DiY LEDs - How to Power Them

stardustsailor

Well-Known Member
ADDITIONAL (external ) EMC Filtering for Switching PSUs ( CC & CV )

A power supply or DC/DC converter will have an in-built input filter to
reduce the conducted emissions. It will have two parts; one to reduce
the common mode noise, the other to reduce the differential mode
noise. Common mode noise can be reduced by use of Y capacitors
between line and ground and another one between neutral and ground
in conjunction with a common mode inductor.
Differential mode noise can be reduced by use of an X capacitor
between the line and the neutral in conjunction with a differential mode
inductor. In some instances the differential mode inductor is formed
from the leakage inductance of the common mode inductor so that
there is only one visible wound component.

Sometimes the built-in filter will give an inadequate performance for a given application. This may be
where the power supply is designed to meet the lesser requirements of an industrial environment but
is being used in the more stringent light industrial or residential environment
. Perhaps several power
supplies are being used in a single piece of equipment and the resulting emissions must be reduced
,
or perhaps noise from the load itself is being coupled into the input of the power supply. In all these
instances some form of external filtering will be required.

Filter Selection

There are some basic steps to follow when choosing a filter,
some of which are straightforward and others less so.

Mechanical format
Is the filter going to be mounted within the equipment where it can be
fixed to a panel or should it also provide the extra functions of being the
mains input connector and perhaps contain an on/off switch?
If it is the former, a chassis mount filter can be used. These will generally have
faston terminals for easy connection but may also come with flying
leads. IEC inlet filters can have built-in on/off switches and even fuse
holders
. They can be mounted by either screwing them down to the
equipment or by use of self locking lugs. Generally, for metal chassis
equipment, the bolt-down variety will provide a lower impedance earth
path for the circulating noise down to ground



Input current
The filter should be able to pass the maximum working current of the
equipment so as not to overheat but generally the lower the current
capacity within a filter series, the higher its filtering performance
.


Attenuation required
A filter will be required to reduce the noise at certain frequencies. By
how much and at which frequencies is information which will not readily
be known without having first performed a conducted noise
measurement. Filters have differing amounts of attenuation and, for a
given current rating, the higher the attenuation the larger the filter. As
there will be a practical limit on the size of filter components, large
amounts of attenuation will require the use of multi-stage filters.



http://www.xppower.com/pdfs/techguide.pdf
 

Bueno Time

Well-Known Member
Looking to build up a little veg light now that the flowering is setup pretty good for now.

Does anyone know of some reliable but inexpensive dimmable drivers in the ~40vF range? I could adjust # of LEDs to suit the driver(s) but the plan is two 24" heatsink bars with 6 XML2 U2 4C per bar and would like to have dimmable control for the bars as a whole string of 12 or even better 2 smaller dimmable drivers one for each 6+/- LEDs per bar if there are any cheaper dimmable drivers for that task.

So ya anyone know of some lower cost dimmable drivers? For simplicity I would prefer a dimmable setup over swapping out drivers periodically to adjust current/light output. If not, Im going to go with some of the fasttech drivers, they are cheap enough and work well.
 

Rrog

Well-Known Member
I've not been paying attention to the current driver favorites since the one Chinese company screwed us.
 

reasonevangelist

Well-Known Member
so hey, i asked about these recently, but i don't think anyone said anything: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Cree-XLamp-XPG-XP-G-50W-100W-150W-200W-300W-Cool-White-Warm-White-LED-Light-Lamp-/321343239495?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=&hash=item4ad18cb547 (check out the biggest warm one, recent price drop)

Looks kinda power hungry, but potentially quite a lot of light for not a lot of hardware cost... not sure how to gauge the efficiency on that. (also not sure i can pull that many amps without tripping breakers; seems like a lot)

I would expect "not great" efficiency, but seems like it would be plenty of light for a small area, from a single source. What kind of power/driver would this need?
 

SomeGuy

Well-Known Member

Hey man. FINALLY have time and $$ to throw at this project. Want to check in for your opinion and some info since I need to do this cost effective.

Fastech drivers:

http://www.fasttech.com/products/1320600

To power Vero 18:

http://www.digikey.com/product-search/en?mpart=BXRC-30E4000-F-03&vendor=976

Do you have a link to? :

-fan power supply
-fan-heat sink combo
-What cable are you using there in the pic? (white jacket and multiple leads)

Thanks!
 

tightpockt

Well-Known Member
Anybody got a line on some cxa3070's z4 bin? So far i can only find the 5000k..,looking for the 3k. Mouzer has the z2 I'm not sure if its worth buying them or just waiting for the z4
 

Observe & Report

Well-Known Member
It costs $0.63 to run a 50W COB for a week at 12-hours and $0.15/kWh. A Z4 is 15% more efficient than a Z2. That means you save about $0.10 cents a week. Let's say your harvest is worth $2500 a pound. 2 ounces under a 50W COB is 1.12 g/W, totally doable. If it takes 3 months to go from rooted cut to harvest, then $24 a week is what one COB produces. If this is a new grow, each week you wait will take 4.6 years for the electricity savings to reach the value of the buds you could have been growing. If you're using HPS, you can use your g/W to figure how long it'll take. e.g. at 0.55 g/w it'll take 2.6 years, 0.75 g/W around 1.25 years, per week you wait.
 

Bueno Time

Well-Known Member
Anybody got a line on some cxa3070's z4 bin? So far i can only find the 5000k..,looking for the 3k. Mouzer has the z2 I'm not sure if its worth buying them or just waiting for the z4
It costs $0.63 to run a 50W COB for a week at 12-hours and $0.15/kWh. A Z4 is 15% more efficient than a Z2. That means you save about $0.10 cents a week. Let's say your harvest is worth $2500 a pound. 2 ounces under a 50W COB is 1.12 g/W, totally doable. If it takes 3 months to go from rooted cut to harvest, then $24 a week is what one COB produces. If this is a new grow, each week you wait will take 4.6 years for the electricity savings to reach the value of the buds you could have been growing. If you're using HPS, you can use your g/W to figure how long it'll take. e.g. at 0.55 g/w it'll take 2.6 years, 0.75 g/W around 1.25 years, per week you wait.
O&R not trying to be argumentative at all in any way, just wanted to throw my 2 cents in FWIW.

They would still cost the same amount for power costs between a Z4 and Z2 ran at the same current (same power). The higher bin COB with higher efficiency will net you more bud per $ spent on power since it puts out more light per watt due to higher efficiency.

The cost of a higher bin COB if you can find them, is worth it if your considering sale price of end product. The thing to consider about the higher bins is not electricity savings per se but more so in terms of higher GPW and ultimately more G/KWH (more light per watt, all else equal means more bud per watt).

This is all assuming we are comparing different bins at the same current, if you were running the higher bin at a lower current to get equal output at a lower wattage, then you would be right about saving power cost.

I understand what you are saying though, if you cant immediately source a higher bin get the Z2s, I recommend this to anyone who asks about higher bins in my grow thread over on ICMAG. I wouldnt hold out for a higher bin unless I knew a date when they would be available within a reasonable amount of time.

Like O&R said you could be growing bud already with Z2s rather than waiting but that decision is yours to make.
 

tightpockt

Well-Known Member
O&R not trying to be argumentative at all in any way, just wanted to throw my 2 cents in FWIW.

They would still cost the same amount for power costs between a Z4 and Z2 ran at the same current (same power). The higher bin COB with higher efficiency will net you more bud per $ spent on power since it puts out more light per watt due to higher efficiency.

The cost of a higher bin COB if you can find them, is worth it if your considering sale price of end product. The thing to consider about the higher bins is not electricity savings per se but more so in terms of higher GPW and ultimately more G/KWH (more light per watt, all else equal means more bud per watt).

This is all assuming we are comparing different bins at the same current, if you were running the higher bin at a lower current to get equal output at a lower wattage, then you would be right about saving power cost.

I understand what you are saying though, if you cant immediately source a higher bin get the Z2s, I recommend this to anyone who asks about higher bins in my grow thread over on ICMAG. I wouldnt hold out for a higher bin unless I knew a date when they would be available within a reasonable amount of time.

Like O&R said you could be growing bud already with Z2s rather than waiting but that decision is yours to make.
Well said. I dont care about saving a few pennies, i just want more light. I just want to know If anybody knows where i can get my hands on some z4's before I start buying.
 

Observe & Report

Well-Known Member
Check the research that @stardustsailor posted recently... the yield response curve looks logarithmic. 15% more light doesn't result in 15% more buds. If the space is already brightly lit then the difference 15% more light makes may not even be noticeable. Electricity use is easy to calculate though. :-)

Also, the current crop of COBs are like 16 months old... much more efficient models/bins will be available in the spring I guess.
 

Bueno Time

Well-Known Member
In the case you say of an already light saturated area the more light you add does get to a point of diminishing returns, I agree. When running a lower WPSF where the light isnt already saturating the area to the point of diminishing returns, then a higher efficiency will indeed yield more buds. I wont and didnt say 15% more light = 15% more bud but there should be an increase that is worth while.

If you are already pumping massive amounts of light per sq ft with lower bin cobs then a higher bin COB wont make much difference in that scenario, the way you put it. I will agree with that.
 

bicit

Well-Known Member
I have two questions. I'm looking at the possibility driving a string of Vero 18's in series with a meanwell HLG-185H-C700[ ].

1: Driving 7 in series comes out to about an 74-81% load on the driver, 8 works out to about a 82-92% load depending on assembled temps.
This may seem like a bit of a redundant question, but what would be the proper method to wire the above lights? On the DC side of the driver I mean. If I am understanding correctly I simply connect the positive(+) line on the DC side of the driver to the positive(+) lead of the first emitter. Then I connect the negative(-) lead of the first emitter to the positive(+) lead of the second emitter and repeat until I connect the negative(-) lead of the last emitter to the negative(-) line of the driver. Is that correct?

The driver in question can put out up to 286v, is this a safe configuration? Just want to double check.
 

smokey the cat

Well-Known Member
Ok, here is the result of a little experiment I have been trying to organise. I've been wondering to myself "what happens when I run my cobs in parrallel?"

1 x MeanWell LPF-60D-36 http://www.meanwell.com/search/LPF-60D/LPF-60D-spec.pdf
2 x Vero 18 (3000k and 3500k)

V18 nominal current is 1050mA, the MeanWell puts out 1670mA. In parallel each Vero should be seeing 835mA - about 80% of nominal output, something like 24W.


Switched on 20 minutes ago and it's working perfectly. Fucken beeeeeaaauutiful!
I'll break out the multimeter in an hour when the temperature has had a chance to stabalise and see how V differs between the two cobs. According to my Mark 1 eyeball the 3500k is ever so slightly brighter (which is expected as the 3500k has +4% lumen @ nominal).

Dimming works the same as with a single emitter - everything looks copacetic. The driver seems to be running nice and cool. Driver efficiency increases with output so from that perspective it will actually perform better running 2 cobs at max than a single cob dimmed to same current.


I think this is gonna let me double my emitter numbers - I'm really looking forward to adding a couple of 4000k. Holy shit I love building me sum LED.


Let me once again sing the praises of MeanWell: these things are truly The Shit. I fucken love the dimming. And they're bullet proof - some retard a few months ago even crosswired the negative LED channel between two drivers and they safely shut down without fucking the emitters or catching fire.

I don't know the generic driver competition so can't comment there, but let me assure you that the brandname stuff is superb. They should be tho - cost about $50US once shipped from the states.
 
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smokey the cat

Well-Known Member
Mate, things got hectic yesterday so didn't have time to futz with the multimeter, just ended up yanking out some connections and restoring the status quo. PITA - my next big build I think I'll follow your slide connector idea - I had my head jammed in a tiny cabinet with my jewellers drivers trying to insert bloody tiny wires into stupid screw block terminals.

My cab is still partially dismantled so ill have to get in there again tomorrow, will try then.


Have you tried running parallel with any of your drivers?
 

Tazbud

Well-Known Member
I was looking at cree's chart for forward voltage on 3070's. I'm a bit lost understanding FV. It seems up to 42V @ 1950mA, slightly less is needed for lesser current but not proportional?

My two flower shelf drivers have voltage range -43V @ 1050mA. so... ok there.

I was heading towards another two (CXA's) for Veg shelf. The smaller current drivers in the rasnge are:

-64V @ 700mA and -86V @ 500mA..

Can I use the 500mA for two CXA's but not the 700mA?
 
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