DiY LEDs - How to Power Them

count zero

count zero

Member
Well, he can try running parallel.
So, you know the voltage of meanwell drivers just by looking model number?
You might be exactly who I've been looking for :D
Can you check my math 6 posts up?
 
Rocket Soul

Rocket Soul

Well-Known Member
count zero said:
Hey guys, gals, can somebody have a look at my driver config?
adding a bit of LED to a 1,8m² 2x 315w CMH flower area.

let's do a 320W white channel:
12x 3500k LM301B Strips, approx. 20V each.
A whopping 240V, if I do the strips all in series. It's the volts that tickle us, but the amperes that kill, right ...?
HLG-320H-C1050 should be the driver to do it? has a constant voltage region of 152 ~ 305V, my 240 is right in the middle.
At full power each of my 12 strips shoud get 320/12=26W, or 1,3 amps at 20V.
The driver is rated at 1050ma. At 240V, that's 252W.
If i go to 100% power, will the driver go past it's rated 1.05 amps, or is the voltage gonna go up? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

and a 60W 660nm Red channel:
4x 50cm 10 pcs Osram Square Hyper Red, approx. 20V (I guess. rated min 16 and max. is 20V)
That makes 80V, 0,75A max.
I might wanna add the same amount red LEDs in parallel circuit for adjacent area, so I'll need ~120w.
HVGC-100-700 fits the bill, albeit not as nice as HLG series. HLG-120H-C1400 is a more efficient PSU but is awkwardly 150w and might get a bit bored at and hard to dim 20w.
Maybe I should put 2 and 2 strips in series for 40V and get a HLG-120H-42?
It's really 120w, looks neat and is 93% efficient. But a bit more cabling.

Soooo, any grave errors in my first DIY?
60W of red is probably a bit much, I'd run at 10, 20W before trying anything crazy. Is 50W max, me thinks.
The item I listed for the red strips says Oslon SSL hyper red, but I talked to the shop, they say they ship the newer Oslon Sqares.
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Yes, you can figure out voltage of meanwell CV drivers by the 54A: 54V

Your white channel calcs are off. If you go to 100% you get 1.05 A not more. Most people wouldnt use high voltage (240V DC) in their build and do parallel instead.

For your red channel: 2 series, 2 parallel should work with a 42A driver
 
Barristan Whitebeard

Barristan Whitebeard

Well-Known Member
Rocket Soul said:
Yes, you can figure out voltage of meanwell CV drivers by the 54A: 54V

Your white channel calcs are off. If you go to 100% you get 1.05 A not more. Most people wouldnt use high voltage (240V DC) in their build and do parallel instead.

For your red channel: 2 series, 2 parallel should work with a 42A driver
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Maybe @count zero chose that driver for his white channel because of the recommendation by Led-Tech.De to use constant current power supplies to power their strips.

Screenshot_20200810-092648.png

Do you think Led-Tech.De is actually recommending against a constant voltage power source here such as the Mean Well LRS series?

Has anyone asked Led-Tech.De if it's advisable to wire their strips in parallel using something like a CV + CC HLG driver?
 
Rocket Soul

Rocket Soul

Well-Known Member
Barristan Whitebeard said:
Maybe @count zero chose that driver for his white channel because of the recommendation by Led-Tech.De to use constant current power supplies to power their strips.

View attachment 4649430

Do you think Led-Tech.De is actually recommending against a constant voltage power source here such as the Mean Well LRS series?

Has anyone asked Led-Tech.De if it's advisable to wire their strips in parallel using something like a CV + CC HLG driver?
Click to expand...
I dont know why they do that really, those striips should work fine on cv, iirc its a 7 series, 14 parallel strip, should work fine afaik
 
count zero

count zero

Member
Barristan Whitebeard said:
Has anyone asked Led-Tech.De if it's advisable to wire their strips in parallel using something like a CV + CC HLG driver?
Click to expand...
Had a very short chat with them. They said that in series is generally preferable.
But I didn't tell them that I was gonna use 12 strips.
And did some research, voltage wise I should stay lower if we take safety into account. Thx Rocket Soul.
Can't find anything 60 or 80V, so it seems like I have to do 40V. hoped for simpler cabling, but yeah...
HLG-320H-42 is an option. 42V, if I do 6x2 strips i need 6*1,3= 7,8A. This driver can do 7,65A, seems like a good match?
 
count zero

count zero

Member
Just talked to LED-Tech.de again,
they don't view the high voltage of series connection as particulary dangerous.
If you have a fast european fuse box and grounding on the lamp's chassis, it's gonna hurt like hell but not be lethal.
Don't do it, if you have children in the same home.
 
Rocket Soul

Rocket Soul

Well-Known Member
count zero said:
Had a very short chat with them. They said that in series is generally preferable.
But I didn't tell them that I was gonna use 12 strips.
And did some research, voltage wise I should stay lower if we take safety into account. Thx Rocket Soul.
Can't find anything 60 or 80V, so it seems like I have to do 40V. hoped for simpler cabling, but yeah...
HLG-320H-42 is an option. 42V, if I do 6x2 strips i need 6*1,3= 7,8A. This driver can do 7,65A, seems like a good match?
Click to expand...
With 20ish V chips in series you can sometimes get away with using a 36A driver and adjust the voltage upwards but the 320-36A wont go very far: 39V from spec, 40V from report. You could try doing it with 2x hlg185-36A (40V spec, report gives 41.5V which is the likeliest number).
 
Boatguy

Boatguy

Well-Known Member
count zero said:
Just talked to LED-Tech.de again,
they don't view the high voltage of series connection as particulary dangerous.
If you have a fast european fuse box and grounding on the lamp's chassis, it's gonna hurt like hell but not be lethal.
Don't do it, if you have children in the same home.
Click to expand...
They dont view high voltage as dangerous?... Even in a damp growing environment with the potential for actual water.
I have used diy lights run as high as 240v dc and i never considered a shock not being lethal... you should do the same. Euro fuse or otherwise. High voltage finds a path pretty easily
 
count zero

count zero

Member
Boatguy said:
I have used diy lights run as high as 240v dc and i never considered a shock not being lethal...
Click to expand...
otoh, I just talked to a guy who sold 1000s of setups and is certain in his opinion.
I'd like to go by the opinion of professional electricians. Maye you are one? I'm a hobbyist, can see arguments for either.
 
kwigybo88

kwigybo88

Well-Known Member
Wanted to get strips with 301b/h's but im now looking at the Nichia 757 v3's for a new fixture. Performance differences?
 
count zero

count zero

Member
kwigybo88 said:
Wanted to get strips with 301b/h's but im now looking at the Nichia 757 v3's for a new fixture. Performance differences?
Click to expand...
Probably none. Same efficiency. Apparently they have the best high cri 2700K by a slim margin.
You'll find people valuing high cri, others dismissing it. I'm in the latter camp thinking that we're currently overestimating the influence of spectral quality because we just learned how to contol it using LEDs.
If you just invented the hammer, every problem looks like a nail for a bit.
 
Barristan Whitebeard

Barristan Whitebeard

Well-Known Member
count zero said:
Maybe not even that is true
hard to find data on the Nichia, here's 2700k 80CRI comparison:
Found Nichia at 189 lm/W without quoting amperage. Educated guess is 350ma.
Samsung is 194,59 lm/W at 350ma.

Fair to say they'd be indistinguishable IRL.
Click to expand...
The 194.59 lm/W figure is when the LM301B is at a current of 25mA per diode with the strip running at 350mA.

Those LM301B strips with 98 diodes from Led-Tech.de are put together with 7 diodes in series x 14 diodes in parallel. As you can see, the maximum recommended current for those strips is 2,800mA or 200mA per diode(also max. current for the LM301B in that CCT).
 
count zero

count zero

Member
Barristan Whitebeard said:
Those LM301B strips [..] are put together with 7 diodes in series x 14 diodes in parallel.
Click to expand...
You are correct or course. Also the voltage needed, if whole strips were in series, would be a bit high. :D
Point remains, we need accurate lm/w or umol/s for the Nichias at a certain current.
And I'd still hazard the guess that the Nichia data I found corresponds to my Samsung data, the samsung numbers at 350ma for the strip are pretty the most favourable results u can get out of them.
 
count zero

count zero

Member
I found this on the Nichia's. The light tools .zip has some data.
the 80cri 3012K diode has 33,4lm at 65ma and 2,86V. At 0,186W we have 180lm/w.
Would be about 7-10ish% worse than Samsung of same CCT and cri.
But yeah, comparison depends on kelvin and cri of the product.
 
haze010

haze010

Well-Known Member
So i am struggling to understand how these new meanwell XLG drivers work. The HLG constant current or constant voltage make complete sense to me but these xlg ones are different with both current and voltage ranges. Before i go ordering a bunch i just want to make sure the wiring i think is correct is actually correct.

Im looking at getting the

Mean Well XLG-150-L-AB

Mean Well XLG-150-L-AB AC-DC Single output LED driver Constant Power Mode with built-in PFC; Output 214Vdc at 1.05A; Metal housing design; IP67; Built-in potentiometer; Dimming with 0-10V PWM resistance
www.meanwell-web.com www.meanwell-web.com
and using it to drive samsung h strips

So if i understand this xlg driver correctly I could wire 6 x si-b8v11156hus in series and it would run them at 1050ma.
Or i could wire 9 of them in series and they would run at 700ma.

God these drivers seem weird.
 
Last edited:
count zero

count zero

Member
What's different with the XLG drivers? Unusual to have adjustable voltage in such a low range?
I think you'll want to power the sticks in parallel. feeding 24V to all strips and splitting the power.
your numbers are otherwise correct, i didn't check your sticks. about 20W for 100 diodes would be a good rule of thumb efficiency wise.
I just did 11 strips in series at 220v, happy I did, easier cabling. just don't touch the leads barefoot i guess..
 
B

babybud

Well-Known Member
haze010 said:
So i am struggling to understand how these new meanwell XLG drivers work. The HLG constant current or constant voltage make complete sense to me but these xlg ones are different with both current and voltage ranges. Before i go ordering a bunch i just want to make sure the wiring i think is correct is actually correct.

Im looking at getting the

Mean Well XLG-150-L-AB

Mean Well XLG-150-L-AB AC-DC Single output LED driver Constant Power Mode with built-in PFC; Output 214Vdc at 1.05A; Metal housing design; IP67; Built-in potentiometer; Dimming with 0-10V PWM resistance
www.meanwell-web.com www.meanwell-web.com
and using it to drive samsung h strips

So if i understand this xlg driver correctly I could wire 6 x si-b8v11156hus in series and it would run them at 1050ma.
Or i could wire 9 of them in series and they would run at 700ma.

God these drivers seem weird.
Click to expand...
I am sure I am missing something but why that specific driver and can you run those h strips in series with that high of voltage? The data sheet shows they are running the 4ft at the same voltage as the 2ft and thee may be a reason for that? Sorry I cant help on your xlg question but why not just use a hlg150h-24a... can get 2 for 40 shipped in the usa. If buying bulk and shipping to europe the seller may work w you
 
goodro wilson

goodro wilson

Well-Known Member
So I jumped the gun and bought 25 Samsung F-Series LT-F564B and I wanna know how many can I run with
Hlg320-48a
?k if it will work but I was hoping to run at least 12 or more with this driver but idk if the constant voltage drivers have a limit... I don't really remember what I'm doing if someone can help me... I was thinking I'd wire in parallel with some 5waygos ?
The strips are 4000k so I was gonna use for mothers/veg rack see anything im missing here ?
 
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