need help finding the right driver

williamjacobs641 · Oct 4, 2011

I have for heat sinks the 2 bigger ones have 40 leds and the smaller 2 have 32 leds.(half white half blue). I'm looking. For 2 drivers that can run the big heatsinks and 2 that can run the smaller heatsinks. Leds are driven at 700ma. Or is it possible to get two drivers that can run all of it? If so on these two question, where can I get these drivers for someone on a budget. Also the drivers need to be dimmable.

wld1783 · Oct 4, 2011

The Inventronics 150 watt driver can drive up to 60 LEDs in series. its froward voltage range is 107-214 VDC. The downside is its not class II and your soldering has to be perfect.

The Mean Well HLG 240- 48B is class II but is 5A so you would have to run parallel strings.

Bill

williamjacobs641 · Oct 4, 2011

Instructions please. It looks like I would haveto run 4 drivers. Wich drivers would I use on the 2 small heatsinks. They have each 4rows of 8 leds ( 2 w and 2 b). On the bigger heatsink I have 4 rows of 10 leds on each(2 w and 2 b).

jaytizzle · Oct 4, 2011

William, I wouldn't fool with a non-Class II driver. Unless you're experienced with high voltage electrical work, I wouldn't touch it as there's way too many things to go wrong. Stick to the lower voltage drivers and just use a couple more of them. There are plenty of inventronics drivers that could work for you with the most common being the 40W 700mA drivers that will power about 15 diodes and run you about $35 each.

williamjacobs641 · Oct 4, 2011

Ok what driver can run 4 rows of 10 3w leds.?

jaytizzle · Oct 4, 2011

williamjacobs641 said:
Ok what driver can run 4 rows of 10 3w leds.?

What's the Vf on the diodes that you're using? Cree XP-E RB diodes have a general Vf of 3.4V at 700mA. Assuming you use that value, that's 136V.

If you look here: http://www.inventronics-co.com/uploads/DS-EUC-096SxxxST_DT_%2020101221%20A.pdf
you can see that the 96W 700mA driver will output 137VDC. This could work for your application but you are at the very upper end of its use.

Also, here: http://www.inventronics-co.com/uploads/DS-EUC-100SxxxDT 20110114 E.pdf
The 100W 700mA driver will output 143VDC.

Basically, figure out what the Vf is for your diodes and you can size a driver from there. Again, though, these are non-Class II drivers and can be very dangerous.

ReefLEDLights · Oct 4, 2011

jaytizzle said:
Again, though, these are non-Class II drivers and can be very dangerous.

+1

jaytizzle said:
If you look here: http://www.inventronics-co.com/uploads/DS-EUC-096SxxxST_DT_%2020101221%20A.pdf
you can see that the 96W 700mA driver will output 137VDC. This could work for your application but you are at the very upper end of its use.

I have to check and see if we have any 96w left too.

williamjacobs641 · Oct 4, 2011

Well are there a meanwells that can run 4 or 6 rows of 10 leds. Jt they do run at 3.4 at 700ma.

wld1783 · Oct 4, 2011

Yes the HLG series but you would have to do parallel strings. If your good with that and are comfortable with a slight imbalance between strings its a good option.

The Inventronics 40 watt dimmable drivers are about the same price x total current, less a power strip and can do 15 LEDs in series.

Bill

williamjacobs641 · Oct 5, 2011

Which one would I need? And how many strings of can it run with the meanwells?

CJO · Oct 5, 2011

williamjacobs641- I'm just wondering how much research you've done to this point? You've gotten some good advice, but I'm not sure that you are to the point where you can use it successfully. I'd hate for you to spend a lot of money on this and then blow a bunch of LEDs as soon as you connect it.

Have you started with the basics-
How big is your tank?
What type of LEDs are you looking to use?
Do you know that upsides and downsides of using parallel strings? (I'm a proponent of them, but you do have to do some extra work)
What size heat sink(s) are you planning on using?
Are you using active cooling or passive cooling?

If I'm wrong and you already have these answers and are comfortable with them, I'll apologize in advance. I just want to make sure that you get a good experience the first time out.

CJ

williamjacobs641 · Oct 5, 2011

I have 4 heatsinks. 2 of them are 8x22 and the others are 10x19. The 8x22 have 40 leds and the other 2 have 32 leds. I have a dsa 185g tank. Right now I use 8 drivers for all of my leds. I want to bring that number down. I also plan to add 2 39w or 54w t5 to the tank. Optics are half 60degree and 80 degree. My lights are 12 inches above the water and getiing par # around 250 on the sand bed. I m. A newbe to leds . Because I killed almost all of my sps , not acclumating them over a long period and I keep changeing the lens out. Plus my nits were up a little.but I finally got the look that I like,but just want 2 t5 to bring out a few other colors out. All my lps look great.