DIY with Quantum Boards

cobshopgrow

cobshopgrow

Well-Known Member
PWM dimming does work well with leds, there is no doubt.
pratically one problem is meanwell f.e. just offers pwm drivers up to 120W and their max efficiency rating is 90.5%.

another thing is, when current dimming is compared to pwm dimming they often refer to the current dimming beeing regulated by preresitors.
not the case with our regular menawell drivers, they also work internally with PWM and a duty cycle to create the wished voltage,
theyre not simply burning the exess voltage, no preresitors or linear regulators are used.
so in this regard there is no to very very little efficiency drawback compared to the ones outputing, if you want, unfiltered PWM.
there are quite some discussions, but this is going deep and is nit picking in our case, switching losses, losses in capacitors, behaviour of leds beeing dimmed by pwm etc.

i could imagine Meanwell isnt offering any higher then the 120w ones as above the expected EMI problems may become too big? (desrcibed in above linked doc).

PWM dimming should be superiour in color rendidition and its easier to maintain a wider more linear dimming range, quite usefull,
while i would say the dimming is working ok with their regular drivers too.
 
cobshopgrow

cobshopgrow

Well-Known Member
had a look in their pwm driver datasheet, their pwm dirvers do use the same detection circuit as the others.
but its stated that the pwm freq is. 1.47 or 2.5khz.
so the detection circuit will set the duty cycle of these frequencies, likely.

PWM-120(DA)-MEAN WELL USA Switching Power Supply

MEAN WELL Switching Power Supply. MEAN WELL is a Switching Power Supply manufacturer in Taiwan. – SMPS, SPS manufacturer, AC DC , DC DC , DC AC, industrial power supply, Medical power supply, Din Rail power supply, LED power supply, LED driver, charger, inverter, adaptor, rack power, modular...
www.meanwellusa.com
 
piney420

piney420

Well-Known Member
Resized_20210101_105431.jpeg

Got it all together and hung! I'll run it for a few hours to make sure my wiring skills don't burn anything down. Loving the pinkish light! I need to modify my hangers a bit and tidy up some of the wiring. I ran out of channel (and rivets lol, thought i had a bunch of them), I need another 10" or so to use for the driver mount and get rid of those zip ties and I may even grind down the rivet ends if I have some free time.
 
2

2com

Well-Known Member
piney420 said:
View attachment 4783833

Got it all together and hung! I'll run it for a few hours to make sure my wiring skills don't burn anything down. Loving the pinkish light! I need to modify my hangers a bit and tidy up some of the wiring. I ran out of channel (and rivets lol, thought i had a bunch of them), I need another 10" or so to use for the driver mount and get rid of those zip ties and I may even grind down the rivet ends if I have some free time.
Click to expand...
That waterproof connector with the cord coming in from the right, it should be tightened down on the cord jacket, not the individual wires. Just pointing it out in case you didn't know, not saying you need to do it, as the two (dc) individual wires are coming out the other side anyways.

Nice job. I really like the idea of a 5 pattern with the 96s.
 
2

2com

Well-Known Member
I just came across this while browsing the HLG site for no reason at all:

HLG 50 - High CRI LED Bar. (Or HLG 60, it says both on the info page).
horticulturelightinggroup.com

HLG 50

50 watts 5000K 98CRI for horticulture photography and vegetative/supplement light.
horticulturelightinggroup.com horticulturelightinggroup.com

What are people's initial thoughts on this? I don't remember hearing anything about it.
 
ilovereggae

ilovereggae

Well-Known Member
2com said:
I just came across this while browsing the HLG site for no reason at all:

HLG 50 - High CRI LED Bar. (Or HLG 60, it says both on the info page).
horticulturelightinggroup.com

HLG 50

50 watts 5000K 98CRI for horticulture photography and vegetative/supplement light.
horticulturelightinggroup.com horticulturelightinggroup.com

What are people's initial thoughts on this? I don't remember hearing anything about it.
Click to expand...
says Coming Soon so gotta be brand new.

the spectrum looks great but price seems kind of steep compared to other high CRI strips even for a finished fixture. but knowing HLG they tested everything and these were the best performers.

definitely going to try out some higher CRI lights but these are a little out of my budget for now.
 
Beehive

Beehive

Well-Known Member
I went from 49.1v to 50.0v

Driver is 102.3° from 100°

Sinks are an average of 99°

Cob face is 119.7° up from 114°.

24" above the net. 29k-30k lux at net. Room temp of 83°.
 
Beehive

Beehive

Well-Known Member
I'm going to float these plants along on 16/8, 29k lux, fifth week of hydroponic growth veg.

I have enough weed in storage. There's no need to rush it. They're already expressing sex at 30. I wanna see what a big increase in light per hour does for one more week. I'll make it fit the net.
 
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TWest65

TWest65

Well-Known Member
Boatguy said:
I think the Mean well driver does pwm dimming regardless of which method you use to tell it to dim. Could be wrong, but it appears that way when my simple mind tries to make sense of their drawings, and poor description.
This doesnt just go for the pwm series, but any of them with 3 in 1 dimming
Click to expand...
The following is from https://www.power-supplies-australia.com.au/blog/minimum-load-requirement-mean-well-led-drivers

Most of MEAN WELL’s led drivers achieve the dimming by reducing the amplitude of the output current being fed to the LED lights.
The below table shows how each of the MEAN WELL LED drivers with 3-in1 dimming affect the dimming according to the incoming PWM control signal.
MEAN WELL HLG ‘B’ SeriesAmplitude of current output reduced.
MEAN WELL ELG ‘B’ SeriesAmplitude of current output reduced.
MEAN WELL LPF-D SeriesAmplitude of current output reduced.
MEAN WELL LCM SeriesAmplitude of current output reduced.
MEAN WELL PWM SeriesDuty Cycle of PWM output reduced.

If your light fittings need a LED driver with PWM output, you will need to use the MEAN WELL PWM series LED drivers. These are the only LED drivers from MEAN WELL with the PWM output.

MEAN WELL 3-in-1 LED drivers are compatible with dimming controllers that generate a PWM control signal, but this does not mean the LED driver has a PWM output.
 
J

Jqwerty1

Well-Known Member
I had left over wagos from another build and didn't realize i screwed up ordering until I checked the wiring diagram so i shoved two wires in one side and it came on worked fine but IDK if this is safe.
 

Attachments

pop22

pop22

Well-Known Member
Your mistaken about the Meanwell drivers, depending what series you are talking about, I just checked the sepc sheet for the HLG320H-C series and they are PWM also. I think all the drivers in this series are capable, and the housing is shielded.

cobshopgrow said:
PWM dimming does work well with leds, there is no doubt.
pratically one problem is meanwell f.e. just offers pwm drivers up to 120W and their max efficiency rating is 90.5%.

another thing is, when current dimming is compared to pwm dimming they often refer to the current dimming beeing regulated by preresitors.
not the case with our regular menawell drivers, they also work internally with PWM and a duty cycle to create the wished voltage,
theyre not simply burning the exess voltage, no preresitors or linear regulators are used.
so in this regard there is no to very very little efficiency drawback compared to the ones outputing, if you want, unfiltered PWM.
there are quite some discussions, but this is going deep and is nit picking in our case, switching losses, losses in capacitors, behaviour of leds beeing dimmed by pwm etc.

i could imagine Meanwell isnt offering any higher then the 120w ones as above the expected EMI problems may become too big? (desrcibed in above linked doc).

PWM dimming should be superiour in color rendidition and its easier to maintain a wider more linear dimming range, quite usefull,
while i would say the dimming is working ok with their regular drivers too.
Click to expand...
 
piney420

piney420

Well-Known Member
2com said:
That waterproof connector with the cord coming in from the right, it should be tightened down on the cord jacket, not the individual wires. Just pointing it out in case you didn't know, not saying you need to do it, as the two (dc) individual wires are coming out the other side anyways.

Nice job. I really like the idea of a 5 pattern with the 96s.
Click to expand...
Yea I was a little concerned to be chopping wires at first, so I'll go through and tidy it up just cause I want it to look good lol. Thanks!
 
cobshopgrow

cobshopgrow

Well-Known Member
pop22 said:
Your mistaken about the Meanwell drivers, depending what series you are talking about, I just checked the sepc sheet for the HLG320H-C series and they are PWM also. I think all the drivers in this series are capable, and the housing is shielded.
Click to expand...
the HLG320H-C is working internally with 70khz, still giving out to DC filtered voltage on its outs, no PWM.
as i wrote every meanwell is workirng internally with a pwm freq. and a duty cycle.
but there are only the drivers with "PWM" in their names who put out a real PWM pulse on their outputs.

if you refer to EMI and the shielded housing, its not the housing which is the problem its the cables and their lenghs who are more.
power cables arent shielded normally.
while i can not tell you if its relevant practically.
 
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cobshopgrow

cobshopgrow

Well-Known Member
TWest65 said:
The following is from https://www.power-supplies-australia.com.au/blog/minimum-load-requirement-mean-well-led-drivers

Most of MEAN WELL’s led drivers achieve the dimming by reducing the amplitude of the output current being fed to the LED lights.
The below table shows how each of the MEAN WELL LED drivers with 3-in1 dimming affect the dimming according to the incoming PWM control signal.
MEAN WELL HLG ‘B’ SeriesAmplitude of current output reduced.
MEAN WELL ELG ‘B’ SeriesAmplitude of current output reduced.
MEAN WELL LPF-D SeriesAmplitude of current output reduced.
MEAN WELL LCM SeriesAmplitude of current output reduced.
MEAN WELL PWM SeriesDuty Cycle of PWM output reduced.


If your light fittings need a LED driver with PWM output, you will need to use the MEAN WELL PWM series LED drivers. These are the only LED drivers from MEAN WELL with the PWM output.

MEAN WELL 3-in-1 LED drivers are compatible with dimming controllers that generate a PWM control signal, but this does not mean the LED driver has a PWM output.
Click to expand...
this is a good find, quite clear.
 
daveybc

daveybc

Well-Known Member
in the pic some of the mask is missing or worn off. I can see copper. THe board works but was concerned about the exposed copper. I understand the solder testing point is live and right there. Am I being too picky.. I have installed over 30 of these boards and never seen this.
 
2

2com

Well-Known Member
daveybc said:
in the pic some of the mask is missing or worn off. I can see copper. THe board works but was concerned about the exposed copper. I understand the solder testing point is live and right there. Am I being too picky.. I have installed over 30 of these boards and never seen this.
Click to expand...
I see what you're saying. No, I don't think you're being picky. I wouldn't be cool with that on a new board.
 
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