DiY LEDs - How to Power Them

speedyganga said:

hi everyone,
I am looking for a cheap way to power cxa3070.
They are rated at 37,42V at 1400mA. => 149,68V if all in series.
Would a HGL 185-1400 do the job? it is suppose to output 1400mA and 143V so I guess it will suffer a bit ?!

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http://www.meanwell.com/search/hlg-185h-C/default.htm

In the spec sheet is says that the OVER VOLTAGE protection is 160-170v so you might be able to run them the 149+ volts your looking for depending on the individual driver/cobs and Tj... that is if I'm understanding correctly, someone correct me if i am wrong please

Ho, I didn't think of it at all.
I will wait until other confirm that. ..
BTW wouldn't it be a problem for the driver to constantly push higher than rated current?

speedyganga said:

hi everyone,
I am looking for a cheap way to power cxa3070.
They are rated at 37,42V at 1400mA. => 149,68V if all in series.
Would a HGL 185-1400 do the job? it is suppose to output 1400mA and 143V so I guess it will suffer a bit ?!

Click to expand...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/181399694068?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

Supra analized these drivers, running on 1400ma.

Thank you but I am not in US and importing it is 17$ just for shipping...
But by looking at the driver I see that it's rated at 1500mA and 37V so it answer a bit to my question. If this driver works the meanwell HgL 185 1400mA should work too...
Because at 1500mA a cxa needs 37.74V so it's higher than the maximum of the driver.

Then I might just go with a 1400ma/ 36V satisled driver. Or take the meanwell and put all the led in series

speedyganga said:

Thank you but I am not in US and importing it is 17$ just for shipping...
But by looking at the driver I see that it's rated at 1500mA and 37V so it answer a bit to my question. If this driver works the meanwell HgL 185 1400mA should work too...
Because at 1500mA a cxa needs 37.74V so it's higher than the maximum of the driver.

Then I might just go with a 1400ma/ 36V satisled driver. Or take the meanwell and put all the led in series

Click to expand...

They will work just fine with the 3070, hardcapped on 40v according to supra who tested them. I am going to use them in stead of meanwell wich is more expensive and offers less quality for each euro.

happy75 said:

They will work just fine with the 3070, hardcapped on 40v according to supra who tested them. I am going to use them in stead of meanwell wich is more expensive and offers less quality for each euro.

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Sorry but I didn't get what you meant. "less quality for each euro"
Mean well is middle range I think, not very good but not bad. They have correct range of price but the quality is much better than cheapo chinese led and at the end I prefer paying a little bit more but knowing that they will stand as long as my led than changing them in 2 years.
Meanwell way would be 30$ per cob. true kind of expensive (well, I still have two weeks before buying )

The Mean Well maxes out at 143V. So if you run it at maximum current (~1500mA) you could only run 3 CXA3070s. The 143V limit is a hard cap, we found this out from the HLG-185H-C1050A.

Ok so I have to forget this one...
Well I found this one which is cheap and could replace the mean well LPC 60 1400.
Only thing is it is rated at 50W while it is supposed to draw 1500mA and 40V (60W). In general are the number rated for A and V output correct on those drivers?

Supra thanks for correcting me on the 143v hard cap on the hlg-185h-C****, it wont let me remove that bad info from my previous post as there is no edit button for some reason.

I guess I don't understand the spec sheet still, I thought it would run to the over voltage of 160-170v and then shut itself down or hiccup if it went over (like the fastech drivers), though it might not be advisable.

Can someone explain the what the 160-170v over voltage protection means then. thanks in advance

happy75 said:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/181399694068?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

Supra analized these drivers, running on 1400ma.

Click to expand...

How efficient/ reliable are they?

tightpockt said:

How efficient/ reliable are they?

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Supra is recommending them.
He said 90% efficiency which is better than the MW LPC(87%).

I don't think anyone has been running them for a very long time yet. If supra is trusting them it gives me confidence in them. I will be using them.

Speedy the driver driver you linked should work, although I have not tested it. I do not think it is power factor corrected. That will not affect your electric bill but it does draw a lot more current than a pf corrected driver. Normally I expect generic Chinese drivers to put out a lot less current than they claim or in some cases they are completely out of spec so you have to test each one carefully and returns/refunds are a major hassle and you may be lucky to recover half your money if something goes wrong. The 1.4A eBay drivers I linked tested within spec 52 out of 52 tested. I ordered extra expecting a few duds but they were all good to go and put out above 1400mA, so they have a good track record so far. Longevity has not been tested.

EF, I am not sure what they mean by "over voltage" that is a darned good question. I overloaded the HLG-185H-1050A on purpose and as soon as I went above 191V it drastically decreased the output current. So maybe if you continued up to its "over voltage" limit of 210V it would shut down?

The JHX LED drivers are also Power Factor Corrected, the Meanwell LPC-60 is not. So more efficient and less amps, from what I understand.

SupraSPL said:

Speedy the driver driver you linked should work, although I have not tested it. I do not think it is power factor corrected. That will not affect your electric bill but it does draw a lot more current than a pf corrected driver. Normally I expect generic Chinese drivers to put out a lot less current than they claim or in some cases they are completely out of spec so you have to test each one carefully and returns/refunds are a major hassle and you may be lucky to recover half your money if something goes wrong. The 1.4A eBay drivers I linked tested within spec 52 out of 52 tested. I ordered extra expecting a few duds but they were all good to go and put out above 1400mA, so they have a good track record so far. Longevity has not been tested.

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Oh well led really gave me a lesson: "you get what you pay for" so I will just get the meanwell. It increase my budget quite a bit but longevity and security might be better and peace of mind has no price.

Hey folks. Know absolutely nothing about building but I'm liking everything I read about the Cree 3070 COB's. Supposing I had an existing case and wanted to retro-fit it to pull a total of 200W, using 4x Cree 3070 50W COB's, and the best matching drivers/power supplies. That would be a relatively easy retro-fit I think I can handle and be much neater than anything I could make for the holders/case. Basically, I'd remove the existing lights, replace them with the COB's, replace the drivers and be good to go. Is this too simplistic?

I'm in need of some good flowering lights, it's either make them using the best out there, or buy something high end.
What specific Cree COB's and drivers would you recommend? The end game is to make 2x 200W using 3000k Cree 3070's to cover a 4x4'. Any input would be appreciated.

Cheers

Hey GroErr, I haven't built shit, so someone will need to back me up on this, but I'm pretty sure 4 of the JHX ebay or Meanwell LPC-60 drivers should work just fine in that retrofit. There's not a whole lot more to the guts of most simple LEDs than drivers attached to an AC plug. Can you mount the COBs on existing heatsinks inside the case?

Hello, gro-err, CaliW has got the right parts. So the only trouble I can see is, will the existing lamp have enough heatsink/cooling capacity for 200W? My approach has been to try and use the heatsink itself as the case. With active cooling we have been using as little as 30 cm sq / dissipation W. If you have the measurements of the heatsink and number of fins, I can give you an estimate of how many watts you could install and still get cool temps. Normally we use remote drivers but some diyers have installed their drivers directly onto the heatsink or inside the case.

This is an example the the measurements I need and the spreadsheet does the rest

SupraSPL said:

Hello, gro-err, CaliW has got the right parts. So the only trouble I can see is, will the existing lamp have enough heatsink/cooling capacity for 200W? My approach has been to try and use the heatsink itself as the case. With active cooling we have been using as little as 30 cm sq / dissipation W. If you have the measurements of the heatsink and number of fins, I can give you an estimate of how many watts you could install and still get cool temps. Normally we use remote drivers but some diyers have installed their drivers directly onto the heatsink or inside the case.

This is an example the the measurements I need and the spreadsheet does the rest
View attachment 3174944

Click to expand...

CaliWorthington said:

Hey GroErr, I haven't built shit, so someone will need to back me up on this, but I'm pretty sure 4 of the JHX ebay or Meanwell LPC-60 drivers should work just fine in that retrofit. There's not a whole lot more to the guts of most simple LEDs than drivers attached to an AC plug. Can you mount the COBs on existing heatsinks inside the case?

Click to expand...

Here's something like I'm thinking. Buy 2, rip out the COB's and drivers, I'm sure they're crap, mount new drivers and COB's, remove the lens, good to go. Thoughts/comments welcome, the whole back of the aluminum frame is a passive heat sink, drivers are mounted inside that box on the back...

Edit: Link - duh: http://www.aliexpress.com/item/MAYDENG-Good-Quality-200W-LED-Floodlights-Outdoor-Spotlight-LED-Lamp-Waterproof-IP65-Warm-Cool-White-AC85/1707238510.html

at that price you should just buy the heat sink, the LED's, and the drivers and DIY. Putting together is not that hard, getting all the right parts can be, but here at this site is the knowledge and help to make sure you get what is need the first time and putting it together is not to hard when there is plenty of help.

I agree, for that price you could buy some phenomenal extruded heatsinks and you would be running much cooler. Or if shipping is too high, you could use a few really good CPU coolers and mount a COB on each one, then hang each one or connect them with a plastic or wood board as several DIYers here have done.