Pin heatsinks vs Actively cooled extruded bars

DesertHydro

DesertHydro

Well-Known Member
anyone wanna chime in their experience with pin heatsinks vs extruded bar heatsinks? ive been looking into both pretty heavily lately. i have a veg grow with pin heatsinks but i like the thought of doing the bars with a fan above each cob. i will have the budget to go either route when the time comes, i just want to know if there are more pros/cons other than the typical "active have more moving parts" etc.

my plan is for a 4x8 flowering area running one COB per sq/ft at ~50W. as of right now its looking like 40" 4.850" bars with 4 cxm 22's and a fan per COB. each bar will have its own hlg 185 and an hlg 12-12 for the fans if i go this route. if not i will just build an angle aluminum frame to mount the round pin heatsinks like i did before. I can go either way just wanting to know what will run cooler/most efficient since that's the name of the game in LED after all
 
Danielson999

Danielson999

Well-Known Member
If you're only running them at 50w then pin is king. Effortlessly cool them passively without the worry of a fan ever failing. Only reason I'd use fans are if I was running 100w+ or was building a light fixture as cheap as possible. For a couple extra dollars I'll take the safety of passive cooling and knowing my cobs will never burn up.
Plus, most people have a good amount of air flow that adds secondary cooling to passive pin sinks.
 
DesertHydro

DesertHydro

Well-Known Member
Danielson999 said:
If you're only running them at 50w then pin is king. Effortlessly cool them passively without the worry of a fan ever failing. Only reason I'd use fans are if I was running 100w+ or was building a light fixture as cheap as possible. For a couple extra dollars I'll take the safety of passive cooling and knowing my cobs will never burn up.
Plus, most people have a good amount of air flow that adds secondary cooling to passive pin sinks.
Click to expand...
Yeah I guess that makes sense. Maybe I'll do the pins and build individual four cob section bars
 
DesertHydro

DesertHydro

Well-Known Member
If I do the extruded heatsinks big enough to run passively then the price jumps up substantially. Could still be worth it depending on how crazy I go on the frame
 
Danielson999

Danielson999

Well-Known Member
Right but I don't think the 4.850" profile would cut it for passive. You'd have to jump to a more expensive profile like the 5.886".
 
S

Silver or lead

Well-Known Member
I'm running the same setup, 4 lumis on a HLG-185. Using electrical conduit as framework the framework cost $10 and the 4 pin fin heatsinks cost about $90 after shipping.
 
DonBrennon

DonBrennon

Well-Known Member
I've gone with passive extruded bars, they work and look good, but I'd definitely go for pins now that they're more available and affordable. My lights are heavy and cumbersome and I just think pin sinks on frames would be easier to work with and much more adaptable.IMG_7432.jpg IMG_7438.jpg
 
Stephenj37826

Stephenj37826

Well-Known Member
Personally I like the idea of sizing the heatsinks where they will get by passively in case of fan failure. That being said active has its advantages. For a small 1-2 watts you can gain 3-4% in the right application. As long as those watts add more than the rated lumens per watt let's say 300 total lumens in a 150 lm/w setup then You haven't wasted your time. Generally speaking you'll gain twice the lumens or more for the wattage expended. Also this isn't taking into account the life span of the led themselves. Running much cooler extends the lm80 time this the life of the cobs/LEDs.

Just food for thought
 
Nenno44

Nenno44

Well-Known Member
I have made bars, and pins with frames and I think the bars are easier to make especially with self forming(tapping) screws. Then again my bars are low wattage veg lights(36in bars) and only need a single 5v fan to keep them extremely cool.
 
DesertHydro

DesertHydro

Well-Known Member
sixstring2112 said:
did you know the 120mm heatsinks at ngl will handle 50w passive no problem ?
Click to expand...
yeah i know but thank you. i ordered mine from ali last time since cobkits was out when i ordered all my other gear. they werent drilled for my holders which was annoying but once i learned the trick about drilling them(lube) it was cake. turned into a fun little project. i love the look of the bars and how cleanly you can tuck everything but i think i will just stick with the pins and pimp them out........WHATS THAT? gold plated pin heatsinks?? hmmmm :)
 
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