Is my LED light too hot?

Hello- I just turned on my first DIY LED light and the heat coming off the lights was a lot higher than I was expecting (could be normal, i just don't know). how hot should they be? they were definitely too hot to touch, i held my finger close to the led and it was hot. any advice is appreciated!

some specs:
4 CREE CXB3590 36v
1 Meanwell HLG-185H-C1400B (200 watt, 1.4 amp)
cooled with Arctic Alpine 11 GT's

Are you talking about the radiant heat, or conductive heat through the heat sink?

If it's radiant heat, that's the light.

the heatsinks were warm to the touch, but not hot. based on the heat i felt when i put my finger near the led- it would have burned me for sure.

mrandersonnen said:

the heatsinks were warm to the touch, but not hot. based on the heat i felt when i put my finger near the led- it would have burned me for sure.

Click to expand...

the radiant energy is enough to burn things...i've seen burnt floors in this forum

I caught a piece of cardboard almost on fire! Smoking. I keep my cobs at 100w 10 to 12 inches away. I have a thermometer hanging 6" down to watch the temp.

Your beam is 27W of pure photons and if you put something very close to the LES a lot of heat will be created in a small area as they convert from light to heat. It will burn through clothes, skin, floors, plastic, carpet etc. Potentially dangerous so make sure to mount them very securely. But if you add a few cm of clearance in front of the LES it will not be able to create dangerous temperatures.

Awesome setup btw that is pretty cutting edge man. A light like that could threaten an air cooled 600 HPS.

haha, thanks @SupraSPL, but we both know i jacked your design!

i may have aimed too high for my 5 sq ft tent... will probably use a dimmer

thanks for the advice, everyone. truly valuable