Need An Led Guru To Verify This Is Okay.

[Pawn]

Good evening Farm! Positive vibes to you all on this wonderful Sunday.

I'm planning on running a setup with LEDs, and wanted to make sure I've got this right before dropping the money on drivers. I read someone's comment back in April to do homework, then ask questions. Don't worry. I've been doing my homework, but I don't have a local guru to go to with questions, and after a month of reading I think I know enough to take action.

SO.....I plan on running in a 3x3x8 Gorilla Grow Tent(owned). I'll be using H&G ferts(still need to get the flowering additives), with FFOX/LW(3:1). I haven't bought the seeds yet, but I'll get those once the light is assembled.

My next investment is my lighting. I have read through Toaster, Supra, PowerOG, and a few others threads I can't recall from front to back. I've also read up on a couple other forums, various tutorials, and DIY guides, taking any information where I can. I've taking a liking to how Supra has his set up, and largely copied him(See below).

I plan on using 2 of the above fixtures in my room. I plan on buying 2 5.88"x12" heatsinks, and attaching 13 Cree XP-E Photo Red, 3 Phillips Luxeon ES Royal Blue, and 2 Cree CXA3070 per fixture. I'm going to run these through 3 separate drivers. For the 13 XP-E, I plan on using a Mean Well ELN-60-48D dimmable driver. For the 3 Luxeon ES, I plan on using a Mean Well LPC-35-700 constant current driver. And for the 2 CXA, I plan on using a Mean Well HLG-185H-C Series driver.

My question is, will it work? I did a really terrible job of writing things down, and now don't have the math I used to choose my drivers. My main concerns are that the drivers aren't what I need. I've been reading and lurking, and I think this is right, but I wanted a second opinion before dishing out a bunch of money on something that doesn't work/could have been awesome! I'm also aware that I didn't include cooling, wires, and other accessories, but I can handle that part pretty well myself.

If I'm totally dropping the ball just let me know, I can run a HPS for a while until I 'm known as "LED Guru Pawn." I really wanted to go LED because the temps here can reach 105F in the summer months. Thanks again all!

 

[str8smokn]

I don't know anything about them,but would like to. So I'm tagging along for this ride..make room on that tailgate for STR8 , I will bring some nuggs.
STR8

 

[Toaster79]

Should work just fine.

Instead of CXA3070 I'd use the new CXB3070 and add 33% light with that move. Don't know which drivet exactly are you thinking to use with them, but I'm guessing the 1400mA versions. Anyways CXA or CXB, forward voltage is 36V nominal. So two in series make 72V. HLG-185-C1400 runs up to 143V, meaning you'll be using your driver at 50% load and efficiency would be much lower than when driven at full load. What I would do is either double the number of CXBs or choose a driver that will run at full load with those two COBs. The other option is you take 4 CXB2540 because they are almost half the price, take HLG-185C1050 and wire all the LEDs you're planning to use in series. This way your setup will end with a single driver running at 92-94%. I'd also take half of the photo reds and half far reds (630nm and 660nm) to get a bit broader red spectrum. Id also ditch luxeons and take crees for the blues. XP-E2 royal blue fits in nicely here. When building the unit, make sure the centers of the COBs are 2ft apart and put the other LEDs around each COB. Also make sure that thermal management doesn't suck or you'll be buyin new parts soon.

Good luck with the build and have fun.

 

[Wee Zard]

Excellent advice there.

But I would leave a little more headroom for the drivers.

There is nothing wrong with running a Meanwell at 50% load.
It will run much cooler, for lots longer.
Best not to ask more than 80% of their max voltage, in any case.
That 20% cushion can prevent a lot of headache for ya.

I'm no guru, but have been dicking with LED growing for the last 9 years.
Used to be an electronics tech and have played with LEDs since the '70s.
Waiting for efficiency and output that could outperform Halides.

Those are 56Watt and a 150Watt arrays.
I'm real happy with them.
The dials on the 150Watter allow adjustment of the color ratio which affect the morphology of the plants.
You might want to add that to your design, it's a handy feature.

I'd also suggest using a thermal switch for your cooling.
Mine trigger at ~ 95F. No power gets wasted on unneeded cooling.
And If I hang the arrays from a single chain it causes the lamp to move when the fan kicks on, and off.
That prevents shadowing of lower leaf by moving the light source periodically.

Just a couple 'lectronic pennies for ya.
Carry on.
Weezard

 

[Toaster79]

Excellent advice there.

But I would leave a little more headroom for the drivers.

There is nothing wrong with running a Meanwell at 50% load.
It will run much cooler, for lots longer.
Best not to ask more than 80% of their max voltage, in any case.
That 20% cushion can prevent a lot of headache for ya.

Only if youre running off 115V mains.

If running off 230V the story changes a bit:

So I'm always trying to hit 100% load

 

[Wee Zard]

Mahalo, I was unaware of that.
We have 115v 60hz. here
Was also an electrician a long, long, time ago, where 20% headroom for power loading is mandatory.

I do wonder about added heat at 50% load, but again, I was raised on analog regulators.
I think the meanwell's are switching supplies so heat should not be a big problem.
I really know very little about the current drivers.
Too broke to use them.
I've been using LM337 voltage regulators.
Just put a small resistance in line with the load and feed the voltage drop to the sense lead.
Tricks it into regulating current and they cost 35 cents or so.
With the resistor and diode the whole regulator is less than a buck.

You may have caught that I am ancient.
Livin' in paradise on social security.
Just didn't spend any time studying tech. that I can't afford.
So, I'm jus' gonna kick back and watch this thread.
Be a good way to learn new tricks.

Aloha,
Weeze

 

[Toaster79]

Been using voltage regulators in cc mode myself a while back. Used LM317 and LM350 for higher currents. Good simple analog circuit with transformer, rectifire, electrolytic condensators and LMs :D:D

 

[FlyinJStable]

Tryin to keep up with the The toast Man is like talking quantum theories to my Gold fish.
Totally givin the joust The @Toaster79 You rock
Allays diggin your input on the LED threads your one knowledgeable dude.
@Pawn welcome bro and you have stopped in the right Farm with guys like The Tman and others your Game will be
Top shelf and the LED wicked sweet.
Good-luck with the Build guys
Much respect
FlyJ

 

[Pawn]

You guys are awesome! Thank you for the quick replies!

I went back to ye olde' board of drawing, armed with the necessary info to get this all dialed in. I totally screwed up on the CXA driver, I must have misread/did bad math when calculating the voltage, thanks for the catch! I wanted to have independent control of the strands by color for experimentation's sake, hence the three drivers.


I updated the MSPaint diagram. I just ran the cost to build one of these....it's $275 once the missing supplies get added in(I need wire and and kapton tape). If I run two of these, that puts the cost at $550...which is more than I want to spend on lighting honestly. I know when you compare it to the prefab LEDs(Apache and the like) on the market it's still way cheaper, but it's an expensive risk to take on something I have no experience with. I may take a cheaper route for now(meaning no DIY, probably going to try to run HPS and pray I can manage temp), and just continue to read up on the tech, wait for the prices to drop some more, save up some more money, and give this a good try come next spring.

I will say that if you plan on spending serious cash on a premium LED fixture, you should seriously consider just making one yourself. You could easily make 11 of these units for the price of a $3000 fixture.

 

[seaslug]

Unless we have a warehouse grow full of LED, I don't think PFC (power factor) matters to us. The power company gets cranky if their big customers have poor PFC equipment. PFC is not power supply efficiency although a good design will have good numbers for both. The Mean Well "A" models adjust down to 50%, where the 115 and 230VAC efficiency lines intersect.

I just changed my luminaire design to include a 230VAC fan and using HLG-120H-C1050 to power a pair of 3000K CBX3590 instead of the HLG-185H-C1050. PSU efficiency will be a bit better and both models use the same external case so I think cooling will be OK.

Edit: I bought parts for adding 660nm red but some people say 3000K has enough red so I'm going to build with just the COBs for now.