Strip build help

Hello, I’m looking to build a strip rig very soon and am looking for some advice. Anyone here when DigiKey is dropping the gen 2 EB strips? I find it a little overwhelming browsing there site to try and find everything I need. I have build a few timber kits that are plug and play but I’m a complete noob at this stuff. Do I need a solder tool to connect strips? Can someone help me figure out everything I’d need to build a 300 ish watt light with strips? Was think of running between 700 mA and 1.05 A for efficiency. Likely a mix of 3500k with a few 5000k. I’m running 740 watts of cobs in a 7x3.5 foot space but feel a little short on light. Any help would be appreciated. Any good holiday deals on the go? Kicking myself for not picking up a driver from tasty...

Most rigid strips come with solderless connectors. For your driver to connect to your rig you will need some wagos

VegasWinner said:

Most rigid strips come with solderless connectors. For your driver to connect to your rig you will need some wagos

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Ok thanks, I’m looking at these, how many strips can I run on a hlg-240 at 700 mA? https://www.digikey.ca/product-detail/en/bridgelux/BXEB-L0560Z-35E2000-C-B3/976-1734-ND/7907663

Hopefully one of the EB experts can speak to that. The boards have a predesigned geometry and can be driven at various amps the best is to be at 88ma per diode for highest luminous output.

I believe voltage on that driver exceeds rating for connectors. You should double check, I think they were rated for 300 volts and the hlg-185 is like 286 volts at 700ma.

I cant speak to the Voltage rating of the connectors, I assume you mean the Wagos, I solder everything.....

I can confirm than the MW- HLG240H-C700 has 357v available, will run 16x 560mm EB series(gen1)
Data sheet values of : 357/22.1= 16.1538..... so 16 strips.

Keep in mind, wiring in series this way, GREAT CAUTION must be taken when using this level of Voltage.

Yepp!
Better take a HLG-240H-24A and connect the strips in parallel. Much safer for a beginner and no need for a soldering iron. This driver has 10,4A so with 10 strips in parallel each would run at 1040mA but you could use 15 strips or more to run them close to 700mA. I recommend to use alu c-channels for mounting/cooling, works great and is cheap..

He is asking about EB Gen 2 so an HLG240H-C700 should run 18 of the 2' gen 2 strips(357/19.5=18.31). Estimated delivery for digikey is now 12/29/17.
Where do people keep coming up that a parallel circuit is safer? Yes it has less voltage but amps are what will kill you...why do you think stun guns don't kill you? They are 100,000+volts with barley any amperage. Yes it hurts but less likely to kill you than low volts high amps.

Ginger Viking said:

Where do people keep coming up that a parallel circuit is safer? Yes it has less voltage but amps are what will kill you.

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You don't understand. 20 volts is not dangerous. If "amps are what will kill you" why don't people die when they touch a car battery?
Because with low voltage the amperage passing through the high resistance of a human body will be very very low. It's all about Ohms Law, the foundation of electricity. With regard to series vs parallel for strips/cobs, it's really a matter of driver matching and personal preference.

VegasWinner said:

Most rigid strips come with solderless connectors. For your driver to connect to your rig you will need some wagos

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Or terminal strips, or wire nuts, or solder etc. etc.

Ginger Viking said:

He is asking about EB Gen 2 so an HLG240H-C700 should run 18 of the 2' gen 2 strips(357/19.5=18.31). Estimated delivery for digikey is now 12/29/17.
Where do people keep coming up that a parallel circuit is safer? Yes it has less voltage but amps are what will kill you...why do you think stun guns don't kill you? They are 100,000+volts with barley any amperage. Yes it hurts but less likely to kill you than low volts high amps.

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Wrong! Many people are already dying because of the consequences from stun guns, alone in the USA. You watch too much Hollywood movies. It's not a harmless wappon!
The rest is already answered by @1212ham

Ginger Viking said:

He is asking about EB Gen 2 so an HLG240H-C700 should run 18 of the 2' gen 2 strips(357/19.5=18.31). Estimated delivery for digikey is now 12/29/17.
Where do people keep coming up that a parallel circuit is safer? Yes it has less voltage but amps are what will kill you...why do you think stun guns don't kill you? They are 100,000+volts with barley any amperage. Yes it hurts but less likely to kill you than low volts high amps.

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So perhaps I can get away with a hlg 185 if I wanna run 10 strips at a sonewhat efficient amperage for gen2 strips? Is it possible to run 10 at a lower amperage on a 240 and leave room if I wanted to add more strips later. Appreciate all the help guys

What is the size of the area you are trying to light?

DankBudzzz said:

So perhaps I can get away with a hlg 185 if I wanna run 10 strips at a sonewhat efficient amperage for gen2 strips? Is it possible to run 10 at a lower amperage on a 240 and leave room if I wanted to add more strips later. Appreciate all the help guys

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A HLG-185H-C700B has 285v, thats enough for 14 gen2 strips. The driver works between 140 and 285v so you could start with 7 or 8 strips and add the other 6-7 strips later. But because the driver has constant 700mA you will get only half the power out of the driver. With 7 strips ~100w, with 14 strips ~200w.

If you take the CV/CC version you will get the full 200w also with less strips, they only get more current and run hotter. If you add more strips to a CV/CC driver the effiency gets better the more strips you add. While the effiency of the strips on a CC driver is always the same(unless you dimming).

Randomblame said:

A HLG-185H-C700B has 285v, thats enough for 14 gen2 strips. The driver works between 140 and 285v so you could start with 7 or 8 strips and add the other 6-7 strips later. But because the driver has constant 700mA you will get only half the power out of the driver. With 7 strips ~100w, with 14 strips ~200w.

If you take the CV/CC version you will get the full 200w also with less strips, they only get more current and run hotter. If you add more strips to a CV/CC driver the effiency gets better the more strips you add. While the effiency of the strips on a CC driver is always the same(unless you dimming).

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very very helpful! Appreciate it a lot, can I run 10 strips on the 185; I don’t need to run 7 or 14 correct?

DankBudzzz said:

very very helpful! Appreciate it a lot, can I run 10 strips on the 185; I don’t need to run 7 or 14 correct?

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Yepp, 10 would be okay.
- 10 EB/gen2 strips in series with a HLG-185H-C700A or B(dimmable) would be 195v x 0,7A = 136,5w net., each strip gets 700mA or 13,65w.
- 10 EB/gen2 strips in parallel with a HLG-185H-20A would be 19,5v x 10A=195w net., each strip gets 1000mA or 19,5w.

Randomblame said:

Yepp, 10 would be okay.
- 10 EB/gen2 strips in series with a HLG-185H-C700A or B(dimmable) would be 195v x 0,7A = 136,5w net., each strip gets 700mA or 13,65w.
- 10 EB/gen2 strips in parallel with a HLG-185H-20A would be 19,5v x 10A=195w net., each strip gets 1000mA or 19,5w.

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Ok sounds good I’ll have to look into parallel wiring, I’m kicking myself now for not picking up a cheap driver from tasty.... I’m just looking to add some wattage to my cobs . Thanks for the help I’ll likely order my driver tonight and may have more questions

Well my lights are samsung h series but this may or may not help you or someone else so ill share. I wanted flexability of having seperate 2x2 lights so i can have different light height. This is all series wiring not parallel.

I did hlg 120h-c700b drivers for each light with 9 samsung h strips. Running them at 700ma has them cool enough you dont need a heatsink. That driver is rated for 150 watts with voltage at 215 max, 9 strips of samsung h fit it perfectly.

I did 4 of them, the added benefit of doing it that way was no heatsink so each light was just 6 feet of angle aluminum. Also i got the 25+ bulk pricing on the 2 foot strips so samsung h were 8.25 a strip. Doing it that way though has me using 4 drivers for 4x4 so driver cost is higher.

Strips and drivers was total $430ish usd for 600watt of samsung h strips running at cool 700ma.

If you ran them hotter at like 1050 with the hlg120h-c1050 that would be six strips a light for 150watt so you'd need 3 less strips per light. That way would be like 340ish for 600watt but you'd need a heatsink and they would run hotter.

The same logic should apply for the bridgelux strips. I chose to do it that way as heat was a concern for my space. Having no heatsink and remote drivers also makes the weight of the light almost nothing. I could hang it by mason twine if i really wanted to.