New DIY LED light

That generic 24v driver would take 15 strips in parallel for 1 amp per strip. I suppose it could do all 30 strips at 500 ma per strip.
 
canadian1969 said:
Would you have to connect them in parallel with this? CV vs CC ?
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Yes, it would be parallel. Constant Voltage. That's the same power supply I am using. I would use two supplies at 700 mA per stick. These cheap supplies last longer if you don't run them hard.
 
How are you able to get over ~600 mA per strip? I am fucking around with a DC-DC converter and an ATX computer power supply and each strip increases amperage by ~600 mA at 24 volts. How are you getting an amp out of each strip?

I am building 2 light fixtures that will be 43" x 23" each with 15 strips per fixture (running on the 23" direction, not 2 end to end for 43"). These will be used in a 4'x4' grow area. So if these strips only pull 600 mA each, that is only 14.4 watts each, for a total of 216 watts per light, 432 watts total. Thats only 27 watts per square foot in a 4'x4' grow area. I was expecting more than that.
 
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Big Green Thumb said:
How are you able to get over ~600 mA per strip? I am fucking around with a DC-DC converter and an ATX computer power supply and each strip increases amperage by ~600 mA at 24 volts. How are you getting an amp out of each strip?

I am building 2 light fixtures that will be 43" x 23" each with 15 strips per fixture (running on the 23" direction, not 2 end to end for 43"). These will be used in a 4'x4' grow area. So if these strips only pull 600 mA each, that is only 14.4 watts each, for a total of 216 watts per light, 432 watts total. Thats only 27 watts per square foot in a 4'x4' grow area. I was expecting more than that.
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Actually, I'm not getting 1 amp - my current/voltage displays were lying to me!. I double checked the current with my multimeter and at 25V I'm pulling just about 6 amps total for all ten strips, so about 600 mA each. You can run them hotter than that, but you need to be able to increase the voltage over 25-26V
 
I am really wishing I would have bought 60 strips instead of 'only' 30 for my 4'x4'. That would have been over 800 watts in that area. *sigh* oh well. Maybe I will put a few cobs or red led strips or something like that in there with these strips.
 
So, if I get a meanwell constant current driver rated at 1050 mA, will it force the strips to run at 1050 mA, or will the strips still only take ~500 - 600 mA?

Inquiring minds want to know!
 
Big Green Thumb said:
So, if I get a meanwell constant current driver rated at 1050 mA, will it force the strips to run at 1050 mA, or will the strips still only take ~500 - 600 mA?

Inquiring minds want to know!
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They will take as much current as you can feed them, up to their point of failure.
 
nfhiggs said:
They will take as much current as you can feed them, up to their point of failure.
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Thanks, man. I have been messing around with the strips and my home made power supply tonight and I am able to send over an amp each to 6 strips, but not 12. It seems that is just the limit of my little power supply, so I am hopeful that I can get the 700 watts I want out of these strips with enough power supply.
 
Big Green Thumb said:
So, if I get a meanwell constant current driver rated at 1050 mA, will it force the strips to run at 1050 mA, or will the strips still only take ~500 - 600 mA?

Inquiring minds want to know!
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Take a good look at the strips there rated for 1050 its in writing on the strips them self ive been trying to look up more info in regards to them.
look just to the left of the sticker that says 501-000453-003 its small writing printed on them...
 
nfhiggs said:
BTW - you can get these for about ten bucks cheaper:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0146IAXYO?psc=1
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NFHiggs, thanks for the link. I just received one of these to try it out on 15 strips and it works well (so far). That power supply at 25.13 volts is drawing 503 watts at the wall! Not that I am running it at that, but when messing around with it, it really puts out some juice. Currently, I am drawing around 280 watts from the wall. So, ASSuming the power supply is 80% efficient, the strips are getting around 224 watts total, 14.9 watts per strip, ~622 mA per strip. 1- 2' x 4' light done, 1 to go.

Thanks again for your ideas on these lights.
 
Are the 40 diode strips 24v also? What amperage are you running them at? How many watts total are you running now?

My light is happy pulling 320 watts from the wall vegging some plants. Once the plants are big enough, I will spread them out and turn on the second light and possibly crank up the watts some more.
 
Big Green Thumb said:
Are the 40 diode strips 24v also? What amperage are you running them at? How many watts total are you running now?

My light is happy pulling 320 watts from the wall vegging some plants. Once the plants are big enough, I will spread them out and turn on the second light and possibly crank up the watts some more.
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Yes, they are also 24 V strips. I'm reading about 8 amps total, at 25V, for 200W at the strips. No idea what the wall watts are since I don't have an AC ammeter or a kill-a-watt.
 
An update on my light setup...
I bought 2 of these volt/amp/watts displays:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B013PKYAV6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

One for each of my 2 light setups which have 15 strips in each. Currently I am only using 1 light to veg some plants under so I hooked up one of the above displays. I set the power supply to output 297 watts and the Kill a Watt shows 347 watts, which makes the cheapo chinese power supply more efficient than I expected: 86% efficient, which is very close to the efficiency of the Meanwell 24 volt power supplies. I can't wait until my 4x4 grow area is filled up and I can fire up the second light! Woot!

This is the driver I used (1 for each light setup):
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0146IAXYO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I also bought more 30 strips "just in case".
 
Also, I cranked the power supply up to max and it put out around 470 watts. I'm sure the power supply would not last at that setting, but it can do it (18.xx amps).
 
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