Heat sinking EB strips at 1.2amps

I'm building EB strip lights and I'm making the light fixture/reflector/heatsink all in one, made out of bent aluminum flashing. My question is, has anyone run these strips at or higher than 1.2A and if so, do you have a photo or info on how much heat sinking you used and what your temps are? I can't relate to a celcius per watt heat sink but I can relate to surface area easily since I'm using sheet metal.
Currently planning 1amp but I'd like to stretch more out of these strips for my money. But only if I can do so while keeping the lights properly cooled and not reducing the50,000 hrs of lifetime significantly.

I ran a set of 6x 560mm EB series Gen1, 3500k strips, with an HLG-185H-C1400B, for an entire 9 week flower cycle, with only a 2'x2' sheet of aluminum flashing....If you plan on making fins, it will probably get the job done. I don't recall the temps exactly, but I know they were not of concern.
Measuring the total voltage drop, from cold start to full temp, is how I was taught to check for an appropriate level of thermal management. That driver has 143v, with the 6 strips running on that flashing, it would drop to 140 after peak temperature.
A trusted builder taught me that 2% or less Voltge drop indicated sufficient cooling. So I ran it that way for while, eventually harvested the strips for a different build, that was over 2 years ago, those strips are incorporated somewhere in a fixture in one of my perpetual flower rooms....I run EBs bare naked at 1050 without issue as well, so 1200ma with some flashing ought to be just fine.

Chip Green said:

I ran a set of 6x 560mm EB series Gen1, 3500k strips, with an HLG-185H-C1400B, for an entire 9 week flower cycle, with only a 2'x2' sheet of aluminum flashing....If you plan on making fins, it will probably get the job done. I don't recall the temps exactly, but I know they were not of concern.
Measuring the total voltage drop, from cold start to full temp, is how I was taught to check for an appropriate level of thermal management. That driver has 143v, with the 6 strips running on that flashing, it would drop to 140 after peak temperature.
A trusted builder taught me that 2% or less Voltge drop indicated sufficient cooling. So I ran it that way for while, eventually harvested the strips for a different build, that was over 2 years ago, those strips are incorporated somewhere in a fixture in one of my perpetual flower rooms....I run EBs bare naked at 1050 without issue as well, so 1200ma with some flashing ought to be just fine.

Click to expand...

Nice, that was very helpful and reassuring. Thank you!

Chip Green said:

I ran a set of 6x 560mm EB series Gen1, 3500k strips, with an HLG-185H-C1400B, for an entire 9 week flower cycle, with only a 2'x2' sheet of aluminum flashing....If you plan on making fins, it will probably get the job done. I don't recall the temps exactly, but I know they were not of concern.
Measuring the total voltage drop, from cold start to full temp, is how I was taught to check for an appropriate level of thermal management. That driver has 143v, with the 6 strips running on that flashing, it would drop to 140 after peak temperature.
A trusted builder taught me that 2% or less Voltge drop indicated sufficient cooling. So I ran it that way for while, eventually harvested the strips for a different build, that was over 2 years ago, those strips are incorporated somewhere in a fixture in one of my perpetual flower rooms....I run EBs bare naked at 1050 without issue as well, so 1200ma with some flashing ought to be just fine.

Click to expand...

I'm still a novice when it comes to electric circuits. I'm reading that the efficiency goes up when you're running a higher voltage and lower amperage circuit, also the A-type potentiometer for parallel circuits is inefficient compared to a DWM controller. Does this translate into inefficiencies and heat in the strips, or solely in the power supply?
Are you running exclusively series builds? I'm flip-flopping between a parallel or series build. Have you ever run into any issues when wiring them in series? my main concern is that he circuit within the BXEB strip itself says 3 series and 4 parallel diodes. Also, I'm concerned that running them at a 1.2-1.4A current in parallel may be too close to their limits if there's some kind of thermal runaway. I dont fully understand the thermal runaway, but what I think it implies, is that one can get a little hotter than the rest and consequentlly has more resistance and draws more power. Hence I guess why people max out their power supplies so that it can't run away and burn out.


Pls let me know if you have a preferred choice and why. also whether you have something bad to say about ELG series power supplies.

My newest proposed setup:
SERIES:
ELG-150-C1400B - 60$CAD (digikey.ca)
BXEB-0560-35E (5 @ 1.2A [~24W/per]) - 50$CAD (digikey.ca)
w/ tax $123.74CAD for 120W

PARALLEL:
ELG-150-24A - 60$CAD (digikey.ca)
BXEB-0560-35E (5 @ 1.2A [~24W/per]) - 50$CAD (digikey.ca)
w/ tax $123.74CAD for 120W