Wiring Bridgelux EB Strips

I have my 22" strips and am getting ready to wire them up. Maybe a stupid question: Each strip has four connectors on it -- two positives and two negatives, with a pair of each at either end of the strip. I'm guessing that's for convenience, and that I can use either pair. (Good so far?) Can I use a positive from one side of the strip and a negative from the other side of the strip? I would imagine so, but (obviously) I don't know what I'm doing... Thanks!

algebraist said:

I have my 22" strips and am getting ready to wire them up. Maybe a stupid question: Each strip has four connectors on it -- two positives and two negatives, with a pair of each at either end of the strip. I'm guessing that's for convenience, and that I can use either pair. (Good so far?) Can I use a positive from one side of the strip and a negative from the other side of the strip? I would imagine so, but (obviously) I don't know what I'm doing... Thanks!

Click to expand...

yes. !

Thanks! -- Second dumb question: It's plenty of work to try a quick test with my Meanwell driver -- I'll have to wire up 9 strips. But if I cobbled together some collection of batteries to make 22 volts, could I just hook that up? The strips are supposed to use 22.1 V at 700 mA; my naive understanding is that they must have some fixed resistance (E = IR), so that if I put 22V across a strip, it should draw about 700 mA. Yes? In case I'm wrong, I don't want to blow a strip (I have no extras... -- that was stupid...).

I've heard of people wiring 9v batteries in series to test lights. Should work

"Nine-volt batteries produce 400 to 500 milliampere-hours at 8 milliamperes. Ampere-hour is a unit of battery capacity, while amperes measure electric current. An ampere-hour measures the amount of electric current a battery can supply in one hour before exhausting its storage of energy."

My contribution of advice about working with the EB strips....
The poke in connections are not designed for durability. It is real easy to break those tiny, push down connector release "levers". Throughout my madness of many redesigns, I've had several break. Even using 18ga solid core wire, I found it sometimes difficult to "release" the wire from the connection without damage. In the end I opted to use the solder pads, this guaranteed a solid connection, I wanted to erase any doubt of loose contact....
That being said, I am extremely pleased with the performance of these strips, I have a "lamp" consisting of 11 of the 22" EBs, running at 700ma, with a MW ELG240-700(120v imput only). I made a simple rectangular frame 4 feet long that I have absolutely no form of heat removal on this thing, totally open air design, and temps on each strip have never exceeded 105f.... You'll really like em....

I was looking to set up my veg tent with these. Good to know these extra tidbits.

algebraist said:

Thanks! -- Second dumb question: It's plenty of work to try a quick test with my Meanwell driver -- I'll have to wire up 9 strips. But if I cobbled together some collection of batteries to make 22 volts, could I just hook that up? The strips are supposed to use 22.1 V at 700 mA; my naive understanding is that they must have some fixed resistance (E = IR), so that if I put 22V across a strip, it should draw about 700 mA. Yes? In case I'm wrong, I don't want to blow a strip (I have no extras... -- that was stupid...).

Click to expand...

yes
..... but also remember you need a minimum current as well. So if you have near the right voltage, but it starts to blink or the diode doesn't light at all...

Chip Green said:

My contribution of advice about working with the EB strips....
The poke in connections are not designed for durability. It is real easy to break those tiny, push down connector release "levers". Throughout my madness of many redesigns, I've had several break. Even using 18ga solid core wire, I found it sometimes difficult to "release" the wire from the connection without damage. In the end I opted to use the solder pads, this guaranteed a solid connection, I wanted to erase any doubt of loose contact....

Click to expand...

Very good to know -- thanks. Maybe I'll test with the poke-ins and then solder.

Chip Green said:

That being said, I am extremely pleased with the performance of these strips, I have a "lamp" consisting of 11 of the 22" EBs, running at 700ma, with a MW ELG240-700(120v imput only). I made a simple rectangular frame 4 feet long that I have absolutely no form of heat removal on this thing, totally open air design, and temps on each strip have never exceeded 105f.... You'll really like em....

Click to expand...

Also good news. I have a bunch of 1 inch wide 1/16 inch aluminum strips and angles that I plan to mount mine on, so it sounds like heat will be no problem.

11 of the 22 inch strips for a 2ft x 4ft space? Are you flowering in that space? After much searching and asking I've been planning to use 18, on a dimmer (same size space); do you think I'm overdoing it?

RandomHero8913 said:

"Nine-volt batteries produce 400 to 500 milliampere-hours at 8 milliamperes. Ampere-hour is a unit of battery capacity, while amperes measure electric current. An ampere-hour measures the amount of electric current a battery can supply in one hour before exhausting its storage of energy."

Click to expand...

Abiqua said:

yes
..... but also remember you need a minimum current as well. So if you have near the right voltage, but it starts to blink or the diode doesn't light at all...

Click to expand...

Ahh. 8mA certainly won't do it... Thanks.

I just looked at Duracell's data sheet for their AA coppertop batteries. They will put out 700mA for a little while. But at 1.5V each I'd need to wire up 15 of them... Probably easier to just wire up my 11 LED strips and connect them to my Meanwell driver. (Can't get close enough to 22V with 9V batteries; I suppose I could mix and match battery sizes, but this has stopped sounding like fun...)

algebraist said:

I just looked at Duracell's data sheet for their AA coppertop batteries. They will put out 700mA for a little while. But at 1.5V each I'd need to wire up 15 of them... Probably easier to just wire up my 11 LED strips and connect them to my Meanwell driver. (Can't get close enough to 22V with 9V batteries; I suppose I could mix and match battery sizes, but this has stopped sounding like fun...)

Click to expand...

Amperage is the 1st consideration for LED diodes, since that is what regulates what voltage is produced [why we have constant current drivers available.....]
In reality, I think the minimum current for lighting a 560 strip is 100ma @21.0 vF. But in another section of the datasheet minimum voltage and vF for the 560 strip 20.5 and 20.2, so I bet that 100ma isn't a hard number for a minimum.

But yeah, good call on the batteries...it sucks, but it is what it is....


fyi a few years back when FR [730nm] was 1st taking off, I wanted to build a battery operated Module just for FR, so I wouldn't have to hassle with a relay or digital timer, etc. Needless to say, I don't even use FR at all[in mono diodes], let alone did I ever build the battery pack for it, but I still love the idea

Holy crap almost 4 years ago!
http://rollitup.org/t/battery-powered-730nm-initiators-and-micro-cabs.759486/

algebraist said:

Very good to know -- thanks. Maybe I'll test with the poke-ins and then solder.


Also good news. I have a bunch of 1 inch wide 1/16 inch aluminum strips and angles that I plan to mount mine on, so it sounds like heat will be no problem.

11 of the 22 inch strips for a 2ft x 4ft space? Are you flowering in that space? After much searching and asking I've been planning to use 18, on a dimmer (same size space); do you think I'm overdoing it?

Click to expand...

I use this configuration for general garden plants, starting seeds in late winter, living in a northern latitude I need to extend the growing season.... I don't think I could flower anything with it very well......

Abiqua said:

yes
..... but also remember you need a minimum current as well. So if you have near the right voltage, but it starts to blink or the diode doesn't light at all...

Click to expand...

I tried running a single 2' strip with a driver I had sitting around, and the strip lights up, but it just blinks on and off. Is this because the driver is overloading the strip?

The same drivers seem to run the 2 of the 2' strips wired together that I just taped to the underside of some metal shelves, so I'm not sure if I this last strip is bad, or if the driver is too much for powering a single strip?

I'm trying to avoid dismantling the 'fixtures' i've already installed to test if all of the strips blink when hooked up to the drivers alone.

Yes the driver will go into pulse( might be called hiccup mode)without a minimum total forward voltage wired up to it. At least that's what I concluded. Not sure if the minimums are on the data sheets....
I had ,what I thought was a defective Meanwell ELG driver, trying to test a single cob one time. Acted like a strobe light. When I added more cobs it worked normally.

algebraist said:

Ahh. 8mA certainly won't do it... Thanks.

Click to expand...

That's not saying they are limited to 8 mA of current. They will provide much more than that, they will just discharge faster. "500 mA/H" means they will provide 500 mA for an hour.

StreetPreacher said:

I tried running a single 2' strip with a driver I had sitting around, and the strip lights up, but it just blinks on and off. Is this because the driver is overloading the strip?

The same drivers seem to run the 2 of the 2' strips wired together that I just taped to the underside of some metal shelves, so I'm not sure if I this last strip is bad, or if the driver is too much for powering a single strip?

I'm trying to avoid dismantling the 'fixtures' i've already installed to test if all of the strips blink when hooked up to the drivers alone.

Click to expand...

See @Chip Green's reply, they nailed it. I have heard this blinking feature is for Emergency lighting, under low current situations. I think you should be fine with multiple hooked up, if not reply back.....