SAFELY ballast a 400w LED cob set for under 20$

iHearAll

iHearAll

Well-Known Member
DocBry said:
We all have one! Well I am very close to one! Really good explanation of how the light works and functions! Nice breakdown dude, I am still tripping on the caps. The power supply unit can be built small and compacted. a small power supply set up would make it much easier to hide the supply and make the light safer to use and sell! Again very nice job with the explaination. Well after sitting at PJ for two hours with no power back to work. Btw it's 12:30am lol
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did ever get plants started under your light?

i know, i love it, These little things weigh about as much as an empty soda can, but smaller!
 
iHearAll

iHearAll

Well-Known Member
nxsov180db said:
@iHearAll Does this diy driver create a lot of heat/have a low efficiency? Why aren't more people doing this?
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the driver itself is very cool and produces no noticable heat. the heat across the lights is just dependant on the current across the lights and the amount of heat sink given. most people don't DIY to the component level, they diy to the product level.

meanwell drivers for instance are made to parallel the lights and this works well. theres alot of money to be made in their method as well. they are "smart" ballasts that work on reference voltages and there's no math involved. except there is math involved if you are buying a single driver for more than one LED chip.

i imagine there are people doing this but may be using one extra LED instead of a capacitor on the AC side. or are aware this would work but dont want to risk trying it because they love their marijuana so much that theyd be so upset if they were wrong and burned out a bunch of lights etc etc sad day. but that wont happen if you use 100w LEDs, a properly rated fuse and an ammeter.

i still haven't tried the circuit using 1000mA LEDs or 2000mA LEDs in series so if you are planning on using something of those values then i would use a smaller capacitor. for instance one 50uF in place of the 200uF. ill do some math after breakfast to make sure im not preaching the devils work haha.
ok edit. they will work as long as they have a voltage of 120 or greater when added up in series. and would simply require a smaller fuse.

always test with a fast blo fuse rated for the peak value you ever want to see as well as an ammeter that BREAKs the circuit. i cant tell you how many times i've seen people ask for help in school because they arent getting any reading on the ammeter. they just had it hooked up like a volt meter. you got to find instructions if you dont know what you're doing. no biggie

volt meter goes in parallel wih the circuit and ammeter goes in series.

thanks for the question!

mr P
 
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