Cob kits and dimming ? Confused

OKay bear with me i have some serious Adhd and i will repeat the same question like 10 different ways im sorry in advance for this.

Im curious when building the lamps there are so many different combos with drivers and running then soft and hard and what not. If i bought a complete kit with 6 cobs and it says the driver is dimmable does that mean i could dial the desired wattage per table ?



If i bought a kit of 6 with a dimmable drivers could i dim them so the cobs would run around 37-38 watts each ?


I want to build a cob light and side by side with my CMH 315 lights.
Right now i can do 300-350 grams per 315 light.
I would like to try LED and see if its possible to get the same results with less wattage.

With that said would a 6 cob dimmed (if possible) to 225watts per 3x3 or 9 cobs on a 700 ma driver running 25 watts each cobb be able to compete against a 315 cmh lamp ?
If so 6 or 9 cobs ?

Most important if a kit can be dimmed and pretend there was a kit that was 500watts with 9 cobs would that dimmable light dimmed down to 225 watts ( if thats possible) work just the same as it would if i bought 9 cobs and a driver that only pushed them at 700ma ?

I hope this isnt a confusing question, i kinda understand some of the DIY but some parts im just not understanding at all yet. Like dimming.


EDIT: Basic question if drivers are dimmable using a kilowatt meter i dial it to my desired wattage will i lose quality light by dimming versus just buying a driver that runs them without dimming at the exact wattage i want ?

Unless it's a dim to zero version. I don't think you can run them at say 25% or whatever. Don't take my word for it though. I've not long ago built my first cob kit.

Just figuring out what cob I wanted to use was hard enough. Let alone trying to figure out what drivers to use.

I think you could get pretty good results with cobs. Maybe not better than cmh. But, I'm happy with the 182w I've got. My plants are loving it.

Running less cobs harder is supposed to decrease their lifespan. And efficacy. It's cheaper. But they don't last as long.

Where as. With more cobs ran softer. It's generally more expensive to begin with. But their efficacy increases. And they generally last longer. That and the light spread can be made more even with the added diodes.

Also. I know what it's like to have adhd. I hate it at times. So hard to not have a million things going in your head. And I constantly swear at things for being too damn slow or ballsing up words and shite.

Nugachino said:

Running less cobs harder is supposed to decrease their lifespan. And efficacy. It's cheaper. But they don't last as long.

Where as. With more cobs ran softer. It's generally more expensive to begin with. But their efficacy increases. And they generally last longer. That and the light spread can be made more even with the added diodes

Click to expand...

This might be true, but you are talking 50,000 hrs or more with proper cooling. Proper cooling is the key. If you are keeping it cool at max power compared to barely keeping it cool at half power, which will last longer. No matter what, the next gen or 2 gens down the line, could be worth the upgrade, so I doubt may people will even grow long enough with their light to see it start to dim.

So dimming does not work like i'm thinking. Appreciate the replies.

Alright if anyone reads this and i decide to go with 9 cobs will HLG-240H-C700 work
Whats the difference between HLG-240H-C700A and HLG-240H-C700B ?

Don't understand the A & B parts ?

A = has screws right on the driver and dims 40-100%

B = has leads to mount a remote dimming knob and can usually dim from 10-100%. (larger models like 320 and 600 can dim to zero) B drivers can also be dimmed with 0-10V DC input

you want to appropriately size your driver to use 70-100% of it at most times.

for two reasons:
1. drivers arent cheap and buying a driver and running ti at 40% is a waste of money
2. drivers are more efficient when run at full load

driver life is about the same at any case temp up to 70C (140F), not that hard to keep cool with any kind of airflow, even when mounted on a frame at the top of a hot tent. keep in mind these drivers are designed to be inside enclosed sign fixtures etc, so what you think of as "warm" isnt hard on the driver

Black Thumb said:

I want to build a cob light and side by side with my CMH 315 lights.
Right now i can do 300-350 grams per 315 light.
I would like to try LED and see if its possible to get the same results with less wattage.

With that said would a 6 cob dimmed (if possible) to 225watts per 3x3 or 9 cobs on a 700 ma driver running 25 watts each cobb be able to compete against a 315 cmh lamp ?
If so 6 or 9 cobs ?

Click to expand...

5-6 cxm22 on an ELG/HLG-240-48A would crush a 315cmh... 43000-45000lm vs 30000+lm

I like the Constant Voltage drivers better, as you're not limited to running at 700/1050/1400... by adding or subtracting cobs you can run at pretty much whatever current you desire. And if on a budget you can start with less cobs, driven harder, then add more later to run more efficiently.