DiY LEDs - How to Power Them

Watt Question - First LED DIY

I have assembled a couple of lights based on SupraSPL's 61.2% model:

(5) CXB3590 3500K CD 36V @ 1.05A (35.5W ea)
(1) HLG-185H-C1050B
100k ohm potentiometer

When plugged into a Killawatt I am pulling 117 watts, shouldn't it be pulling ~ 175 watts?
If I should be pulling more any ideas on what could be my limiting factor.

I tested both bars with the 3 drivers I have and all are showing the same with both lights.
 
NM High Desert said:
Watt Question - First LED DIY

I have assembled a couple of lights based on SupraSPL's 61.2% model:

(5) CXB3590 3500K CD 36V @ 1.05A (35.5W ea)
(1) HLG-185H-C1050B
100k ohm potentiometer

When plugged into a Killawatt I am pulling 117 watts, shouldn't it be pulling ~ 175 watts?
If I should be pulling more any ideas on what could be my limiting factor.

I tested both bars with the 3 drivers I have and all are showing the same with both lights.
Click to expand...
Is your pot really 100K?
 
NM High Desert said:
Watt Question - First LED DIY

I have assembled a couple of lights based on SupraSPL's 61.2% model:

(5) CXB3590 3500K CD 36V @ 1.05A (35.5W ea)
(1) HLG-185H-C1050B
100k ohm potentiometer

When plugged into a Killawatt I am pulling 117 watts, shouldn't it be pulling ~ 175 watts?
If I should be pulling more any ideas on what could be my limiting factor.

I tested both bars with the 3 drivers I have and all are showing the same with both lights.
Click to expand...

You should be pulling right around 200 watts with the driver efficiency. The only thing I can think of is you have the driver dimmed, assuming you wired everything properly and all five power on
 
Hi all, new poster here. For the last month or so, I've been scrubbing the various forums learning about LED systems in preparation of building a grow room ( whereas its been all outdoor in the past). Never being one to shirk from new territories and challenges, I decided on what seems to be the standard bearer of the LED frontier at the moment, the ubiquitous Cree cxb/ meanwell hlg on the massive heatsink combo.

I decided for my first build to keep things fairly simple, so I built a pair of these:
(4) 3590s 3500k 72v driven by the hlg-185h-700a (so 200w/unit) on a 7.58" profile heatsinksUSA 24" long sink...cob holders, thermal paste, yadda yadda. These were built for a 6x7 veg room... It looks like enough light for that task. Thus far, it appears as though the sinks can passively cool the CoBs sufficiently, so no fans needed. Pretty easy to do, even for a lunk such as myself ( take heart, all you hesitant self proclaimed electronically maladept people out there afraid to pull the trigger... This stuff is super easy to accomplish :).

The next builds will take another step and incorporate multi unit dimming, lenses, Daisy chaining, and red/far red/UV diodes, I think.

So first off,I would like to express some heartfelt gratitude to the pioneers of this brave new LED world on the forum, whose experimentations and risk taking have led me to my first successful builds done right the first time. Cheers!

Now, for the stoopid question... I ordered from Jerry over at KB, and thought I was getting the dimmable drivers. I received the "A" model, without the dimming leads on the output side. The drivers do have a single potentiometer labeled I/O however, which I'm guessing of an adjuster for the current output? Is this an effective dimmer, and if so, do I just get in there with what looks to be a Philips screwdriver to adjust it? No docs came with the driver and the PDF from meanwell didn't elucidate the matter much for me. Some insight would be most appreciated.
 
NM High Desert said:
Watt Question - First LED DIY

I have assembled a couple of lights based on SupraSPL's 61.2% model:

(5) CXB3590 3500K CD 36V @ 1.05A (35.5W ea)
(1) HLG-185H-C1050B
100k ohm potentiometer

When plugged into a Killawatt I am pulling 117 watts, shouldn't it be pulling ~ 175 watts?
If I should be pulling more any ideas on what could be my limiting factor.

I tested both bars with the 3 drivers I have and all are showing the same with both lights.
Click to expand...
un-do the dimmers & return to stock with nothing on the dim leads & then retest with killawatt
would be the 1st trouble shooting step i'd take
 
UZ, your A model dims down to 50%; a B model can go down to 10% with external components.
I like A models for simplicity.
 
sanjuan said:
UZ, your A model dims down to 50%; a B model can go down to 10% with external components.
I like A models for simplicity.
Click to expand...
Thank you much SJ. Am I right in thinking you just get in there with a screwdriver? Or is there some knob that interfaces with it for a more readily convienent approach?
 
Thanks for all of the good advice.
The dimmers are 100k so I will undo one and test it without the pot and go from there.
Thanks again, you guys are awesome!
 
UniversZero said:
Thank you much SJ. Am I right in thinking you just get in there with a screwdriver? Or is there some knob that interfaces with it for a more readily convienent approach?
Click to expand...
A number 1 phillips screwdriver works well. I have an assortment of nonconductive pot tweakers but they are not necessary.
 
Fastslappy said:
un-do the dimmers & return to stock with nothing on the dim leads & then retest with killawatt
would be the 1st trouble shooting step i'd take
Click to expand...

I undid the dimmers and the Killawatt rose to 135 watts.
I tried switching the pot leads but the same results.
Original pot wiring was:
Blue wire on center terminal
White on the left terminal if looking at the knob.

When you say "Return to stock", is there something I need to reset.

Thanks!!
 
Last edited:
If you dont attach a pot to a B model meanwell driver does it mean the driver is running at 100% to all LEDs?

I just put everything together and figure I can connect the pot later, just want to get this thing hung up :)
 
hehehemann said:
If you dont attach a pot to a B model meanwell driver does it mean the driver is running at 100% to all LEDs?

I just put everything together and figure I can connect the pot later, just want to get this thing hung up :)
Click to expand...
yes just tape the ends or put a wire nut on each one so they cant touch anything/each other
 
NM High Desert said:
I undid the dimmers and the Killawatt rose to 135 watts.
I tried switching the pot leads but the same results.
Original pot wiring was:
Blue wire on center terminal
White on the left terminal if looking at the knob.

When you say "Return to stock", is there something I need to reset.

Thanks!!
Click to expand...
That's strange. If you have a multimeter, measure the voltage and current the driver puts out.
 
Hey guys,
Got a dumb question for you. If you have a driver that runs 5 cobs at 50 watts at 1400 mil can you dim it to 700 and run 10? Does this affect driver efficiency ? And what difference does it make in the real world?
 
ThaiBaby1 said:
Hey guys,
Got a dumb question for you. If you have a driver that runs 5 cobs at 50 watts at 1400 mil can you dim it to 700 and run 10? Does this affect driver efficiency ? And what difference does it make in the real world?
Click to expand...
hi,
i think you talk about cxb 3590.
5*cxb 3590(1,4A)= 175Volt (not 100%exact)
10*cxb 3590(0,7A)= 330Volt (not 100% exact)

to your question, i think its not possible.

Example for this driver HLG-240H-C1400:

RATED CURRENT: 1400ma
CONSTANT CURRENT REGION: 89 ~ 179V (thats only enough for 5 cobs)


you would need a driver like this:
RATED CURRENT: 700ma-1400ma
CONSTANT CURRENT REGION: 170-330Volt

I dont know if a driver like this exist.
 
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