DIY 80W vero 18 UFO killer

Ingredients:

• (1) HeatsinkUSA 10" profile cut to 10 inches
• (4) Bridgelux Vero 18 3500k 80cri
• (1) Mean Well HLG-80H-C700A http://www.meanwell.com/search/hlg-80h-C/HLG-80H-C-spec.pdf
  
• Box of Wago 222-412 connector
• (8 ) M3 0.5 pitch 60mm screws + lock washers. (for mounting the cobs)
  
• (4) heavy duty picture hangers
• (8 ) M4 0.7 pitch 60mm screws + lock washers + nuts (for hangers)
• A good thermal interface material. Arctic silver 5 or better
• Wire that can handle 700mA.

More info soon. I just wanted to post pictures of the new sinks with the cobs laying how I intend to mount them. I'm not 100% sure how far I want to space them apart, but each will be running at 700mA.

That is going to be one mean light. Planning on passive or active cooling? How much space are you illuminating?

It's meant for lighting 2 to 2.5sqft. I have the cobs, sinks, and vero 18 for making 3 of these, side by side, in a cabinet. 3 of these lights in a ~3x2 cabinet is the plan.

The 3 drivers should be here monday. 1 driver drives all 4 cobs in series at 700mA.

churchhaze said:

It's meant for lighting 2 to 2.5sqft. I have the cobs, sinks, and vero 18 for making 3 of these, side by side, in a cabinet. 3 of these lights in a ~3x2 cabinet is the plan.

The 3 drivers should be here monday. 1 driver drives all 4 cobs in series at 700mA.

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Nice, should do the job real good

I'm not sure how much active cooling it will have. I'm going to have to see how warm it gets first, then try some crude airflow/pressure tests so I can come up with a solution that's not overkill. I'm hoping that without any fans, it will be hot, but not skin melting, house burning, hot in case airflow gets cut off somehow.

Here's with the hangers put on. Each picture hanger uses (2) M4 0.7 pitch 60mm pan head machine screws. (I stole the picture hanger idea from positivity). If the threaded aluminum doesn't hold well, I will put on 0.7 threaded M4 nuts on the other side.

I'm using the same size sink in my microcab. 90w will get the heatsink pretty hot. Nothing like some other setups I've seen but it will get beyond warm.

To keep it nicely chilled I'd put a top plate on. Just a sheet of aluminum or steel that can be slid under some angle iron for a nice clean look. Drill a hole for a nice size fan. Now you can bolt a fan and driver down or whatever you need that will fit.

I'd even consider a small project box with a power inlet and outlet for daisy chaining the three together. Would be nice and clean with the wiring rigged like that. Not much more work than just wiring it up.

It would be a tight fit...driver, box, and fan...but it should fit.

Multiple benefits including your driver being cooled nicely on top of the heatsink.

Not trying to sway everyone to build lights my way but the design has been working well.

I'll be redoing my microcab light soon like that...I don't like it setup as is with things separated.

churchhaze said:

Here's with the hangers put on. Each picture hanger uses (2) M4 0.7 pitch 60mm pan head machine screws. (I stole this idea from positivity). If the threaded aluminum doesn't hold well, I will put on 0.7 threaded M4 nuts on the other side.

View attachment 3266379

View attachment 3266380

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One tip church....hex head screws are the bomb when screwing into metal. A lot less worries of stripping the head.

You can probably tell I'm not much of a metalsmith. Good advice! I only had a metric tap set, so I was very limited in my screw selection, and was just thinking... "what's the next biggest tap I have after M3 0.5pitch... and it was M4 0.7 pitch. Too bad I already have most of the screws.. I will definitely consider this in the future.

Positivity said:

One tip church....hex head screws are the bomb when screwing into metal. A lot less worries of stripping the head.

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Me either...I just learn as I go. I've got lots of ugly looking cuts of scrap metal leftover

We're all screwed. Ready to kill UFOs.

Very nice, are you going to use the Molex connectors?

My plan was to solder the connections. I may do the 2nd and 3rd panels slightly differently, but probably not.

I like your choice in heatsinks, nice C/W/3 rating too! The 10" is a beast among metal.

I have been throwing around a Vero 13 idea on a 20" sink with 6x 3500k versions which are running @500mA which should be the same efficiency as the 18@700mA. Both are just a notch above the output of a CXA 3070 Z2 @1.4 amps.

I thought about splitting up a piece of a 10" and cutting it down the middle making it more of a 5" x 10" or so. But I really think I am just going to use the 5.89 x 20" with 2 noctua's. Should produce about 97w before losses.

I am definitely paying attention to your build, thanks for the posts!

Can you rate the difficulty of tapping of the heatsink for the mounting screws, with a hand drill on a scale of 1-10? [I was just going to go Prolimatech and Kapton tape, but now you have me changing my opinion, thanks

Looking good. I will be looking here for inspiration.

Drilling and tapping isn't too hard with a hand drill. A drill press would make it a lot easier though.

Obviously the smaller cobs you choose, the more screws you'll have to use. That's part of why I didn't use all vero 10. Vero 29 has 4 screws per connector instead of 2 so the convenience advantage there is lost.

The hardest part of drilling the holes imo is feeling bad about putting holes in your nice piece of aluminum. "what if i eventually want a thermal slug to go right where I put this tap hole?" thoughts.

Abiqua said:

Can you rate the difficulty of tapping of the heatsink for the mounting screws, with a hand drill on a scale of 1-10? [I was just going to go Prolimatech and Kapton tape, but now you have me changing my opinion, thanks

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churchhaze said:

Drilling and tapping isn't too hard with a hand drill. A drill press would make it a lot easier though.

Obviously the smaller cobs you choose, the more screws you'll have to use. That's part of why I didn't use all vero 10. Vero 29 has 4 screws per connector instead of 2 so the convenience advantage there is lost.

The hardest part of drilling the holes imo is feeling bad about putting holes in your nice piece of aluminum. "what if i eventually want a thermal slug to go right where I put this tap hole?" thoughts.

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To you have to tap the hole or will pre-drilled holes suffice?

churchhaze said:

"what if i eventually want a thermal slug to go right where I put this tap hole?" thoughts.

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Can't make an omelette,without braking some eggs ...
And even if you actually did so..
Ah well,what the heck ?
You can't turn the omelette back to eggs ...

What the eggs have to do with the heatsink ?
Well ..You're drilling to install few of the so called 'fried eggs ' (due to their looks) ,led arrays ..
That's the connection !

Stoney Cheers !

DonPetro said:

To you have to tap the hole or will pre-drilled holes suffice?

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I didn't tap the hanger holes. Just predrilled and screwed in with hex head metal screws. Pretty much threads itself that way.

Leds could be done the same way but a more elegant tap is nice...

Pre-drilled it is then.