Active vs passively cooling heat sinks: mechanics of results?

T

Tiky

Active Member
Quick question about the mechanics of cooling COB LEDs via heatsinks.
I have 800W of Vero29s running in my room. They all use passive heat
sinks. 400w is a timber grow lights fixture with splined 130-140mm
sinks and the other 400W is a DIY build using 130mm pin sinks.

I had a mechanical question on cooling:

I can do nothing and just let these passively pull the heat off the
COBs and let that heat rise and then get extracted in my cabinet. I
can also put a strong fan that blows across the top of these passive
heat sinks which could cool them more efficiently.

Question: Is there any real difference in the overall temperature my
room will get or the amount of air I'll need to vent between these two
options? Part of me says heat is heat whether its moved off the sinks
by a fan or just radiates off them naturally but another part of me
wonders if the entire cab would somehow operate cooler if i could make
the heat sinks more efficient. Which is true and why?
 
DesertPlants

DesertPlants

Well-Known Member
In terms of what we are talking about here, heat is the conversion of electrical energy to radiant energy. There is no creation or destruction of energy, only conversion. So, no matter what method you use, unless you vent outside the room, the heat will be released. The difference comes with efficiency to the LEDs. The higher the temp, the less efficient they are and in turn the more energy converts to heat. If you have heat concerns, first step would be to setup a vent going outside the room.

On my custom builds, I do active cooling because it makes the lights weigh less and run cooler.
 
CobKits

CobKits

Well-Known Member
Tiky said:
I can do nothing and just let these passively pull the heat off the
COBs and let that heat rise and then get extracted in my cabinet. I
can also put a strong fan that blows across the top of these passive
heat sinks which could cool them more efficiently.
Click to expand...
even A slight breeze will help them run cooler and make your chips brighter

Tiky said:
Question: Is there any real difference in the overall temperature my
room will get or the amount of air I'll need to vent between these two
options?
Click to expand...
there is no difference. youre creating the same amount of heat, removing it fro teh chips helps the chips be brighter, but it all goes into the room anyway.

if heat sinks are more efficient they are just more efficient at removing heat (from chip to air). the heat created by the chip is the same
 
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T

Tiky

Active Member
Ok thanks everyone. Sounds like i may have some residual gains by more effectively cooling my lights but that the goal of more efficientyly cooling the lights isnt to reduce overall heat in the room but instead increase how well the lights perform in terms of light. Im installing a 6" s-line vortex that im hoping can keep the 800w cob leds below 85...im running 400w of them at 76 degrees so i think ill be close
 
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