F Series driver recommendation

Randomblame

Randomblame

Well-Known Member
1212ham said:
May I ask the source of your information? At what ambient air temperature and density do the F-strips stabilize at 65C? Is the test done with the strip mounted to something or suspended "naked" in the air? Temperature certainly can be regulated, I've done it on cobs by using a water block heat sink and varying the water temperature. If temperature can't be regulated, how can manufacturers provide graphs of voltage and flux etc. vs temperature?
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All info's are from the datasheet.
They tested the strips at 1120mA. There is no water cooling, other cooling or temperature regulating method mentioned so bare strips are used. Min. and. max. values are usually calculated. There is a Samsung paper about their testing methods but I can not find it again, s***!

Edit!
The mid power led calculater gives also some good hints to the testing methods, simply have a look at the standard values applied for ambient temps and such things. They tested with room temp 20°C.

http://www.samsung.com/global/business/led/support/tools/calculator-pkg
 
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kony brado

Well-Known Member
Prawn Connery said:
Thanks for the replies.

Next question: I've got 4m (12') of insulated 14awg/300v line to go from my driver to my light frame for a remote driver set-up. I want to connect the four strips in parallel and can see a number of ways of doing this:

1. Run 14awg positive/negative wires from driver to one board, then run 18/20awg positive/negative wires from that board to the others, linking the same connector on each board, a bit like below below (except instead of T junctions, there will be one wire going into each connector and one wire coming out of the same connector to the next board to create a parallel string) :



2. Run separate 18wg p/n wires from each board and solder them directly to the driver p/n wires as below:



3. Run separate 18wg wires from each board to a wago style 5-pole connector, with the driver wire plugged into the fifth pole as below:



What would you guys suggest? I'm thinking of running 18 or 20awg strand wire to/from/between boards, as I want a little bit of flexibility in the wiring just in case I want to move things around later. The wagos would probably be the most flexible set-up, too, yes? Any pros/cons to connectors vs direct solder?
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i would go with option no.3 (wago) and try to have all the wires from the wago to the strips the same length (in order to avoid voltage drop diferenc from strip to strip ).
in this method if one strip went out the others will not be effected (except for current rise ).if you daizy chain the strips (option 1)youll probebly have voltage drope toword the last one,@OLD MOTHER SATIVA ,you had this problem if i remember right,correct?
One more flaw in option 1 is that if one connector on the stripe is bern or damaged for some reason it will disconnect the strips down the line which can cause siries current rushing to the remaining strips and burning them (depend on the place of defect in the line).
the connectors on the strips are for solid wire and not designee for stranded one,you can try to tin the stranded wire,maybe it will work but they are designed for solid core wire. one more thing is you cant connect 2 wire at the same connector ,if daisy chain is applied its thru the other set of connector on the stripe (you have 2+ and2-).
Hope that helps .
thank's
:bigjoint::peace::bigjoint:
 
Prawn Connery

Prawn Connery

Well-Known Member
Yes it does - thank you. I was going to tin the wire ends. I've not worked with solid wire before - is it that fragile, or is that a bit of an exaggeration?
 
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kony brado

Well-Known Member
Prawn Connery said:
Yes it does - thank you. I was going to tin the wire ends. I've not worked with solid wire before - is it that fragile, or is that a bit of an exaggeration?
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it's not fragile like large diameter solid copper,its quite flexible .Get a 300v rated solid core (some are full copper, some are coper tin mix both work fine.
You can have the 14awg stranded from the driver to the light (for flexibility ) ending at an electric box that contain the 2 waggo and mounted to the light ,and from the waggo to the strips use 18awg solid .
if you have a remote driver setup its a good idea to use large diameter wire(like your 14awg) to avoid voltage drop from the driver to the light.
 
nfhiggs

nfhiggs

Well-Known Member
Prawn Connery said:
Thanks for the replies.

Next question: I've got 4m (12') of insulated 14awg/300v line to go from my driver to my light frame for a remote driver set-up. I want to connect the four strips in parallel and can see a number of ways of doing this:

1. Run 14awg positive/negative wires from driver to one board, then run 18/20awg positive/negative wires from that board to the others, linking the same connector on each board, a bit like below below (except instead of T junctions, there will be one wire going into each connector and one wire coming out of the same connector to the next board to create a parallel string) :



2. Run separate 18wg p/n wires from each board and solder them directly to the driver p/n wires as below:



3. Run separate 18wg wires from each board to a wago style 5-pole connector, with the driver wire plugged into the fifth pole as below:



What would you guys suggest? I'm thinking of running 18 or 20awg strand wire to/from/between boards, as I want a little bit of flexibility in the wiring just in case I want to move things around later. The wagos would probably be the most flexible set-up, too, yes? Any pros/cons to connectors vs direct solder?
Click to expand...
TBH, none of those. Go and get some power distribution terminals like these:
terminal.jpg

The terminals come in various lengths, one 8 terminal strip works well for four light strips - and you can use more than one wire per terminal so expanding is simple. That's 14g coming into the top, and 18g going out to the strips. The 8 terminal strips were $3.79 each at Fry's, and the little jumpers (that's the six little rectangular doohickey's) were $7.99 for a pack of twenty or so.
 
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kony brado

Well-Known Member
There are terminals with cover as well,i would still use the wagos ,its so easy especially if you light 4 strips and use the wago 5 ports,and perfectly insulated,not to mention there are no screws .
I had several near fire with terminal screws on hps magnetic ballast's ,the natural wire went loos going up in smoke,i had to fasten the screws every run and still i was nervus about it .
 
nfhiggs

nfhiggs

Well-Known Member
wietefras said:
Those strips look rather electrocution prone though.

Not a fan of screw terminals where the leads can warm up/cool down either. That tends to work the screws loose over time.
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Never seen anyone electrocuted by 24V....

Most industrial equipment uses them. I worked on Wind Turbines for two years that had literally hundreds of such screw terminals. Loose screws were never a problem, and we checked them annually during our PMs. If it was heating to 100C and then cooling down to room temp daily it might be a concern, but at most these see a 5-10 degree swing - if that. The plastic they are made from isn't a terribly good conductor of heat so the actual screw terminals aren't going to see much heat rise, if any.
 
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1212ham

Well-Known Member
#1 is the only method I avoid. I use #2 with solder or wire nuts, best balance of voltage/current between the strips since the leads all connect at the same point. Equal length wires to the strips for equal voltage drops.
 
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kony brado

Well-Known Member
@Randomblame ,@1212ham
i just did a test with 4 feet f stripe and elg-150-c1050
The driver should be 1.0713A and current tolerance +- 1.6% ,i did not measure the current ,so take it as it is.
the stripes went to ~74- 75c room temp is 27-28c ,no air movement,no sink.i used a fluk ir thermometer.
So if room temp were 20c they would go to~ 66-68c which in my opinion is consistent with the samsung data sheet.
Hope that helps to get a real life idea . in my opinion you can run them 1.05A with no sink,its not the best idea and not recommended ,but u can ,technically.
:peace::peace::peace:
 
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Getgrowingson

Getgrowingson

Well-Known Member
nfhiggs said:
Never seen anyone electrocuted by 24V....

Most industrial equipment uses them. I worked on Wind Turbines for two years that had literally hundreds of such screw terminals. Loose screws were never a problem, and we checked them annually during our PMs. If it was heating to 100C and then cooling down to room temp daily it might be a concern, but at most these see a 5-10 degree swing - if that. The plastic they are made from isn't a terribly good conductor of heat so the actual screw terminals aren't going to see much heat rise, if any.
Click to expand...
Agree every transformer we have uses these and never have problems with screws coming out. Industry standard for last 50 years
 
Prawn Connery

Prawn Connery

Well-Known Member
Got the wagos, ended up with some 18awg stranded wire from the local electronics store, as they didn't have any decent solid wire, and bought one of these connectors:

Now, I'm good with plants, but I'm clearly shit at soldering, because by the time I'd put enough solder on those brass terminals to securely hold the 14 awg wire in place, I'd burned the plastic and it just looked like a shitty job . . . so I think, for the sake of aesthetics, I'm going to get myself a couple of connectors that use terminal screws or clamps or something that doesn't have some fucking huge gap to solder!

Havent got the frame sorted yet, so I just hooked everything up to see how it worked and it was all good. Factory settings for the driver were 48v and just under 1.8a, so I turned the current down until it was drawing 46v and 1.08a for about 50w per board - about where I want it.

I need to get the frame made and a few plants going, but as Murphy's Law would have it, there's a possibility I may now have to work away from home for extended periods, which means the grow may have to wait . . . or I need to find another job, as my current one has kept me away from growing for almost 3 years now and I want to get back in the game, coz I miss it :sad:
 
Prawn Connery

Prawn Connery

Well-Known Member
Not easy to find in Australia unless I import from the US via eBay at about $40 per 10. I need to find something reliable a bit closer to home . . . or get better at soldering, lol!
 
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