DiY LEDs - How to Power Them

SupraSPL said:
Awesome results! Your Tj should be well under 50C. You could reduce your fan speed if you want to quiet it down and increase efficiency.
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Yes, I was happy with the results. I may go with a 9v Mean Well driver for the fans. The 36w reading was also interesting to me. Since I am trying to build 2 panels to each cover a 2'x2' scrog I may go with 5x Vero 18 for each panel versus 6. That should give me 180w per panel (45w per square foot).

Now I know this is a somewhat "scientific" thread, but let me digress a bit. I have 2 plants currently growing very well under 414 "true watts" of CFL. From what I observed with my half burned retinas last night, there is no way that single COB didn't have the light intensity of 3 to 4 of those 23w CFLs. Again, not scientifically measured, and maybe it's because the light is so focused.

Let me know if you have any thoughts.
 
It's not watts per square foot that matters, it's umols/m*/SEC= what we want is ~ 1000 @ 2FT below the light, at the perimeter of a 3 x 3 foot print

WDIK said:
Yes, I was happy with the results. I may go with a 9v Mean Well driver for the fans. The 36w reading was also interesting to me. Since I am trying to build 2 panels to each cover a 2'x2' scrog I may go with 5x Vero 18 for each panel versus 6. That should give me 180w per panel (45w per square foot).

Now I know this is a somewhat "scientific" thread, but let me digress a bit. I have 2 plants currently growing very well under 414 "true watts" of CFL. From what I observed with my half burned retinas last night, there is no way that single COB didn't have the light intensity of 3 to 4 of those 23w CFLs. Again, not scientifically measured, and maybe it's because the light is so focused.

Let me know if you have any thoughts.
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SupraSPL said:
Very interesting setup FJ. I have not studied the Illumitex. I like the 50 degree beam angle, no lenses required. They make it easy to determine radiometric efficiency. The F3 is 30% efficient at 500mA.

Cool link I will have to study up on their drivers.
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Yeah those lens-less 50 degree beams are great. You know they now make 10 degree beams? Whites and colors. Plus Illumitex has a very clever way of getting the light out of the package. Some of their patents are for sale so you can see how they do it. They're OK to look at from the side but they will mess you up when you get inside that beam angle, which shows you how well they control the light out of the package. Still I think the Surexi line isn't too long for this earth, but I'll enjoy them for now.

 
Cool link bicit thanks. I have been testing a bunch of fan cheapo power supplies that have adjustable voltage and some of them are over 80% efficient. I wonder how that one stacks up?

Petflora good find! 100 lumens/W, 75 degree beam, warm white and cost $2/W. If their numbers are honest, they should be about 30% efficient same as A51, Hans, Apache and Onyx. I would be concerned about how the star is mounted to the base though, it probably needs some work.

Just a heads up for those who may not know, it is an E14 base while E27 is standard size socket in the US..

Here it is in 3W E27 base

Here is a 5 pack for $1/W

Here are some 12 watters for $0.50/W. They claim 1000lm/12W but that may be including driver losses.
 
oh crap, I missed that they are not A19. Have 2 in my Amazon Cart.

What lights/lamps use such a bulb?


SupraSPL said:
Cool link bicit. I have been testing a bunch of fan cheapo power supplies that have adjustable voltage and some of them are over 80% efficient. I wonder how that one stacks up?

FranJan good find. 100 lumens/W, 75 degree beam, warm white and cost $2/W. If their numbers are honest, they should be about 30% efficient same as A51, Hans, Apache and Onyx. I would be concerned about how the star is mounted to the base though, it probably needs some work.

Just a heads up for those who may not know, it is an E14 base while E27 is standard size socket in the US..

Here it is in 3W E27 base

Here is a 5 pack for $1/W

Here are some 12 watters for $0.50/W. They claim 1000lm/12W but that may be including driver losses.
Click to expand...
 
Got a few more power supplies tested. So far this one is the most useful for my setup. It is a 12V 2A switching power supply that cost $5. It has adjustable voltage from 8.4V to 14V. It is 72-75% efficient so I can power (6) of the 140mm fans at 8.4V and it consumes 12.7 Watts. The fans are reasonably quiet.

DSC07008a.jpg

The others I have tested have a higher voltage which is much more than I need but they are just over 80% efficient.
 
I would love to see you guys break down nichia specs...LER, efficiency, and whatnot. The 219 are the go to for nichia...but there is also a ns9(W or L)383..which is only 1w(350ma) but has some great numbers at that currentmI wouldn't mind hearing about.
But seeing the 219 would be great.
 
Nichia ...
Hm ...
I think there is a ..russian led lights company that uses Cree and Nichia leds ...
They do have a greenhouse horticultural led lights line using a proprietary "photosynthesis spectrum" ..
(Seemed like orange-pinkish white to me ) ...
And they use Nichia diodes ...
What is the name of the company,I do not remember ...

Atom ...Something ....
Atom..
..
Oh ...
Thank Google !

atomsvet bio.JPG

" AtomSvet "
'AtomSvet Bio' ,is called the led horti line .....
With the Nichia leds ...

They seem to use ,real high tech materials (from USA ,Japan and Germany ) ...

But they seem to keep all the good info ,quite hidden ...

(check their pdf brochure ...)
 
I guess everyone seen my post before I deleted it lol. Was going to put it on another thread. I'm very interested in efficiency of Nichi with a good power source.
 
SupraSPL said:
Got a few more power supplies tested. So far this one is the most useful for my setup. It is a 12V 2A switching power supply that cost $5. It has adjustable voltage from 8.4V to 14V. It is 72-75% efficient so I can power (6) of the 140mm fans at 8.4V and it consumes 12.7 Watts. The fans are reasonably quiet.

View attachment 3024142

The others I have tested have a higher voltage which is much more than I need but they are just over 80% efficient.
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Now that you've tested some do you have one you'd reccommend that would power 11 80mm fans? (the Arctic Alpine cpu coolers, same ones Gaius used-would link it but I'm posting from my phone) I've got most everything to do the build except a way to wire up and power the fans. (Oh, and my fasttech order was here in just under 2 weeks, suprized me since yours took 3)
 
Hi Tallen. If you don't mind me asking, why don't you use a PC power supply for the fans? You could probably get away with a 100 watt one. Or did I missing something?
 
FranJan said:
Hi Tallen. If you don't mind me asking, why don't you use a PC power supply for the fans? You could probably get away with a 100 watt one. Or did I missing something?
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You didn't miss anything, I'm just learning as I go and sticking with what is suggested by people who already know what they're doing (Supra in particular). A pc power supply is definitely an option as long as it's a good, efficient, and inexpensive option. I was under the impression that they aren't very efficient because we aren't using nearly the wattage they draw just to run some fans. Please correct this assumption if it's wrong!
 
I guess it's more a combination of too large power supplies, which have much bigger overhead than a driver or finding a low wattage PC power supply that isn't pushing 2+ amps. I'll defer to to Supra for the rest of this conversation about PC power supplies but since PC power supplies are usually easy to find, I thought I'd mention it. You can always use it now and switch it out later. Right? Best of Luck with your project Tallen.
 
FJ you are correct, we are trying to load match the power supply to some extent. These seem to be most efficient at about 50% of max load.

Tallen do you care about how much noise the fans make? They are quieter at 8V than they are at 14V and you can power more of them at 8V than it can at 14V because the fans draw a lot less current at lower voltage. If you want run at 8.4V you could use a 5A power supply like this.

The 11V-16V power supply is slightly more efficient tho so if you plan on running them at 11V maybe a 5A unit. This one ships from NJ, although I haven't tested this model. This one from Fasttech should be 11V-16V and above 80%.
 
I'm sure my pumps and other fans make more noise than they will so I'm not too worried about them being silent, but I would like to get all 11 of them on one power supply, or at the most no more than 2 power supplies per 11 fans. Thanks for the links Supra, You've been a tremendous help (and inspiration!)
 
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