16 cxa3070 at 500ma?

I have built myself an 8 x cxa3070 Z2 (couldn't get the ABs at the time) drone running at 1.4a on the meanwell lpc60 1400s and it has been working wonders i managed 0.95gpw on my first run with them, but... I am planning on splitting my area into two levels, it's going to be tight on hight but to combat that i've been thinking of going SOG. My area is 85cm wide 111cm long and about 90cm high, maybe a touch over. My plan is to run 16 cxa3070ab with 2 hlg-120-500 per level. To save a little cash i may use the Z2s i already have, 4 on each level, despite the efficiency difference. All running on the arctic alpine 11s at 5v. I've not looked into a driver for the fans just yet, anyone want to help point me in the right direction for an efficient one? My main concern is height and penetration. Do you think the lower parts of the sog will firm up? 17watts per cob isn't very strong... Also slightly worried about heat but a bit of tinkering with intake might be able to rectify that.

Any thoughts? it's going to be a while before this plan comes to fruition so don't expect pics any time soon lol. Maybe in about 3-6 months

You will be king bro.

well that sounds good to me haha!

Artic 11 is overkill for cxa3070 at 500mA. I really would recommend using Heatsinkusa for such low currents.

As for drivers, HLG-C!

http://www.meanwell.com/search/hlg-185h-C/HLG-185H-C-spec.pdf

You could fit 11 cxa3070 on the 500mA version and it's 94% efficient, which is just as important as LED efficiency.

Edit: 2 hlg-120-500 would also work great. You seem to already have it figured out.

churchhaze said:

Artic 11 is overkill for cxa3070 at 500mA. I really would recommend using Heatsinkusa for such low currents.

As for drivers, HLG-C!

http://www.meanwell.com/search/hlg-185h-C/HLG-185H-C-spec.pdf

You could fit 11 cxa3070 on the 500mA version and it's 94% efficient, which is just as important as LED efficiency.

Edit: 2 hlg-120-500 would also work great. You seem to already have it figured out.

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I agree, but i'm in the UK, i've not looked at shipping prices but i imagine it will be rather large, and then there is import tax to think about. We aren't as far into LED as you guys over in the states unfortunately . I may be able to find somewhere to get some decent sized heatsinks but i'm a little unsure on sizes, weight may also be an issue.

That's going to be an exceptional light. Super efficient even with the Z2s. I would wait until the newer CXB version comes out instead of adding more CXA3070s.

There are a few people here who know where to get big sinks from europe. Sorry I can't help much with that. 500mA cxa3070 could easily be passively cooled it's so low power.

Are there any other advantages of the cxb3070 3000k AB over the cxa3070 3000k AB considering they are the same flux outbin bin?

Edit: I guess if the forward voltage is lower for the same flux output, it's more efficient! nevermind!

Mechmike said:

That's going to be an exceptional light. Super efficient even with the Z2s. I would wait until the newer CXB version comes out instead of adding more CXA3070s.

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Im in US but i seem to remember reading about UK fish tank folks using this company.

LeanMcsheen said:

I agree, but i'm in the UK, i've not looked at shipping prices but i imagine it will be rather large, and then there is import tax to think about. We aren't as far into LED as you guys over in the states unfortunately . I may be able to find somewhere to get some decent sized heatsinks but i'm a little unsure on sizes, weight may also be an issue.

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Can you get a good price on Mean Well APV-12-5. That would run 16 Alpine 111s at 5V. But as CH pointed out, you might get away cheaper with alternative heatsink methods. At 17W each they would need 1300 cm² of well exposed surface area to get good cooling passively. If you can find something similar to the HeatsinkUSA 3.5" profile, a 10" length of that for each COB would do the job and cost the same as Alpine11.

You might be able to rig up active cooling with a cheaper profile like the 2.08" if you have access to something similar.

On the bright side, if people in your area are not on to LEDs yet that gives you a competitive edge in that market. .95gpw well done!

SupraSPL said:

Can you get a good price on Mean Well APV-12-5. That would run 16 Alpine 111s at 5V. But as CH pointed out, you might get away cheaper with alternative heatsink methods. At 17W each they would need 1300 cm² of well exposed surface area to get good cooling passively. If you can find something similar to the HeatsinkUSA 3.5" profile, a 10" length of that for each COB would do the job and cost the same as Alpine11.

You might be able to rig up active cooling with a cheaper profile like the 2.08" if you have access to something similar.

On the bright side, if people in your area are not on to LEDs yet that gives you a competitive edge in that market. .95gpw well done!

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Thanks for the driver recommendation, i'll keep that in mind. Well i can get the Arctic alpine 11's for £10 each over here, so for 24 i would be looking at £240, plus 2 of those drivers brings it up to £250.24 and then postage on top. For passive heatsinks i would need 8x1meter if i were to give them 10" each. I'm not sure i'll be able to match the price of the alpines. I'll enquire about these tomorrow though, they look like they would be able to handle roughly the same heat as the 3.5" profile from heatsinkusa. I wouldn't need them delivered either, i could pick those up myself so i would save a bit there.

Getting hold of 24 cxa3070ab might be a little tricky too, i'll have to have a word with the seller on aliexpress when the time comes, see if they have any in stock.

Damn all this talk on here about CXBs! It's put my plans in a state of disarray. I'm now contemplating either 16 cxb3070ab running at 500ma per level or 12 cxb3590cb running at 350ma per level (assuming they do actually get released to us). I've not done the figures yet to tell which would be better but i'm sure @SupraSPL will be along soon to let me know. I've seen somewhere on here that the cxb3590 would be 58% efficient? I'd hazard a guess that the cxb3070 would be around 51%? One thing i would like to know is the lumen numbers. Like i said i will be running a SOG so it's a bit of a trade off with power and the spread of light.

I heard back off the heatsink company and for 8 x 1meter lengths of this i was quoted £232.46 which is a great price. It's slightly bigger than the other one i linked in the previous post too so it should be able to handle a slightly bigger load.

I think 74mm is a bit to narrow. The difference in performance (noise) between 80mm and 90mm fans is huge, and 120mm is even better. You can spin the fans slower to get the same airflow, and a lower RPM to get the same speed on the tips of the fan blades.

LeanMcsheen said:

Damn all this talk on here about CXBs! It's put my plans in a state of disarray. I'm now contemplating either 16 cxb3070ab running at 500ma per level or 12 cxb3590cb running at 350ma per level (assuming they do actually get released to us). I've not done the figures yet to tell which would be better but i'm sure @SupraSPL will be along soon to let me know. I've seen somewhere on here that the cxb3590 would be 58% efficient? I'd hazard a guess that the cxb3070 would be around 51%? One thing i would like to know is the lumen numbers. Like i said i will be running a SOG so it's a bit of a trade off with power and the spread of light.

I heard back off the heatsink company and for 8 x 1meter lengths of this i was quoted £232.46 which is a great price. It's slightly bigger than the other one i linked in the previous post too so it should be able to handle a slightly bigger load.

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churchhaze said:

I think 74mm is a bit to narrow. The difference in performance (noise) between 80mm and 90mm fans is huge, and 120mm is even better. You can spin the fans slower to get the same airflow, and a lower RPM to get the same speed on the tips of the fan blades.

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They are big enough to be passive according to supra? If you look at the Thermal performance it's actually better then the 3.5" from heastinkUSA... I think that's right anyway

Ah, if the plan is to be passive, that doesn't matter. I just associate longer bars with active cooling, but I guess that doesn't always have to be the case. Any longer than 1 meter and I'd probably break them up into 2 smaller bars to help convection airflow.

Good point CH. LM do you have an option there for a wide profile that you could use a short piece of? You could get away with slightly less heatsink that way, but the downside it could not be as effectively converted into active in case you changed your design down the road.

churchhaze said:

Ah, if the plan is to be passive, that doesn't matter. I just associate longer bars with active cooling, but I guess that doesn't always have to be the case. Any longer than 1 meter and I'd probably break them up into 2 smaller bars to help convection airflow.

Click to expand...

SupraSPL said:

Good point CH. LM do you have an option there for a wide profile that you could use a short piece of? You could get away with slightly less heatsink that way, but the downside it could not be as effectively converted into active in case you changed your design down the road.

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I'm planning on keeping this design for around 3 years. By then, I'm assuming, there will have been some pretty good advancements in LED. I'll probably get a whole new setup and use these heatsinks for my veg area or side lighting or something else. As long as they can handle the load I'll be putting on them this time around I'm happy. Also the heatsink I linked has a C/W/3" of 1.344 and the HSUSA 3.5" profile has a C/W/3" of 2.50 so i should be able to handle a slightly more powerful load?

@SupraSPL do you know how many lumens and par watts the cxb3070ab will pump out at 500ma? I found you're post stating the cxb3590cb at 350ma puts out around 189lumens/w, so 12 would produce 54205.2 lumens and at 58% is putting out 166.344 par w. With my current 8 cxa3070z2 setup i'm at 416watts, 49504 lumens and 152.256 par w. So i'll be using 129.2 watts less while gaining an extra 14ish par watts if i go with the cxb3590cb. Will things be much different if i used the cxb3070ab? Thanks for all this help btw guys, i really appreciate it.

Here is what I get, typical numbers at Tc 30C steady state
CXB3070 3K AB @500mA ->33.1Vf ->16.55W ->2888 lumens -> 174.5lm/W ->53.7% efficient -> $5.18/PAR W

For your current setup I get, typical numbers at Tc 25C steady state
CXA3070 3K Z2 @ 1.4A = 37.3Vf ->52.2W->6441 lumens -> 123.3lm/W ->37.95% efficient ->$1.77/PAR W

Thanks for that Supra, looks like the cxb3590cb is cheaper for me than the cxb03070ab as i would need 32 3070s but only 24 3590s and the 3590 puts out more light. But should i sacrifice a bit of power for light spread with the cxb3070... it's a tough one. Also if go with the 3590 i can cut down a bit on the heatsinks from 100cm to 80cm each (3 on each sink) i think, so i would save a little bit there, not much though.

Btw, i doubt my Tc is 25C, my ambient gets too high for that. Tc 50C is probably more accurate for me.

Just placed my order for 24 cxb3590cb, tears came to my eyes at the price! It will be worth it in the end though.