Changed my driver to double the power but light doesn’t seem any brighter?

[Prawn Connery]

if wired like this what would wall draw look like

Best-case scenario is as I wrote in my previous post

BTW, 112V x 2.1A = 235W (series)

In reality, your actual voltage drop will depend on the amount of current to each board, HLG states the voltage is 56+V at 5A, so I would expect them to be around 53-54V at 2.1A. So that would be 108V (54V x 2 boards) x 2.1A = 227W

Voltage drop will also depend on LED temperatures and wiring OD/length.

 

[Prawn Connery]

Winner winner chicken dinner. OP needs a HLG320H-C2800 (series) or parallel with HLG320-C54A: the A version is able to adjust voltage up to get to 56V, a B version with external dim will only get to 54 and throttle current. I never heard about a V version though, whats the score on that one or is this an error?

Ah, you got me! It was a typo (54 Volts was what I was trying to emphasise).

The actual model number you require would be the HLG-320H-54A or HLG-320H-54AB.

I believe Mean Well is phasing out the B drivers in favour of the AB models, because they are more flexible. And you are entirely correct that the B model will be limited to 54V max wherease the AB model will output up to 59V.

Test report link below:

HLG-320H-MEAN WELL Switching Power Supply Manufacturer

MEAN WELL is one of the world's few standard power supply mainly professional manufacturers, covering 0.5 to 25,600W products are widely used in industrial control, medical and other fields, in line with international safety certification, short delivery of spot inventory.

www.meanwell.com

 

[SaHt420]

So long story short buy a hlg-320h-54ab

 

[SaHt420]

And it’ll run in parallel at 300 watts dimmable

 

[Prawn Connery]

The boards specs say 56+Vdc so does that mean it will draw more Vdc then 56 per board? sense the driver goes to 152vdc 2100mA would it be able to draw more voltage per board at 2100mA pulling in end more wattage? Or will it still be limited by the driver I have now ?View attachment 5240850

The HLG-320HC-2100B will be current limited, not voltage limited, when you wire in series. What that means is that you will get a maximum of 2.1A (2100mA) to each board at whatever voltage each board requires.

The reason I can't tell you the exact voltage – as partially explained above – is because there are a lot of variables, such as temperature and wiring. But generally speaking, if the QB648 boards drop 56+V at 5A (5000mA), then they will drop a bit less at 2.1A – in the region of 53-54V. But that is only my guess as I can't find a data sheet for the QB648 that shows the correlation between voltage and current.

With LEDs, whenever current is increased, voltage requirements also increase. Whenever temperature increases, voltage requirements decrease. And of course, there is a certain amount of voltage drop associated with the wiring.

All you need to know is that your driver will output 2100mA and will supply whatever voltage is requirted at that current (anywhere between 76 and 152V).

 

[Prawn Connery]

So long story short buy a hlg-320h-54ab

If it were me, I would do the following:

1. Buy a cheap watt meter to measure power at the wall
2. Test the 150W driver with the boards already wired in parallel. You will find that driver will probably be pulling around 180W from the wall (yes, I know that's more than 150W, but the Mean Well HLG series always output more than their ratings).
3. Rewire the boards in series. Then test the 320W driver you already have. You will find that driver will probably be pulling around 220-230W from the wall. If you are happy with the increase in power (I'd estimate somewhere around 40-50W), then keep it.
4. If you are not happy with the results, then rewire the boards in parallel and buy a HLG-320H-54AB.

A watt meter is much cheaper than another driver and an invaluable tool for seeing how much power you are really using – instead of guesstimating.

 

[Prawn Connery]

Incidentally, the HLG-320H-54AB should pull around 350W from the wall.

HOWEVER – and be very careful before you go ahead with this – even though the QB648 is rated at 5A per board, I have noted that HLG does not seem to want to run them at over 2.8A per board with their heatsinks. The reason is because – frankly – HLG heatsinks are not great at getting rid of heat. They are thinner and lighter than other heatsinks on the market, which means the REAL LIMIT will be the heatsinks, not the drivers. HLG even states this:

Max Current in most applications will be limited by thermal performance of heatsink

Link here: https://horticulturelightinggroup.com/products/qb648-diablo

I would definitely ask HLG first if you can run the HLG-320H-54AB as that driver will deliver around 3.2-3.3A to each board.

 

[SaHt420]

Incidentally, the HLG-320H-54AB should pull around 350W from the wall.

HOWEVER – and be very careful before you go ahead with this – even though the QB648 is rated at 5A per board, I have noted that HLG does not seem to want to run them at over 2.8A per board with their heatsinks. The reason is because – frankly – HLG heatsinks are not great at getting rid of heat. They are thinner and lighter than other heatsinks on the market, which means the REAL LIMIT will be the heatsinks, not the drivers. HLG even states this:


Link here: https://horticulturelightinggroup.com/products/qb648-diablo

I would definitely ask HLG first if you can run the HLG-320H-54AB as that driver will deliver around 3.2-3.3A to each board.

Have you ever used the Photone app on iOS is it accurate that’s what someone told me to use so I paid 5$ for full spectrum led testing.

 

[SaHt420]

Imma go to my local hardware store hope they have a watt meter when they open up

 

[SaHt420]

Incidentally, the HLG-320H-54AB should pull around 350W from the wall.

HOWEVER – and be very careful before you go ahead with this – even though the QB648 is rated at 5A per board, I have noted that HLG does not seem to want to run them at over 2.8A per board with their heatsinks. The reason is because – frankly – HLG heatsinks are not great at getting rid of heat. They are thinner and lighter than other heatsinks on the market, which means the REAL LIMIT will be the heatsinks, not the drivers. HLG even states this:


Link here: https://horticulturelightinggroup.com/products/qb648-diablo

I would definitely ask HLG first if you can run the HLG-320H-54AB as that driver will deliver around 3.2-3.3A to each board.

So it would be safer to buy a hlg-320h-c2800b an wire in series if I were to buy another driver?

 

[Horselover fat]

Next time: learn first then do

 

[SaHt420]

Next time: learn first then do

I tried was told it’s work by hlg never told me it had to be wired in series I spent days researching what driver how to wire everything then I meet prawn an he tells me everything in one conversation!!!!!!!!!!

 

[SaHt420]

Or that it’s run dumb low wattage

 

[Rocket Soul]

Id go for the A type driver unless you can confirm with an actual user that the AB version actually has voltage dimming. I think the specs says yes but then on the pics in the datasheet doesnt show a Voltage dimming knob/hole. Its an issue that was raised once here but i think it wasnt resolved.
In principle it should have it but im not sure IRL


Edit: this all about the 54A driver. For the C2800 both B and AB should work. AB is probably better since you got both options of onboard and 3 in 1 dimming.

Edit on edit: whenever you want the full info on meanwell drivers google "(model nr) report" it should take you to the meanwell webpage where you can find a test report which shows actual performance rather than speced performance. In order to get make sure they hit at least spec most meanwell driver have slightly higher output and voltage range in real life perfomance.

Edit 3 : report has allready been linked by prawn

 

[SaHt420]

Id go for the A type driver unless you can confirm with an actual user that the AB version actually has voltage dimming. I think the specs says yes but then on the pics in the datasheet doesnt show a Voltage dimming knob/hole. Its an issue that was raised once here but i think it wasnt resolved.
In principle it should have it but im not sure IRL

Alright it would just run at 320+watts whole time right?

 

[ANC]

I went from a hlg-150h-54 running two qb648 diablos. I upgraded to a hlg-320h-c2100b an with light at same location full power the ppfd has gone down if anything. Ig I’ll just lower the light and dim it but if the 150 was brighter I should have stuck with it

Hi, sorry I don't have time to read all the replies, but I thought I could chip in quickly....

A driver doesn't PUT or PUSH out power... power is drawn by a load.
In other words, each strip you add will only draw as much power as it takes to achieve full power on the diodes.
This gets drawn from the reserves of the driver...

Many drivers short of an HLG600 series, will put out a minimum of 50% of their rated current. You should have enough strips on there so that by dividing the amount of power into the number of strips, you do not exceed their ratings.

the 320 puts out 76-152V @ 2.1A max, adding two of those panels, means each gets 1.05A
while the 150 is a 54v 2.8A driver. Adding two pannels to this would give 1.4A per board... the smaller driver will just work better...

I see those boards are rated up to 5A (I guess with some mean heatsinking)
Something like an HLG-480h-54 will give you 8.9A, so 4.45A per strip.....

I think about 2.5A should be fine for this job. An HLG-240h-55 gives 4.45A, so 2.25A per board... close enough.....
a 320-54 would get 5.95A /2= 2.98A per strip... on the hot side.... but a better fit than the C2100b.


Just for furter clarification... the A,B,C code you see at the end of the model number pertains to the dimming
A means it has onboard dimming via two screws... ost setups would leave V maxed and use the I screw for dimming.
B means the driver has an extra cord on for adding a potentiometer ( the 600 has an extra wire to that that carries low current voltage supply for electronic dimmers etc... usually left unconnected....)
AB means it has both of those options...

 

[SaHt420]

Id go for the A type driver unless you can confirm with an actual user that the AB version actually has voltage dimming. I think the specs says yes but then on the pics in the datasheet doesnt show a Voltage dimming knob/hole. Its an issue that was raised once here but i think it wasnt resolved.
In principle it should have it but im not sure IRL


Edit: this all about the 54A driver. For the C2800 both B and AB should work. AB is probably better since you got both options of onboard and 3 in 1 dimming.

So 57vdc would need to be dimmed?

 

[SaHt420]

Lights on in the am.

How does the board run hot or anything?

 

[ANC]

320H-54A or B if you want to add a 100K pot for dimming, gives 5.95A = 29750mA per board.... so you would get better value from that... and the voltages will be a lot safer to handle.

 

[Rocket Soul]

Alright it would just run at 320+watts whole time right?

A type driver has onboard dimming thru these little holes on the unit with a screw type thingie in the bottom which will dim the driver. CV driver (parallel conections) of A type has voltage dimming (cutting voltage thus reducing amps very drastically but also able to push voltage a bit higher to reach the 56V of the board) and amp dimming which is a bit more linear but is only speced to go down 50% (but irl goes down a bit further, again check the report ). B type driver has to cables to attach to an external potentiometer or control module, but no voltage regulation, which means the board would not be able to draw full load, only until 54V, whatever that would mena in amps. Probably very low since the board is 56V nominal iirc.

Cc driver (series connection) : A-type driver has the same screw hole dimming as the CV driver, no voltage dimming. B type has cables for external dimmer as on the CV type/54B.
Tldr: you need either a c2800 AB,B or A, in descending order of preference.
Or a 54A driver and if you can confirm that the 54AB has onboard voltage knob then this one should work aswell, this being the ideal solution imho but again, you need to have it 100% confirmed by someone looking at the actual driver since the datashet info isnt clear.