DiY LED - Cree CXA3070

Elibrium

Member
So say I use aluminum angle iron for my framing to hold my cpu coolers and drivers. can I simply attach my ground wire to the frame and call it good?

Or would a gfci cord work if I just plugged my hot and neutral into it? Like this I think I'm understanding just want to know for sure to be as safe as possible
 
Last edited:

randomlygrow

Well-Known Member
Ok next thought I have bubbling away, please do tell me to shut up if necessary...

Would this cheap standard 600mA Buck Regulator LED Driver for 20W High Power LED


Power a cxa3070, assuming you were giving it a correct DC input? It states upto 96% efficient.

Would it be worth looking into converting the power into my tent/wardrobe to DC? Are there big (and efficient of course) constant voltage AC-DC out there? From there on its a case of buck step down constant current right?

I'm just trying to think out the box, please correct me if i'm wrong :)
 

SupraSPL

Well-Known Member

MrDavis

Well-Known Member
What if I ran the 7 dollar driver on a Vero 10 (30Vf x .3a).

Would that be 1,000 lumens at 9 watts?

The 7 dollar driver says 36w so would it be too much for 1 Vero 10?

I am trying to setup a flower room and I want the most lumens I can get for the buck. I have specific idea's for cooling so heat wont be an issue.

Any idea's Supra? You know on 3590's or Vero 10 for a 15x30 flower room?

What if I ran Vero 10 at .7a?
 

JavaCo

Well-Known Member
So say I use aluminum angle iron for my framing to hold my cpu coolers and drivers. can I simply attach my ground wire to the frame and call it good?

Or would a gfci cord work if I just plugged my hot and neutral into it? Like this I think I'm understanding just want to know for sure to be as safe as possible
GFI is the way to go. Any kinda of electrical around water should be on a GFCI circuit for safety. You still want to ground your frame though. But yeah just bolt the ground to the frame is all that needs to be done. Not just your light , Fans , AC Dehumidifiers should be on a GFI In the event of water spillage.
 

Elibrium

Member
GFI is the way to go. Any kinda of electrical around water should be on a GFCI circuit for safety. You still want to ground your frame though. But yeah just bolt the ground to the frame is all that needs to be done. Not just your light , Fans , AC Dehumidifiers should be on a GFI In the event of water spillage.
K cool, I'm switching out my 600hps cooltube set up in my closet I've already got the right gear outlets wise, just never wired anything up like this but enjoy the new challenge. Ground to my frame it is then. Thank you
 

randomlygrow

Well-Known Member
If you had access to direct DC from a solar or wind mill, that would be the ideal option. But if you are powering from a 120V or 240V AC line, the buck approach ends up costing more and less efficient than one-step conversion with an AC-DC constant current driver.

Here is an example of a high efficiency 24V DC PSU, I am not sure it gets much better than that.
http://www.cdiweb.com/ProductDetail/NPF9024-Mean-Well-USA/515849/pid=568?gclid=CPSPv8bBisMCFdgZgQodg5MAQA
Ok thanks for clarifying that a bit more, I have a few very high efficiency PSU's kicking about I thought I may be able to run cheaper step up regulators from - seems not. Then I thought what about a PSU that fits the bill to create a decent rail to run buck converters off.

But even assuming PSU efficiency of 88% and Buck %96 (on the high side of fair) that' still only 84% I guess, and potential added complexity and single point of failure. Which is essentially what i'm trying to avoid!

Thinking out loud!
 

JavaCo

Well-Known Member
You also have to factor in that is a buck module. Bucks require a higher then output supply voltage. To run a CXA3070 you would need a 48 volt PSU to power it. To use a 12 or 24 volt PSU you would need a Boost Driver Module. I would have to agree with Supra if you don't already have a source of DC voltage it is much more efficient to run a Driver with AC input.
 

SupraSPL

Well-Known Member
What if I ran the 7 dollar driver on a Vero 10 (30Vf x .3a).

Would that be 1,000 lumens at 9 watts?

The 7 dollar driver says 36w so would it be too much for 1 Vero 10?

I am trying to setup a flower room and I want the most lumens I can get for the buck. I have specific idea's for cooling so heat wont be an issue.

Any idea's Supra? You know on 3590's or Vero 10 for a 15x30 flower room?

What if I ran Vero 10 at .7a?
That driver is most efficient when it is driving near its max load, so it may not be the ideal for a single Vero 10. Actually, you could drive a pair of Vero10s with this $1.25 driver for the same cost as a single Vero 10 at 300mA on the larger driver but with much higher efficiency.

The $7 driver put out about 280mA warmed up, so that would be .28 * 26.16Vf = 7.45W ea or 920lm for a 3000K.

When it comes to flowering I prefer the larger COBs like CXA3070 or Vero 29 size because we need to pack a lot of light in. With the Veros recent price drop, running it at 1050mA looks more appealing, 41.8%, $1.78/PAR W, 37.8W, 5073 lumens

or the CXA3070 3K Z4 bin from Aliexpress @ 1.4A = 40.7%, $1.88/PAR W, 52.2W, 6907 lumens.
 
Last edited:

SupraSPL

Well-Known Member
Yes that does look legit, good find. One important downside though, max Vf of 29. The only COB I can figure would work in that range is the Vero18 @ 700mA, but that makes the driver cost of $25 for a 20W COB a questionable economy unfortunately. Always good to know what options are out there though, maybe someone would find a batch of these on clearance or eBay.
 

bondoman

Well-Known Member
Yes that does look legit, good find. One important downside though, max Vf of 29. The only COB I can figure would work in that range is the Vero18 @ 700mA, but that makes the driver cost of $25 for a 20W COB a questionable economy unfortunately. Always good to know what options are out there though, maybe someone would find a batch of these on clearance or eBay.
Thanks. Yeah I only got them because I had free credit on amazon. I got 3 and hooked them up to Vero 18's, and they seem to run fine at 1200. It also said they were drawing 32V. so I'm not so sure on how accurate the 29v rating is.
 

MrDavis

Well-Known Member
That driver is most efficient when it is driving near its max load, so it may not be the ideal for a single Vero 10. Actually, you could drive a pair of Vero10s with this $1.25 driver for the same cost as a single Vero 10 at 300mA on the larger driver but with much higher efficiency.

The $7 driver put out about 280mA warmed up, so that would be .28 * 26.16Vf = 7.45W ea or 920lm for a 3000K.

When it comes to flowering I prefer the larger COBs like CXA3070 or Vero 29 size because we need to pack a lot of light in. With the Veros recent price drop, running it at 1050mA looks more appealing, 41.8%, $1.78/PAR W, 37.8W, 5073 lumens

or the CXA3070 3K Z4 bin from Aliexpress @ 1.4A = 40.7%, $1.88/PAR W, 52.2W, 6907 lumens.
Yeah I meant 29's my bad. What driver would you recommend for 1050mA? Although I have a good idea for heatsink; would you run 1 driver and sink per @38 watts?

What heatsink would you recommend?

Do you know what the cost of each 29 would be? Would 1 per sqft be too much?

Sorry for all the questions Supra!
 
Last edited:

SupraSPL

Well-Known Member
HLG-185H-C1050B is a great option, can run (5) Vero 29s or (5) CXA3070s, dimmable and 94% efficient. That works out to $14/ COB pretty tough to beat.

For separate drivers, Fasttech 50W drivers should give you 1.1-1.2A for $11 each. About 91% efficient but not power factor corrected which may affect you since it will be a large build. Same goes for the Mean Well LPC-60-1050, 87-88% efficient and not power factor corrected.

For a large build I would recommend a HeatsinkUSA design with multiple COBs on each heatsink and 1 fan each. Maybe the 4.23" profile depending on the spread you want.
 

JavaCo

Well-Known Member
You could run 5 as Supra pointed out @ 1050 mA with a HLG-185H -C1050. This is a big IF but you might beable to run four off a HLG-185H-C1400 dimmed to 1200 mA. But that's just a guess. Really depends on the Vf of the chips you receive as they very a bit from batch to batch. With low Vf chips you could get quite a bit more But high Vf you might need to go lower.
 
Top