Light seems underpowered ,crank her up?

[Growembig4200]

Picked up a light, same specs as a sf4000 same 880 diode board, same exact dual meanwell drivers,Samsung lm301b’s, dimmer set up, etc. it is only pulling 300w from the wall cranked to 100, nice enough light, but see a lot of the exact same spec lights pulling 400 up to 480. There are 2 adjustable pots on the bottom of each driver, one voltage one current. Now I don’t know enough about electricity and drivers and such. But I have a buddy who knows and has the meters and what have you. Can this thing be cranked up a little bit, even at the loss of some efficiency,
thanks in advance for any direction

 

[Ponky]

Max em out Once the plants grow up and are ready for full light.

 

[Growembig4200]

Yeah, they are ready, I’m flipping a full 3x3 scrog and cranked, she only pulls 300w, I have another light but was wondering if there was a way to pull 400+watts out of these drivers

 

[Growembig4200]

I mean even 380 would be ok but 300 isn’t enough to run over a full 3x3 space, 33w per sf is kinda weak, doable, but a little more would be great

 

[Frankster]

That's a 240 watt driver, check the spec. If it's pulling 300 watts, it's already over.

No, I would be pushing my lights past the spec, especially using passive cooling. If I did it at all, I would be using an appropriate diver (so I don't burn shit up) and I would be using active cooling measures. Plus, I know doing this is also going to greatly reduce shelf life, and degrade the diode output far sooner.

Light quality already degrades over time, why would you want to expedite that?

I mean, there your lights, do what you want, but I think it's a waste of time, money, and the net benefit is marginal at best.
Stick to overclocking CPU's, not your grow lights...


My overclock setup: I've been building and overclocking electronics for over 25 years.
Intel i5 [email protected]
MSI GeForce GTX 1070 ARMOR OC 8GB
G.SKILL Ripjaws 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4 3200@3400mhz
Crucial MX500 1TB SSD
MSI MPG Z390 GAMING PLUS
Corsair Hydro Series™ H110i GT 280mm Extreme Liquid CPU Cooler
ID-COOLING FROSTFLOW 120 mm GPU Liquid Cooler
Corsair Gaming K70 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard — CHERRY® MX Fast
Logitech G pro mouse
3D Speed Edition Razer Goliathus XXL
Monoprice Zero-G Gaming Monitor - 25 Inch AMDFreeSync, 240Hz, 1ms

Mean Well ELG-240-48AB

Mean Well ELG-240-48AB AC-DC Single output LED Driver Mix Mode (CV+CC) with PFC; Output 48Vdc at 5A; Dimming with 0-10Vdc 10V PWM resistance; IP65; Io and Vo adjustable through built-in potentiometer

www.meanwell-web.com

 

[LexLuthor]

Are you saying the light is rated for 400+ watts but it's only pulling 300 from the wall?

 

[Frankster]

Actually, I stand corrected, there's 2 drivers on there, so you should be pulling close to 480 watts.

Just noticing that looking at the pics. Are you sure your wiring is good? Is the dial upping the light when you turn it?

In the past, I've had wires become disconnected from the dial, and it causes the light to run on low, so you might want to doublecheck all your connections.

 

[Growembig4200]

I think the lo and vo Pots on the bottom of drivers may not have been set righ at factory,, checked and rechecked wires,or it could possibly be the dimmer. It dims from zero to like a 1/2 then no more wattage after 1/2. i am looking into finding another set of wires for it, gonna try to swap em out, or just buy another light; which would kinda suck

 

[Growembig4200]

Wiring for reference, any idea where to get a new wiring harness

 

[MilkyTrichomes]

Actually, I stand corrected, there's 2 drivers on there, so you should be pulling close to 480 watts.

Just noticing that looking at the pics. Are you sure your wiring is good? Is the dial upping the light when you turn it?

In the past, I've had wires become disconnected from the dial, and it causes the light to run on low, so you might want to doublecheck all your connections.

Your potentiometers might be the problem. It might not allow full 240w from the driver?

 

[MilkyTrichomes]

Your potentiometers might be the problem. It might not allow full 240w from the driver?

I say that because the pots with my hgl are an analog dial, it has 10 increments but I haven’t measured accuracy. In theory it should be 1/10 of max 260w or 26w a notch. A par meter will solve it.