Diy cob led help please!

Corvette kidd

Active Member
There's two extra wires, white and blue, coming out of the driver (on "b" versions). The potentiometer will have 3 wire connection spots. If you manage to wire it up wrong it will just work backwards (turn the knob up and the lights would dim. If this happens, you just reverse the wires, no fear of burning the driver or anything like that). Generally the white wire goes to the middle though.
Ok i see what you mean, i downloaded the pdf for that driver and it showed the extra wires. Would it be possible to run wires from 4 of these drivers into one potentiometer? Im building a fixture with 12-vero29 chips and im going to use 4 of these drivers, could i dim the whole fixture with one potentiometer??
 
Ok i see what you mean, i downloaded the pdf for that driver and it showed the extra wires. Would it be possible to run wires from 4 of these drivers into one potentiometer? Im building a fixture with 12-vero29 chips and im going to use 4 of these drivers, could i dim the whole fixture with one potentiometer??
Yes. You can do that, although 4 dimmers over a larger area would give you a lot of control of the environment. (More light where needed, less where not needed)
 
Yes. You can do that, although 4 dimmers over a larger area would give you a lot of control of the environment. (More light where needed, less where not needed)
I have the meanwell hlg 185h-36b drivers and the cree cxa3070. From what i have read i can only hook up 3 cxa 3070 instead of 4 like with the cxd3070. Is this correct? And also do i have to hook the potentiometer up for the lights to work or can i leave it unhooked up? For some odd reason my lights are not working and i cant find out why? How do i test the cob lights and how do i test the drivers? Thanks
 

Corvette kidd

Active Member
I have the meanwell hlg 185h-36b drivers and the cree cxa3070. From what i have read i can only hook up 3 cxa 3070 instead of 4 like with the cxd3070. Is this correct? And also do i have to hook the potentiometer up for the lights to work or can i leave it unhooked up? For some odd reason my lights are not working and i cant find out why? How do i test the cob lights and how do i test the drivers? Thanks
The first thing to remeber when choosing a driver to run your led(s) is to make sure that your drivers output voltage is equal to the total sum of the led(s) being driven, and the total wattage output of the driver should be equal to at least half of the max wattage of the led(s) in question.
 

Corvette kidd

Active Member
I have the meanwell hlg 185h-36b drivers and the cree cxa3070. From what i have read i can only hook up 3 cxa 3070 instead of 4 like with the cxd3070. Is this correct? And also do i have to hook the potentiometer up for the lights to work or can i leave it unhooked up? For some odd reason my lights are not working and i cant find out why? How do i test the cob lights and how do i test the drivers? Thanks
According to my calculations, in order to power 3 cxa3070 chips, you need a driver that outputs at least (175.5 watts) and (115.5 volts) and preferrably (1.9amps). Your driver is currently only putting put 36v, your driver's voltage needs to equal the sum of all the combined led voltages running off of it. So if you have 3 cxa3070 which use 38.5v, you need a driver with 115.5v capability. I believe the HLG-185H-C1400 will run all 3 of your led's quite efficiently
 

Corvette kidd

Active Member
I have the meanwell hlg 185h-36b drivers and the cree cxa3070. From what i have read i can only hook up 3 cxa 3070 instead of 4 like with the cxd3070. Is this correct? And also do i have to hook the potentiometer up for the lights to work or can i leave it unhooked up? For some odd reason my lights are not working and i cant find out why? How do i test the cob lights and how do i test the drivers? Thanks
You do not need the dimmers to be hooked up for the system to work, they are not needed to complete the series. Your lights are not working because they don't have enough voltage powering the system
 

Corvette kidd

Active Member
You said you were running 3 cobs per driver? If you run 3 led's off of one driver, then the drivers total voltage output needs too equal the sum of all 3 led's voltage together. The cxa3070 runs at 38.5v and 117 watts, so you need to do the math, 38.5×3=115v and 117x3=351watts 351÷2= 175.5
So to run 3 cxa3070's from one driver, your driver needs to output (115volts) and (175.5watts)
 

Corvette kidd

Active Member
Your driver also puts out way too many watts. The idea is to run the chips at half their max wattage in order to make them more efficient and run colder. Powering an led at or close too their max potential makes them no more efficient than a standard incandescent light bulb
 
Your driver also puts out way too many watts. The idea is to run the chips at half their max wattage in order to make them more efficient and run colder. Powering an led at or close too their max potential makes them no more efficient than a standard incandescent light bulb
But i wouldnt be running them at max. The cobs are 2.8 amps max and i would be running them at about 1400ma. Thats around 50 watts per cob which is about half of their 107 watt max. Or do i have this info all wrong?
 

Corvette kidd

Active Member
So i could only run 1 cob on each driver?
No, if you ran 1 cob, you would over load its max wattage and blow it up or cause a fire. You have the wrong driver my dude, your driver is rated to put out, (5.8 amps, 36 volts, 187 watts) this will not run any amount of your cxa3070 chips
 
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