A dimmable driver is fine, as long as the dimming adjustment is thumb-adjustable. The ones HLG uses seem really janky to me (strictly in terms of the plastic screw you’re meant to adjust.)
1 Like
I like this project a lot. I’m tuned in 
2 Likes
They all have plastic screw. But meanwell is 100x better than what mars was sending their lights with.
1 Like
I’m not married to a pot switch, if there’s a better solution. And the plastic screws aren’t a dealbreaker; I don’t adjust my 135 at all.
1 Like
I get it, just don’t think it’s that big of deal if you use the proper screwdriver. Whatever you think works best will do.
What kind of extrusions do you have access to?
1 Like
Standard profiles from a few local suppliers, catalog options (McMaster, aircraft spruce), and a sheet metal fabricator friend.
1 Like
Chilled tech boards are available in 20" length, would need almost 2" wide sinks for those. Most of the other stuff available would be about 1" wide.
1 Like
Could a thin (gauge) aluminum board serve as a heatsink, or does it need to be a finned profile that maximizes surface area?
Unless the ChilLED boards outperform the rest, I’d prefer a greater number of narrow boards to 2-3 wide boards.
The PLC PhotoBoost strips are on sale right now at $25 each. PLC recommends an HLG40h-c1400 driver. How’s something like this look as a starting point?
This assumes a 22-1/4" x 22-1/4" aluminum sheet (1/16"). That’d be cheap or free. PLC has a good price on heatsinks right now, but I could get simple 1"x1" square tube locally for a little less.
3 Likes
If you run plc strips at 1400ma yoi will want a heatsink extrusion that increases surface area for cooling. At lower current you could get away with less surface area for cooling. Thst may also require you to purchase more strips though to hit total light target.
Whatever you want to do here is fine, the performance of each is dependent on the operating current of each. If you want base leds plus 660nm in same strip there are a few, but not a lot. All of them are pretty much using leds that are comparable in performance too. The difference will be in number of leds per pcb. The chilled tech and Samsung boards provide multiple rows of leds is the reason they are wider. That being said, I don’t expect that you would see big difference between running 3-4 chilled strips vs 6 photo boost strips. It would appear that canopy intensity would be a little more balanced with more smaller strips, but you would also have more drop off at edges. Ends up being a wash imo.
The layout looks pretty good. We will just have to work out current and cooling. I think there was typo in your post about driver, did you mean hlg-240h-c1400? That is proper driver for 6 strips at 1400ma. A hlg-185h-c1400 with 5 strips is probably plenty for the space. If you want to drop current some you could do 7 strips on hlg-185h-c1050a. There is a lot of options really when you start looking at different current.
1 Like
Yeah, I meant the Meanwell HLG-240h-c1400. I accidentally deleted the 2.
The advantage of 7 strips at a lower current is that the bulbs will last longer, right? I’m not sure that I care, since the technology is progressing so fast and my energy costs are so high.
The heatsinks are $7.50 each at PLC right now. If you know of a better source, let me know. If I understand correctly, square tube would be inferior and not worth the savings.
1 Like
I used heat sink USA for my heat sinks. If I remember correctly they were very reasonable.
1 Like
Yeah, they’re even less expensive. Thanks for reminding me to check them.
1 Like
They would likely last longer. But bigger advantage would be increased electrical efficiency, less waste heat, and increased coverage. One thing you could do there is tighten up spacing on end pairs of strips a little to combat the typical drop off at edges. Doesn’t make sense with 5-6 because then you wouldn’t have much in middle. Going to 7 strips though changes that a little.
They are still great strips at 1400ma. Just throwing other options out. But I would definitely go with plc sinks or heatsink usa over a tubing profile.
I’ll order the PCBs this morning. If I can order 7, I’ll go that route. If I can’t, hopefully I can at least get 6.
1 Like
Sounds good. Driver usually not a problem and can get them quickly. Strips not so much lol
1 Like
Is $25 per 96chip (+4 red) board a good price? I’m doing the math and after $60 shipping the boards alone are $240.
I guess my question is what kind of ppfd is this thing going to average (estimated, obviously)?
Are you looking at the PLC light?
1 Like