new vero 29 gen 7 driver questions

Skybound420 said:

I have a wire routing question. Is it ok to snake the wires through the pins of the heat sink as pictured, or should I run the wires straight to the top of the pins then route them outside of the cooling zone? I ask because I don't quite know what kind of heat I'll be encountering. FWIW, those are 70-80 watt heat sinks and they'll be cooling Vero 29 (D) chips that are driven from the HLG480 C2100B driver. I'm guessing they'll run somewhere between 60-80% to achieve what my 600w HID does in growth and yields. Still, I don't know what kind of heat I'll encounter, so IDK if snaking the wiring through the pins will be an issue or not.

View attachment 4137837 View attachment 4137838

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Should be fine, I highly doubt the heatsinks will get hot enough to melt the plastic, if they do, you need to rethink your cooling.

Thanks for the tip. The build went well and I designed/printed a some parts to hold the dimmer and I added some IEC connectors to inlet AC from either side. My concern now is the weight and light aiming, so I was wondering if anyone ever played around with using stepper motors for adjusting light height and angle? I'm probably pissing up a rain pipe with that one, but I figured I'd ask anyways. Googling isn't turning up much.

I want to build another fixture and get it running asap, but can't quite afford all of the materials, but I could spring for a new driver. That said, can I run 4 Vero29D COBs on an HLG-480H-C2100 safely? I have a pair of 6 COB fixtures and I'd like to borrow 2 from each to build the 3rd fixture, and then down the road I can purchase the heat sinks and COBs to beef them back up. FWIW, my grow space is only 3'6" x 3'6" and I've already pushed the lights too hard and got light damage and foxtails, I now need to push the Veros down near 60% power, so I feel pretty confident that 4 COB fixtures will suffice for about a month. Thoughts?

Skybound420 said:

I want to build another fixture and get it running asap, but can't quite afford all of the materials, but I could spring for a new driver. That said, can I run 4 Vero29D COBs on an HLG-480H-C2100 safely? I have a pair of 6 COB fixtures and I'd like to borrow 2 from each to build the 3rd fixture, and then down the road I can purchase the heat sinks and COBs to beef them back up. FWIW, my grow space is only 3'6" x 3'6" and I've already pushed the lights too hard and got light damage and foxtails, I now need to push the Veros down near 60% power, so I feel pretty confident that 4 COB fixtures will suffice for about a month. Thoughts?

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vero29d@2100ma= 38.7fv * 4= 154v
that driver has output range from 114-229v. so yes, you can run 4 vero29d on that driver.

pulpoinspace said:

vero29d@2100ma= 38.7fv * 4= 154v
that driver has output range from 114-229v. so yes, you can run 4 vero29d on that driver.

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Thanks for that answer!! In your opinion, is there a threshold or max current I should allow to get to the COBs, or will full strength not hurt them? This is not a lesson I wish to learn the hard way.

Skybound420 said:

Thanks for that answer!! In your opinion, is there a threshold or max current I should allow to get to the COBs, or will full strength not hurt them? This is not a lesson I wish to learn the hard way.

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the maximum drive current for a vero29d is 4200ma. so you're only running them at half. to be clear, you're wiring in series with a constant current driver, correct? so removing 2 chips from the series will not increase the current each chip is getting. they will always get 2100ma. you can run them up to full strength as long as you have adequate cooling. the hotter they run, the sooner they will fail. maximum temperature for those chips is 105C, but you probably want to run them a lot cooler than that.

I run the same cob/current combo on 140mm pin sinks and they never exceed 50 degC @ 80w. The driver you listed should run 6 of those cobs in series, but remember that you will be exposed to extremely high DC voltages so use extreme care-it's lethal.

Yes, I ran 6 in series. Thanks for making me aware of the 4.2A rating. I can't believe I missed that when looking at the datasheet. Now, I'm mad my driver is only pushing the COBs at half strength when the pot is at 100%. Unless in the middle of a heatwave, the 140mm pin sink only gets very warm to the touch so no reason for concern there. I'm fairly skilled with wiring and soldering, but sometimes get confused with the numbers and just wanted to double check before I go spending money I don't have the wrong way. Whether 4 VeroD's will be enough to fill out a room, I will soon test, but at least I can do so safely and not worry if I will ruin anything.

Thanks for the feedback!

While it is possible to push your arrays harder with more current, it does become more difficult to prevent 'hotspots' under each array because their output overwhelms the foliage below them. I don't think that 4 of the 'd' arrays emit sufficient PAR for your area to grow decent dank. I run each of my arrays over a 2 sqft area and even at that it benefits from side lighting during flower. This is where multiple light sources like strips or boards help.

GBAUTO said:

While it is possible to push your arrays harder with more current, it does become more difficult to prevent 'hotspots' under each array because their output overwhelms the foliage below them. I don't think that 4 of the 'd' arrays emit sufficient PAR for your area to grow decent dank. I run each of my arrays over a 2 sqft area and even at that it benefits from side lighting during flower. This is where multiple light sources like strips or boards help.

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I realized shortly after my last post that an attempt to run the Vero's beyond nominal current would also create a lot more heat and the 140mm sinks are only rated for about 75-80 watts and they're already there at nominal. As stated above, I'd only maybe do this for 1 round just to increase my turn around as I switch from a 2 bloom perpetual to a 3 bloom perp. I only have a few days to decide though as my veg closet has a behemoth I need gone asap.

I hope this is where the industry is heading. Now that I've had my COBs running for a couple months, I find myself wanting to get some red/far red Emerson Effect boards to run at lights out. I tried to see if they had COBs out there with RGB lights included and it seems I found Gen 1 of that. How badass would it be if our COBs could drive more blue during lights on and more red at lights off? Sadly, more reading suggests these aren't yet made for horticulture. It's still nice to dream though.

4-in-1 RGB COB array

GBAUTO said:

While it is possible to push your arrays harder with more current, it does become more difficult to prevent 'hotspots' under each array because their output overwhelms the foliage below them. I don't think that 4 of the 'd' arrays emit sufficient PAR for your area to grow decent dank. I run each of my arrays over a 2 sqft area and even at that it benefits from side lighting during flower. This is where multiple light sources like strips or boards help.

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I'm almost to the end of week 7 with 4 D arrays and I managed to exercise a lot of restraint when tuning the potentiometer this round and I'm very impressed. Ever since I started growing this OG Kush generation after generation, my best harvest was 14.5 ounces, and the most recent only 9 ounces. However, I just switched my nute line so it can be that, and also I exercised a lot of restraint when tuning the potentiometer (55% max), I do believe I will pull a pound from this round in 2 weeks, give or take. I have no clue what the actual output is, but I wanted to share my experience. I'll be putting the missing COBs back into the fixture after harvest as I managed to locate the funds needed to get another fixture, but damn I was hoping for average and it looks like I'll be getting more for less.

Just checked the newest B-lux sim... Vero 29 C 3000K 90CRI now hitting 2.7 umol/j at 700ma and 2.9 umol/j at 500ma, 3500K 80CRI hitting 3.1 at 500ma!

Where will the madness end?

Rahz said:

Just checked the newest B-lux sim... Vero 29 C 3000K 90CRI now hitting 2.7 umol/j at 700ma and 2.9 umol/j at 500ma, 3500K 80CRI hitting 3.1 at 500ma!

Where will the madness end?

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Hey all I am trying to figure out if this will work I got a inventronics eud-240s320dt it says 23-107 vdc 3.2amp max 240 watt max I wanna know if I run 2 Vero 29 b se's in series and on each one can I run one parallel on each so 4 altogether will this work there 3000k 50 volt ones

It should work. Would run 4 at 56w each at 1120ma. Could probably push it to about 58 watts (PSU output of 2300ma)

175 LPW
10150 lumens
2.5 umol/j
145 umol/s.
Total PPF for 4 would be 580 umol/s.

Rahz said:

It should work. Would run 4 at 56w each at 1120ma. Could probably push it to about 58 watts (PSU output of 2300ma)

175 LPW
10150 lumens
2.5 umol/j
145 umol/s.
Total PPF for 4 would be 580 umol/s.

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Thanks alot rahz for answering me so fast!!!

Rahz said:

It should work. Would run 4 at 56w each at 1120ma. Could probably push it to about 58 watts (PSU output of 2300ma)

175 LPW
10150 lumens
2.5 umol/j
145 umol/s.
Total PPF for 4 would be 580 umol/s.

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What about the 36 volt 4000k se's on it I have 6 of those and I have 2 36 volt 3500k se's. I also have a another inventronics 29-57 volt x 4 @ 700ma supposedly 160 watts and I have a infineon 140 watt 4channel 46-52 @0.68 x 4. What do you think would work best using the 50 volt ones of those 3 drivers I really appreciate it!!

I have a few Area 51 W90 lights with the vero 29 I believe gen 1 cob’s, what would be the best upgrade bins to do a swap into gen 7 or gen 8 Vero 29 cob’s? Also what driver should I use to run each cob? I plan on reusing the heat sink and fan that come with the Area 51 fixture.

swagslayer420 said:

I have a few Area 51 W90 lights with the vero 29 I believe gen 1 cob’s, what would be the best upgrade bins to do a swap into gen 7 or gen 8 Vero 29 cob’s? Also what driver should I use to run each cob? I plan on reusing the heat sink and fan that come with the Area 51 fixture.

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Theirs no binning in cob's anymore. I would go with a 36 volt. S.E. Vero29


And pair it with the HLG-100-36V B

The Dawg said:

Theirs no binning in cob's anymore. I would go with a 36 volt. S.E. Vero29

Vero™ SE 29 Array Series - Bridgelux - Chip On Board (COB) | Online Catalog | DigiKey Electronics

Browse DigiKey's inventory of Vero™ SE 29 Array SeriesChip On Board (COB). Features, Specifications, Alternative Product, Product Training Modules, and Datasheets are all available.

www.digikey.com

And pair it with the HLG-100-36V B

HLG Series CV+CC Metal Case Power Supply from Mean Well

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What would be the best 3k COB part number for 29 SE? Thanks for the help!