Oregonhwy101
Active Member
Best or cheapest place for pin style heatsinks?
Heatsink
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HideousPenguinBoy
Well-Known Member
I'm always going to recommend RapidLED. Good customer service, fast shipping, good prices. Lowest on LEDs I've found, but I didn't comb the internet for cheaper pin heatsinks. I'm thinking it's still damn good pricing based on everything else, though. At the very least add it to your check list.
HideousPenguinBoy
Well-Known Member
Yup $14.5 for a 120mmW/70mmT killing 65 max watts. Rapid is $19 for a 140mmW/70mmT killing 80 max watts.
What are you running your lights at?
coreywebster
Well-Known Member
If you cant go American or your not in the USA then kingbite china are cheap.
Raging Stalk
Active Member
1/8th to 1/4 aluminum plate and good air circulation. Get it cut to size at local metal shop. $10-20 will get you a 18x24" sized panel to work with. You can drill some holes for mounting and wire runs, some thermal paste for the cobs and as long as you have good room air circulation, everything will be just fine.
For extra prettiness, you can polish the aluminum to make it shiny. I don't think the plants care though.
For extra prettiness, you can polish the aluminum to make it shiny. I don't think the plants care though.
Oregonhwy101
Active Member
One solid piece of aluminum or lets say 6"x36" x4 with 4 cobs per piece?
Oregonhwy101
Active Member
And instead of just using thermo past can i drill and just use machine screw and nut ?
cookie master
Well-Known Member
All the companies bought the parts from china anyways...
coreywebster
Well-Known Member
Yeah but I believe in buying local if the cost is not too prohibitive, even if they are made in china. I'm in England so I don't have that luxury since there are no good heat sink suppliers.
coreywebster
Well-Known Member
You should check out growmau5s youtube vids on heat sink calculations. Its all about the surface area. You do not want to fuck it up when you have forked out good money for COBs
You still want a thermal interface material, wether that be an adhesive or non adhesive to create the best thermal conductivity
BuddyColas
Well-Known Member
Please share details on your using 18 by 24" as heat sink. Like number and type of cobs, wattage etc.
Oregonhwy101
Active Member
I would still use thermal pad just wanting something else holding it down besides paste
Oregonhwy101
Active Member
Raging Stalk
Active Member
12 cobs, 3 rows of 4 configuration, 6" between cob centers. 1 driver per cob, 700ma dimmable, so under 50w each cob. Running it first with cheap chinese cobs to see how it handles the heat. So far so good, only 15 degrees delta between the surface temp and room at full wattage. Going to cram another 12 on in parallel to the existing cobs and see what I get.
I also retrofitted some chinese generics to run 6 Vero SE 29 C that uses the same 700ma drivers. The aluminum plate is 1/8th thick and 8x16" with 3 active 80mm PC fans. Measuring with a flir meter, I can get the tj point on the cobs to 74c at max power with the fans off. Normal running at 70%, the aluminum plate stabilizes at 2-3c over ambient with the tj point hitting 37-39c.
No heat problems whatsoever. You can feel more heat from the light with your hand than you can from the air coming out of the vents on the case. I think big bulky heat sinks are a dinosaur left over from when LEDs we driven hard. If you only plan on driving low, you don't need anything fancy since more of the energy is converted to light.
If you have some spare LEDs you can see for yourself. I am not quite confident in the way how heat sink requirements have been calculated here and people are going overboard and spending unnecessarily on big heat sinks. Glad I did because I was able to get twice as many cobs with the savings on heat sinks and using generic drivers.
HideousPenguinBoy
Well-Known Member
Problems with being unsure you will burn your shit out? Put these in series. They will pop once you hit 90C and you won't have to worry anymore. $8 for 5.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EDMKM72/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I use 12 CXB3590s at 1050mA, with 4 per 36" 4.85" heatsink from HeatsinkUSA. Attached a piece of L metal to both sides. boom done. (4.85" is the cheapest per cooling area by 27% ) It was just easier and cheaper than pins and I'm running my LEDs soft for efficiency. You may need something different, though. It's more than I need, but it just made it easier to make the light holder, and if I choose to I can increase the wattage without worrying.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EDMKM72/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I use 12 CXB3590s at 1050mA, with 4 per 36" 4.85" heatsink from HeatsinkUSA. Attached a piece of L metal to both sides. boom done. (4.85" is the cheapest per cooling area by 27% ) It was just easier and cheaper than pins and I'm running my LEDs soft for efficiency. You may need something different, though. It's more than I need, but it just made it easier to make the light holder, and if I choose to I can increase the wattage without worrying.
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Raging Stalk
Active Member
No problems because the current isn't going to be anywhere that the cob will be producing any significant amount of heat that can't be managed with room air circulation. With LEDs, as efficiency goes up, heat goes down.
But good idea on the thermal switch for those running hot.
My point was really to use whatever you have handy and put more into cobs.
HideousPenguinBoy
Well-Known Member
Yeah, I agree at low currents, it's just scary, though, when you are new. Having a $8 safety switch takes so much weight off your shoulders.
I was surprised by my new meanwell driver putting out 45% more watts than it was supposed to when I capped the dimming leads, and I burned out an LED. ): Never forget you, little buddy.
I was surprised by my new meanwell driver putting out 45% more watts than it was supposed to when I capped the dimming leads, and I burned out an LED. ): Never forget you, little buddy.
Oregonhwy101
Active Member
I was thinking same thing 1/4in aluminum 6in wide 36" long with fan mounted to top and 4 citizen 1212 clu048 per bar running at 50watts per cob runing in series driven by
hlg185h-c1400b
Raging Stalk
Active Member
Still overkill in my opinion. I have some 1/4" 3x3" blocks that I mount a cob to either side and can hang them anywhere. 1/8th is my choice now because of overall weight though.