DiY LEDs - How to Power Them

callies

callies

Active Member
Driverless 50W LED
i watched a video and the person was showing of a drivellers led @ 20w 30w and 50w
i was wondering what yous people thought about them as a small single grow light for like a 1x1ft
if i could find one with the right spectrum do you think it would work
how safe would you think something like that is considering its running from mains power from the wall right to the chip
is there a reason it does not have a ground wire. and what are the risks of it not having one
i am looking for a cheap led that will cover a 1x1 space running @ the lowest wattage as possible. mainly for clones

link to the video i was watching
 
callies

callies

Active Member
callies said:
Driverless 50W LED
i watched a video and the person was showing of a drivellers led @ 20w 30w and 50w
i was wondering what yous people thought about them as a small single grow light for like a 1x1ft
if i could find one with the right spectrum do you think it would work
how safe would you think something like that is considering its running from mains power from the wall right to the chip
is there a reason it does not have a ground wire. and what are the risks of it not having one
i am looking for a cheap led that will cover a 1x1 space running @ the lowest wattage as possible. mainly for clones

link to the video i was watching
Click to expand...
seen this on ebay https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Driverless-High-Power-Floodlight-LED-20W-30W-50W-DIY-COB-LED-Chip-Lens-Reflector/273669138719?hash=item3fb7f3a91f:m:mvw3PCokiaGRG2b0cJb7pEQ&frcectupt=true
 
methias

methias

Well-Known Member
callies said:
seen this on ebay https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Driverless-High-Power-Floodlight-LED-20W-30W-50W-DIY-COB-LED-Chip-Lens-Reflector/273669138719?hash=item3fb7f3a91f:m:mvw3PCokiaGRG2b0cJb7pEQ&frcectupt=true
Click to expand...
Hi all,
I have tried those driverless cobs 4 times. Each time I attached heat sinks 4x6x1.5 (inches) and 80 mm computer fans to cool. Each died within a month or two.
I'm over this things. Lots of heat given off as well.
Shortly after I started using cob's with external drivers. I still have 5 of those (1 deep red, 3 full spectrum, and 1 4K {all 50 watt}).
Lots of wires, drivers, and my fans still needed 12V to run them. If the 12 volt fan driver fails, fans all fail and so do all the cob's
Finally I decided to acquire some 12volt cobs. One driver for fans and cobs. If the driver fails all i've lost is the driver rather than all my cobs.

I picked up a HLG quantum 65 and that gave me an idea. I can DIY my own quantum boards.

So I got a Meanwell 12-350 switching power supply.
Set it to power all fans, all 12 volt cobs, and I have started making DIY quantum boards out of 12 volt (ready for this?) strip lighting attached to pieces of sheet aluminum.
I am slowly replacing 3 of the 5 higher voltage cobs with 12 volt ones. I plan on keeping my deep red for first light in morning and last light at night but the others will end up 12 volt when I get a chance.
So far I have small 2 red boards, 2 10x12 mostly 3500 white strips with a few blue and red strips mixed in, and a 10x14 cookie pan with 5K strips 1/8 inch apart.
IMG_20190401_213107.jpg
This is a single plant cabinet grow with a twist (literally).
The entire plant is on a DIY turntable with a (you guessed it) a 12 volt motor to drive the turntable to rotate once every 8 minutes or so. see below.
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=351659&page=1

OK getting off topic,
a little baked right now so sorry for the long wind..

I do not like driverless cobs as I can not get them to live very long,
Your reality may be different.

Vape on
 
ChiefRunningPhist

ChiefRunningPhist

Well-Known Member
methias said:
Hi all,
I have tried those driverless cobs 4 times. Each time I attached heat sinks 4x6x1.5 (inches) and 80 mm computer fans to cool. Each died within a month or two.
I'm over this things. Lots of heat given off as well.
Shortly after I started using cob's with external drivers. I still have 5 of those (1 deep red, 3 full spectrum, and 1 4K {all 50 watt}).
Lots of wires, drivers, and my fans still needed 12V to run them. If the 12 volt fan driver fails, fans all fail and so do all the cob's
Finally I decided to acquire some 12volt cobs. One driver for fans and cobs. If the driver fails all i've lost is the driver rather than all my cobs.

I picked up a HLG quantum 65 and that gave me an idea. I can DIY my own quantum boards.

So I got a Meanwell 12-350 switching power supply.
Set it to power all fans, all 12 volt cobs, and I have started making DIY quantum boards out of 12 volt (ready for this?) strip lighting attached to pieces of sheet aluminum.
I am slowly replacing 3 of the 5 higher voltage cobs with 12 volt ones. I plan on keeping my deep red for first light in morning and last light at night but the others will end up 12 volt when I get a chance.
So far I have small 2 red boards, 2 10x12 mostly 3500 white strips with a few blue and red strips mixed in, and a 10x14 cookie pan with 5K strips 1/8 inch apart.
View attachment 4313808
This is a single plant cabinet grow with a twist (literally).
The entire plant is on a DIY turntable with a (you guessed it) a 12 volt motor to drive the turntable to rotate once every 8 minutes or so. see below.
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=351659&page=1

OK getting off topic,
a little baked right now so sorry for the long wind..

I do not like driverless cobs as I can not get them to live very long,
Your reality may be different.

Vape on
Click to expand...
Lol Love the ingenuity! Good work! :bigjoint:
 
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oill

Well-Known Member
Can anyone help me? I have tried to build a flower initiator using the kit in the picture.

Tried 10 and 12 3w epistar far reds.

These leds apparently run at 2.2-2.7v 600-800ma

I have used thermal glue to fix them to an aluminium L plate, then soldered the LED's together + to -

Then linked the ends to this lpc 20 700 driver.

The driver is just directly into a wall plug.

When I turn this on... Nothing happens. Any ideas?
 

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GBAUTO

GBAUTO

Well-Known Member
I run some XPE far reds during flower on my fixtures in a setup similar to what you're doing. Your driver should have sufficient forward voltage to run 10-11 of the discretes if they run approx. 2.5V. The LPC20-700 can push up to 30V so it should run the 10 string but may not be able to provide sufficient VF to run 12. I'd suggest verifying all of your wiring-it should be able to light at least 10 of them .
 
ChiefRunningPhist

ChiefRunningPhist

Well-Known Member
oill said:
Can anyone help me? I have tried to build a flower initiator using the kit in the picture.

Tried 10 and 12 3w epistar far reds.

These leds apparently run at 2.2-2.7v 600-800ma

I have used thermal glue to fix them to an aluminium L plate, then soldered the LED's together + to -

Then linked the ends to this lpc 20 700 driver.

The driver is just directly into a wall plug.

When I turn this on... Nothing happens. Any ideas?
Click to expand...
I bet you either have 1 of the diodes backwards so that its reversed biased when you hook up the driver and impeding current flow, or you maybe just had + & - backwards initially when you tried to fire it up. Did you try reversing polarity of your driver leads?

Did the driver require you to wire a plug onto it?

Like what @GBAUTO said, 30v should be plenty for (10) chips @ 2.2v...
 
TEKNIK

TEKNIK

Well-Known Member
oill said:
Can anyone help me? I have tried to build a flower initiator using the kit in the picture.

Tried 10 and 12 3w epistar far reds.

These leds apparently run at 2.2-2.7v 600-800ma

I have used thermal glue to fix them to an aluminium L plate, then soldered the LED's together + to -

Then linked the ends to this lpc 20 700 driver.

The driver is just directly into a wall plug.

When I turn this on... Nothing happens. Any ideas?
Click to expand...
I think the voltage output of the driver maybe too low, make sure the voltage output on the driver is above 25V, you can disconnect one chip at a time to see what's going on also. 700mA is pushing one of those LED's pretty hard I would suggest to keep it @350mA
 
boilingoil

boilingoil

Well-Known Member
oill said:
Can anyone help me? I have tried to build a flower initiator using the kit in the picture.

Tried 10 and 12 3w epistar far reds.

These leds apparently run at 2.2-2.7v 600-800ma

I have used thermal glue to fix them to an aluminium L plate, then soldered the LED's together + to -

Then linked the ends to this lpc 20 700 driver.

The driver is just directly into a wall plug.

When I turn this on... Nothing happens. Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Exactly what epi diodes are you using ?
 
boilingoil

boilingoil

Well-Known Member
TEKNIK said:
I think the voltage output of the driver maybe too low, make sure the voltage output on the driver is above 25V, you can disconnect one chip at a time to see what's going on also. 700mA is pushing one of those LED's pretty hard I would suggest to keep it @350mA
Click to expand...
What's your thought on the epi's as a whole, I haven't used any epi's in 4 years, so I don't know if the quality has improved any from now to then.
 
TEKNIK

TEKNIK

Well-Known Member
boilingoil said:
What's your thought on the epi's as a whole, I haven't used any epi's in 4 years, so I don't know if the quality has improved any from now to then.
Click to expand...
Nothing wrong with epistar LED's, the problem is how they are packaged. Most of the companies in China use old packaging techniques they also use the cheap types, epistar make really good red LED's. Often the products out of China are not even epistar LED's.
 
HydroFood

HydroFood

Active Member
Looking for opinions on which power supply to recommend.

I’m going to be experimenting with different light recipes for various veggies and microgreens. Iv used Eb2s and vestas for a good while, now I want to step out the box and tinker a bit.
Here’s what I got so far...


Several of each from these LED lines.
Sunplus20: all colors
Luxeon rebel: W/G/B/R
Luxeon C: mint
SemiLED: infrared/green

LDD drivers. 350, 500, 700

Optics degrees 30, 45, 60, 90

I have a spare HLG-40H-36A. Is this my ideal power supply?


I figured I’d ask the experts about other power supplies/drivers because I have only ever used Mean well HLG drivers and have never driven smaller ones like the LDDs. I know there’s ALL KINDS of drivers out there that I’m not familiar with.

I’ll be adding these LEDs to small builds using Bridgelux Eb gen2 strips, and Vesta strips.

Any suggestions/advice regarding configuration, setup, or operation would be appreciated!
 
Yesyes3000

Yesyes3000

Well-Known Member
Hi I’m trying to find the correct driver to hook up to 4 132 quantum boards v2. Ether 2 boards to a driver or 4 boards to one driver
 
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