CXA3070 Build Question

[420canadabudz]

Hey guys I've been lurking around here for a few months now, slowly ordering everything I need to build a COB setup. I have most things figured out due to the immense amount of information on this forum but have ran into a couple of questions that I cant find answers for.

First of all, I ordered some drivers off eBay but received the wrong model. I managed to get a refund but am wondering if there's anyway I can still use these:

Its the proper voltage and amps but there's a loose grounding wire, and with my lack of electrical knowledge I'm not so sure what id do with it or if it would even work at all.

If those drivers wont work I'm planning on getting ( 2 ) Meanwell HLG-240H-C1400B for ( 8 ) CXA3070's, As I believe using 8 CXA's on a 185H will slightly exceed the maximum voltage and result in less power from each COB, Correct me if I'm wrong.

My next question is about wiring Arctic Alpine 11 Plus CPU coolers, I'm planning on mounting 1 cob on each and would like to wire all 8 CPU coolers to This Wall Wart:
How should I go about doing this? series? parallel? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I'm also unsure of what the purpose of each wire is on the arctic alpine 11 CPU coolers as you can see there is 4, as far as I know black is negative, Red is positive and blue or yellow are either 5v or 12v DC im just not sure which one is which, Here is a picture of the CPU cooler I'm talking about:


My last question is how would I go about using a potentiometer to equally dim multiple drivers? and is there any specific potentiometer people have to recommend?

So that sums up the last few questions I have before I'm confident enough to start my build, Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[Abiqua]

Hey guys I've been lurking around here for a few months now, slowly ordering everything I need to build a COB setup. I have most things figured out due to the immense amount of information on this forum but have ran into a couple of questions that I cant find answers for.

First of all, I ordered some drivers off eBay but received the wrong model. I managed to get a refund but am wondering if there's anyway I can still use these:View attachment 3577532

Its the proper voltage and amps but there's a loose grounding wire, and with my lack of electrical knowledge I'm not so sure what id do with it or if it would even work at all.

If those drivers wont work I'm planning on getting ( 2 ) Meanwell HLG-240H-C1400B for ( 8 ) CXA3070's, As I believe using 8 CXA's on a 185H will slightly exceed the maximum voltage and result in less power from each COB, Correct me if I'm wrong.

My next question is about wiring Arctic Alpine 11 Plus CPU coolers, I'm planning on mounting 1 cob on each and would like to wire all 8 CPU coolers to This Wall Wart:View attachment 3577467
How should I go about doing this? series? parallel? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I'm also unsure of what the purpose of each wire is on the arctic alpine 11 CPU coolers as you can see there is 4, as far as I know black is negative, Red is positive and blue or yellow are either 5v or 12v DC im just not sure which one is which, Here is a picture of the CPU cooler I'm talking about:
View attachment 3577533

My last question is how would I go about using a potentiometer to equally dim multiple drivers? and is there any specific potentiometer people have to recommend?

So that sums up the last few questions I have before I'm confident enough to start my build, Thanks in advance for any help!

Actually, i think those drivers won't work correctly, but give them a try...

Cree CXA3070 @1400 mA = 37.3 vF @50c ....you are in the ballpark, but they might act funny or they might not....I just picked up a bunch of those in 900mA flavor and they were all DOA, at least I got a refund

The loose ground wire attaches to your house ground at one end of a Three prong plug [Load, Neutral, Earth] and the ring attaches to your Led light fixture frame for example....or you don't even have to use it at all.

I would use something like this instead of the wall wart, which is fine, but this can be tied into your LED driver power supply and now you have 1 power cord and not 2 at least......
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-DC5V-3-...932692?hash=item1c4b735054:g:i1AAAOSwyZ5UmDXQ

The 4 wires are for PWM control.....Just tuck and tape the blue/yellow and use the Red/Black wires.

I would always wire Fans in parallel and you might not get the choice, as the high voltage Constant Voltage drivers are probably hard to find and expensive anyways. That's the other options for wiring in series.

In parallel add Current .35 amps + .35 amps = .7 amps for example, voltage remains the same ......
In series....add Voltage 12v + 12v for example = 24 volts..... current remains the same

 

[Abiqua]

Also...for pots

Single Driver dimming = 100k pot 1x
2x drivers 50k
3x 25k [33k is easier to find and recommended]
and so on......

Two drivers for instance on one pot or two drivers with different pots ........ [Credit to ? somebody here made these though.....]

 

[Abiqua]

Lastly, and HLG 185 @ 1400ma, you are correct, will not do 8x in a series, and in fact for CXA3070, it will only do 3x in series....

It would only run 8x in series at a much lower current....500mA? Google the vF.....

The vF of 4x CXA 3070 is too much for the HLG185C-1400A/B

 

[420canadabudz]

Hey Abiqua thanks for the response, I think you have cleared up most of my confusion. I'm gonna go ahead and try those drivers out since that's the cheaper (or rather free) option and just not bother with the loose grounding wires. But if I'm not happy with them would 2 HLG-240C-1400B work for 8 CXA3070's?

I would use something like this instead of the wall wart, which is fine, but this can be tied into your LED driver power supply and now you have 1 power cord and not 2 at least......
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-DC5V-3-...932692?hash=item1c4b735054:g:i1AAAOSwyZ5UmDXQ

Awesome thanks for the link I would defiantly prefer everything to go to one plug.

So since I will likely be using 8 drivers what would a good potentiometer be to dim them all equally? would a 10k work?

Thanks again for the help its much appreciated!

 

[Abiqua]

Hey Abiqua thanks for the response, I think you have cleared up most of my confusion. I'm gonna go ahead and try those drivers out since that's the cheaper (or rather free) option and just not bother with the loose grounding wires. But if I'm not happy with them would 2 HLG-240C-1400B work for 8 CXA3070's?


Awesome thanks for the link I would defiantly prefer everything to go to one plug.

So since I will likely be using 8 drivers what would a good potentiometer be to dim them all equally? would a 10k work?

Thanks again for the help its much appreciated!

Well following the progression as you add in a driver.... 100k-50k-25K-[15-10k] - 7.5K - 4k -2k-1k

Probably want to find a 1k ohm Potentiometer for all 8, however, I think you may have to go witha 10v dimming control, because you will need probably more than 15 amps for all 8 drivers and probably a minimum of 30A to be safe...so it may be hard to find a 1k ohm Pot rated @ 30A's.

Do you already have the CXA's as well? the newest version CXB will fit 4 at a time to a HLG 185 driver @1400ma's because of a slightly reduced voltage forward compared to the CXA's......

The HLG240 will undoubtedly do 4x CXA3070 and maybe 5x....so Two HLG240's, should be able to do 8-10 cobs overall....@1400mA's

There is also the HLG 185-42 series, which instead of high voltage, gives you High Amperage and requires you to wire diodes in Parallel as opposed to series wiring with High Voltage strings.

Google it and if you can't find it, I can look around

 

[bassman999]

I run the HLG-240H-42b anf it works great with the cxa3070s at any quantity from 3 cobs run hard to 10 cobs run soft at about 24W each and over 50% efficiency

EDIT not saying 10 cobs on the driver is the limit since you could run as many as you want I suppose, but Thats where 50% efficiency was for my example

 

[420canadabudz]

Well following the progression as you add in a driver.... 100k-50k-25K-[15-10k] - 7.5K - 4k -2k-1k

Probably want to find a 1k ohm Potentiometer for all 8, however, I think you may have to go witha 10v dimming control, because you will need probably more than 15 amps for all 8 drivers and probably a minimum of 30A to be safe...so it may be hard to find a 1k ohm Pot rated @ 30A's.

Do you already have the CXA's as well? the newest version CXB will fit 4 at a time to a HLG 185 driver @1400ma's because of a slightly reduced voltage forward compared to the CXA's......

The HLG240 will undoubtedly do 4x CXA3070 and maybe 5x....so Two HLG240's, should be able to do 8-10 cobs overall....@1400mA's

There is also the HLG 185-42 series, which instead of high voltage, gives you High Amperage and requires you to wire diodes in Parallel as opposed to series wiring with High Voltage strings.

Google it and if you can't find it, I can look around

Would something like this work? http://www.ebay.com/itm/0-10V-Dimmi...521136?hash=item33ab0459b0:g:82AAAOSw~bFWHLi5

Unfortunately I do already have the CXA's, it was only shortly after buying them that I figured out that its harder to find a driver that's a perfect match then the CXB's.

I might just end up going with the HLG-240H-42B like Bassman said, it seems like that would be a bit easier and more of a proper fit, but I still want to explore my options.

Thanks again for the help guys

 

[Abiqua]

Would something like this work? http://www.ebay.com/itm/0-10V-Dimmi...521136?hash=item33ab0459b0:g:82AAAOSw~bFWHLi5

Unfortunately I do already have the CXA's, it was only shortly after buying them that I figured out that its harder to find a driver that's a perfect match then the CXB's.

I might just end up going with the HLG-240H-42B like Bassman said, it seems like that would be a bit easier and more of a proper fit, but I still want to explore my options.

Thanks again for the help guys

Im gonna say No on the ebay find, but just because the voltage is for a single cob and you would have to wire each cob in parallel to the that brick and then hope it also has 30A capacity [thats just my overkill work about, but it is safe....a normal 15A circuit is fine too].....but if your run the HLG240, you will probably need only to find a 50K resistor to control both and should be Much easier to find for an simple analog control.

And I am not knocking the CXA's or anything or try to suggest a switch to CXB....I run your combo - CXA AB' 3k's on Arctic 11+'s and its damn good...don't plan on changing those diode out anytime soon.

If you have enough amperage, I would try and run as few HLG240's as possible...There are also HLG320's that are available as well, maybe even look at the Meanwell HLG600's....Might lesses your need on drivers even more