Gonna do my first DIY LED with Cree CXA3590

REALSTYLES

REALSTYLES

Well-Known Member
REALSTYLES said:
Is that a simulation or actually testing?
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Never mind the last question. You did use a simulator http://www.r-tools.com/ but it doesn't have my spec heat sink but the temps are still a low 40c we will see today I'll be finishing up one of the lights. Do I mount the LED drivers on the heat sink or do I treat them like HID ballasts to keep the temp low on my heat sink?
 
Greengenes707

Greengenes707

Well-Known Member
REALSTYLES said:
Never mind the last question. You did use a simulator http://www.r-tools.com/ but it doesn't have my spec heat sink but the temps are still a low 40c we will see today I'll be finishing up one of the lights. Do I mount the LED drivers on the heat sink or do I treat them like HID ballasts to keep the temp low on my heat sink?
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It's totally up to you. Heat would be the only reason to run remote/external drivers imo. But I have never had a driver that made me think..."if I get this out of my room it will make a huge difference". Yours is ~93% efficient...there really isn't much heat there. Even the ebay drivers that run hot by some people standards haven't made me think twice.
My fan motors were running ~2C hotter than the driver case of the hlg120-700 last time I measured...your hlg185 version is no different, it will run cool.

The other thing I don't like about remote drivers is...you have to run the fan supply remote too...and that is a lot of wires imo to run say 8'+ to the outside of my room, maybe farther if I want it to sit nicely on the shelf or based on where in the room it hangs. One driver and fan isn't bad to do it with like yours...but think about a light with 3-12 fans and multiple drivers. Just things I think about. I am a fan of it all on board and just one power cord of what ever length needed to get to the AC outlet.
 
REALSTYLES

REALSTYLES

Well-Known Member
Greengenes707 said:
It's totally up to you. Heat would be the only reason to run remote/external drivers imo. But I have never had a driver that made me think..."if I get this out of my room it will make a huge difference". Yours is ~93% efficient...there really isn't much heat there. Even the ebay drivers that run hot by some people standards haven't made me think twice.
My fan motors were running ~2C hotter than the driver case of the hlg120-700 last time I measured...your hlg185 version is no different, it will run cool.

The other thing I don't like about remote drivers is...you have to run the fan supply remote too...and that is a lot of wires imo to run say 8'+ to the outside of my room, maybe farther if I want it to sit nicely on the shelf or based on where in the room it hangs. One driver and fan isn't bad to do it with like yours...but think about a light with 3-12 fans and multiple drivers. Just things I think about. I am a fan of it all on board and just one power cord of what ever length needed to get to the AC outlet.
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Thank man I've gotten comments about how the drivers would heat up my light. I'm the new booty at this but I'm a fast learner.
 
REALSTYLES

REALSTYLES

Well-Known Member
Oh yeah can I run both drivers on on one ac source? I have to use 2 drivers per light. I don't want to have to make 4 cords for two lights lol. The fans I already some old external hard driver power supplies.
 
Greengenes707

Greengenes707

Well-Known Member
REALSTYLES said:
Thank man I've gotten comments about how the drivers would heat up my light. I'm the new booty at this but I'm a fast learner.
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In theory yes I get peoples concerns...specially since everyone likes to get really detail oriented. But in reality...I'm not so sure it is anything to blink over.

To look at it in very picky way...
-Your sink will technically be pulling heat from the COBS and the driver(and anything else that touches it)...
-but the fan will also be blowing air through the channels, and if no cover is used...the driver is covering some fins/area...there will be some air cooling of the driver that in't thought about by most in that situation...
-Also if you are leaving you sink/light exposed(no enclosed housing) then environmental air movement/flow is going to help you too(supra is a fan of this)...

Yes, you can run pretty much as many drivers and fan supplies as you want off 1AC outlet.
AC is kind like constant voltage...alway 120v or 240v coming out... then as many amps as the breaker will allow(standard 15a as you know)...but if you had a 100a breaker on it...your limit would be 100a pull worth of drivers/supplies.
 
REALSTYLES

REALSTYLES

Well-Known Member
Greengenes707 said:
In theory yes I get peoples concerns...specially since everyone likes to get really detail oriented. But in reality...I'm not so sure it is anything to blink over.

To look at it in very picky way...
-Your sink will technically be pulling heat from the COBS and the driver(and anything else that touches it)...
-but the fan will also be blowing air through the channels, and if no cover is used...the driver is covering some fins/area...there will be some air cooling of the driver that in't thought about by most in that situation...
-Also if you are leaving you sink/light exposed(no enclosed housing) then environmental air movement/flow is going to help you too(supra is a fan of this)...

Yes, you can run pretty much as many drivers and fan supplies as you want off 1AC outlet.
AC is kind like constant voltage...alway 120v or 240v coming out... then as many amps as the breaker will allow(standard 15a as you know)...but if you had a 100a breaker on it...your limit would be 100a pull worth of drivers/supplies.
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Cool deal. I guess I'm going to Fry's Electronics today and buying more power cords and some wire connectors to finish up. I live 5 minutes away from the Burbank location lol and once again thanks.
 
SupraSPL

SupraSPL

Well-Known Member
REALSTYLES said:
Thank man I've gotten comments about how the drivers would heat up my light. I'm the new booty at this but I'm a fast learner.
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CXA3590 3K BB@ 700mA = 51W @ 40.9% efficient = 20.86W of light, 29.14W of heat.

29.14X6=175W of heat from the COBs

Assuming 92% efficiency for the drivers and putting out 306W of LED dissipation, 27W of heat from the drivers. Not all of it will get into your heatsink, but all of it will dissipate through your grow space.

So total heat in your space increases from 175W to 202W, or 15.4% more heat. Not too shabby unless you are paying a boat load for AC. But you can see how that could become a significant issue with 85% efficient drivers (I have some 84s LOL) . If the Mean Wells were running at 85%, you would be looking at 31% increase in total heat, surprising numbers!
 
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REALSTYLES

REALSTYLES

Well-Known Member
To all the guys who have been a big help if any of you guys have question on UCDWC I used to grow for a dispensary and they had the old version with the uni-seals but the new version is way better because of bulkhead fittings. I had 1 of the containers split at the seal and water was everywhere lol. It sucks I live upstairs in an apartment because I'd have one.
 
C

churchhaze

Well-Known Member
Are you sure you're using lube??

Just use wd40 or kerosine or anything that's not dry!! The only time I've ever broken a tap was when I went down too far with the tap in the drill.

Since then, I still use the tap in the drill (1 drill for drilling, 1 drill for tapping), and haven't had a problem since.

I've had 0 issue with WD40, but tons of issues using nothing.

REALSTYLES said:
lucky you I have to order it online lol. I almost have 1 of the heat sinks tapped fucking broke another cheap Lowes $5 tap I only have 7 more to due. 1 tap on 1 heat sink and 6 on the other lol. When I was on the last hole on the first heat sink I broke the tap and on the second one I was using a Klein tool Tap screwdriver and the next time I'll use a drill press instead of a cordless drill. Some of the holes were off a bit that's why I keep breaking taps. It's all a learning curb
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C

churchhaze

Well-Known Member
Stick 2 more cobs in the blue parts. :)

Like supra said, it's really tough balancing between light distribution and temperature distribution. I think in this case, the cobs could be spaced a bit better for temperature distribution at the expense of poorer light distribution, but I'm sure it's fine how it is.

I can't wait to get some of the 12" profile. :fire:

stardustsailor said:
1) Max power dissipation of pure 20 fan : 2.4 W ..
Even if efficiency sucks ... 2.4 Watts all together ...

2) Heat management comes first ,in order for the cobs to operate as efficiently as possible ,no matter the Io* .

A good cooled COB will operate at higher driving currents ,with same or even higher rad. efficiency ,
than a moderately cooled COB ,driven at lower current than the first one.

Light spread comes second regarding designing ,as instead of a huge long heatsink ,3x smaller ones could have been used in place ,each bearing two chips on it( and with it's own fan 8-)..).
Or appropriate optics can be installed ,also ,to manage light spread.
Light spread issues can be solved by several / few alternatives.
Cooling issues definately share not the same possibility.

3) Nice thick base of .312" ,24" long ,1.312 high ,7" wide ....
View attachment 3323664

View attachment 3323665

As I said ...Even when 130 cfm of air (pure 20 ) are impinged ALL OVER the fin surface area ..
( A LID IS THEORETICALLY USED ) ..
Still the heatsink is too long ...
The 200 mm fan ,at max and with a lid on ,still will have trouble evenly cooling those cobs ..


But,that is merely ,only my opininion.
Some real life testing ,with a thermocouple attached to the appropriate Tc points of cobs ,
can reveal more closely to the truth ,what actually is going on .

I'm really hoping to be proved wrong about my assumptions ,on this topic .





Cheers.
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REALSTYLES

REALSTYLES

Well-Known Member
churchhaze said:
Are you sure you're using lube??

Just use wd40 or kerosine or anything that's not dry!! The only time I've ever broken a tap was when I went down too far with the tap in the drill.

Since then, I still use the tap in the drill (1 drill for drilling, 1 drill for tapping), and haven't had a problem since.

I've had 0 issue with WD40, but tons of issues using nothing.
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No I bought Irwin taps from Lowes but when I bought a set from Harbor freight I didn't have a problem lol go figure and yes I used 3-in-1 oil. The problem was also I drilled some of the holes crooked lmfao.
 
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