Bridgelux EB Gen 2 Thermals

kdt15

Active Member
I have not checked temps yet but I got my 2 fixtures built running 32 560mm strips on 4 1400mah drivers. If turned all the way up they go get pretty warm, I'll get temps later today.
do you actually run them at 1400mA though? i thought drivers just only provide the max current needed (i presume is 1.12A for yoursrips)
 

kdt15

Active Member
I have not checked temps yet but I got my 2 fixtures built running 32 560mm strips on 4 1400mah drivers. If turned all the way up they go get pretty warm, I'll get temps later today.
can you post a picture of the rest of your set up / angles / where you put the driver in relation to the plants (or somewhere)? doing a very similar build. that is in series right?
 

iAmGrimReefer

Active Member
With the 240-1400a drivers all the way up the results today after 3 hours running taken with ir thermometer.
Room temp 70°
Tent temp 77°20180224_152350.jpg
1/8"x1" aluminum (strips taped to) 79°
Highest reading I could get on diodes 124°
2 oscalating fans
1 6" inline fan lowest setting with controller
Still have to mount drivers and clean up the wiring20180224_152706.jpg
 

iAmGrimReefer

Active Member
not sure where you are getting 5$ prices for 18ft u channels (perhaps lower width) but for me, 2 inch width u channels with 8ft length was 20-25$!!!!! multiply that by 20 and suddenly im pretty sad.

Check out a local metal supply store. I got 4 4'x3/4" angle and 32 24"x1" pieces cut to length by them for $100
 

Buck5050

Well-Known Member
That's a nice set up grim. You doing a journal on that grow? I am curious to see how your set up will turn out.
 

iAmGrimReefer

Active Member
No, do not know how to do that on here. Been reading forums here for 3 years and finally set up an account a couple of weeks ago and posted my first post. Going from a 4 bucket rdwc setup I built to these tables and lights this time. First time in coco and obvious to see by the pic there overwatered. But I'll start a new thread so I'm not blowing this one up.
I can say though running at 1400mah only raises my tent temperatures by 5-7 degrees above room temp with a recirc fan on low.
 

Serva

Well-Known Member
No, do not know how to do that on here. Been reading forums here for 3 years and finally set up an account a couple of weeks ago and posted my first post. Going from a 4 bucket rdwc setup I built to these tables and lights this time. First time in coco and obvious to see by the pic there overwatered. But I'll start a new thread so I'm not blowing this one up.
I can say though running at 1400mah only raises my tent temperatures by 5-7 degrees above room temp with a recirc fan on low.
Nice construction! I have to add a few things. I never heared about overwatering with coco. How did that happened? I assume you are actually stressing the plants with your light. I am really excited to see how this turns out. The „A“ version has like 10% more power, so your light maxed will have 1000+ w! It‘s a 4x4, right? 16 sqft * 30 w/sqft = 480w, that‘s what I think is working probably. I guess you have your light all the way dimmed down to 500w (50%) at the moment, but even this might be way too much for this young cuttings.
 
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noodle-led

Well-Known Member
Light is in position! Ran it at full brightness 1.067A or 204W at the wall. About 42C on the top of the panel, 52C on the bottom of the panel. Highest temperature I could get with an IR thermometer was 120F (48.8C) on the bottom.

FLIR0156.jpg FLIR0157.jpg

The driver is actually hotter than the strips are, coming in at about 55C. I have an air gap between the driver and the aluminum flashing so it doesn't transfer heat from the strips into the driver and vice versa, but it is only 1/8" so I might consider adding some spacers to give it a little more clearance for air to circulate. My last light, the same driver only got up to around 45C, although it was only pulling 165W at the wall.

DSC04734.JPG DSC04736.JPG

In the second photo there I have turned it down to 900mA to more closely match what I had before I made the switch. It is night and day how much light there is now. Where before with just 2x COBs, there was a lot of shadow 8" away from the LEDs, now there is light pretty much from end to end.
 

Fernicus

Active Member
Quick question. Let's say I have 16-18ish 560mm gen2 eb's and I'm wanting to fire them up at around 700ma. If I use a Mean Well HLG-240H-20B Driver in paralell will it provide the proper amount of amps without falling under the minimum voltage to the strips? According to the I-V curve I think so but I would love know for certain. What driver/drivers should I be chasing down?
 

nfhiggs

Well-Known Member
Quick question. Let's say I have 16-18ish 560mm gen2 eb's and I'm wanting to fire them up at around 700ma. If I use a Mean Well HLG-240H-20B Driver in paralell will it provide the proper amount of amps without falling under the minimum voltage to the strips? According to the I-V curve I think so but I would love know for certain. What driver/drivers should I be chasing down?
Should be a good match.
 

noodle-led

Well-Known Member
Let's say I have 16-18ish 560mm gen2 eb's and I'm wanting to fire them up at around 700ma. If I use a Mean Well HLG-240H-20B Driver in paralell will it provide the proper amount of amps without falling under the minimum voltage to the strips?
Yup, at 700mA I saw 19.41V per strip. With the HLG-240H-20B, that is in the voltage range for CC output. Because it can do 12A, that's 17.14 strips you can power with it, at 231W output total for 17, which I would call a perfect match. You could also do 18 at 666mA if you wanted an even number but you might end up with a little less power than that due to wire loss and stuff.
 

eyderbuddy

Well-Known Member
So....

Can i conclude that i can in fact run these strips with no heatsink or direct ventilation at the max current (1.4a) and not reach the max TC (85C)?
 

noodle-led

Well-Known Member
Can i conclude that i can in fact run these strips with no heatsink or direct ventilation at the max current (1.4a) and not reach the max TC (85C)?
They're rated to run at design current (700mA) with no heatsinking but at 1.4A you'll be pushing 72C in a 19C room. In a grow room where it could be 30C that's bumping the max and would probably drastically reduce the life of the LEDs. I would not recommend it but it might be right on the edge of possible, and you're going to lose 9-10% of your output due to flux/temperature derating.
 

eyderbuddy

Well-Known Member
They're rated to run at design current (700mA) with no heatsinking but at 1.4A you'll be pushing 72C in a 19C room. In a grow room where it could be 30C that's bumping the max and would probably drastically reduce the life of the LEDs. I would not recommend it but it might be right on the edge of possible, and you're going to lose 9-10% of your output due to flux/temperature derating.
Right... I didn't take room temp into account.

What about 1.050 amps? That's right at the knee curve in the chart. Seems to me like it means something :P

I'm just trying to find the cost/efficiency sweet spot
 

Chip Green

Well-Known Member
I have multiple panels of 8x 560mm 3500K Gen1 EBs that run at 1050ma.
From a cold start the total circuit voltage is 190, at full operating temperature it gets less than 1 volt of droop.
They are held together on a 2'x2' sheet of aluminum flashing, that I suppose acts as some minimal sort of "heatsink" ....
That being said, I have zero reservation about running them completely naked at 1050ma, the panels are in perpetual use, so I just never bothered to remove the flashing to test 1050 naked....
Its cheap, easy to source, cuts well with basic shop scissors, and it works great.
 
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