Diy cob led help please!

Corvette kidd

Corvette kidd

Active Member
Hey guys, so i have built a few light panels using 100 watt cobs for growing, each time i have used 1 driver per led. My question is, which driver or what kind of output ratings would a driver need in order to power "4" 100w led's that are rated for an input of 32-34v and 3amps? Electronics are so confusing :'( i currently power each led at half its potential using 32-34v 1.5a drivers

Help please!
 
Waiks

Waiks

Well-Known Member
The drivers you're using right now are perfect. You don't want to run the cobs at full power. Half power and less is what is recommended for cob growing
If you want to run all 4 cobs with one driver, you need one with a 136v (34x4) output. It should still have the 1.5a rating.
 
Corvette kidd

Corvette kidd

Active Member
Waiks said:
The drivers you're using right now are perfect. You don't want to run the cobs at full power. Half power and less is what is recommended for cob growing
If you want to run all 4 cobs with one driver, you need one with a 136v (34x4) output. It should still have the 1.5a rating.
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Yeah they run the cobs very well but the downside is that i have to find a home for 8-10 drivers on my panels. I hate having this cluster f*ck of drivers haha, i just want to find a way to run my panel with 2 drivers instead of 8-10 you know?? Does anyone have a suggestion on a type of driver i can use to power multiple cobs? I have been looking on ebay and alibaba but i cant find what i need
 
sanjuan

sanjuan

Well-Known Member
The Mean Well HLG-185H-C1400A (or B for external dimming pot (optional)) will run four of your COBs at 1.4 amps.
The new HLG-240H-C1400 type will power five (36V) COBs.
 
Corvette kidd

Corvette kidd

Active Member
The cobs i am using are made by a company called "lohas". I bought them off of amazon for 10 bucks a chip, Each one is rated for 32-34v 3a. I have been running them with one 32-34v 1.5a driver per chip.
 
Corvette kidd

Corvette kidd

Active Member
Will the mean well HLG-185H-C500B be better at running my led's than the HLG-185H-C1400A? They both output 200 watts but the 500b does it at 400v .5amp. Will the lower amp/higher voltage driver run the led's more efficiently than the higher amp/lower voltage driver of equal wattage?? Does it even matter what the amps and voltage are? Or is the wattage output the only thing that matters??
 
sanjuan

sanjuan

Well-Known Member
What matters is keeping the voltage drop of your LEDs within the constant current range of the power supply (driver).
If you have a major brand COB like Cree you look at the voltage versus current graph to see more exactly what the forward voltage (Vf) will be but I don't see that here: http://www.lohas-led.com/lohasr-100w-led-chip-cool-white-warm-white-high-power-energy-saving-lamp-chip.html

Anyway, let's say 32V at 500mA and 34V at 1400mA. Four COBs would equal 4 x 32V x 0.5A = 64W with the 500mA and 4 x 34V x 1.4A = 190.4W at 1400mA. It will be more efficient electrically at low power but you would need three times as many COBs. The constant current range of the HLG-185H-C500 is 200V to 400V and your string of COBs is only about 136 volts, so you can't use that driver.

The constant current range of the 1400mA model HLG185 is 71V to 143V.
 

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Corvette kidd

Corvette kidd

Active Member
sanjuan said:
What matters is keeping the voltage drop of your LEDs within the constant current range of the power supply (driver).
If you have a major brand COB like Cree you look at the voltage versus current graph to see more exactly what the forward voltage (Vf) will be but I don't see that here: http://www.lohas-led.com/lohasr-100w-led-chip-cool-white-warm-white-high-power-energy-saving-lamp-chip.html

Anyway, let's say 32V at 500mA and 34V at 1400mA. Four COBs would equal 4 x 32V x 0.5A = 64W with the 500mA and 4 x 34V x 1.4A = 190.4W at 1400mA. It will be more efficient electrically at low power but you would need three times as many COBs. The constant current range of the HLG-185H-C500 is 200V to 400V and your string of COBs is only about 136 volts, so you can't use that driver.

The constant current range of the 1400mA model HLG185 is 71V to 143V.
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So lets say i decide to just shell out the money and buy a bunch of bridgelux vero29 BXRC-35E10K0-L-23? The max rating on them is 4.2a 36.8v and the test rating is 2.1a 36.8v, which driver would best suited to power these chips? I really appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions
 
sanjuan

sanjuan

Well-Known Member
I got back into studying LEDs fairly recently, I'm only familiar with the Cree CXA3070, CXA3590, and CXB3590 lines. (The CXA3070 seems like a good buy.) The Veros are good, I'll let someone else recommend a supply.
 
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Danimalcookies

Member
Corvette kidd said:
So lets say i decide to just shell out the money and buy a bunch of bridgelux vero29 BXRC-35E10K0-L-23? The max rating on them is 4.2a 36.8v and the test rating is 2.1a 36.8v, which driver would best suited to power these chips? I really appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions
Click to expand...
 
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Danimalcookies

Member
Corvette kidd said:
So lets say i decide to just shell out the money and buy a bunch of bridgelux vero29 BXRC-35E10K0-L-23? The max rating on them is 4.2a 36.8v and the test rating is 2.1a 36.8v, which driver would best suited to power these chips? I really appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions
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I just built my first diy led light tonight using the Vero 29 cobs (same exact ones you mentioned). I'm running 4 of them off of a Meanwell Hlg-240-42b. They are very bright! Should be about 60 watts per cob. I have them wired in parallel on a 4 foot long heatsink. Will be building several more soon. I chose the Veros because I like not having to solder, I just used the Pico Ezmate connectors. I wired the cobs up using Wago 3 spot connectors.
 

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Danimalcookies

Member
Corvette kidd said:
So lets say i decide to just shell out the money and buy a bunch of bridgelux vero29 BXRC-35E10K0-L-23? The max rating on them is 4.2a 36.8v and the test rating is 2.1a 36.8v, which driver would best suited to power these chips? I really appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions
Click to expand...
How many cobs will you be running?
 
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Danimalcookies

Member
Corvette kidd said:
12 chips in total, 3 chips per driver
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Meanwell Hlg-185h-c1400 would run them at 1.4 amps and be pretty efficient. You wouldn't quite be using the full potential of the driver, but pretty close. You'd be getting a little over 50 watts per cob. Get a "b" version (dimmable) if it's available and add a 100kohm potentiometer (very simple 2 wires, I couldn't even screw it up).
 
Corvette kidd

Corvette kidd

Active Member
Danimalcookies said:
Meanwell Hlg-185h-c1400 would run them at 1.4 amps and be pretty efficient. You wouldn't quite be using the full potential of the driver, but pretty close. You'd be getting a little over 50 watts per cob. Get a "b" version (dimmable) if it's available and add a 100kohm potentiometer (very simple 2 wires, I couldn't even screw it up).
Click to expand...
So where does this potentiometer connect to exactly? Sorry for such a newb question, but i am fairly new to electronics
 
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Danimalcookies

Member
Corvette kidd said:
So where does this potentiometer connect to exactly? Sorry for such a newb question, but i am fairly new to electronics
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There's two extra wires, white and blue, coming out of the driver (on "b" versions). The potentiometer will have 3 wire connection spots. If you manage to wire it up wrong it will just work backwards (turn the knob up and the lights would dim. If this happens, you just reverse the wires, no fear of burning the driver or anything like that). Generally the white wire goes to the middle though.
 
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