LED Build 3x3

Awesome.thats what I was hoping for. Thanks for clearing that up. Think I want the 1050 320 driver now if it has flexibility and the dimmer. Is that what you would use?
I have to say, Thanks again for all your help, you totally rock. I'll let you know what I finally put together soon

sonmanc said:

Awesome.thats what I was hoping for. Thanks for clearing that up. Think I want the 1050 320 driver now if it has flexibility and the dimmer. Is that what you would use?
I have to say, Thanks again for all your help, you totally rock. I'll let you know what I finally put together soon

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No problem man. Happy to help. Yeah the 320 driver will be able to do 15 strips. 320 watts in a 3x3 is plenty with EB 2 strips. That being said, I would feel better having 2 smaller drivers so you aren't running at such a high voltage and also, this would give you the ability to run half the lights and mix spectrums if you like

DangerDavez said:

You could always use marettes temporarily

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I’m going to use the butt splice connectors. 17awg to 18 awg is not a huge difference. My electrician buddy said I could use them. Can use a 18-22 awg butt connector on a 17awg wire. Only marrettes I seen are for copper wire when the wires we have are aluminum.

What a weird gauge for the dc side though. Being an odd number.

Skoal said:

I’m going to use the butt splice connectors. 17awg to 18 awg is not a huge difference. My electrician buddy said I could use them. Can use a 18-22 awg butt connector on a 17awg wire.

What a weird gauge for the dc side though. Being an odd number.

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I swear the ones on my 240 1750s were 16 AWG . Yeah i don't see an issue with using those.

DangerDavez said:

I swear the ones on my 240 1750s were 16 AWG . Yeah i don't see an issue with using those.

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I hear ya man. I was shocked when I read 17 on the data sheet lol. All the wires are 17.

I’m probably gonna use heat shring as well to keep my positive and negative 22awg wire wrapped together since I’m keeping the driver out of the tent. The driver can’t sit on top of my sheet. Way too heavy.

10th trip to Home Depot this weekend. lol. Gotta return the silicone marettes for the butt splicers. I think I have everything I need other than a few clips to go into the corner holes to run my chains.

I

DangerDavez said:

No problem man. Happy to help. Yeah the 320 driver will be able to do 15 strips. 320 watts in a 3x3 is plenty with EB 2 strips. That being said, I would feel better having 2 smaller drivers so you aren't running at such a high voltage and also, this would give you the ability to run half the lights and mix spectrums if you like

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Good point, Considering keeping the voltage down I think I will get the following driver' HLG-320H-C2100A . I'll just keep the strips in pairs to meet the 2A. (1050 per strip) And 15 strips. Going to put my order in now well. Maybe 14 strips and a spare to keep it even, the dimmer will cut it down to 50%. I may add a switch to shut off a few bloom pairs if . I'll put up details and pics when I complete it.

How to you get the wires out of the light strip? The length is way too small and now I can’t seem to get the wire out of my strip.

Fuck. Now I broke the wire off in the fucking strip. I’ll need tweezers to get it out but I still can’t seem to get the piece free.

Those poke in connectors can be finicky, you'll need to lightly push down on the teeny weeny release lever, and pull the wire straight out....Its real easy to break those little plastic covers on the connector.

Chip Green said:

Those poke in connectors can be finicky, you'll need to lightly push down on the teeny weeny release lever, and pull the wire straight out....Its real easy to break those little plastic covers on the connector.

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So on top of the connector is a little hole with a metal thing in it. That’s the thing I gotta presss down? And I assume I gotta exert some force on it?

sonmanc said:

How do they know what voltage to run at or do they just fall in that range with sires hookup, 119-238 in this case. Would it not run the risk of voltage creep? It's almost too perfect. Only thing I don't like is being maxed out which is why like constant voltage I "think" I can add more and just can't go below rated amps or I'll fry everything. Or am I not understanding this correct. I only done basic electronics like 20 years ago. Appreciate your help. I Like the idea af a few extra strips already l in parallel that just drops the amps per strip. Keeping a buffer " extra strips" in case one dies and dont cascade everything else to fry due to too much current. Does that sound right to you? A pure high voltage strip sounds nice that your suggesting as well. If a strip dies you only loose one.( well they all go out but you don't fry them all) I do like the idea I'd the 320 version of the 1050. The voltage states it has a range of 152-305 . That's where Im not sure how many strips I should or can run.15 max, 8 min?

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With a CC driver, your driver adjusts the V nessecary to push θA through your cct. Something with a higher R will require more V to push the same amount of current through it than something with a lower R. The V's needed will change but the amount of juice your chips see stays the same. Current is what matters. With LEDs as they heat up R actually seems to go down (but its a little different technically).

https://www.rollitup.org/p/14802051/

Finished mounting my strips to my aluminum sheet. Screws pop out a bit out the top. But ain’t putting. Anything on the top. Just need to wire my strips and get that stupid wire out of the top connector that I broke.

4 holes in the corner of the sheet. 4 hooks go there, 2 inch swivel hooks. Then running cable wire from each hook to the centre of the board where a carabeaner holds all 4 cables and then a ratchet strap to hang it like the HLG kits come with.



Here is the driver wired up too. Capped off the potentiometer won’t be hooking one up at this time. Used butt splice connectors that require crimping and heat shrinking. Extra security for my connections as wagos aren’t sourced in Canada and getting wire connectors for aluminum wire and not copper in the gauge I needed was almost fucking impossible till I found these. After the connections are made going to wrap the splicer with a bit of electrical tape as well.


And my wiring diagram. Ignore the part that says shelf 1 and 2. Not relevant as it’s all on one sheet.

After seeing a close-up of the pictures, those poke in connectors must have been upgraded since I've purchased any EB strips, but I assume that they operate the same way. I usually use a section of stripped 18ga wire to push down the release.

Chip Green said:

After seeing a close-up of the pictures, those poke in connectors must have been upgraded since I've purchased any EB strips, but I assume that they operate the same way. I usually use a section of stripped 18ga wire to push down the release.

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Thanks for the tip man. Don’t think I have 18 awg. I may try a paper clip. But yeah I wanna wire them tonight or something. Real hard to get the wire out.

My build after all the hiccups has come todgether nicely. It’s a minimal design but I love it. It’s like an HLG board haha. Next I mist get my wire hangers which will be easy and fun. Using a single hanging point from the Center. Easy peezy

Well ,whatever will fit in that hole, I'm assuming the release lever is still under there somewhere.
Looks like an improvement on the older models, broke a bunch of em on the Gen1 EBs...

I got it out. Thank god. I use vape critics vape pick. Any advice on how long I should strip my wire? About just less than a 1/4 inch?

Skoal said:

About just less than a 1/4 inch?

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Yeah somewherez in that range....You certainly know what it feels like when it "locks" in!

yeah I don’t want exposed wire hanging out. Nor do I want to go through the pain in the ass of removing a fucking wire again. One was enough. Seriously!

Turn the strip 180 and use the other terminals. Terminal strip length 7-9 mm.

Question about how you have them screwed in, does these strips have a buffer around those holes to prevent conductive surface contact to screws? Traditionally led strips entire upper and lower half have full conductive surface just under the outer coating. I would be very cautious mounting them that way as potentially you many have every upper 1/2 of your strips connected as a circuit thru the back plate. At least you ave nothing screwed in the lower however. I never used all the new generation strips and maybe someone can answer that. I was thinking on mounting mine with screws between the strips with a clip grabbing the edges to prevent any screw contact to the strip at all.
Can someone provide input? Just out of caution cuz it would be dangerous if those screws are potentially a short. If the screws are self tapping to cut thru the sheet, they could cut into the strip without knowing. I would stick them with the double sided tape Dave was suggesting

That is a good reminder^^^^^ This has come up, awhile back.
Look at the back of the strips, you can see the dedicated mounting screw holes, have a buffer area around the hole to prevent short circuit!
There are holes in the strips not intended for screws, only for optics to be mounted.