DiY LEDs - How to Power Them

bggrass said:

I saw someone posted a meanwell hlg 300w driver picture at some point. Anyone knows when are those expected to be on the market?

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I talked to meanwell directly through email. They told me expect them to be available in May. The HLG320h-c Models.

The Helios 10? The Helios line of lighting controllers looks good to me.

My electrical panels are running at 220v and so are all my outlets. How do I make my LED's run at 220v? I can't seem to figure out whether the mean well drivers require 110V only?

str8quad5 said:

My electrical panels are running at 220v and so are all my outlets. How do I make my LED's run at 220v? I can't seem to figure out whether the mean well drivers require 110V only?

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Ur anwser is in datasheet of the driver.
Google 'meanwell led driver PDF' to see all.
Some 120, some 240, some both, some fine even higher

SupraSPL said:

-Do not switch an LED driver on its DC side, but rather on the hot wire of the AC side.

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so if i wanted to add this to my project box...
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Gardner-Bender-8-Amp-Single-Pole-Toggle-Switch-GSW-18/100141285
i would just tie into the black wire of the center cord(power from wall) before it goes to my two drivers, correct?

Is that switch to turn off the light? If so then yes, that should be fine. But I don't think you can't run it 220v with a single pole switch.

sorry yes to power on and off the whole light. I am running to 110v regular house plug...

I have a question about mixing different voltage cobs on the same driver.. I really wanted to use vero 29s for my first build but didn't because there wasnt a driver that matched perfectly. I ended up copying greengenes cxb3070 build on YouTube and they kick ass (thanks man!) but still wanna give the veros a run. I was wondering if I could run 2 Vero 29s and 2 vero 18s in series on an hlg 185 1400? Seems like the forward voltage would be 138 so under the 143 driver output..? Does this make sense? Otherwise I'll just do 6 Vero 18s on the hlg 185 1050 or maybe 5 29s but thought this might be a little more efficient? Thanks guys!!

Ronin- yes that should be fine. Are you putting 1 switch per driver? 2 drivers together is 5 amps.

Something completely different concerning multiple drivers. I saw this video and started wondering if there are any uses for this or other similar wiring. I have a couple COBs that have high voltage demands, giving me few options. The CLU550 has a 108v demand, but only wants 2400 mA to get 260 watts. Or you can give each half 1200mA. Right now my only option is 2 HLG120H-C1050 or 1 HLG240H-c2100. It isn't a lot of driver loss, but I would like to minimize it. Could you put 2 HLG120-h54s in series to up the both volts and amps? Just thinking outside the box I guess.

i wanted to do one switch for both drivers. so that 8 amp switch would be ok? i don't know very much about wiring and such. thanks for the help.

No soldering with a switch (that came outta a surge protector ) open channel on the wago's Note that ! if ya buy switches get what the wall is rated for 15 amps even a rocker s/w in power strip is rated @ 15 amps
actually i'm tring up my old p/c power strips for the cord & that rocker switch I disable the tiny LED in them
always use 15 amp that way you can put them anywhere & not worry

Fouronethree said:

I have a question about mixing different voltage cobs on the same driver.. I really wanted to use vero 29s for my first build but didn't because there wasnt a driver that matched perfectly. I ended up copying greengenes cxb3070 build on YouTube and they kick ass (thanks man!) but still wanna give the veros a run. I was wondering if I could run 2 Vero 29s and 2 vero 18s in series on an hlg 185 1400? Seems like the forward voltage would be 138 so under the 143 driver output..? Does this make sense? Otherwise I'll just do 6 Vero 18s on the hlg 185 1050 or maybe 5 29s but thought this might be a little more efficient? Thanks guys!!

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yep, you got it...The Vero 18's at the same current will be less efficient because of their smaller size, and emit a little less light...but your VF is good!

I ran Vero 29's and Cree CXA 3070's on 120-1050 for about a year...Mixing and matching is fine as long as your aware of your VF and Current.....ie Don't mix something like a Vero 10 @1400mA and expect great results [stinky efficiency at that current and LOTS of heat!] but mixing 29's and 18's is ok....

Although the V18's are probably only around 30% efficient at that current too

Abiqua said:

yep, you got it...The Vero 18's at the same current will be less efficient because of their smaller size, and emit a little less light...but your VF is good!

I ran Vero 29's and Cree CXA 3070's on 120-1050 for about a year...Mixing and matching is fine as long as your aware of your VF and Current.....ie Don't mix something like a Vero 10 @1400mA and expect great results [stinky efficiency at that current and LOTS of heat!] but mixing 29's and 18's is ok....

Although the V18's are probably only around 30% efficient at that current too

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Thanks for the quick response! Really appreciate everyone's willingness to answer what is probably a constant stream of similar questions. Psyched to get these into the tents and replace all my Mars lights. This will save a little money up front vs using the hlg 1050 version and more cobs so think I'm going to go for it. Main flower tent will have 4 of the 200w cxb3070 bars and these are going in a 3x3 and 2x4 which is the clone/early veg tent. Thanks again!

Just wanted to shout out to the people on this site.
Thank you for the great info on how to build these lights. I used 4 cxb3590 cd bin, 3500k
I was saving up for the new Mars pro. When researching I came across this and icmag forums. It completely changed my mind on Mars and what I needed.
To top it off, the Mars fixture I was currently using had blown some LEDs.
The lights are ok. They do grow good bud, BUT BUT, when 8 LEDs died 13 months in. Only help I got was for them to send me the LEDs. They charged me $15us postage. When the LEDs arrived they where in a standard envelope with a 70cent stamp.
They are scum. Not for the money but for the fact they still profited from my loss.

Fastslappy said:

No soldering with a switch (that came outta a surge protector ) open channel on the wago's Note that ! View attachment 3604051 if ya buy switches get what the wall is rated for 15 amps even a rocker s/w in power strip is rated @ 15 amps
actually i'm tring up my old p/c power strips for the cord & that rocker switch I disable the tiny LED in them
always use 15 amp that way you can put them anywhere & not worry

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Are you aware that your live wire goes to driver's neutral input?

alesh said:

Are you aware that your live wire goes to driver's neutral input?

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black to blue
& white to brown
is that not right ?

Fastslappy said:

black to blue
& white to brown
is that not right ?

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Nope. Black is live (correct to switch live) but it should be connected to driver's live which happens to be brown wire.

Yeah , I went back dbbl checked that before I went to bed last nite
& Nice Catch Bro ! my dyslexia strikes again
ThanX Alesh
I had wired that up as a sample to myself but had not yet gone 'live'
I was looking at a IEC connector outta a AVR that had the wires that way ,
but I realize that was a rebuild AVR so I shouldn't have trusted the work of others

Good afternoon,
Trying to find the answer but the Cree Charactorisation tool not working.

I have 2 36v cxb3590. If they run at 1050amps. Will they be ok.
Driver is HLG-240H-C1050A:
Thank you