DiY LED - Cree CXA3070

Abiqua

Abiqua

Well-Known Member
epicfail said:
Link to cheapo driver please? if you're talking about the perfectdeal_us (JLX-LED) ones, they have been sold out for a while now and only available if you buy it with the a crappy COB which makes the drivers not so cheap anymore plus there is a 15$ import free to canada. Is there a different one I missed the link to somewhere?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/50W-White-High-Power-LED-Light-Lamp-Panel-w-50W-High-Power-LED-Driver-AC90-265V-/310948864822?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4865ff2336


Ultimately thats why I chose HLG and HLN series over the LPC drivers, they are dimmable, PF corrected and more efficient. The problem is they are expensive and I am looking for some cheapos for my pepper cabinet and to play around with.

I see these are common on ebay with a few sellers having them available. They ship direct from china so shipping is free and there is no import taxes.

link link link link

Has anyone tested these?

Funny how I can get stuff from imported and shipped from china with no fees but if it comes from my neighbours to the south I feel like I have been violated by the time everything is paid for, I won't get into that though.
Click to expand...
Good find, might pick a couple of these up right now........

welcome to subsidized free trade agreements.....wait til this new Pan-Pacific partnership goes thru, they are aiming for a Pan-Pacific trademark system, so even junk will be copyrighted and hence more expensive because of some "stamp".
 
I

I Hate Usernames

Member
SupraSPL said:
Regarding the efficiency of the HLG drivers, the most important factor is the voltage of the string. So even if you reduce the load very significantly by dimming, it maintains a high efficiency because the voltage is still relatively high. Here are some of my test results from the HLG-185H-C1050A:

5 CXA3070s + 3 XML2
At full output 1155mA, 190.1Vf, 93.6% efficient
Same string, dimmed to 525mA, 177Vf, 93%

4 CXA3070s
At full output 1155mA 144Vf, 92.8%
dimmed to 706mA, 137Vf, 92.3%
dimmed to 479mA, 133Vf, 91.3%

3 CXA3070s
1155mA, 108.5Vf, 90.9%
480mA, 100.5Vf, 88.5%
Click to expand...
It might cost a bit more but I like the idea of less but better drivers. So in my case I am planning my cabinet to have a 6 sf flower side with 6 3070's @ 3000k and a 4 sf veg side with 2 3070's 5000k. On the flower side would it be better to run 2 HLG-120H-C1050B or could I push it a bit and run 2 HLG-120H-C1400B and dim it down some if needed? Also what do you think about the veg side, would the HLG-60H-C700B be my best option for a similar setup, running in series with a dimable driver or would you recommend something else?
 
Dloomis514

Dloomis514

Well-Known Member
That ad is very confusing. Impossible to tell what you would really get. Refers to 5000k then the 3000k part number. Get a real one direct grin digitkey mouse or arrow.
 
SupraSPL

SupraSPL

Well-Known Member
stardustsailor said:
A COB with a cheap TIM of 5 W/m.K and holder ,will be conducting heat(cooled)far better ,
than the same exact COB having an expensive TIM of 12 W/m.K but no holder .

Cheers.
:peace:
Click to expand...
I have seen these graphs, but in practice I am seeing no improvement in cooling by increasing contact pressure, not even 1 degree on a 52W COB. Maybe they are using a rougher surface than I am? Also, I run my COBs at only 32W so it reduces it even further.
 
Last edited:
SupraSPL

SupraSPL

Well-Known Member
Yes he sold another 200 of those drivers somehow! I assume he will get more in stock but in the meantime you can get these drivers shipped from China. Someone posted a link of similar drivers on Aliexpress for less than $1 but I have to find it. I have seen the actual JHX drivers on Aliexpress but they are $15 each.
 
DiyKindaGuy

DiyKindaGuy

Active Member
Im sure there is more vendors from ebay stocking the same driver... search and im sure yull find another vendor with same driver

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Rollitup mobile app
 
happy75

happy75

Well-Known Member
60 days ago or so I build my first growlight out of 40 pcs (7 strings of 5 cobs) cxa 3070 AB's with active cooling, total 2.331 watts. I use active cooling except when my girlfriend was visiting, then no cooling because of the noise. No cooling cost me a couple of leds because of the heat, but I learned very much. As I can almost harvest, I am thinking about upgrading and expanding my lights. I use 40 chinese led drivers (@1600 ma) and want to drive the cobs slower @1050 ma because of the increased efficiency and less heat and noise. With 40 pcs running @1050 ma, total wattage would be about 1512 watts I think. As I do not want to decrease the number of plants or buds, I want to increase to about 2000 watts so I need to buy about 15 new cobs, heatsinks and fans. Unitil now I used some chinese drivers (one per cob) but want to use meanwell drivers for each string. I could use the L 185 C1050 (for series) or the L 185H-36 (for parallel). Both have almost the same specs, but which one should I choose?

And I am still looking for a solution for the noise of the drivers, they drive on 12V and 350ma, but can be run @ 6 or 7 volts and will be very quiet at that voltage. Because of the lower heat, it is not necessary to run them at 12 volts. I prefer to use one driver for each string of fans (5 fans per string). Has anyone has any idea which driver I could use?
 
Last edited:
Positivity

Positivity

Well-Known Member
happy75 said:
60 days ago or so I build my first growlight out of 40 pcs (7 strings of 5 cobs) cxa 3070 AB's with active cooling, total 2.331 watts. I use active cooling except when my girlfriend was visiting, then no cooling because of the noise. No cooling cost me a couple of leds because of the heat, but I learned very much. As I can almost harvest, I am thinking about upgrading and expanding my lights. I use 40 chinese led drivers (@1600 ma) and want to drive the cobs slower @1050 ma because of the increased efficiency and less heat and noise. With 40 pcs running @1050 ma, total wattage would be about 1512 watts I think. As I do not want to decrease the number of plants or buds, I want to increase to about 2000 watts so I need to buy about 15 new cobs, heatsinks and fans. Unitil now I used some chinese drivers (one per cob) but want to use meanwell drivers for each string. I could use the L 185 C1050 (for series) or the L 185H-36 (for parallel). Both have almost the same specs, but which one should I choose?

And I am still looking for a solution for the noise of the drivers, they drive on 12V and 350ma, but can be run @ 6 or 7 volts and will be very quiet at that voltage. Because of the lower heat, it is not necessary to run them at 12 volts. I prefer to use one driver for each string of fans (5 fans per string). Has anyone has any idea which driver I could use?
Click to expand...

Maybe try a step down converter to slow down all five at the same time. Haven't used this one yet but looks like you could set your voltage between 1 - 12v. Rated up to 2a long term use

http://www.amazon.com/DROK-8-22V-Adjustable-Converter-Module/dp/B00C0KL1OM/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1414981215&sr=8-5&keywords=12v+step+down
 
SupraSPL

SupraSPL

Well-Known Member
Happy, the CXA3070 should be about 36.25V at 1050mA, so you might be able to use the HLG-185H-36, but because the vF of each COB can vary quite a bit, they could end up running at very different currents. Even the individual LEDS inside each COB could be running at a variety of currents which would reduce efficiency. Worst case scenario you could get a runaway situation with additional circuitry to protect against the voltage imbalance. So I would recommend the HLG-185H-C1050A/B.

I have used adjustable voltage power adapters to reduce the fan noise from 12V to 8 or 9V which can be very useful. But because of concerns about startup reliability of the fans when running on a dimmed voltage PSU, I have started using OEM quality (efficiency level IV or V) 9V adapters or you can choose 15V, 12V, 9V, 7V, 6V or 5V adapters that are all 80% efficient and very affordable.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/OEM-HONOR-ADS-18C-12-9V-2A-Switching-Power-Adapter-0918GPCU-FAST-FREE-SHIPPING-/321566628312?pt=US_Enterprise_Router_Power_Supplies&hash=item4adedd59d8
 
SupraSPL

SupraSPL

Well-Known Member
Good news, CXA3070 3000K AB bins back in stock at Arrow (20 packs only) and they claim to have 200 more on order. That is great for COB DIYers. At $48.5 ea shipped, the AB bin still blows away every other warm white COB large or small 42% efficiency for $2.21/PAR W @ 1.4A. That is about half the price of the best reds and deep reds so we get a much lower up front cost than RWB lamps. Or if you approach it from another point of view and you are willing to pay $4-$5/PAR W like we do for colors, we could run the CXA at 700mA and get 49% efficiency, much less heat and get closer to the canopy.

CXA3070 AB from Arrow.png
 
Last edited:
alef

alef

Active Member
Hi Supra, i am new to custom led culture. sorry if my question is off the topic. maybe you can point a right place to digg the info. i have checked the sites if the led distributors (cree, bridgelux) and now i have following (sorrynif dummy) questions:

1) vero 29 by bridgelux has 10k lumens on 80watt vs cxa3070 has 11k on 114w. vero29 looks more efficient. maybe i am losing the parameter i have to consider
2) normal hps of 250 watt has 33000 lumens. i need 3 vero 29 to reach same brightness. it results into 240 watt (not taking cooler and loss into the account). of cource the spectrum is different. anything else i need to take into account?

thank you!
 
happy75

happy75

Well-Known Member
SupraSPL said:
Happy, the CXA3070 should be about 36.25V at 1050mA, so you might be able to use the HLG-185H-36, but because the vF of each COB can vary quite a bit, they could end up running at very different currents. Even the individual LEDS inside each COB could be running at a variety of currents which would reduce efficiency. Worst case scenario you could get a runaway situation with additional circuitry to protect against the voltage imbalance. So I would recommend the HLG-185H-C1050A/B.

I have used adjustable voltage power adapters to reduce the fan noise from 12V to 8 or 9V which can be very useful. But because of concerns about startup reliability of the fans when running on a dimmed voltage PSU, I have started using OEM quality (efficiency level IV or V) 9V adapters or you can choose 15V, 12V, 9V, 7V, 6V or 5V adapters that are all 80% efficient and very affordable.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/OEM-HONOR-ADS-18C-12-9V-2A-Switching-Power-Adapter-0918GPCU-FAST-FREE-SHIPPING-/321566628312?pt=US_Enterprise_Router_Power_Supplies&hash=item4adedd59d8
Click to expand...
Thanks for the advice. Also, I have found GS18A07-P1J and GS18A09-P1J from meanwell: http://www.trcelectronics.com/View/Mean-Well/GS18A07-P1J.shtml. 82%/83% efficient and they have one in 7.5 volts and 9 volts with the same amps. I like it.
 
Castaman

Castaman

Well-Known Member
Why is all talking about 3000k? 2700K has a better hit to 650-660nm, though loosing 20-25% in flux isn't it better for plants?
 
P

PurpleBuz

Well-Known Member
Castaman said:
Why is all talking about 3000k? 2700K has a better hit to 650-660nm, though loosing 20-25% in flux isn't it better for plants?
Click to expand...
Apache and area51 do quite well with cool white + 610 reds which is more similar to a 3000K than a 2700K.
Illumitex F3 uses cool white+660, but unknown if it performs better. so the debate continues as to ideal ratio of 660.

Its more efficient to add a string of 660 leds to boost the 660. Since the 3000K does have a significant amount of 660, it doesn't take much.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top