REALSTYLES DIY CXB3590 TUTORIAL

Here's the tutorial I promised a couple of people on here and I'll try my best to explain what I've learned on RIU from the LED guru's and I really don't see any real DIY panel threads on here. Just remember you get what you pay for.



First off I like running my 3590's at 700ma and I dim them to 350ma it lowers the heat the panels give off and it increases lm/w and efficiency. I use Meanwell HLG-185H-C700A 4 cobs per driver and 8 cobs per panel. Now lets get started here's a list of things you'll need to make a panel like mine.

• Tools: wire stripper, drill ( I have a drill press), drill bits 1/8, 5/32, 3/16, 3/16-NC18 tap and a square ruler

• Misc: solder, shrink tubing, 18ga wire I use solid wire not twisted for my application, 2 and 5 conductor Wagos. I stopped using wire nuts makes a much cleaner step up.

Parts for the panel.

1. (8)Cree CXB3590 what ever color you choose.
2. (8) Ideal 2023-CR cob holders
3. (2) Meanwell HLG-185H-C700A
4. (1) Thermaltake Pure 20 fan
5. (1) 10"x24" heatsink from heatsinkusa.com
6. (4) 5/16" x 3-1/4" eyebolts
7. (4) #10-24 x 2" machine screws
8. (4) #8-24 x 2" machine screws
9. (2) 6" of chain
10. (6) spring chain links
11. 15ft extension cord
12. Rhino molex acdc adapter

I'll be making another panel and taking pics step by step this will be my 11th panel.

Now to mark the heat sink where the cobs are gonna go. I forgot to add a sharpie to the list of what you need. I'll go and edit it.

First thing I did was mark the heatsink at 2" first


And then I marked it at 12"


and then at 2" on the other side


I also marked it at 5" to place the center cobs properly and I also mearued 5" from the 2" mark to the 12" mark it also helps me align the fan

I marked where the drivers will be mounted



I went ahead and drilled out the hole without showing you me drilling them out boring but I will show you me tapping them out though and make sure you use oil when drilling and tapping. I found out the hard way. I kept breaking shit and going back to Lowes lol

WOW! This is GOLD

Now it's time to install the eye bolts first



Eye bolts are now installed now to move on to installing the COBs the the COB holder and then applying thermal grease.





make sure to turn and spread the grease like this in a circular motion to help spread evenly

I also screw them down one at a time

Love the color of light you choose for your fixture,what K color COBs is that?


I am sick of that purple-red panels and those "toxic" light for eyes...



Great show man,all the best


DS

Dog Star said:

Love the color of light you choose for your fixture,what K color COBs is that?


I am sick of that purple-red panels and those "toxic" light for eyes...



Great show man,all the best


DS

Click to expand...

3500k mixed with some 5000k

Thanx man,

it looks like Sun natural spectrum,very good color for eyes too.

Reals, have you done any heat dissipation tests?

Seems to me having the cobs too close to the corners = concentrated heat too close to the cobs.

Could significantly shorten their life expectancy

PetFlora said:

Reals, have you done any heat dissipation tests?

Seems to me having the cobs too close to the corners = concentrated heat too close to the cobs.

Could significantly shorten their life expectancy

Click to expand...

Based on the driver, RS is running a 72v 3590 @350ma which is using only 25% of the chips potential, he could probably run fanless if he wanted. With a 5k DB binned chip (the second brightest in the line), RS is getting maybe 5k lumens from that current so his unit is ~36-40k lumens in this config. And probably cold as ice with that one fan.

3590's are probably the baddest assed led cobs ever commercially made. But without an engineering degree, to build custom drivers, they are difficult to utilize.
Why?
Because you have virtually no drivers commercially available to run them at their optimum levels at a remotely affordable price. Dammit said the same thing twice ...

Driver designs have limitations, compromises that are made between voltage and current. You need a Constant Current Driver to give you 280 volts to run four 3590's ? Fine , but you will need to sacrifice the maximum current available, meaning you only get max 700ma in a driver design you can build commercially and make a profit on.

Same goes for the current side of it; say you are using the 32v 3590 and you want to run 4 on a driver. thats 144v but wait , the current these chips accept goes up over 3 amps! does meanwell make a driver for this ? Not that I can find (could be wrong , Ive been searching for only about 4 months), so Im making an assuption yes, but if driver manufacturers could make drivers for the 3590s affordably, they would have done so already, these chips have been out for nearly 2 years, right?

So yeah , maybe Im wrong and a few of you enlightened individuals can school me and tell me what an idot I am , but this is just where im at right now.

Which leads me to ask this question; Is it possible to stack drivers on a rail? Could you wire 2 HLG-185H-C1400 (1400ma@71-143v) in parallel for a string of 3590 led's? Would that give you double your voltage and current ?
Its been 30 years since my high school electronics classes, so Im a little fuzzy on this.

Could that be the reason major grow light companies arent using these chips? I mean , yes these manu's have EE's on staff to design the drivers for their lights , but is it possible noone would drop 5 grand for it ? Ive seen stadium lighting up to 800w going for ~$3-4k, aircooled and hitting 96k lumens, but those arent using the 3590's.... I mean , I wouldnt pay 3 grand for a light when an hps is going for 1/10th of that...

Oh and THANKS Realstyles, for the ICMag 3590 Tutorial.

I wish someone sold COB fixtures. I don't have any of the required tools or know-how and would probably end up messing everything up and wasting money.

PetFlora said:

Reals, have you done any heat dissipation tests?

Seems to me having the cobs too close to the corners = concentrated heat too close to the cobs.

Could significantly shorten their life expectancy

Click to expand...

Yes but I'm running them softer than others for the summer and will crank them up to 700ma for the winter lol. I've use a IR laser thermometer and at 700ma it's 98.7F or 37C and at 350ma it's 86F or 30C tested at the ends where the cobs are suppose to be the hottest which it is.

psyphish said:

I wish someone sold COB fixtures. I don't have any of the required tools or know-how and would probably end up messing everything up and wasting money.

Click to expand...

http://opticgrowlights.com. But it will be a lot cheaper to make.

Now it's time to wire in series the installed cobs in their holders.

First I measure the wire lenghts



Then I wire from + to - to + - in a series of 4 for each driver. Installing wire but you only have to strip 2mm off the wire

Now that everything is wired up



Let's install the drivers

Meanwell driver #1


Meanwell driver #2


I used the #8-32 x2" machine screws with the nuts to secure the drivers safely.

REALSTYLES said:

http://opticgrowlights.com. But it will be a lot cheaper to make.

Click to expand...

500 watt CXB3090 LED Grow Light $1,279.99

most expensive 500 watts ever?

psyphish said:

500 watt CXB3090 LED Grow Light $1,279.99

most expensive 500 watts ever?

Click to expand...

Around $700 for the one I make and it's not that hard and my light is 413watts that you can dim

psyphish said:

500 watt CXB3090 LED Grow Light $1,279.99

most expensive 500 watts ever?

Click to expand...

On Sale now $1059 , psyphish

lets do some theory numbers , psy

you could build your own for less than half that
4 - 3070's - $148
4 - meanwell 709-NPF120D-48 - $222
4 - highend cpu heatsinks - $44
1 - power supply for fans - $10
1 - scrounged box to put it in - $0-20

Theres your "500 watt" optigrow clone for ~$434 add $50 for shipping and stuff so lets say $500

realistically, this is a 240 watt light they have built. and lets say you ran yours at %70 load, that would give you 2200ma and 270 watts with 44k lumens , in theory.

BTW - you wont be running it at 500 watts and neither does Optic. 464w is the max theoretical watts for 4 cb bin 3070's @ 3k 80 cri chips @ 2.8a. they claim 140k lux as well which is pure marketing fluff. A lux is 1 lumen per sq meter. at a theoretical max , these four cobs will only do 60k lumens , much less 60k lux

OR - you could build a better setup than optic grow based on the HLG-185H-C1400B
which will run 3 3070's @ 1400ma

6 3070s - 222
2 HLG-185H-C1400B - 140
6 heatsinks - 66
1 power supply -10
1 case - 0-20

~450$ add maybe 50 for shipping in stuff so $500
this is a theory practice , so yrmv.

56k theoretic lumens at 300 true watts or more lumens in theory than realstyles light for $250 less. now when OP cranks up his current to 700ma in the winter , it will in theory produce 66584 lumens tho, so his wont be locked into a specific current , ie his has more headroom than this light would have, being maxed out at 1.4a
and his design is a true 400 watt light.

Im not trying to show you up , realstyles , please dont think im disrespecting or hijacking your thread, just demonstrating the markup of the light manu's and how with some amount of booklearnin , most people can understand how to build these wonderful diy lights.

maybe I should start a growlight company and call it no bullshit lights. tell the truth in the marketing. publish real world testing data instead of numbers pulled outta my ass and use something besides an ammo box for the case lol

RealS I would have PMd you but maybe you have that feature blocked

Anyway, I noticed 2 dogs in your tutorial pics, think you might want to check out the real Pet Flora, my company's flagship product

http://www.vitalityscience.com/v/AllProducts/pet-flora-dog/sbo-probiotic.asp