COBs + ChilLED 100w PCB DIY

Growmau5 recommended the -48A CV/CC driver for the sake of simplicity. One can also use a CC driver to run them in series and with a CC drivers it's possible to drive COB's and Chillboards on the same driver. Take the B version with 3 in 1 dimming option and you can use only one light for veg and flowering.
3000 or 3500°k is perfect for such an all in one light! I would mix CRI80 boards with CRI90 COB's to get a wider red spectrum and a little more far-red.
A HLG-320H-C1050B would be siutable for 4 boards + 2 COB's but I would take Clu1818 or Luminous CXM22 to use the full potential of the driver. With 36v COB's it wound be ~290w and with bigger 50v COB's it would be aound 320w.
Though is the high voltage more dangerous, but as an engineer you know how to handle it.

Edit:
Zitat: "These boards run at 45-48 volts dc and can be wired in series or parallel with the Meanwell HLG suite of LED drivers. The max current is 2100ma for proper thermal performance on 140mm pin heatsinks."

You could do 4 on a hlg-320h-c1400 driver. I dont think you could fit 5 on a driver unless you went with the hlg-480h.
3 on 1 240h-c1400 and 2 on another. That would give you some room to add anything in the future. That's running them at 1400mA.

You could definitely do them at 1050mA like random blame suggested that would still give you good performance.

Aolelon said:

You could do 4 on a hlg-320h-c1400 driver. I dont think you could fit 5 on a driver unless you went with the hlg-480h.
3 on 1 240h-c1400 and 2 on another. That would give you some room to add anything in the future. That's running them at 1400mA.

You could definitely do them at 1050mA like random lame suggested that would still give you good performance.

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Hehehe, random lame,lol! Thanks mate! LMFAO!

Sorry lmao phone autocorrects what it wants to anymore Randomblame* sorry bro.

Randomblame said:

Growmau5 recommended the -48A CV/CC driver for the sake of simplicity. One can also use a CC driver to run them in series and with a CC drivers it's possible to drive COB's and Chillboards on the same driver. Take the B version with 3 in 1 dimming option and you can use only one light for veg and flowering.
3000 or 3500°k is perfect for such an all in one light! I would mix CRI80 boards with CRI90 COB's to get a wider red spectrum and a little more far-red.
A HLG-320H-C1050B would be siutable for 4 boards + 2 COB's but I would take Clu1818 or Luminous CXM22 to use the full potential of the driver. With 36v COB's it wound be ~290w and with bigger 50v COB's it would be aound 320w.
Though is the high voltage more dangerous, but as an engineer you know how to handle it.

Edit:
Zitat: "These boards run at 45-48 volts dc and can be wired in series or parallel with the Meanwell HLG suite of LED drivers. The max current is 2100ma for proper thermal performance on 140mm pin heatsinks."

Click to expand...

That’s not a bad idea @Randomblame.. could do the 4 boards plus 2 3500k 52w citizen cobs. I think that would be a solid Veg/bloom light, should have plenty of light. I’ll have to figure out the PPFD. If I did this, I’d have to run a 2100ma driver correct? If I ran it all of the same driver, should be ok. The cob specs say they’re best below 150w.

Aolelon said:

You could do 4 on a hlg-320h-c1400 driver. I dont think you could fit 5 on a driver unless you went with the hlg-480h.
3 on 1 240h-c1400 and 2 on another. That would give you some room to add anything in the future. That's running them at 1400mA.

You could definitely do them at 1050mA like random blame suggested that would still give you good performance.

Click to expand...

Yeah I see what your saying.. 5 wouldn’t fit just right. If anything I’d do as you suggested. 3+2 because I will be expanding after this grow. I’m kind of leaning towards what @Randomblame suggested and just getting a couple 3500k 52v cobs to supplement the boards and have an all in one light. I intended on doing 2 rigs(veg/bloom), but this does make since logistically and financially. I mean I could still do two rigs, I’m going to be building them in a few months anyways. Do you see any advantage to making the 2 rigs now instead of going with the 1?

Odindris said:

That’s not a bad idea @Randomblame.. could do the 4 boards plus 2 3500k 52w citizen cobs. I think that would be a solid Veg/bloom light, should have plenty of light. I’ll have to figure out the PPFD. If I did this, I’d have to run a 2100ma driver correct? If I ran it all of the same driver, should be ok. The cob specs say they’re best below 150w.

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Nope, 2100mA and all boards & COB's in series would be +600w! Much too much for a 2x 4'!!!

I would recommend to use the 1050mA driver I mentioned in my post above, would give you ~320w netto and effiency profits from lower current. You need ~30-35w/sft., with 320w it would be ~40w so it is already a bit more than needed. Mousser has HLG-320H-C1050B in stock!

BTW, that should be +1000μMol/s/m² corresponding to the info's on their website.

Randomblame said:

Nope, 2100mA and all boards & COB's in series would be +600w! Much too much for a 2x 4'!!!

I would recommend to use the 1050mA driver I mentioned in my post above, would give you ~320w netto and effiency profits from lower current. You need ~30-35w/sft., with 320w it would be ~40w so it is already a bit more than needed. Mousser has HLG-320H-C1050B in stock!

BTW, that should be +1000μMol/s/m² corresponding to the info's on their website.

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That sounds like a good plan to me. Thank you all very much for your help!
I’ll order up a HLG-320H-C1050B, (2) * CLU-1818 52v 3500k, (6) * 140mm heat sinks, and some rail, wire, etc... Chil boards were just shipped out today. Should be going in the next week hopefully. Sound about right?

Randomblame said:

Nope, 2100mA and all boards & COB's in series would be +600w! Much too much for a 2x 4'!!!

I would recommend to use the 1050mA driver I mentioned in my post above, would give you ~320w netto and effiency profits from lower current. You need ~30-35w/sft., with 320w it would be ~40w so it is already a bit more than needed. Mousser has HLG-320H-C1050B in stock!

BTW, that should be +1000μMol/s/m² corresponding to the info's on their website.

Click to expand...

1000 sounds a bit high to me. Im a little over 700 PPFD at 12-18" with 320w f series strips in a 3x3 tent (1 square foot more than a 2x4). So I would expect around 780-800PPFD in a 2x4. Still a healthy number. You wont gain much going over that without CO2.

The forward current on the citizen cobs is 1620ma. I don’t think the hlg-320h-c1050b will work on them will it? Just getting ready to order, and found that checking specs one more time.
I’ve thought about some co2. From everything I’ve read it’s pretty simple, and has some great advantages.

Odindris said:

The forward current on the citizen cobs is 1620ma. I don’t think the hlg-320h-c1050b will work on them will it? I’ve thought about some co2. From everything I’ve read it’s pretty simple, and has some great advantages.

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As long as the voltage is sufficient, you can pretty much have any current and it will work. The HLG-320H-c1050B will just run them softer than if they got 1620mah.

Dont even think about CO2. Until you absolutely dial EVERYTHING in perfectly, are growing plants in and out like clockwork, and can afford to dedicate an AC unit, twice as much light, CO2 controllers, burners, and a dehumidifier to the grow space just to get a marginal increase in growth, CO2 is useless. A hydro store will tell you otherwise, but that's because they want to make money off of you.

To convert a small to medium sized space to CO2, you're looking at probably a grand to start id say. And maybe up to twice that much, especially if you dont have the insane amount of light required to make CO2 useful. So unless you think you can recuperate a grand plus from the slight yield increase of using CO2, dont bother.


You need to be in the 1000-1500PPFD range for CO2 to start having any noticeable affect. CO2 is for when you're already maxing out everything. Because CO2 lets you go beyond max. So you're looking at probably twice as much light as you are talking about just to even get started.

skoomd said:

As long as the voltage is sufficient, you can pretty much have any current and it will work. The HLG-320H-c1050B will just run them softer than if they got 1620mah.

Dont even think about CO2. Until you absolutely dial EVERYTHING in perfectly, are growing plants in and out like clockwork, and can afford to dedicate an AC unit, twice as much light, CO2 controllers, burners, and a dehumidifier to the grow space just to get a marginal increase in growth, CO2 is useless. A hydro store will tell you otherwise, but that's because they want to make money off of you.

To convert a small to medium sized space to CO2, you're looking at probably a grand to start id say. And maybe up to twice that much, especially if you dont have the insane amount of light required to make CO2 useful. So unless you think you can recuperate a grand plus from the slight yield increase of using CO2, dont bother.


You need to be in the 1000-1500PPFD range for CO2 to start having any noticeable affect. CO2 is for when you're already maxing out everything. Because CO2 lets you go beyond max. So you're looking at probably twice as much light as you are talking about just to even get started.

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Ahh gotcha.. yeah that’s what I figured, just wanted to make sure. Yea for a couple plants not worth it lol. I’ll have to do some more research on it after I have everything dialed in. It’s an interesting aspect for sure. I’ll be pretty pumped after I get the LEDs down pat. Just a learning curve as with most things.

Odindris said:

Ahh gotcha.. yeah that’s what I figured, just wanted to make sure. Yea for a couple plants not worth it lol. I’ll have to do some more research on it after I have everything dialed in. It’s an interesting aspect for sure. I’ll be pretty pumped after I get the LEDs down pat. Just a learning curve as with most things.

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Have a closer look at the datasheet especially the part with the voltage/temps, flux/current pics. LED profits from lower current and get more efficient when driven lower. Less current also means lower temps and that increase their expected life times.

To try CO² in a closed enviroment you could use a few yeast/sugar water bottles. They need to be refilled every week but it's a cheap way to get an idea. Later you can make your own CO² supply using a aquarium CO² controller and a bigger gas bottle with CO² as they are known from inert gas welding. Refilling is cheap and you can make it work for less than 300$. For a small tent the 1,5l bottle coming with the set would last a few month.



@skoomd
Lot's of what you say is correct but more CO² is always usefull for plants. It gets more efficient with higher irradiation but it's not useless.



And the 1000μMol/s are from their website, where they say 4 boards + HLG-320 would be 1040μMol/s. If that's true 4 boards and 2 COB with the same driver would be even more efficient.
But to be honest, I did not calculated by myself.
Would not buy such boards anyway, since they do not use the biggest advantage these diodes offer. Okay, maybe they're more efficient than COB's, but basically arrays are nothing more than many LEDs on a crowded PCB that act like a COB and creates a hotspots.

Lots of good info. I’ll be getting more cobs in the future. Figured I’d try the boards out for this one. I ended up getting a really good deal on a HLG-320H-c1400a. Figured I can just dial it down, and it’ll be more versatile for future use.
All together I’ll be running the (4) ChilLED boards, and (2) 52v 3500k cobs on it. Will be wiring in series. Also got (6) 140mm rapidled heatsinks, and some Angelina reflectors for the cobs. Should have it all in the next week. I’ll post some pics when I get it all put together for all those that have helped me.

Awesome good luck! With that driver you will be able to dim down to 700mA

I just read something that may be a problem. Please take a look and confirm. On the HLG-320H-C1400A the output CC voltage is 114-229v so I don’t think I’ll be able to run all 6 lights off the same driver.
45x(4)= 180 + 52x(2) = 284v which is > 229v.

yea you wont. I didn't even see that.

Where did you order it from? and what cobs did you choose?

Prolly have to get the 1050 version that one maxes at 305v. The cobs I got are 2 * Citizen CLU048 52v 3500k. No big deal bc I caught it before I had the set up all done lol. Always pays to triple check!!

the hlg-320h-c1050a would be able to house all of them, which is why it was suggested. another hlg-185h-c1400 could power the 2 cobs