Matching Drivers and COBs

bassman999

bassman999

Well-Known Member
littlejacob said:
Bonjour
I know there is only one screw on hlg-185-1400a....why the second on the 320-36...is it to adjust V?
Have a nice day!
Click to expand...
Yeah V is adjustable, but I dont know why since current cant go up if you turn the V down.
Although it makes me wonder if I could have actually used it for my CXAs..?
 
klx

klx

Well-Known Member
SupraSPL

SupraSPL

Well-Known Member
Yes I think it would work. I do spread the power out a bit more though so you might want to double up depending on the size of your cloning space. There are drivers on Aliexpress. There used to be 150mA which are great little drivers but they are sold out.
 
klx

klx

Well-Known Member
vahpor

vahpor

Well-Known Member
Hello, can any driver & COB savvy person confirm for me that I'm safe to run 2x CXB3590s off of a MW HLG-185H-C1400B [71-143v] (w/o a resistor connected; so full power). It should be 71/2 = 35.5vF per chip, correct? At 1400mA, 49.7w per chip?

I'm wondering if I can do a quick test-run with my partially built light rig and see if my cooling is sufficient.
 
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littlejacob

littlejacob

Well-Known Member
Bonjour
You mean without a potentiometer, right?!
I heard you can run 3 but 2 I am not sure...but you should try...in series they will get 1400mA no more and (cxb 3590 3500ºk 36V cd!) are 34, 89v@1400mA...less than 70 for 2...!
I guess you should try!...wait for another opinion...but it won't damage the cob if it doesn't work!
Have a great day ★
 
vahpor

vahpor

Well-Known Member
littlejacob said:
Bonjour
You mean without a potentiometer, right?!
I heard you can run 3 but 2 I am not sure...but you should try...in series they will get 1400mA no more and (cxb 3590 3500ºk 36V cd!) are 34, 89v@1400mA...less than 70 for 2...!
I guess you should try!...wait for another opinion...but it won't damage the cob if it doesn't work!
Have a great day ★
Click to expand...
Without potenti, correct.

I don't really want to try and burn up $90 in chips..but, if I'm crunching numbers correctly, it shouldn't be too concerning.

My calculations are from the drivers minimum voltage spec (71vdc). If 71v is its minimum voltage output, 2 chips will be getting 35.5vdc each, unless it will actually drop more voltage in real world? Either way, it seems 35.5v should be fine for short term testing. If they work anything like a CPU, as long as the chip is kept cool, it can usually take more voltage (yes, to a certain extent).

Going to get into drilling and tapping the 2nd heatsink now! Let me know mister wizards, as a light test will be a great moral booster while I wait for a new hacksaw blade to arrive! ;)
 
vahpor

vahpor

Well-Known Member
littlejacob said:
Bonjour
No actually from Cree spec @1400mA 182,54lm/w... 56,34%...and 34,89V at this mA...and 35,97V @2100mA...I guess they would be 35,5V @1750mA!
One of us is wrong...we need a third one...help!!! Lol!
CU
Click to expand...
OK, I follow your math..assuming the driver would allow a voltage of (34.9*2) 69.8v instead of its rated min. of 71v. I think this would work 100% fine with 3 chips because it would then be well within the spec of the driver and running in the 104.7v range.

Maybe it would just run in some sort of 'safe-mode' and cut current @ (35.5*2) 71v.

Done tapping my sinks, TIM applied, chips and holders installed. Getting into wiring now.

Who knows whats going on here??

Update: Just wired on my AC plug, and plugged in w/o load. Reading 143/4 volts. Afraid to add a load that requires 70 volts to that.. I'll be patient and wait until I can get the 2nd half of my rig built later this week. At least I can continue with drilling, tapping, and wiring. :)
 
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littlejacob

littlejacob

Well-Known Member
Bonjour
I do...I used wago for this part...
You start from the red (+) wire from the driver to the red of the first cob/black of the 1st on red of the 2nd/black of the scond on red of the 3rd/black of the third on black (-) of the driver!
And the fans...all the red wire on psu red wire and all black on the psu black wire...then plug it and tell us you're happy!
Have a great day ★
 
SupraSPL

SupraSPL

Well-Known Member
@vahpor yes you can run 2 COBs for testing. Just make sure the connections are not "intermittent/crackly" or the variable voltage could pop a COB. I blew a CXA3070 on an HLG-185H-1050B (191V max). It worked fine until I moved the test rig around a bit while powered up and this caused an intermittent connection. The driver tried to bump up the voltage because it was trying to figure out what was going on and the overvoltage partially destroyed the COB.

Another lesson I learned while testing an HLG-185H-700B (286V max) If you power up the driver with no load and then switch it off, it will take 20-30 seconds to power down on the DC side. It is capable of delivering quite strong zap
 
vahpor

vahpor

Well-Known Member
SupraSPL said:
@vahpor yes you can run 2 COBs for testing. Just make sure the connections are not "intermittent" or the voltage pressure could pop a COB. I blew a CXA3070 on an HLG-185H-1050B (191V max). It worked fine until I moved the test rig around a bit while powered up and this caused an intermittent connection. The driver tried to bump up the voltage because it was trying to figure out what was going on and the overvoltage partially destroyed the COB.

Another lesson I learned while testing an HLG-185H-700B (286V max) If you power up the driver with no load and then switch it off, it will take 20-30 seconds to power down on the DC side. It is capable of delivering quite strong zap
Click to expand...
Thanks Supra! I actually got a lil zap @ 144 when I was testing voltage haphazardly. Reminded me I'm not working with 12-24v anymore. :) Nothing like what 120vAC feels like when using you as a conductor however..

I've seen this confusion (2 chips on a 185h-c1400?) in other threads, I'm glad you could clear it up!


While we're hear, in the driver thread. Whats the cleanest way to solder the wires from the driver onto other wires? I had a hard time soldering my AC cord together, I'm used to dealing w/ stranded wire and just pushing them into one another, then adding solder so they become one. I found it hard to attach my new wires to the pre-tinned wires on the driver.
 
SupraSPL

SupraSPL

Well-Known Member
There are a few good soldering tricks, it helps a lot to use flux and pre tin the wires and probably results in a better connection as well. Once they are both pre tinned they will melt together quickly and thoroughly.

It also helps to use 63/37 leaded solder. The pre tinned wires on the Mean Well are using non leaded solder. They will melt much more easily once they are contaminated with some lead. If you want to avoid lead, the flux will help and the solder ironing temp probably needs to be higher.
 
vahpor

vahpor

Well-Known Member
SupraSPL said:
There are a few good soldering tricks, it helps a lot to use flux and pre tin the wires and probably results in a better connection as well. Once they are both pre tinned they will melt together quickly and thoroughly.

It also helps to use 63/37 leaded solder. The pre tinned wires on the Mean Well are using non leaded solder. They will melt much more easily once they are contaminated with some lead. If you want to avoid lead, the flux will help and the solder ironing temp probably needs to be higher.
Click to expand...
I feel like I could have used a larger tip and had a bit more thermal reserve, I was using my fine tip which is great with smaller gauge DC wiring. I definitely need to get some flux, having a hard time 'tinning' my tip, which likely caused some of my issue.
 
littlejacob

littlejacob

Well-Known Member
Bonjour
Do you want to solder all the connections?
The only wires I tinned was the ones I plugged into the holders(multi core wire) cause it was easier to plug that way!
I use regular connector (plastic with 2 screw!)from driver to power cord and wago for everything else (I didn't know wago before I came here...it is so useful...you just pull the orange thing put your wire(s) in and lock...connection made...no tolls...and if you have to change anything or to move your panels it take 5mn to disassemble (unbuilt!)the same to reassemble.
I did just put everything where it was supposed to be...than I wired...with an end stripper no more tool!
But I split my cob...1 per hs...that's why wago are so convenient for me...!
I was saying to myself one of the big advantage of cob is light spreading and a cxb 3590 36v @1400mA can light 1.5sq/ft so why doing a panel with cob close to each other????
I understand commercial panel can't do it but it doesn't make sense to me to put 9 cob on a big hs in the middle of a 3x3 instead of centered each in the middle of each sq/ft!?!?
Isn't it more logical for diyers to spread their lights the best they can instead of putting all their cob in the middle of the growroom like it was 1 big light (hps reflex?)
I still don't get it...!?
CU
 
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