coreywebster
Well-Known Member
aluminium warehouse is a great supplier, they will cut them exact for you to for almost nothing. Well worth it if you don't have the tools for the job.
Cheap as chips too.
Cheap as chips too.
Guide me to the Light....
- Thread starter DukeFluke
- Start date
grotbags
Well-Known Member
its a fairly big board for the amount of diodes on it plus it looks like it has a mini heatsink on the back. still might run hot? who knows?.
Perfect. Nice one bud
grotbags
Well-Known Member
lol now the fun part.
it all depends on how many strips you end up running per fixture/light, how hard you want to run them, do you want to use just one driver per light or multiple drivers, do you want to run series(less wiring but higher voltages especially if wanting to use just one driver) or parellel(more wiring but lower/safer voltages) wiring?
grotbags
Well-Known Member
here is a couple of links to ledgardeners brilliant meanwell constant voltage and constant current driver ref/specs sheets, you will be looking at them.... a lot lol. 
constant voltage - https://ledgardener.com/mw-cv-driver-ref/
constant current - https://ledgardener.com/mw-cc-driver-ref/
constant voltage - https://ledgardener.com/mw-cv-driver-ref/
constant current - https://ledgardener.com/mw-cc-driver-ref/
From what I've read, parallel seems the safest option and so that's the way I think I'll go.
Ideally I want to cover a 1m width with about 6 (give or take) bars of light. They'll be 2 strips connected on one sink. so 12 altogether. Like I say that number is flexible
Bignutes
Well-Known Member
Well said! Get the inventronics drivers and you'll have complete control over stretch and cct as well as sunrise and sunset.
grotbags
Well-Known Member
how many watts per fixture?, then when you decide on a strip we can use the volts and max current and go from there.
grotbags
Well-Known Member
expensive quality diode thats reflected in the strip price, costs will add up quick if you want to buy more and run soft. nice spectrum and super high cri but at the cost of efficacy, i cant rember the lm/watt on these but they are nowhere near a 80cri samsung 301b let alone crees new 2835.
Sorry thought I'd said. 480w per fixture. Probably run at closer to 450
So at what point is the trade off between those things a negative?
I mean is there a way to counter this so they could be used as main fixtures, Or would we always be better adding a different spectrum to a more efficient broad range diode?
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grotbags
Well-Known Member
not really, you could buy 3 times as many strips and run em super soft but they still wouldnt be close. your strip cost would obv tripple and you would have less photons for your wattage.
everthing is a ballance between quality of spectrum/cri, efficacy and cost. most of the time its pick one, rarely you get two...never three.
Makes sense. So the pr boost strips for example, don't lose much efficiency by adding the cree xpg3 for deep red to boost the spectrum.
What's the thinking on the 730nm chips, and in particular the emerson effect. There are a lot of strips with just the 660 chips added. Is it worth getting the 730 added as well?
What's the thinking on the 730nm chips, and in particular the emerson effect. There are a lot of strips with just the 660 chips added. Is it worth getting the 730 added as well?
grotbags
Well-Known Member
no the xpg3 660 acctually add efficiency.
adding 730 is good idea but for maxiumum effect i would want them on a seperate channel that way you can run them through lights on for emerson effect then have them stay on at lights out for a few minutes to put your plants to sleep, the downside is a seperate driver and wiring for just the 730nm diodes.
welight
Well-Known Member
One of the nice things with the 2835 chip from Cree is it runs cool, I had a boost board sitting on the bench no sink at 40 watts yesterday and really did not get that hot, probably helps the 2835 is rated to 480ma which is high for a mid power. Our recommendations on heatsinking are somewhat generic as it depends on the final build spec, but at 50 watts I would certainly be looking at 3mm flat strip of alu min, both to cool and rigid up the strip to mount, if you have some finned alu even better and always assumes a fan in the room
cheers
Mark
welight
Well-Known Member
correct, the slew of new strips and panels pushing 3umoles/j only get there with the XPG-3 Deep red which lift the entire system
Cheers
Rocket Soul
Well-Known Member
Ok, so this thread didnt turn out the way i thought, but then again better for that. Youve had lots of advice for all kinds of setups, and id say i think theyre all good bets. Its often better to take advice from everyone. Personally i dont like to make decision for others, i like to get people to get to the place where they can make the decision for themselves. Cutter has great stuff, i especially like them for their specialty custom stuff. The only thing ive not seen recommended here is the 90cri + uv options; but i dont know if cutter has stock of the strips or if growlights australia has stock of their board. In either way youve been sniffing around the right trees for 4 pages. Cutter nichia kits seems like a good deal, i didnt realize they came with driver and all, its an awesome price.
When you come to these kinda decisions its a good idea to try to calculate re leveraging diode count, with respect to cost. If you have one option thats a lot cheaper but around 10% less efficient, think the vesta strips, versus another, think crees or nichias, calculate how much it would cost to just get twice as many diodes of the cheaper version. If it works out the same, which it many times do, at least when i was buying in lots, then go for twice the diodes at half the power. Youll gain back those approx 10% by running each diode at half power, or half wattage per $$ if that makes sense. But the benefits of running soft doesnt end there, having twice the diodes and thus half the power per diode have many more benefits: lower temps, which saves the diode from deterioration and also gices a comparative efficiency boost due to lower temps; better spread and possibility to lower hanging heights, (this may be more of an issue with boards or if your running like 50w per strip) and just having that extra capacity of having the max wattage higher. In this case i havent made the numbers on all the alternatives but i dare say that vestas might not be the best option here. They are indeed cheap, but cutter nichia kits, at 280something £ are great value if they come with a driver which is already around 100£. Maybe get those 4extra strips for your kit so you can run them at around 25w a piece, no matter what strip you choose.
Cutter has some excellent stuff so look around, im especially a fan of some of their 280mm 2 channel strips for uv and far red, and their 5050 solstrips with pc reds. But these items opens a jar of worms when it come to connections.
Also, it might be a point to see if mark can get you 2 x 240 drivers instead of a 480 driver. Im glad to see Cutter is still on point in covid times, and i hope, Mark, Ben and families are all doing ok.
When you come to these kinda decisions its a good idea to try to calculate re leveraging diode count, with respect to cost. If you have one option thats a lot cheaper but around 10% less efficient, think the vesta strips, versus another, think crees or nichias, calculate how much it would cost to just get twice as many diodes of the cheaper version. If it works out the same, which it many times do, at least when i was buying in lots, then go for twice the diodes at half the power. Youll gain back those approx 10% by running each diode at half power, or half wattage per $$ if that makes sense. But the benefits of running soft doesnt end there, having twice the diodes and thus half the power per diode have many more benefits: lower temps, which saves the diode from deterioration and also gices a comparative efficiency boost due to lower temps; better spread and possibility to lower hanging heights, (this may be more of an issue with boards or if your running like 50w per strip) and just having that extra capacity of having the max wattage higher. In this case i havent made the numbers on all the alternatives but i dare say that vestas might not be the best option here. They are indeed cheap, but cutter nichia kits, at 280something £ are great value if they come with a driver which is already around 100£. Maybe get those 4extra strips for your kit so you can run them at around 25w a piece, no matter what strip you choose.
Cutter has some excellent stuff so look around, im especially a fan of some of their 280mm 2 channel strips for uv and far red, and their 5050 solstrips with pc reds. But these items opens a jar of worms when it come to connections.
Also, it might be a point to see if mark can get you 2 x 240 drivers instead of a 480 driver. Im glad to see Cutter is still on point in covid times, and i hope, Mark, Ben and families are all doing ok.
Rocket Soul
Well-Known Member
Aw, getting to 90 cri with leds is almost allways down to extra reds and lower dip around 480, compare the red peaks of these spectrums to 80 cri and youll see it. Red peak around 600 on 80 cri, red peak around 625ish on 90cri.