Analyzing The "SKETCHY" Blackstar 240w - Electrical Engineer Checking In w/ pictures

R

ragetakesover

Member
Hello all,


Little about me, I'm an Electrical Engineering senior in college. I have an extensive background in LED lighting and applications.

As I own A LOT of LED components (Cree, OSRAM, Bridgelux, Luminleds, cheap china stuff). I am looking how manufactures are making lights.



First is BLACKSTAR 240w (pictures I've found online).




COMPLETE ASSEMBLY:
Heatsink - Flat sheet of aluminum .... WTF! that is literally the most inefficient form of a heatsink design, should be finned. Surface area cools heatsinks.
Fans - Blowing air inwards towards the heatsink (they should be blowing outwards (fans are more efficient pulling air out then pushing air in)
AC/DC Driver - Cannot identify manufacture but looks generic as the AC 120v lines are Red/Black (should be blue/brown by US code) also they are poorly insulated for 120v.
Optics - Mylar sheet is not a form of optics, LEDs are generally 140degrees viewing angle. Mylar is at 180degrees which LEDs are not hitting it, so Mylar is pointless.



^^As you can see the fans are blowing air onto the heatsink, trapping much air within the unit which is trying to escape out little vents. The correct way is to be pulling air from the little vents and pushing it out the top. I can go into the physics of this but meh. Any person who builds computers knows this.


Front of LEDs^ ^

Back of LEDs^ ^

^^ On the phone I was told that they use "98% Cree leds and 2% bridgelux Leds" .. There is approx 70ish in this unit, so there is 1 bridgelux in this unit somewhere ..
Looking closely these are NOT Cree nor Bridgelux, these are cheap generic Chinese LEDs

Compare with LED below is a generic chinese 1w LED (check in famous auction sites keyword "1w led red" or "3w led red"


These LEDs are low efficiency, do not put out rated stats, and nanometer (nm) wavelength color cannot be verified and is usually way off.


Now lets look at the PCB (printed circuit board) design..

High power LEDs are supposed to be printed on a "Metal core" PCB which the LEDs are soldered directed to a sheet of metal which can easily be heatsinked. How they've done it is beyond my reasoning.


My conclusion for this is ... whoever designed this has little knowledge of circuitry and manufacturing. Also false claims of 240w when outputting 130w is totally unacceptable. Claiming to use Cree LEDs is illegal.

So my word for this unit is "SKETCHY"

Ill clean this up later. lol .. post pics of other units and ill analyzing them. ^_^ Peace
 
G

gagekko

Well-Known Member
ragetakesover said:
Hello all,


Little about me, I'm an Electrical Engineering senior in college. I have an extensive background in LED lighting and applications.

As I own A LOT of LED components (Cree, OSRAM, Bridgelux, Luminleds, cheap china stuff). I am looking how manufactures are making lights.



First is BLACKSTAR 240w (pictures I've found online).




COMPLETE ASSEMBLY:
Heatsink - Flat sheet of aluminum .... WTF! that is literally the most inefficient form of a heatsink design, should be finned. Surface area cools heatsinks.
Fans - Blowing air inwards towards the heatsink (they should be blowing outwards (fans are more efficient pulling air out then pushing air in)
AC/DC Driver - Cannot identify manufacture but looks generic as the AC 120v lines are Red/Black (should be blue/brown by US code) also they are poorly insulated for 120v.
Optics - Mylar sheet is not a form of optics, LEDs are generally 140degrees viewing angle. Mylar is at 180degrees which LEDs are not hitting it, so Mylar is pointless.



^^As you can see the fans are blowing air onto the heatsink, trapping much air within the unit which is trying to escape out little vents. The correct way is to be pulling air from the little vents and pushing it out the top. I can go into the physics of this but meh. Any person who builds computers knows this.


Front of LEDs^ ^

Back of LEDs^ ^

^^ On the phone I was told that they use "98% Cree leds and 2% bridgelux Leds" .. There is approx 70ish in this unit, so there is 1 bridgelux in this unit somewhere ..
Looking closely these are NOT Cree nor Bridgelux, these are cheap generic Chinese LEDs

Compare with LED below is a generic chinese 1w LED (check in famous auction sites keyword "1w led red" or "3w led red"


These LEDs are low efficiency, do not put out rated stats, and nanometer (nm) wavelength color cannot be verified and is usually way off.


Now lets look at the PCB (printed circuit board) design..

High power LEDs are supposed to be printed on a "Metal core" PCB which the LEDs are soldered directed to a sheet of metal which can easily be heatsinked. How they've done it is beyond my reasoning.


My conclusion for this is ... whoever designed this has little knowledge of circuitry and manufacturing. Also false claims of 240w when outputting 130w is totally unacceptable. Claiming to use Cree LEDs is illegal.

So my word for this unit is "SKETCHY"

Ill clean this up later. lol .. post pics of other units and ill analyzing them. ^_^ Peace
Click to expand...
Haha... 2 posts total and you post this? Cut to the chase, which other company are you spamming for?
 
noo1knos

noo1knos

Well-Known Member
Hey I was looking into purchasing a Hydorponicshut Pro Grow 260X. Any input would be great, thanks.
 
Scotch089

Scotch089

Well-Known Member
Or you can just have faith and take it as it is, they are made in china, with generic parts, and fail from time to time. Not from personal exp.As for the HH 250, I have one, and two PG180's- get the 180, same actual wattage- less $$
 
R

ragetakesover

Member
gagekko said:
Haha... 2 posts total and you post this? Cut to the chase, which other company are you spamming for?
Click to expand...
2 post .. I thought I was making a contribution to save people from buying junk. Did I not explain deep enough? Do you want me to post pictures of my commercial lighting that is properly made by actual lighting manufactures.

Im not spamming for any company, but I do wish to start a small manufacturing company right after I graduate. The LED grow market seems to be a good place to start.


noo1knos said:
Hey I was looking into purchasing a Hydorponicshut Pro Grow 260X. Any input would be great, thanks.
Click to expand...
Im sorry I neither "use" or "grow" anymore. I do not possess any growing equipment.

If you post pictures of it disassemble I will analyze it.
 
guod

guod

Well-Known Member

  • Little about me, I'm an Electrical Engineering senior in college. I have an extensive background in LED lighting and applications.

    HaHa​


    ​

 
H

Hosebomber

Active Member

  • High power LEDs are supposed to be printed on a "Metal core" PCB which the LEDs are soldered directed to a sheet of metal which can easily be heatsinked. How they've done it is beyond my reasoning.


    My conclusion for this is ... whoever designed this has little knowledge of circuitry and manufacturing. Also false claims of 240w when outputting 130w is totally unacceptable. Claiming to use Cree LEDs is illegal.​




As a senior EE major and having extensive LED knowledge, you should know that their reverse mounting to the heat sink is an acceptable and commonly used practice. The circuitry is ran above the LED leads (as the 1oz copper core creates little to no heat) and the thermal slug is in direct contact with the heat sink. Granted, that's a joke of a heat sink, but depending on their drive current and jTemp they are getting it may be acceptable. (I don't have this model or any others from this company due to many other factors besides their internal design flaws.) As for the fans facing in... well you might want to reconsider that train of though and refresh your fluid dynamics course before making such bold statements. They have nearly triple the exhaust porting as they do intake... enough said there.

By no means am I saying this is a quality product. Just stating a couple of errors in your analysis.
 
Ninjabowler

Ninjabowler

Well-Known Member
HiloReign said:
Adjustable modules? Now that's cool.
Click to expand...
I dont know what you tekkies think of the HTG supply 240 w thats compareable to that one but this is what it did to my basil.image.jpg
the smaller plant was under cfls for most of its life and was growen in a pot that was to small for the roots. I put it under the LED to try and give it some jam but the basil in dwc stayed under the led the whole time. That basil got even bigger than that before i chopped her.
Its nice for the other plants aswell, it will make short dense plants at close proximity and theyll stretch if you pull the light away.
it was 270 with tax and shipping. Great little vegamatic for two plants. :)
 

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