Cons pulling more than expected at the wall

J

J-Icky

Well-Known Member
So I but a vero 18 light using 6 of them running on a 200 meanwell deiver at 1050mah. These are the previous generation and they have already been through one grow.
Well I finally bought a kilawatt to see what my light was actually pulling at max and when dimmed. I got the “A” version of the driver sob it has the built in dimmer. At max power it says it’s pulling 225 when it should max out at 180ish, when dimmed all the way down its 85 which is about what I expected.

So why the difference when the driver is all the way up? What is going on with my light?
 
P

PurpleBuz

Well-Known Member
J-Icky said:
So I but a vero 18 light using 6 of them running on a 200 meanwell deiver at 1050mah. These are the previous generation and they have already been through one grow.
Well I finally bought a kilawatt to see what my light was actually pulling at max and when dimmed. I got the “A” version of the driver sob it has the built in dimmer. At max power it says it’s pulling 225 when it should max out at 180ish, when dimmed all the way down its 85 which is about what I expected.

So why the difference when the driver is all the way up? What is going on with my light?
Click to expand...
so you are using an HLG-185H-C1050a ? if so that sounds about right. if its too much just dim her down, efficiency will go up.
 
J

J-Icky

Well-Known Member
PurpleBuz said:
so you are using an HLG-185H-C1050a ? if so that sounds about right. if its too much just dim her down, efficiency will go up.
Click to expand...
Yes that’s the exact driver, and I’m fine with the extra, just curious as how they can run the cob harder when they should max out at like 31 w at 1050mah. It must be pushing slightly higher amps to be getting that power. Or is it just driver inefficiency, like the driver is pulling more power that it’s actually using
 
CobKits

CobKits

Well-Known Member
J-Icky said:
Or is it just driver inefficiency, like the driver is pulling more power that it’s actually using
Click to expand...
every driver does that. hlg185s are 91-94% efficient so plan accordingly

they also run more than 1050mA. a DC meter can verify
 
GBAUTO

GBAUTO

Well-Known Member
J-Icky said:
Or is it just driver inefficiency, like the driver is pulling more power that it’s actually using
Click to expand...
I think is more likely-the cob's pull a set wattage @ drive current. The additional registered on the Kill-a-watt is driver loss as heat.
 
ANC

ANC

Well-Known Member
The lower the load on your driver the lower its efficiency. Expect to add about 10% to your overhead.
There are further losses in the form of heat in the wires we use to connect these fuckers up... There are plenty of online calculators that will show you the percentage loss based on wire gauge and length.
 
jonsnow399

jonsnow399

Well-Known Member
ANC said:
The lower the load on your driver the lower its efficiency. Expect to add about 10% to your overhead.
There are further losses in the form of heat in the wires we use to connect these fuckers up... There are plenty of online calculators that will show you the percentage loss based on wire gauge and length.
Click to expand...
It doesn't lose significant efficiency until you drop below 50 percent or so
 
DankaDank

DankaDank

Well-Known Member
Usually with A-type or when a resistor is fitted to the pot on B-type driver, there is an extra 100ma.
So Gen6 Vero 18 is about 29.3v at 1.150amps = 33.7watts
33.7 X 6 = 202.2w
Then I assume you are running on 120VAC. At which the driver is 91% efficient
202.2 + (202.2 x 0.09) = 220.4 watts at the wall.

Maybe its running 5watts higher because of low Tj or there is a little higher vf on cobs than data sheet. I also don't trust the accuracy of those plug meters as I have had a few that vary 10% of what my multi-meter tests which I trust more.
 
J

J-Icky

Well-Known Member
Awesome info everyone, maybe some other newbs like myself will be helped by this info.

And while the Kill-A-Watt is a cool gadget, I know it will have its flaws. I’ll have to invest in a good multimeter and get an accurate number on the Mah and Volts
 
1

1212ham

Well-Known Member
I think you guys might be overlooking driver efficiency, the ac power will be higher than dc power.
 
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V

VegasWinner

Well-Known Member
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