. When I saw those CXA3050's at $8.50, it pushed me over the edge. Garbage bin, but hey, great for learning I'm sure (4860 Flux (lm) @ 85 °C). I'll be running 2x Inventronics 4-chan drivers.
  • 2x Inventronics EUC-160Q070DT
  • 8x CXA3050-0000-000N00W230F
  • 8x "Ocean Coral White" 3-up
Estimated power draw:
The drivers are 29~57 Vdc and the CXA3050 ~35V. To bring driver efficiency up, I added a 9v load to each channel via a very interesting 3-up chip made for salt water tank hobbyists (coral/reef). They made a 3-up designed to bring better visuals in tanks by filling in the parts of the spectrum that cool white + deep blue panels neglect. It uses a 470, 495, and a 660 - which apparently mix to white. Some info and pictures can be found if you dig: http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/294733-full-spectrum-led-tank-pictures/

I'm not smart enough to figure out efficiency and stuff, but I can make up for it with an inaccurate and hard-to-read graph!

led_2.png

I'll be building on a "Makers LED" heatsink. It's T-slotted and around 50 bucks a foot. There's a guy on Ebay selling 12" NIB's for $40. This is how I think I'll lay them out.

led_layout.png

When time comes around for building a system with a real footprint, this will probably be retrofitted for a salt water tank to try my hand at the salt water tank thing. Funny how cool hobbies overlap.

The last of the parts should be here in a few days. Build pics and stuff in the forthcoming days.
Thank you to the RIU community and serious props to the electrical wizards dropping gems.
 
jayay

jayay

Member
Growmau5 said:
I applaud your efforts for using components that aren't seen around here every day.
Click to expand...
Thanks man. - It's funny you should say that because both the cobs and drivers were recommendations I saw for others users in this forum. Thanks RIU.

Anybody know how to like a post? For the life of me I can't figure it out. The page that tells you how it works tells me I don't have permission to view it..
 
D

Devildenis69

Well-Known Member
Very interresting build, I would love to see some data about the 470nm effect on bio-morphology, that's kinda low in all cxa/vero ...
if I remember well, there's something about transpiration and cytokin cycle here.

I'll follow your grow closely, good luck
 
jayay

jayay

Member
Devildenis69 said:
Very interristing build, I would love to see some data about the 470nm effect on bio-morphology, that's kinda low in all cxa/vero ...
if I remember well, there's something about transpiration and cytokin cycle here.

I'll follow your grow closely, good luck
Click to expand...
I'm interested in the effects of more closely matching the even spectrum of sunlight. If one wanted to go crazy, the controllers people are using for their salt water systems are crazy awesome. Sunrise/sunset according to time of year and location, ramping individual channels (e.g. 730 @ sunset), lightning events, etc. They're $100-200 for the budget systems. Throw in a light mover and you could recreate the suns action. Check out the Bluefish mini controller.
 
Growmau5

Growmau5

Well-Known Member
MY only concern with the build is the air gap in the T-slot heatsink that will be on the outer perimeter of the light emitting surface (LES).

PS. Im building a reef tank right now too, definitely investing in a bluefish controller. . Ill show the lighting setup on my thread. The two hobbies do compliment each other very nicely, like u said.

Cheers
 
jayay

jayay

Member
Yea, I see what you mean. I think it needs to be addressed because I'm pushing limits on the 12" heatsink thermally. The copper plate idea seems like a good way to go. Thanks guys.
 
jayay

jayay

Member
I think I'll use these 1" x 2" copper shims under each CXA3050, a very economical solution. That just covers the LES, so while it's not ideal, I'm now satisfied by the fact that the LES has copper contact all around.

I have a feeling my wiring is going to be a cluster-f. Here's the new layout.

led_layout_v2.png

Drivers to be used:

drivers.jpg

I should mention also that I'll use 2x 140mm slim fans on top.
 
CanadianONE

CanadianONE

Well-Known Member
jayay said:
I think I'll use these 1" x 2" copper shims under each CXA3050, a very economical solution. That just covers the LES, so while it's not ideal, I'm now satisfied by the fact that the LES has copper contact all around.

I have a feeling my wiring is going to be a cluster-f. Here's the new layout.

View attachment 3497053

Drivers to be used:

View attachment 3497054
Click to expand...
What are you using to secure your COB's to copper/heatsink? Also do you plan to use any lenses or reflectors? I see that fixture looks quite deep and you may get lots of light cut off on the edge.
 
CanadianONE

CanadianONE

Well-Known Member
jayay said:
I recieved the CXA30 Ideal holders, but it seems like I'm transitioning to thermal adhesive.
Click to expand...
I think with this setup your only option is thermal adhesive since the chip will have a slight overhang you wont be able to use the ideal holders
 
jayay

jayay

Member
CanadianONE said:
Why not use original layout but with larger pieces of copper plate this way you can still utilize the holders?
Click to expand...
I wanted to avoid buying a drill press, and putting too much money into the build. I'll think about it for a day, though. It's a useful tool. Thanks for your help.

I feel like I'm trying to fit too many cobs in such a small fixture. It IS concerning how close to the deep walls the LES are. I was planning on sliding in some textured aluminum flush with the edges, if you can picture that.
 
jayay

jayay

Member
I think I can use the Ideal holder with the shims. They're thin, and the Ideal holder should overhang it, and line up with a t-slot channel. It'll be floating between the cob and the t-slot, so I might use adhesive on one of the sides of the copper.

I'm not that confident the heatsink will deal well with the load so I'm cutting down to one driver. ~150 watts of light is plenty for now.
I could either get 2nd Makers heatsink, and link them, or save the cobs for another project.

So I'll use 1x driver, 4x CXA3050, 8x Ocean Coral White. It'll be an interesting spectrum for sure.

led_layout_v3.png
 
Growmau5

Growmau5

Well-Known Member
we are talking about $8 chips, i would say fck it and thermal epoxy everything down using the layout v2 above. drill a hole in the center of the heatsink for wires to run through to the top where I assume the drivers will be mounted.

Not that you asked, but here is how I would wire it. To keep it clean, i would use stranded wire over solid core for more flexibility, tucking excess wire in the T slots and small dabs of hot glue to hold in place and keep from sagging. led_layout_v2.png
 
jayay

jayay

Member
Growmau5 said:
we are talking about $8 chips, i would say fck it and thermal epoxy everything down using the layout v2 above. drill a hole in the center of the heatsink for wires to run through to the top where I assume the drivers will be mounted.

Not that you asked, but here is how I would wire it. To keep it clean, i would use stranded wire over solid core for more flexibility, tucking excess wire in the T slots and small dabs of hot glue to hold in place and keep from sagging. View attachment 3497267
Click to expand...
Should I connect two channels at the end of the line like that? You're right about the epoxy, I can just hammer things off if I want to reuse the heatsink for another purpose.
 
jayay

jayay

Member
If Im doing 2 drivers it'll be a cob and a chip each channel. If im doing one driver, one cob and two chips, a channel.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top