Led Drivers and heatsink question for the cxa3070 build.

Hello everyone after looking around these boards constantly i have been trying to figure out a few things.
First off i wanna use 6 cxa3070 for my build which is 2 by 4 feet. Here is what im trying to do question wise.

1. 3 cxa3070 at 3000k and 3 at 5000k would that give me a good spectrum of light colors? I am growing bonsai trees and some bonsai pepper plants if that helps.

2. I want to run these 6 at 1050mA so i think i may be in the range of about 38 watts a piece am i right? i want to stay under 250 total watts being used. Am i right saying 6 cxa3070 running at 1050mA will keep me under 250W.

3. I would really like to just use one LED driver for all 6, but at 1050mA i am not sure if there is one that can handle all that voltage. The closest i came to is Mean Well HLG-120H-C1050A.I dont think this can handle all of the voltage correct me if i am wrong. if i do it by one driver per led guessing LPC-60-1050 will suffice. Is there at least a led driver someone can recommend for maybe running 3 of those at 1050mA? Preferably a good brand LED driver.

4. Last question i was thinking about was heat sinks. i want to run 3 heatsink 5.866 X 18 inches in length. I would put 2 crees on each heatsink , with a fan to cool them off. Is the 5.866 by 18 inches from heatsinks.usa a good enough heatsink for 2 cree with a 120mm fan maybe?

Thank you all im sorry for some noob questions just don't want to buy the wrong stuff. Thank you all for the help.

Hello and thank you for your questions.

If you want to run all 6 cxa3070 on one driver, you would probably have to use a 700mA driver.

I don't think there are any meanwell drivers that run at 1050mA that can power more than 4.

I personally think as cobs get cheaper, everyone will be wanting to swap their power supplies out with lower current ones to add more cobs, and would thus go the 700mA route, but I already have a bunch of cob setups working and trying to make it better, not trying to setup a new system.

I think you're basically on the right track anyway. Show us what you make!

Which meanwell drivers can do 2 or 3 cree at 1050. I was on the website not surfeit that will cost sufficient as it may be cheaper to just get 6 I think.

It would only be cheaper because you're comparing 1 large outdoor rated high efficiency driver with active power factor correction with 6 medium efficiency without active PF correction and a plastic insulated case (no ground).

Andrew1981 said:

Which meanwell drivers can do 2 or 3 cree at 1050. I was on the website not surfeit that will cost sufficient as it may be cheaper to just get 6 I think.

Click to expand...

Anyone else on the other questions?

The HLG-185H-C1050A/B can run (5) CXA3070s at 1050mA. The HLG-185H-C700A/B can run (8 ) CXA3070s at 700mA. The Fasttech 50W drivers should give the CXA3070 something along the lines of 1100mA if you want 6 separate drivers. LPC-60-1050 would work.

An 18" length of 5.88" with a fan is good for at least 150W of CXA dissipation and you can fit a 140mm fan which reaches all the channels, is very quiet and can do the job even at 5V. Actually it is probably most efficient overall at 5V. So for your needs, an 18" length would be very overkill unless you are considering passive cooling. You could use a smaller profile to save some $. The 3.5" would be perfect at 18" with an 80mm or 92mm fan running at 5V. Good luck with the build!

Ty so much supra you are the god of led building. Also Ty church haze for your great input as well. Can you recommend a quiet 80 or 92 mm fan I'm looking for less noise really. Supra do you think I'm just better off with 6 3000k for overall veg n flower for peppers. Considering I'm not looking for gram output lol just bonsai s to make them thrive. Ty

For a quiet fan and quality noctua is hard to beat. But the price is hard to choke down for a fan. Really they all work about the same at the end of the day.

If budget is on the mind, the 4.85" profile is actually cheaper for the same 18" length than the 3.5 profile suggested and should work passively for 2 CXA's per sink, or 120watts if actively cooled. However you may consider using arctic alpine 11GT plus CPU coolers for $10 each, free shipping. The final cost is about the same after you consider shipping from HSUA($20+).

For general horticulture applications, 4000k is a nice balance. Tomatoes seem to thrive under 4000k light and I imagine peppers aren't much different.

Ty bicit so if I can passively cool those without the fans then that's as quietest as I can get. Are you saying by passively cooled at 25 c which I see charts with those numbers. Than I should do that. As led drivers since I can't do them all on one driver is there a good one that can do 3 at once or two at once without breaking the bank.

Also am I going overboard with these lights for just peppers n regular plants. Is there a cheaper alternative like going smaller Crees and less wattage. And if I stay the same setup what's the recommended height so it will hit all of the 2 by 4 height. Once again Ty all.

The 4.85" is 10% cheaper / surface area, but it has a .14" thick based wheres the 3.5" has a .3" base. The thicker the base is the better the heatsink can handle an "uneven" heat load. Also the 3.5" has more space between fins, so will perform better with passive cooling. Not saying the 4.85" will not work though. I have not tested it yet, it would be an interesting comparison.

With regards to the Bang:buck ratio, it's hard to beat the bridgelux vero line. The vero 18 is a really nice inexpensive package.

(6-10)http://www.digikey.com/product-search/en?pv1615=2&FV=ffecac22,fff40008,fff80354,1938015c&k=Vero+18&mnonly=0&newproducts=0&ColumnSort=0&page=1&quantity=0&ptm=0&fid=0&pageSize=25
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(6-10)http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/0688014229/WM9599-ND/3880999
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(6-10)http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186070
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http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=kapton+tape&N=-1&isNodeId=1
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http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?search_type=jamecoall&catalogId=10001&freeText=HLG-185H-C700A&langId=-1&productId=2189281&storeId=10001&ddkey=http:StoreCatalogDrillDownView
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A nice inexpensive lighting system. You can run up to ten, vero 18's or as few as six on that driver, which can also be dimmed.

Ty for that, maybe I will go with vero considering I'm looking for just lumen output for bonsai to thrive. Do you think 3 or 4 vero 18 can be passively cooled on 18 inch 3.5 heatsink. If I don't need to add fans that would be great.

I may be wrong but are you sure you need 240 actual watts in a 2x4 space for a bonsai and peppers? Seems like extreme overkill.

Most plants need no where near the amount of light MJ does to thrive.

if 25w per sq ft can produce amazing buds then i don't think you need almost double that at 40w sq/ft.

that's just my opinion.

yea i think it will be about 200 watts with 10 vero 18s..2 x 4 is 8 square feet so at 25 it will equal 200 watts

Yea using the veros i think you will be better off. Better light spread and the ability to dim them.

yea i think im going to use one HLG-185H-c700a for all 10 vero18. If i am calculating this right that would be 200 watts. Also not sure if i should buy the a version or b version for the led driver. Do they led drivers need a power supply that i need to buy separately. Anyone have a good supply for this driver. and also another power adapter for fans that i can vary the voltage. Ty all.

Also i just noticed 10 vero 18 running at 700mA Voltage would be 286.5, as the HLG-185H-c700a has a max of 286 would this be running this unit max power hence less efficiency and lower lifespan for the led driver.

You usually get the best efficiency out of drivers running them 100%. The more you dim the less efficient they usually are.

So running 10 vero 18 on that driver should work? Also what do I use to connect that to the wall just buy a regular plug and hook it up to the wires?

As far as the power supply for the fans you have to decide if you want to control each fan independent of each other or one "dimmer" for all fans.

if you want control the easiest plug and play way is to get something like this

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00HG9AB1G/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?qid=1419958482&sr=8-3&pi=AC_SY200_QL40

and if you have more than 4 fans you can use the