DiY LEDs - How to Power Them

Havent seen much mention of the XLG drivers yet, but noticed the HLG 240 kit says it uses XLG driver but also says to wire the boards in series still and that driver has a 56v max and 4.9a CC. It does look like a nice cheaper solution to run two boards, but they have to be wired in parallel.

fragileassassin said:

Havent seen much mention of the XLG drivers yet, but noticed the HLG 240 kit says it uses XLG driver but also says to wire the boards in series still and that driver has a 56v max and 4.9a CC. It does look like a nice cheaper solution to run two boards, but they have to be wired in parallel.

XLG-240-H-AB MEAN WELL USA Inc. | Power Supplies - External/Internal (Off-Board) | DigiKey

Order today, ships today. XLG-240-H-AB – 4.9A 27 ~ 56V Constant Current LED Driver AC DC Converter Topology 1 Output from MEAN WELL USA Inc.. Pricing and Availability on millions of electronic components from Digi-Key Electronics.

www.digikey.com

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My 260W V2 build kit from HLG came with Meanwell XLG-240-M-AB driver

My 260W V2 Rspec build kit came with Meanwell HLG-240H-C2100A

Both wired in series

iPerculate said:

My 260W V2 build kit from HLG came with Meanwell XLG-240-M-AB driver

My 260W V2 Rspec build kit came with Meanwell HLG-240H-C2100A

Both wired in series

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they updated it after I emailed them asking. and the product pages I was looking at on the drivers was misleading.

Will it be safe to run 3-4 QB288 rspec boards off of a hlg-600H-48V with the incorrect voltage of 48?

Armyofsprout said:

Will it be safe to run 3-4 QB288 rspec boards off of a hlg-600H-48V with the incorrect voltage of 48?

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In theory its possible, but very risky. 48V isn't very incorrect in the first place, see https://horticulturelightinggroup.com/pages/qb288-board-guide

I'd try it but make sure to dim driver all the way down before turning on. Never turn it up full blast as that could feed 4amps to each board, pop! Do you have a voltmeter?

shimbob said:

In theory its possible, but very risky. 48V isn't very incorrect in the first place, see https://horticulturelightinggroup.com/pages/qb288-board-guide

I'd try it but make sure to dim driver all the way down before turning on. Never turn it up full blast as that could feed 4amps to each board, pop! Do you have a voltmeter?

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No I don’t. But I called HLG and they were saying it would be fine and that they just wouldn’t get the full power since it’s rated for 54V. They were telling me to max it out which gets close to 52V

I ran the 48V for a month with 4 Qb288 in parallel and it was working until we had a power outage. The outage killed the driver and it never turned back on. The boards were fine tho. I just got the driver back from mean well for repair.

Armyofsprout said:

They were telling me to max it out which gets close to 52V

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That sounds like a bad idea to me. Maxed out, the -48 driver has been tested to put out 14A. Into 4 boards that's 3.5A each, over their rated max. But if hlg says its OK, *shrug*.

Sooo...im looking at 8x EB Gen 2 560mm strips on an HLG-150H-20 for a 2x3 space? Or would i be better off using only 7 strips?
@Rocket Soul
@Airwalker16
@Chip Green
@SupraSPL

shimbob said:

That sounds like a bad idea to me. Maxed out, the -48 driver has been tested to put out 14A. Into 4 boards that's 3.5A each, over their rated max. But if hlg says its OK, *shrug*.

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Yeah I’m conflicted. I might just use it turned halfway down until I get the proper driver

DonPetro said:

im looking at 8x EB Gen 2 560mm strips on an HLG-150H-20 for a 2x3 space? Or would i be better off using only 7 strips?

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@DonPetro either 7- or 8 would work fine. I guess that is, debatably slightly under powered for 6 sq feet with a 150 size MW.
Is that the top of the budget? 9x 560mm EB Gen2, on a MW HLG-185H-20 would be a nice step up, for total domination of that area.
150 will get it done though.
Is this in a tent? Box?

Chip Green said:

@DonPetro either 7- or 8 would work fine. I guess that is, debatably slightly under powered for 6 sq feet with a 150 size MW.
Is that the top of the budget? 9x 560mm EB Gen2, on a MW HLG-185H-20 would be a nice step up, for total domination of that area.
150 will get it done though.
Is this in a tent? Box?

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I was considering the HLG-185H-20 but thought 1.16A was too much for passive cooling but now thinking about it, it really isnt that much more than the 937.5mA that the 150H-20 would supply. Thanks.

Oh no, not with the mighty BXEB, I've run them completely bare at 1000(ish) ma, for many, many moons.... Aluminum U chanel alone can handle the 1400ma max without a problem.
When 8 strips get spread out, from a 2' rack to 3 feet, they really drop off fast, in photon saturation. That's why I'd go with 9, and boost up to the 185H-20.
That's really the base build, for all my BXEB madness.

Chip Green said:

Oh no, not with the mighty BXEB, I've run them completely bare at 1000(ish) ma, for many, many moons.... Aluminum U chanel alone can handle the 1400ma max without a problem.
When 8 strips get spread out, from a 2' rack to 3 feet, they really drop off fast, in photon saturation. That's why I'd go with 9, and boost up to the 185H-20.
That's really the base build, for all my BXEB madness.

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Ok well that helps alot. Thank you.

Hi

I need some help with drivers in an EB gen2 build.
I'll be running 10 x 4 foot strips in my veg area with alu channel for cooling.

I was going to run 5 per HLG-120H-C700B then I was told "The working voltage designated for the insulation is 60 V d.c." on the EB strips
The same guy told me I could run all 10 on a HLG-320H-36B which he has spare and I can have for cheap.

Just hoped for some advice from those of you that know your stuff.

Thanks

Hey guys I've been meaning to put together a light for seedling/cloning, I keep putting it off and now I've decided to finish it up.

In my notes I have this setup saved - 2x eb gen 2 280mm strips paired with a LED40W-022-C1820-D from Thomas research products.

Would this driver be a good match for the strips?

Innob said:

Hey guys I've been meaning to put together a light for seedling/cloning, I keep putting it off and now I've decided to finish it up.

In my notes I have this setup saved - 2x eb gen 2 280mm strips paired with a LED40W-022-C1820-D from Thomas research products.

Would this driver be a good match for the strips?

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You'd need 3 of those Eb gen 2 280mm strips (parallel wired) to safely use that 1.82 amp driver. EB2 max current is 0.7 amps.

Isawthelight said:

You'd need 3 of those Eb gen 2 280mm strips (parallel wired) to safely use that 1.82 amp driver. EB2 max current is 0.7 amps.

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Thanks bud, about to pull the trigger on them.
Would 4 strips be better? They aren't that much at all.

Innob said:

Thanks bud, about to pull the trigger on them.
Would 4 strips be better? They aren't that much at all.

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4 would work nicely at almost 9 watts per strip (1.82 amps/4 boards X 19.5 volts)

So I have access to the following drivers in Pakistan at about 600 rupees or $3.87 each. These drivers are salvaged from led lights that were tossed out. The drivers have been checked and a re fictional.

Ideally you want to grow pot as cheaply as possible and instead of me purchasing new I am comfortable purchasing used for ridiculously less. The details of the drivers are below based on the model numbers mentioned on them. I would like power 288 quantum boards without the heatsink and was ideally after a 200w driver for a fotop 800 board. I could also use cob chips and just grab scraped heatsinks for CPU coolers which again are cheaply available. Any input would be appreciated.

Cree led drivers
LE098X04 150w 1200ma 50-100v
LEM00016x0001A0 1400ma 60-82vdc

Thomas research products drivers
LED100W-095-C1050-D 100W 1050ma 31-95v
PLED120w-024 120w 1.25-5.0A 24v
TRC-120S105DT 120w 1050ma 68-114v

Phillips LED
XI055C180V054BSJ1 55w 1800ma 18-54v
LED-INTA-0700C-S10-DOV 150W 0700MA 75-210v