Bridgelux EB Series Build

nogod_

Well-Known Member

klx

Well-Known Member
I'd feel better using something more permanent than tape, you figure it'd be alright with snug screws or is there a certain reason tape is better
I initially used 3M double sided thermal tape and within a few days the ends were coming away from the aluminium. Added 2 self tapping screws per strip. I just drilled and screwed with the strips in place, was no worries. Just pay attention as some of what appears to be screw slots are actually not.

Before screws:
Bottom.jpg

After screws (you can see them sticking through the sheet metal):

20170831_140737.jpg
 

CanadianDank

Well-Known Member
QUOTE="nfhiggs, post: 13857097, member: 957228"]I mounted mine with Clear RTV and arctic silver paste..[/QUOTE]

I am a fan of the ND magnet method that
@caretak3r employed in this thread....

https://www.rollitup.org/t/diy-quantum-or-nextlight-mini-alternative.933578/#post-13331390

I just taped mine to the heatsink with kapton and have been running fine for months
I initially used 3M double sided thermal tape and within a few days the ends were coming away from the aluminium. Added 2 self tapping screws per strip. I just drilled and screwed with the strips in place, was no worries. Just pay attention as some of what appears to be screw slots are actually not.

Before screws:
View attachment 4030621

After screws (you can see them sticking through the sheet metal):

View attachment 4030622
I mounted COBs a couple of years ago with kapton... Feels like I could take the tape off and re-use it lol
Thanks for all the replies, I really just want to do this right the first time.

I've got my frames built out of aluminum angle and have decided I will use arctic silver and a few self tapping metal screws to mount these.

Still waiting on my drivers in the mail, ordered from mouser and unfortunately their shipping takes a bit.

Thanks again for the help and advice everyone, I really couldnt do this without all the help and knowledge I've gotten from this community.

Peace!
 

CanadianDank

Well-Known Member
The Eb solderless connectors work great if you tin the tips of the wires first.

... Of course that may or may not defeat the purpose. LOL

20171022_200633.jpg
 

klx

Well-Known Member
I found it really helpful to only strip just enough wire to fit inside the connector, like really only about 3mm. No need to tin and they stay rigid enough to slot straight in.
 

Danielson999

Well-Known Member
[QUOTE="CanadianDank]

Thanks for all the replies, I really just want to do this right the first time.

I've got my frames built out of aluminum angle and have decided I will use arctic silver and a few self tapping metal screws to mount these.

Still waiting on my drivers in the mail, ordered from mouser and unfortunately their shipping takes a bit.

Thanks again for the help and advice everyone, I really couldnt do this without all the help and knowledge I've gotten from this community.

Peace![/QUOTE]

What is your reason for using thermal paste? For a cob yeah, it can benefit from every last ounce of heat transfer you can squeeze out of it but strips give off so little heat in small areas that it seems like a huge waste of time. Same deal with tinning wire ends on a solderless connector. But hey, each to their own. I'm just lazy and like cutting out things that do almost nothing in terms of performance.
 

CanadianDank

Well-Known Member
Haha honestly man your probably right about the thermal paste, I really just wasn't sure and figured why not. Got it super cheap anyways.

I tinned the wires because that's standard practice when working with electronics, even solderless connections. But I'm sure I didn't need to.

I guess I just felt with the money I had spent on the strips, drivers, and import taxes the small extras were justified.


On these meanwell drivers, the A version, there's a screw to adjust the voltage right? Is it under that black cap on the top?

What is your reason for using thermal paste? For a cob yeah, it can benefit from every last ounce of heat transfer you can squeeze out of it but strips give off so little heat in small areas that it seems like a huge waste of time. Same deal with tinning wire ends on a solderless connector. But hey, each to their own. I'm just lazy and like cutting out things that do almost nothing in terms of performance.
 

klx

Well-Known Member
Yeah they are deep, you need to do by feel rather than by site. Yep, fine to do while light is on. Thats how you can set it to your desired wattage, using a killowatt.
 

Kaneh_bosm

Well-Known Member
OK guys, I've decided to run 24 280mm strips in my 3x2, I'll mount 3 to a 1" wide, 36" long heatsink from heatsinkusa. 8 of these running on a pair of 240h-24a meanwell. My issue is wiring the strips being that they will be 3 in a line on each heatsink. Can anyone suggest or maybe design a wiring diagram to point me in the right direction? This is a parallel circuit. Thanks and happy growing!
 

Kaneh_bosm

Well-Known Member
One more question, the 240h-24a has a max current on 10.0a, the 280mm strips have a max of 700ma. . 700 x 12 =8.4a Being the current will be divided will it try and drive the strips at. 840 or just at the max of the strip. Or should I just go with 14 strips per driver and use all the available current? Wouldn't that be more efficient?
 

Randomblame

Well-Known Member
These below are a few examples for series-parallel connections.

In parallel the current is evenly splitted between the strips (of course when all of them have identical voltage)
So 10A :12strips = 0,834A per strip.

You should add another two or 3 strips if you don't want to overdrive them.
The more you add the better gets their effiency because of the lower max. current per strip.

For parallel you need allways both connectors, + and -.
If you connect more than 2 strips in parallel you need all 4 connectors, 2 in and 2 out to the next strip(as pictures shown).
You can connect identical clusters of parallel connected strips in series with only one wire between. (They are shown as the blue wires in some of the screenies)

For example, my next build consists of 6 parallel connected 2ft. strips(still 24v max.), two of this clusters(12 strips) will be connected in series to get a fv of 48v.
For series wiring only one 4" piece awg18 wire is needed but I need 2x 12pcs 4" awg18 wires(black+red) for the parallel connctions.

pic.1: series connection
pic.2 + 3: series-parallel connections
 

Attachments

Kaneh_bosm

Well-Known Member
Thanks, I'll study the diagrams. What driver or drivers do you recommend for 2 12 strip lights? I think 300 watts is optimal for my 6sq ft space. I know I can run 2 185h 24a and achieve that number. Is it the most efficient setup?
 

ledpower

Member
I ordered a 44" 5700k to play with and am fairly impressed with the output, it totally blows my agroled sunlight out of the water and I don't need a T5 lamp. I'm probably going to order a hundred or so to fill up a shipping container in the near future.

The leds are cheap but the meanwells are not and I would need alot of drivers. Has anyone tried running these with a toroidal transformer instead? I was thinking about doing a bridge rectified 35v 1000va toroidal transformer with a smoothing capacitor. This would give a clean 49 volts at 1000 watts and only cost about $100. I guess I would have to lose the 1 volt somewhere or use resistors to drop a volt. Has anyone here tried going this route instead of meanwells?

 

Randomblame

Well-Known Member
Thanks, I'll study the diagrams. What driver or drivers do you recommend for 2 12 strip lights? I think 300 watts is optimal for my 6sq ft space. I know I can run 2 185h 24a and achieve that number. Is it the most efficient setup?
300w for 6ft² would be 50w/sft, thats a lot, well above 1200μ Mol/s and you will probably see signs of light stress if you run it at full power. 200w should be more than enough for only 6sf².

For 300w I would take 2 HLG-150H-48A(~2x 39$) or one HLG-320H-48A(~86$) with series-parallel connections.
But to make it more "future-proof" you could also use 2 HLG-240H-48A, which would be enough for a 4x 4' area. Maybe you want to sell them later and that makes it a lot easier to sell them.

If we use 6p2s circuits to create a fv of ~46 volts the 3,2A (from 1 HLG-150)results in 2x 147,2w net/158wall watts, 533mA per Strip.
The same circuit but on HLG-240's/5,2A x ~47 volts(will increase a bit because of higher current) = 2x 244,4w net./263wall watts, 867mA per Strip.
With only one HLG-320/6,7A and a 12p2s circuit, ~45v it would be 301,5w net./325wall watts, 560mA per Strip.

The most efficient build would be this where the strips gets the lowest current, so the 150w solution in this case.
But, these drivers are dimmable via 2 internal potis(1 for vF, 1 for current) and this allows you to reduce output within a large area. The current poti is dimmable between 50 and maybe 105%(yes between 2 and 8% more is usual).
Voltage is adjustable between 43-53v. So if you need less light and the current poti is already on the lowest level, simply try to regulate the voltage down to to the lowest voltage. Lowest output of an HLG-150H-48A would be 43v and 1,6Amps= ~69w.
 

Randomblame

Well-Known Member
The Bridgelux website has the data sheet posted for the Gen2 EB series. Same sizes, lower voltage, higher lm/W.
https://www.bridgelux.com/sites/default/files/resource_media/DS131 Bridgelux EB Series Gen2 Data Sheet 20171020 Rev A.pdf
Saw it yesterday, nice effiency bump and especially the lower fv of 19,5/39v is a profit.
175/180lm/w at 87,5mA is really good, like LM561c in S5 bin.
But S6 bin is still better, 180lm/w at 80mA, 3000°k.

Unfortunately the datasheet is unusually short.
No data for 85°, no estimations at different currents.
Hope soon comes a more complete data sheet...
 
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