Help with DIY LED

[blimblom]

Meanwells are rock solid, but it doesnt hurt to put some fuses rated above your working mA but below the max mA the LEDs can handle. for example for BLUE you should get a fuse over 700 but under 1000mA

as for drivers, for the blue string I would prefer the LPC-35-700 which is quite cheaper but same quality.
for the REDs I would adjust the eln 30-48 at around 550mA for cooler/more efficient function.

as for the price... last year at around the same time when I built my 60Watt LED light , I payed nearly 350€ so I wouldnt complain if I was in your shoes lol lol . (and I used one ELN-60-48 with 2 parallel strings to save some money).

proconnecting has the cheapest meanwells I have found in europe (if someone has found something cheaper please do tell).

LED teile has some very cheap chinese LED so if you want to save something you can buy the B/W from the 3W series they have at 1euro per piece, and leave the GDs only for the REDs. GD which are double the price, but I doubt if its double the efficiency.

 

[alkalien]

The actual problem with the top Meanwells is getting your hands on them in decent time! I had mine ordered from China/Taiwan, took several weeks.

I don't know a single european shop that had on stock meanwell drivers at reasonable prices. A driver which costs arround 35€ shouldn't be sold for more than 120€!!!

 

[trem0lo]

Hey autojuice here's a little tutorial I put up using Osrams and Meanwell drivers. Maybe it will help!

Oh, one more thing regarding your heatsink question. You want 9 square inches of surface area for every watt of LED used.

 

[autojuice]

Hey autojuice here's a little tutorial I put up using Osrams and Meanwell drivers. Maybe it will help!

Oh, one more thing regarding your heatsink question. You want 9 square inches of surface area for every watt of LED used.

Thats a good post,so where was ur a$$ when I needed you lol? Just kidding. Imma have to check your thread if you have one

 

[budlover123]

Words of advice, be careful with that soldering iron near those silicone lenses on the leds, they'll melt like hot glue.

Whoever made the point about soldering things that are well heat sinked, that is exactly right, I didn't think of that until I read it here but that's probably why I hate soldering these things so much.

A 15-watt soldering iron will barely do the job, I say get at least a 25 watt soldering iron for the job.

 

[budlover123]

Now does this look somewhat safe lol? Would this be approved by you guys if someone else wants to copy this? I prob need some fuses?

how many drivers did you get? If it's just one rated high enough to power all those LED's you'd definitely want some fuses to protect the LEDs from being overloaded in the event of a loose connection.

For example, if a loose connection occurs on a circuit split 4 ways, in a way that all the current winds up on one segment of the circuit, it will likely be too much current for the LEDs and could burn them out.

I like to use 700mA drivers split into 2 parallel segments so each segment gets 350mA and in the event of a loose connection, the overloaded segment will only receive 700mA.

 

[trem0lo]

Words of advice, be careful with that soldering iron near those silicone lenses on the leds, they'll melt like hot glue.

Whoever made the point about soldering things that are well heat sinked, that is exactly right, I didn't think of that until I read it here but that's probably why I hate soldering these things so much.

A 15-watt soldering iron will barely do the job, I say get at least a 25 watt soldering iron for the job.

This is true. Mine is a 25 watt and it took more time than I liked to heat up the sites enough for the solder to adhere. I had to redo some of the sites as they weren't conducting properly. But it works, it's handy to have around and cost me something like $15.

When I built my lamp it was my first time soldering anything. Between burning a hole in myself and my table I'm surprised none of the LEDs were harmed

 

[blimblom]

Hey autojuice here's a little tutorial I put up using Osrams and Meanwell drivers. Maybe it will help!

Oh, one more thing regarding your heatsink question. You want 9 square inches of surface area for every watt of LED used.

9sq in / watt = around 60cm2 / watt .

for passive heatsink this is a bit on the aggresive . Most people tend to use 100-125cm2 / watt for passive heatsink . I used nearly 90cm2 and get heatsink temperatures of around 35-40C and junction temperature of around 60-70C

 

[trem0lo]

9sq in / watt = around 60cm2 / watt .

for passive heatsink this is a bit on the aggresive . Most people tend to use 100-125cm2 / watt for passive heatsink . I used nearly 90cm2 and get heatsink temperatures of around 35-40C and junction temperature of around 60-70C

Sorry should have clarified. 9 sq inches for an actively cooled heat sink.