Ohh I see I see. So I don't need to adjust the voltage when I'm in C.C area because it's either acting like C.C or C.V according to some threshold. It can't do both at the same time.
By the way I said you MIGHT be wrong. That's why I included the might there.
What about the new horti strips though. Their typical voltage 43.1v and typical current 1.2amps @25°C case temp
It says ELG-150-48A has 24v-48v C.C area. Does that mean it acts like a regular C.C driver as long as what it's running is in that voltage range?
That means I can even get ELG-200-48 keep the current dimmed a little bit and have enough useable current for 4th or even 5th strip upgrade. And still can run Horti strips? Please correct me if I'm wrong.
Yepp! There is no need to adjust the voltage when in CC mode. They are delivered with set standard voltage!
Yeah, you could use an ELG-200-48 and add more H-influx strips later. But it's impossible to mix the new horti strips with H-influx in a parallel setup because of the different forward voltage. The strips with the lower voltage(new horti's in this case) would shine much brighter. You could calculate a resistor and add one to each strip but that's too complicated IMO.
To mix them you would need an ELG-200-C700 and connect them all in series. But these strips are limited to 50v each so a series circuit is also impossible. It would work but it would exceed the strip limits and would cause a voltage droop. I've tried to use 10pcs 23v F-strips in series with an HLG-240H-C1050B and instead of 265w at the wall I got only ~210w. Its because of the 1oz copper layer these strips use. With 3 or 4oz it would be for sure no problem..
So the easiest way would be to use two drivers, one for each type of strips, or simply stay with H-influx strips.
The new horti's have btw. a 5150°k spectrum and are based on 5600°k and 660nm diodes. That's more like a greenhouse spectrum and sub-optimal for indoor growing.
I would simply add more H-influx strips and drive them lower to reach a better efficiency. You can also add a string of deep-red diodes to increase the efficiency. Osrams new Square series in deep red delivers up to 3,91μMol/J(W) and are even better than Sammy's deep-reds.
My old F-strips are running with ~450mA(50mA per diode) to reach 2,7μMol/J. With 700mA H-influx L09 strips would reach the same efficiency. And when you add a few deepreds the over all efficiency would increase even more.
If you still want a few coolwhite strips take H-influx. You need the same voltage on each strip for parallel circuits otherwise you'll get thermal runaways..
