Bridgelux EB Gen 2 Thermals

noodle-led

noodle-led

Well-Known Member
As a followup. I am building my fixture and have 9x 560mm strips running on a HLG-185H-C1050. It pulls 205W at the wall, which given the 94% efficiency at 100% load for the driver is 192.7W delivered to the strips. Vf for the 9x array was measured at 177.6VDC or 1085mA. I'm just going to assume that given all the measurement tolerances, that's the rated 1050mA output. Oddly enough, attached to a 24"x28" sheet of aluminum flashing, they reach 56C stabilized temperature in still air, 51C with room air circulating. The strips are attached with 20mm thermal tape but I am thinking I am going to at least put some M4 screws in the ends for piece of mind.
FLIR0152.jpg FLIR0153.jpg

Somewhat off topic, but how do these poke-in connectors work? I can't get a wire to stick inside of them. Am I supposed to... just poke the bare wire in? I've got solid core 20AWG wire which measures 0.8mm with a digital caliper so that's inside the range they're supposed to work. There just isn't any sort of locking.
 
Chip Green

Chip Green

Well-Known Member
Is that 177.6 V a cold start measurement, or after reaching peak temp?

I only have Gen1 EBs, but ive had finicky poke in connectors.....I had better luck getting them to lock once I found the proper strip length....It was shorter than I thought, with 18ga solid anyway....
 
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noodle-led

noodle-led

Well-Known Member
That's after 30 minutes and after I measured the temperatures from the FLIR images. It is roughly consistent with my single strip measurements, which was 56.4C at 1050mA, 19.68V. This would be 19.73V per strip.

As a side note it is really hard to do measurements with this light. Usually I can shield my eyes behind the thermal camera by holding my hands out at the sides but this is 24"x28" of just so. much. light. There is no escape.
 
Buck5050

Buck5050

Well-Known Member
I found if you push the wire towards the bottom of the connector is seems to go in slightly easier. Almost like your pushing it under the inner teeth on the terminal.

On another note I had my 8 strips on for an hour in still air and was way to hot for me. I don't trust my thermometer so I had to run a clip fan over the top using the same current.
 
Chip Green

Chip Green

Well-Known Member
I'm always interested in the total voltage droop, from cold start to full temp. I learned that as the way to find what the threshold of "needing" heat removal was....Under 2% voltage droop and I'm good....
 
noodle-led

noodle-led

Well-Known Member
One more image. This is a piece of masking tape spread across the aluminum flashing, top side. It provides an emissive surface so we can see how heat is spreading across the sheet. I only left the tape on for about 10 minutes but I think the temperature reached equilibrium. This is the outside 3 strips, with spacing (starting from the right) of 73mm, 79mm, and 83mm to the next strip. Even though the middle strips are further apart, they run hotter at 46.1C, 47.3C, 47.8C as we move in.

FLIR0155.jpg

There's almost a 10C difference between the actual LED temperature and the temperature of the aluminum sheet. I'm curious if applying pressure (via screws along the strips), the thermal transfer would be better or if we're close to the best performance already. Dammit! I need another strip for testing. I'll check the voltage drop from cold to fully operational tomorrow for you, @Chip Green. Gotta wait for them to cool completely first.
 
Chip Green

Chip Green

Well-Known Member
I never did use any thermal tape on mine.....I had wondered if the flashing was actually worse without some sort of thermal transfer material.....I have Gen1 560mm 3500k on HLG 185 C1050, 8x on a sheet of aluminum flashing, held on with screws.... I get about the same V droop.... The 700ma "naked" racks, stay under 1%....
One set is 16x 560mm 3000K - HLG 240 C700....357v at startup, 356 was the low after 1 hour....
 
K

kdt15

Active Member
noodle-led said:
As a followup. I am building my fixture and have 9x 560mm strips running on a HLG-185H-C1050. It pulls 205W at the wall, which given the 94% efficiency at 100% load for the driver is 192.7W delivered to the strips. Vf for the 9x array was measured at 177.6VDC or 1085mA. I'm just going to assume that given all the measurement tolerances, that's the rated 1050mA output. Oddly enough, attached to a 24"x28" sheet of aluminum flashing, they reach 56C stabilized temperature in still air, 51C with room air circulating. The strips are attached with 20mm thermal tape but I am thinking I am going to at least put some M4 screws in the ends for piece of mind.
View attachment 4093863 View attachment 4093864

Somewhat off topic, but how do these poke-in connectors work? I can't get a wire to stick inside of them. Am I supposed to... just poke the bare wire in? I've got solid core 20AWG wire which measures 0.8mm with a digital caliper so that's inside the range they're supposed to work. There just isn't any sort of locking.
Click to expand...
just found this thread based off your recommendation in my thread, wow! very impressed

many seem to recommend 1050mA drivers, is there a reason for this? All of the strips I consider seem to be 1.12A. Am I in the minority in terms of strip selection, and in actuality, most strips are under 1.05A, making that driver worth it?
 
noodle-led

noodle-led

Well-Known Member
I went with 1050mA because 55C seemed like a good place as far as temperature goes and I was targeting 185-200W. The Bridgelux EB gen 2 are rated 700mA (which requires no heatsinking) and max at 1400mA. A little different than the Samsungs.

I could have done 7 strips at 1400mA for about the same effect but I figured 2 more strips at lower current would work better for efficiency and spread. At 1400mA I'd probably have to do a little better about heatsinking too, because all of this is just thermal tape on aluminum flashing, which is a lot cheaper than 2ft U-channel x9 ($5 total). I also am switching half (4x 3000K of 9 total) my strips off completely during veg so I thought more = better.
 
K

kdt15

Active Member
noodle-led said:
I went with 1050mA because 55C seemed like a good place as far as temperature goes and I was targeting 185-200W. The Bridgelux EB gen 2 are rated 700mA (which requires no heatsinking) and max at 1400mA. A little different than the Samsungs.

I could have done 7 strips at 1400mA for about the same effect but I figured 2 more strips at lower current would work better for efficiency and spread. At 1400mA I'd probably have to do a little better about heatsinking too, because all of this is just thermal tape on aluminum flashing, which is a lot cheaper than 2ft U-channel x9 ($5 total). I also am switching half (4x 3000K of 9 total) my strips off completely during veg so I thought more = better.
Click to expand...
not sure where you are getting 5$ prices for 18ft u channels (perhaps lower width) but for me, 2 inch width u channels with 8ft length was 20-25$!!!!! multiply that by 20 and suddenly im pretty sad.

came into DIY to save money, slowly realizing the $ save is dwindling with each new expense :P

edit: just figured out what flashing meant, just a giant aluminum foil with more rigidity. How do you make sure the entire thing doesnt just start folding over? or do the strips/channels actually give it enough structure?
 
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N

Nutria

Well-Known Member
@noodle-led don't know if you I can answer my question but can I attach a temperature sensor like the LM35 to the proper spot on the strip to read temps?
 
ANC

ANC

Well-Known Member
I know the Samsung strips have an exposed measuring spot in the center.
Look at the pics, It should be a little shiny dot almost dead center of the board.
 
N

Nutria

Well-Known Member
ANC said:
I know the Samsung strips have an exposed measuring spot in the center.
Look at the pics, It should be a little shiny dot almost dead center of the board.
Click to expand...
Y there should be 3 spots for case temp reading but I don't know how these work and if I can accurately read temps through a sensor
 
wietefras

wietefras

Well-Known Member
kdt15 said:
many seem to recommend 1050mA drivers, is there a reason for this? All of the strips I consider seem to be 1.12A. Am I in the minority in terms of strip selection, and in actuality, most strips are under 1.05A, making that driver worth it?
Click to expand...
We generally use Mean Well drivers here and the closest constant current driver they have to 1120mA is a 1050mA driver.

If you electricity is very cheap (less than 15 cents) a higher current might be more economical. Or if it's very expensive (from 35 cents and up) then 700mA could be more economical.
 
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iAmGrimReefer

Active Member
I have not checked temps yet but I got my 2 fixtures built running 32 560mm strips on 4 1400mah drivers. If turned all the way up they go get pretty warm, I'll get temps later today.
 

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Buck5050

Buck5050

Well-Known Member
1.4 amps is pushing these gen2's pretty hard grim. I use 1.05 and with no air movement the aluminum is hot to the touch after an hour and the driver is more than that. The I/R camera captures show exactly what the temps are and I find that even with the slightest constant air movement over these strips the temps change drastically. I believe noodle did all his bench testing with virtually no air movement to confirm the claims of the manufacture and his findings were similar to those claims. @ 1400ma I would definitely have a fan blowing by these strips unless your trying to combat super low temps and even than extreme heat can shorten the life of your set up.
 
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iAmGrimReefer

Active Member
I have 2 oscalating fans at the ceiling blowing down through them to the canopy. I also mounted my drivers outside of the grow area so there would not be any extra heat inside. The temps inside are staying in perfect range with my 6" inline fan running at the lowest setting, way less heat than 1000hps put off with the inline at max. Only set up for 2 days now but I'll check temp with my ir when lights are on again
 
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Buck5050

Buck5050

Well-Known Member
I would love to see captures if you could. What size fans? With two of them I am sure it's enough to keep them cool. I use a crappy little 6" clip fan on its lowest speed blowing the middle of the 2'x2' frame and temps compared to ambient air it's like night and day.
 
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