DiY LEDs - How to Power Them

Iceveign

Active Member
So I got my lights hooked up and working, 2 heat sinks 5.88" x 19" with 2 cobs on each(3590 3500k 36v) being run by HLG-185H-C1400.

My question is how hot should the heatsinks be? I touched for a few seconds and they are really hot, just wondering what I should be observing if any thing.
 

Jamie Starr

Active Member
Well I recieved my Optic Lighting Vero 29 500 Watt light (4000k) just recently.. haven''t even opened it yet.. was gonna order another one..

but after reading this thread a couple of times..

I am contemplating ordering more of the same Vero 29 COB lights.. and the necessary parts.. and just putting something together.

It might just make sense to just take apart Optics light and copy their design.. build a duplicate. ;-)

I wonder what the production cost of their $1000 light would actually be?

I paid $840 for mine shipped.

I can honestly say though... if it wasn't for your thread SupraSPL on Optic Lighting and the Vero 29 COB chips in general.. I wouldn't have bought this thing.. you were the one who "Sold Me." I was about ready to pull the trigger on a more expensive Blackdog LED.. something that cost twice as much.. didn't even know what a COB chip was 2 weeks ago.

The thought of going all LED really excites me however.
 
Last edited:

alesh

Well-Known Member
Tbh I don't know that much about them. I was hoping the 3 cobs would be enough if I made them individually. Which driver would you recommend . Hoping to pull about 200w? If I have been reading right the leds are 100w each
Ìt's up to you how much power you supply them. Less power = better efficiency.
Better question might be what space you'd like them to cover?
 

brettsog

Well-Known Member
Have a 0.75x0.75x1.8m tent if that helps. Was thinking of making 3 individual square fixtures. Cooling Fan and heat sink for each light then
 

brettsog

Well-Known Member
So I will only need the one driver?

Would I be better making 4 individual cobs or 1 large square fixture?

Also which letter should follow that driver c1400*

Looking at this one
Dimmable Constant Current LED Driver 151.2W 71 → 143V 1.4A Mean Well HLG-185H-C1400B
 
Last edited:

alesh

Well-Known Member
So I will only need the one driver?

Would I be better making 4 individual cobs or 1 large square fixture?

Also which letter should follow that driver c1400*

Looking at this one
Dimmable Constant Current LED Driver 151.2W 71 → 143V 1.4A Mean Well HLG-185H-C1400B
Yeah you'd need only one driver. It can work with (3) CXB3070 as well but your space deserves the 4th one.
There are two versions of this driver:
A - dimmed internally with a knob on the driver in the 50-100% range
B - dimmed with an external pot (which can be mounted on ie the casing) in the 10-100% range

It'd be best to spread the COBs as evenly as possible. But remember that each COB needs a wire and each fan, too, which can get...well, messy. I'd probably be looking into building 1 fixture with COBs spaced 25-35cm apart in a square. You can find a lot of inspiration there.
 

brettsog

Well-Known Member
Thanks man. Heatsinks are expensive lol. Thinking of using an aluminium square tube
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aluminium-Square-Box-Section-x-12-pre-cut-Sizes-x-8-Lengths-/360941104777?var=&hash=item5409c42e89

If I get the 30cm long and have a cob at each end with a cooling fan mounted at each end using a kinda push pull for airflow. Thoughts? Or maybe mounting fans on top of tube. Cutting a hole and mounting a small heatsink on inside of tube so heat will spread through tube onto heatsink then be cooled by fans blowing in on top?

@EfficientWatt didn't even see that post lol should have looked more. Lots of info to go through so I may miss a few details.
 

alesh

Well-Known Member
Thanks man. Heatsinks are expensive lol. Thinking of using an aluminium square tube
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aluminium-Square-Box-Section-x-12-pre-cut-Sizes-x-8-Lengths-/360941104777?var=&hash=item5409c42e89

If I get the 30cm long and have a cob at each end with a cooling fan mounted at each end using a kinda push pull for airflow. Thoughts? Or maybe mounting fans on top of tube. Cutting a hole and mounting a small heatsink on inside of tube so heat will spread through tube onto heatsink then be cooled by fans blowing in on top?

@EfficientWatt didn't even see that post lol should have looked more. Lots of info to go through so I may miss a few details.
They are. But I don't think that square tubes are solution to that.
 

SaltyNuts

Well-Known Member
from what I gather so far, the hlg-185-c1400B is your best driver, the B means you can add the dimmer (100K potentiameter).

You DO NEED PROPER HEATSINK, even if you're driving the chips at low current. The tube bar stock wont cut it.

The more important question is do you have active cooling (fans on the heatsink(s) or passive cooling (no fans)... If you're driving the chips hard at all it's better to have active cooling, to be on the safe side.

To save some money you could look for CPU (Intel/AMD) fan-heatsinks on ebay, etc.
 

brettsog

Well-Known Member
@SaltyNuts I would use a fin style heatsink inside the tube with a thermal compound between the 2 and have a fan mounted over heatsink pulling cool air across the fins. I also saw on digikey, cob heatsinks. Exact fits. I will have a look at cpu heatsinks but sure I read somewhere that they aren't cool enough

What my thinking was I could use the tube as the housing. Mount cobs on bottom side, heatsinks internally directly above cobs with 3" holes directly above that to allow the air to escape/draw in depending on which way fan is mounted.

That is my basket. Other than a housing is there anything else I will need?
Screenshot_2015-09-03-19-05-12.png
 
Last edited:

SLITLOS

Well-Known Member
Isn't this too much even for V29?
I dropped my $ on beans, but I was checking to see if they had them in stock and the cost. At the
price they gave me for 1@ is cheaper than hlg-185's I've seen posted here. I haven't lived in the U$ for 15 years and to get most things of good quality, U order on the web.
From some posts on this thread or another here, 5-6(??)@ 29's could be ran off a hlg-240.
I would like to build a flowering light with 6 to 10 29's, 35K's, have 4 now and will get more as time
goes on, dollar down and a dollar a month.
SLITLOS
 
Top