Led driver choice

Im going with some cree cobs and wonder about the driver. If get the larger driver which runs them at 75 watts, then will dimming make it run less watts? I know they are more efficient at 50 watts but I may want more sometimes.

Hey Cooks, give us some more info. Which ones, what current? You know, the usual.

I was thinking groups of 4 3590's each running off a meanwell hlg 320h- c2100b Im thinking thats better than the 1400 "IF" I can just turn it down on the dimmer and that means I can approximate 50 watts draw each cob.

ya you may need a kill-a-watt to adj to where you want it. but it will show you the watts you are drawing when dimming. or you can find a calculator and figure it out with the amps you are drawing--

Thx, it makes sense to me to just spend extra on the drivers so I can use the power if needed.

we just got in 20 of the ZPE 400 watt 2.1 amp drivers. The Meanwell is 76 to 152 volt output, the ZPE is 114-190V meaning 5 CXB per driver, if you building a few you save 1 driver for every 4 and a bit systems
http://www.cutter.com.au/proddetail.php?prod=cut3187

Cheers
Mark

Im new to this and learning, but I think you are referring to the meanwell 185 and not the 320. The 320 is 114 min volt 229 max.

If you are going to push them that hard, Id consider going with a different cob, youll have larger losses with cree at higher powers than you will with some of the aluminum based cobs like citizen.

thetr33man said:

If you are going to push them that hard, Id consider going with a different cob, youll have larger losses with cree at higher powers than you will with some of the aluminum based cobs like citizen.

Click to expand...

This is good advice cookie master.

It will also save you 50%+ on COBS.

I dunno, it does seem expensive to buy all the lights and run them at 50 watts. The whole reason for them IS efficiency, but I need to fill a space. Im getting some big 180mm pin fins so they should stay cool.
What kind of watts do the citizen cobs run at efficiently?

citizen cobs will handle as much power as cree cobs, but do it better (meaning less loss to heat and higher light output as the current increases) and they cost half as much. Cree CXB are basically old tech right now. Citizen and Vero just came out with new gen cobs that are significantly better than their previous gen models and CXB. Dont get me wrong, cree makes good products and I run many cree cobs still, but all the cobs I have purchased recently are citizen.

I have some diy flashlights with the led running way above rated amps. Is efficiency the reason why cobs are run so far under the manufacturers rating?