Newb, looking for help finishing first DIY LED light......

Evil-Mobo

Evil-Mobo

Well-Known Member
FNG here, been watching some tube vids for a while, some from members here, and also browsing the threads on here and the abundance of information that there is.

I decided to follow one of @Growmau5 build list from a video of his. I am building this LED for a 4X4 flower tent, 7:33 in the vid starts the discussion on this setup:

I have the following parts on hand already:
- (2) MW HLG-240H-C1050B
- (12) CXB 3590's (3500K) (36V)
- (12) Ideal Chip-Lok Holders (50-2303CR) (Ordered/en route)
- (12) Ledil Reflectors
- (12) Adapters for Ledil Reflectors
- Thermal pads for COB's
- (12) Reflector lenses for Ledil Reflectors
- (3) Heatsink USA 36" 5.866 Heat Sinks

I have never built a light of any kind before, but am generally mechanically inclined. Used to wrenching on Harleys and what not. I need some help to get this build done. I am not sure what spacing the COB's need to be/should be on the heat sinks, and how to run the wiring to connect each ballast to just (6) of the COB's which is what the math shows this will handle. (said 6.61 so we will say 6 to leave headroom)

The arrangement was to be 4 COB's per heat sink. With the 1050 ballast this should be enough heat sink to cool passively correct?

Also for the dimming function on the ballasts, is there (1) dimmer than can dim both ballasts, or will I need to hook one up to each?

For mounting, what would you guys recommend to get both ballasts and all three heat sinks mounted?

Sorry for all of the questions, and I know I am missing a few, but just want to make sure I get this right as there was a considerable investment here to get these parts in order for this light build as I'm sure everyone more experienced than I can tell from the list of parts.

Thanks for the help
EM
 
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nevergoodenuf

nevergoodenuf

Well-Known Member
250V(cUL) 150V(ENEC)- This is the rating on your holders. In other words you are at/near the limit of your holders. Make sure you have wire that can handle the 200+v you will be playing with.
As for the dimmer, just get a 50k pot and you are good.
 
V

VegasWinner

Well-Known Member
use 18 gauge solid wire for cobs, heat sinks not sure. I would add a couple of fans. I use 18" for 2 cobs active cooling, so 36" for 4 cobs is still active cooling. Myself, I prefer to run my COB's softer or lighter than harder. I see you are running your COBS at 75w per. I prefer 50w fr more efficiency. choices. I would use some 1x1x1/8" aluminum angle for mounting the drivers adjacent to the heat sinks. The drivers get pretty warm after running all day long. I remote mount drivers away from the light for better heat management. good luck. keep DIYing. peace
 
Evil-Mobo

Evil-Mobo

Well-Known Member
VegasWinner said:
use 18 gauge solid wire for cobs, heat sinks not sure. I would add a couple of fans. I use 18" for 2 cobs active cooling, so 36" for 4 cobs is still active cooling. Myself, I prefer to run my COB's softer or lighter than harder. I see you are running your COBS at 75w per. I prefer 50w fr more efficiency. choices. I would use some 1x1x1/8" aluminum angle for mounting the drivers adjacent to the heat sinks. The drivers get pretty warm after running all day long. I remote mount drivers away from the light for better heat management. good luck. keep DIYing. peace
Click to expand...
Thanks for your input, so you suggest two fans per heat sink? My COB's should be 40W per or under here as each driver will be running (6) lights. I am definitely not going 75W as that's not very efficient and will cause more heat in the tent lol. So please let me know if I did calculate something wrong for those numbers.

I appreciate the input :bigjoint:
 
Kul

Kul

Active Member
Yes you will need 2 fans per heatsink. I have a similar setup, I use 2 92mm noctua fans and run them at 10v, completely silent and the heatsinks are cool to the touch.
 
Evil-Mobo

Evil-Mobo

Well-Known Member
Kul said:
Yes you will need 2 fans per heatsink. I have a similar setup, I use 2 92mm noctua fans and run them at 10v, completely silent and the heatsinks are cool to the touch.
Click to expand...
Thanks I'm a huge fan of Noctua from my PC hobby will get on the ball ordering these.

I forgot to link this in my OP, and this is not me advertising for @Growmau5 , but his vids pushed me to do a DIY light, and brought me here. At 7:33 in the vid he starts discussing the light I am "attempting" to build here, unfortuantely there's not been a specific follow up vid on this particular build which I was hoping for as it seems very popular.

 
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sixstring2112

sixstring2112

Well-Known Member
If your cobs are 36volt then you will only be running around 35w per cob with that driver.i dont know a thing about those heatsinks with 4 cob per sink but it would probably be fine with a decent fan blowing across the top of all 3 fixtures.sounds like a sweet build.
 
Evil-Mobo

Evil-Mobo

Well-Known Member
sixstring2112 said:
If your cobs are 36volt then you will only be running around 35w per cob with that driver.i dont know a thing about those heatsinks with 4 cob per sink but it would probably be fine with a decent fan blowing across the top of all 3 fixtures.sounds like a sweet build.
Click to expand...
Thanks yes I should have specified 36V :eyesmoke:
 
J Bleezy

J Bleezy

Well-Known Member
This is the same build that I did, minus the potentiometer. With an oscillating fan on in my room my heatsinks stay pretty damn cool, I'd imagine they'd be fine without the fan.
For my remote drivers, I bought a piece of sheet metal and mounted the drivers to it with some space in between as these can get pretty hot.
Good luck man!
 
Evil-Mobo

Evil-Mobo

Well-Known Member
J Bleezy said:
This is the same build that I did, minus the potentiometer. With an oscillating fan on in my room my heat sinks stay pretty damn cool, I'd imagine they'd be fine without the fan.
For my remote drivers, I bought a piece of sheet metal and mounted the drivers to it with some space in between as these can get pretty hot.
Good luck man!
Click to expand...
You running the same heat sinks? How did you space your heat sinks for light spread? This is my biggest obstacle trying to figure out right now ahead of time ........

Thanks for the input how's the light working out?
 
BOBBY_G

BOBBY_G

Well-Known Member
Evil-Mobo said:
Perfect I will give it a go with no fans then and monitor heat for potential issues.....
Click to expand...
you dont *need* fans but extra cooling never hurts. more importantly is you have enough passive cooling that if you had fans and they went down, it wouldnt be catastrophic
 
Airwalker16

Airwalker16

Well-Known Member
VegasWinner said:
use 18 gauge solid wire for cobs, heat sinks not sure. I would add a couple of fans. I use 18" for 2 cobs active cooling, so 36" for 4 cobs is still active cooling. Myself, I prefer to run my COB's softer or lighter than harder. I see you are running your COBS at 75w per. I prefer 50w fr more efficiency. choices. I would use some 1x1x1/8" aluminum angle for mounting the drivers adjacent to the heat sinks. The drivers get pretty warm after running all day long. I remote mount drivers away from the light for better heat management. good luck. keep DIYing. peace
Click to expand...
75w per?? 36x1.05 = 36w's.
 
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