powering 1 LED chip with 2 drivers?

dtl420

Well-Known Member
I had a cheap cob from china, after a few years of use the chips have started to go out. So I took it apart to salvage what I could from it, and found that it has 2 30-36v 1200mA constant current drivers powering each chip. I've been doing a lot of research on diy LED grow lights, but have only read about powering multiple chips with one driver..

I guess my question is, if I wired it back up the way it was, how many volts/amps are they pushing? Do both volts and amps get multiplied by 2? Just volts?

And if anyone is generous enough to do all the thinking for me, would 2 of these drivers efficiently power 1 3500k vero 29? Thanks in advance to any help on the topic, I've been pouring over articles and doing my research, but can't seem to understand why/how that LED was set up like that.
 

dtl420

Well-Known Member
I understand the specs for the vero 29 well enough. My question is, what happens when you put 2 drivers to 1 chip. I have a generic roleadro cob grow light, the one with 2*200w chips, and each chip was driven with 2 30-36v 1.2a drivers. It is my understanding that I can either connect the + of driver A to the - of driver B, with the - of A and the + of B soldered to the chip. Or solder both +'s and -'s of the drivers to the + and - of the chip. My question is what will be the resulting current and voltage of these 2 wiring options. I spoke to an amateur electrician and she said that no matter what, with DC, the voltage will not change no matter how I wire them. Is this true? It seems to me that one way the voltage will double and the other will double current..?

I already have the vero's and tested them with one driver, and it powers them bright enough to darken my transition lens welding mask, but I want to get the most out of them. I didn't have to spend anything on the drivers as I salvaged them from my old light, but all I could afford right now were 2 vero's, or else I would have just got 4 and put one driver on each.

Thank you @Airwalker16 and @Ginger Viking for your replies, I was starting to think I wasn't going to find any help.

P.s. these drivers say + or - 3% for the current, so I imagine I was barely able to power the vero with one.
P.s.s these are the vero 29 D's, 3500k 80cri model
 

Ginger Viking

Well-Known Member
Best advice I can give is get the driver you need to power the veros where you want to power them. Then find lights to match the drivers you have...
 

1212ham

Well-Known Member
I spoke to an amateur electrician and she said that no matter what, with DC, the voltage will not change no matter how I wire them. Is this true? It seems to me that one way the voltage will double and the other will double current..?
Did you get this resolved? Your friend is wrong, your understanding is correct. Connecting drivers in series doubles voltage, parallel doubles current. For your drivers I'd wire drivers in series, (- to +) and get the higher voltage Vero 29 C. Or get 36V cobs that can take 2400ma with drivers in parallel.
 

dtl420

Well-Known Member
Did you get this resolved? Your friend is wrong, your understanding is correct. Connecting drivers in series doubles voltage, parallel doubles current. For your drivers I'd wire drivers in series, (- to +) and get the higher voltage Vero 29 C. Or get 36V cobs that can take 2400ma with drivers in parallel.
I love you for this. lol. I honestly said fuck it and wired 1 driver per vero @ 36v and 1.2a and started using it as a veg light. Busted out the ol 1000w HID for flower. I'm in the process of trying to scrape together enough money to put 4-5 vero's on one of the hlg-320's to take down the HID, hopefully for good.

I poured over pages and pages on various websites trying to find the cheapest way to build it. Was trying to find a way to put a resistor on a switching power supply. Looked at a lot of open frame power supplies as well, but couldn't find anything that could put out the current and voltage that the hlg can.
 

Fubard

Well-Known Member
I understand the specs for the vero 29 well enough. My question is, what happens when you put 2 drivers to 1 chip. I have a generic roleadro cob grow light, the one with 2*200w chips, and each chip was driven with 2 30-36v 1.2a drivers. It is my understanding that I can either connect the + of driver A to the - of driver B, with the - of A and the + of B soldered to the chip. Or solder both +'s and -'s of the drivers to the + and - of the chip. My question is what will be the resulting current and voltage of these 2 wiring options. I spoke to an amateur electrician and she said that no matter what, with DC, the voltage will not change no matter how I wire them. Is this true? It seems to me that one way the voltage will double and the other will double current..?

I already have the vero's and tested them with one driver, and it powers them bright enough to darken my transition lens welding mask, but I want to get the most out of them. I didn't have to spend anything on the drivers as I salvaged them from my old light, but all I could afford right now were 2 vero's, or else I would have just got 4 and put one driver on each.

Thank you @Airwalker16 and @Ginger Viking for your replies, I was starting to think I wasn't going to find any help.

P.s. these drivers say + or - 3% for the current, so I imagine I was barely able to power the vero with one.
P.s.s these are the vero 29 D's, 3500k 80cri model
Done it before with Constant Voltage strip, you hook up the two drivers in parallel and you split the load across both drivers. In theory that means the drivers last longer as the power is split between them. Obviously means you can use a chip that is up to double the load capacity of one driver.

Your problem becomes one that rears it's ugly head quite nicely when one driver fails and the surge blows the arse out of the other one, and since you have no idea when that is going to happen it's safer getting a single driver big enough for the job in the first case.
 

nonamedman420

Well-Known Member
hahaha. i wondered this very question, connecting 2 drivers to one cob, but didn't ask for fear of looking stupid. i was once told that "the only stupid question is the one that wasn't asked", but it's easy to look like a dumbass asking a question on the internet, especially when you can google for just about any answer that has already been asked. but thanks for asking this dtl420, as the answer is one i was too looking for.
 

dtl420

Well-Known Member
hahaha. i wondered this very question, connecting 2 drivers to one cob, but didn't ask for fear of looking stupid. i was once told that "the only stupid question is the one that wasn't asked", but it's easy to look like a dumbass asking a question on the internet, especially when you can google for just about any answer that has already been asked. but thanks for asking this dtl420, as the answer is one i was too looking for.
I searched relentlessly through google for an answer, but I couldn't find my answer anywhere. This is the only thread I've started on here because I usually find the answer I'm looking for before I have to ask the question.
 

Rakin

Well-Known Member
seriously?? sounds reasonable but one would think the psu would regulate it back to 12v. good to know, thanks!

I’ve done it with up to 4 power supplies giving me 48v. But I like the speed of the fans at 24v best so I stick with that. The ones I use are intended for routers and such are 3a and 1.5a I get a lot of them from replacing equipment on the job. I’ve done a lot of weird stuff with them and have been impressed. My favorite ones are the 12v battery backup supply for voip. I don’t lose ventilation when power goes out.
 
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