DiY LEDs - How to Power Them

nikev said:

Hi,

I hope you all do not mind if I ask a question which might already be answered in this thread. I have been reading this thread on and off for about a month and I am only up to page 35. So its going to take me awhile to catch up. There is a lot of good information here which quickly overwhelms a person.

I am shut down for the summer due to temps but fall will be here quicker then I would expect if I do not get going on my new plan soon.

I current run Vero 29's with a single Meanwell LPC-60-1400 driver for each chip. I like the single driver per chip concept and want to continue that thinking. This was my first attempt at DIY LED lighting so I started off keeping things simple. 8"sq heatsink, 120mm fan, chip and driver. All per chip. I had 6 of these running for 3 plants and had decent success. Next grow I want to go to 4 plants with 3 setups per plant

So could someone recommend to me a Meanwell driver which I could dim with one of the 100k pots that could be used for a single Vero 29. I know from my readings that if I wanted to run 2 V29s I could use the HLG-120-1400. Or 3 V29s the HLG-185-1400 and both of these options would allow me to basically have a max output run at my current 1400mA, 50'ish watts each. But I would like the option to simulate having a driver go from a low end of 300mA to a high end of about the 2500mA range. Is my thinking doable?

Thanks in advance. Nike

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alesh said:

HLG-100H-42B (up to 2.28A)
HVG-100-42B (up to 2.28A)
LPF-90D-42 (up to 2.15A)
NPF-120D-42 (up to 2.9A)
NPF-90D-42 (up to 2.15A)

HLG-185H-C is both cheaper and more efficient.

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tick tack toe said:

I am thinking of building some DIY lights to fit my 2.5 x 2.5 tent (80cm x80cm). Currently I have a 400watt HPS light and I would like something that either does the same job or better for vege and flower. I've been looking at all the posts here and feel a little confused on what is the best option. My goal is to cut my power use, lower my intake fan (less noise) and have less heat put out overall.

The difficulty I currently have is that I am not sure what is the best option for me. talking with CellarDweller he recommended the 3590 or the 3070. I then went on alibaba and found Kingbrite. Now I have no idea which of these I should get and ... which type within those options.

So my main question is, which of the above would be best for both vege and flower and what bin should I get.

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orangesabc123 said:

Can anyone explain what to look for in drivers?

I understand that you need to look for the current you want to run at (E.G. 700mA) and you need to add the voltages you're running in series (E.G 30v+30v=60v).
Yes!

But for input do you just look for anything that's VAC? Does the number not matter?
No, VAC means volts alternating current. This is for the input.
What you are looking for is VDC out and that should be slightly more than your string.

For adjustable drivers what do you look for? Do you look for output current having a range or multiple values? (E.G. 350mA, 700mA or 350-1400mA) Or do you look for output voltage being 1-10 VDC...not sure why it shoes VDC instead of v or why the range is so low but I've seen people link drivers with such specs to power high watt leds.
Highest current that you are going to use and a voltage that is higher than your led or string of leds.

Is there anything else I'm missing? Quite hard to parse a huge list of power supplys into the ones I need without any idea what specs I'm looking for.

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puffenuff said:

I wanted my build to include dimming capabilities so I just ordered a mean well hlg driver. What else do I need to go with it to make this happen? I just want a knob or dial to turn, no need for a fancy controller with digital displays like I've found. A link to what is needed would be most helpful. Thanks in advance and apologies if this has already been covered.

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Greengenes707 said:

All you need is a simple potentiometer. A linear one. They are under 3$.
You need 100k ohm to dim one driver.
http://www.parts-express.com/100k-ohm-potentiometer--023-560?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=pla

For multiple driver off one knob/potentiometer, it's 100÷number of drivers.
For 2 drivers=50k ohm
3= 33k ohm
4=25k ohm

Then if you really want to be cool, you can get a fancy knob for it. Like an anodized one or something big.

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nikev said:

alesh - Thanks for the fast reply. I was wanting to stay single driver per chip instead of the hlg-185 as I believe it allows me more options to adjust the grow. I view the cost of the materials as infrastructure cost which for a few z of product basically pays for themselves. My first grow was about 60% cost neutral not counting electric which I did not factor in for this last attempt. Since I'm not reinventing the wheel for each grow my payback should be next spring even with these additional cost.

For the LPF-90D-42 eff seems to be 90% according to the mouser specs posted. Its the lowest mA of the ones you have listed. I selected that one as is basically the lowest cost of the ones you listed. Is there any reason to not go that route. In my brief search it looks external blue wire dimmable. Correct?

Again thanks for the help.

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HiloReign said:

Does anyone have experience dimming Meanwell A class drivers? I realize it's done with a philips screwdriver but can I damage my equipment by accidentally dimming too low or turning up the juice too high? I suppose I'm asking if there are limits set within the driver or something to that effect (the screw can turn freely and yes I put it back in its original position). Pulled out my multimeter to find out it had croaked on me and now I'm afraid to touch the dimming screw lol.

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SupraSPL said:

I got taste of 286V DC this morning, testing some CXA3590s one at a time with an HLG-185H-C700B. I would power on the driver with a switch on the AC side, check the COB measurement and shut it down. No problems. But on one of the COBs the connection wasnt completing the circuit, so when I powered the driver on, the COB did not light up. So I powered the driver back down and grabbed the alligator clips with bare, dry hands to adjust the connection and WHAM my left hand was positive and right hand negative. I could feel the zork up through both forearms and I have to say it was quite impressive. I have been shocked many times in my life mostly by 120V AC but this thing really had some balls behind it. Anyway no harm done and valuable lesson learned.

So the reason this caught me off guard, when the driver was powered up and found no load, it pushed as hard as it could (286V) to try and overcome the potential resistance. When I switched the power off, the driver was still pushing 286V on the DC side and it takes about 30 seconds to de-energize to zero volts. This situation also has the potential to destroy expensive COBS and is the only way I have been able to destroy a CREE COB so far. Normally, when the driver does find a load it is able to de-energize immediately when powered off. Someone warned us about this but sometimes I have to learn a lesson the hard way

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bigljd said:

I'm building a 3 -Vero 29 3000k light for a small grow cabinet, and after doing some reading I'm concerned that blue is a bit lacking in the Vero 29 3000k. The plan is to run the 3 Vero's with a HLG-120H-C1050B, which leaves me some power to spare. I'd like to use the extra power to run some 3 watt Royal Blue and Hyper Violet LEDs, but since neither LEDs can handle 1.05 amps, I was wondering if I could run the 3watt LEDS in 2 parallel strings of 3? I'd try to do some thing similar to what Mr Flux did in his thread here, where I'd test the 3 watt LED's voltage, so the voltage for each string would be roughly the same. By running 2 parallel strings I could cut the current in half so the 3 watt LEDs would be running at a max of about 525ma with the HLG driver running on full.
Below is a paint drawing I put together to help me visualize. The wiring would be a little messier in real life, since the LEDs would be mounted around the Veros on the heatsink.
Is this a bad idea? I know it's not recommended by Mean Well to run LEDs in parallel. I could put in fuses on the parallel strings in case something went wrong with a string the other would be protected. Not sure what the worst case scenario would be if something went wrong.

View attachment 3427365

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salmonetin said:

@ HiloReign... i dont have experience on dimming meanwell a class... bit i think its too similar to control SRV1 AND SRV2 ...for control the volts side... or the amps side... on others meanwells drivers...

...maybe this vid helps you a little ... or maybe not... its only for the srv2... the current or amps side... for the srv1 or volts... i dont see a vid sorry... but with voltmeter and datasheet... its similar adjusting... its only my inexpert opinion...
...off course for the measuring volt ...the voltmeter its on paralel way... the ammeter its on the serie way.... following the measuring rules with multimeters...

...vid are only examples or ideas...

...mi inexpert graint of salt... sorry

saludos

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