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LED FAQ) Building and DIY

G

giantsfan24

New member
Roasty McToasty said:
Thank you all for great input. I picked up a 100k pots, so hopefully that works. Seems simple enough. Been pretty gacked out working on this project. Friggin love it.

So let met tell ya all how its coming together. I found 3 pieces of 1/8" sheet metal in the trash at a job site, Each piece is identical, 27.5" x 8.5". Two pieces were placed side by side, and the third is used to join them all together. This was accomplished by pre-drilling holes and then self tappers were used to secure very solidly. Now I have one piece that's 27.5" x 17". For max spread I've placed the four COB's in each corner of the plate. 2.5" hole saw at each COB placement. Had to jigsaw notch the hole a bit for wire and chip holder to fit. Not too much though. Used some 8-32 screws at 3/8" they are perfect for both chip holders and through the sheet-metal into the heat-sink.

I'm pretty happy with the way things look so far. Take a look.

View attachment 350319

View attachment 350320

Peace, Roast.
Click to expand...

Hey roasty, just out of curiosity, seems like you have a perfect space for a cob in the middle there. Is there a reason your not doing that?
 
K

krood

Active member
So i finally finished my light!!! And everything seems to be going good so far. Ill try to add some pics tomorrow or something

The setup is 8 cxb 3070s driven by meanwell hlg185 c-1400a (might be a little off, this is off the top of my head)

My meanwell hlg185 drivers are pretty warm, id call them hot even. To the bare hand its close to being uncomfortable. I have about five feet of 18awg single strand coming from the drivers to cobs, and i have the both drivers wired to one 14ga extension cord plug if that helps.

Other than that seems to be working great, tomorrow im going to get a screw driver and tune the drivers down and see what they say when i hook them up to the killawatt meter.
 
Roasty McToasty

Roasty McToasty

Member
krood said:
So i finally finished my light!!! And everything seems to be going good so far. Ill try to add some pics tomorrow or something

The setup is 8 cxb 3070s driven by meanwell hlg185 c-1400a (might be a little off, this is off the top of my head)

My meanwell hlg185 drivers are pretty warm, id call them hot even. To the bare hand its close to being uncomfortable. I have about five feet of 18awg single strand coming from the drivers to cobs, and i have the both drivers wired to one 14ga extension cord plug if that helps.

Other than that seems to be working great, tomorrow im going to get a screw driver and tune the drivers down and see what they say when i hook them up to the killawatt meter.
Click to expand...

I believe you need 2 of those drivers to power 8 cobs. Are you using 1 for all 8?
 
J

jesbuds

Member
When I had my setup testing, my HLG185 never got more than warm to touch, not anything that was even close to uncomfortable hot but I'm also not running them at max load so maybe that's my difference.
 
K

krood

Active member
Im going to tune them down and see, lastnight i turned the whole light off because it got what i thought was too hot, felt like i was going to burn my hand when i touched it

I do have two drivers to run the eight cobs, and they are wired in parallel to the wall, not with wago connectors, but with ideal push connectors(practically same thing) i seem to remember dion saying that was fine to do
 
Dawn Patrol

Dawn Patrol

Well this is some bullshit right here.....
Veteran
I just measured both of mine (each running (4) CXB3070) and they are quite hot to the touch - 125 degrees. Really glad I mounted them outside of the cabinet.
 
Koondense

Koondense

Well-known member
Veteran
A note on heat from drivers.
I have two hlg185c1400 version A and my first impression was they were too hot to touch.
After multiple rechecking i find the temperature to be nice warm. They're not on full load and temperature is constant so it was my feeling that changed, no doubt.
Just a minute ago i rechecked and could hold them easily without problem, so my guess the problem here is "subjective temperature perception" and "inaccurate descriptive words for levels of heat":)
 
K

krood

Active member
I think i had too much distance from the cobs to the drivers. I cut the wires and ziptied the drivers directly to the light itself, and not outside of the tent also i tuned down the drivers, now the drivers are only luke warm.

Lucky thing because this morning they got so hot that i couldnt even pick the drivers up. I tried to buy a laser thermometer today to find the actual surface temperature, but no luck.

Does anyone know if when tuning the driver up or down does the power have to be off or does it not matter as long as you dont overpower anything. Which my driver shouldnt.
 
Phychotron

Phychotron

Member
Roasty McToasty said:
All I can find is 18 awg stranded. Will that work if i dab the tip with solder before i push it in the chip holder?

Peace, Roast.
Click to expand...

Always pre-tin EVERYTHING before you solder. If you have a hole you need to put the wire through, tin that, melt it and quickly push the wire through (have it resting on the part/hole so gravity shoves the wire into it as it heats). You shouldn't need to apply any extra solder if everything is pre-tinned.

Make sure you have a HOT enough soldering iron, ~40w works fast and won't heat up the surrounding area--only flash melting the solder. You should not hold the iron on your parts for more than 2 seconds. And a good way to not burn your parts up is to hand hold the stuff close to your joints, so if it burns your fingers will feel it and drop the part before you destroy it with heat. If you have to re-do something its usually best to let the whole thing cool again before putting the iron back on the joint.

Solid line tends to break and rip off your soldered joints. Make sure if you use solid wire that you DO NOT MOVE THE WIRE, EVER! Stranded you can solder on, and bend back and forth and not break the connection. I've always heard stranded wire was better anyway.


http://www.rowand.net/Shop/Tech/WireCapacityChart.htm

"Stranded vs. Solid Wire This one is a bit of a mind-boggler, but it's important. When electricity flows through a wire, it mostly flows on the surface of the wire, not through the middle. This effect is more pronounced on high frequency AC than it is on DC or low frequency AC. This means that a "wire" of a given size that made up of many smaller strands can carry more power than a solid wire - simply because the stranded wire has more surface area. This is one reason why battery cables in your car and welding cables are made up of many very fine strands of smaller wire - it allows them to safely carry more power with less of that power being dissipated as heat. However, this "skin" effect is not as pronounced in a typical 12V DC automotive application, and the wire and cable used there is stranded for flexibility reasons."
 
Last edited:
Roasty McToasty

Roasty McToasty

Member
Phychotron said:
Always pre-tin EVERYTHING before you solder. If you have a hole you need to put the wire through, tin that, melt it and quickly push the wire through (have it resting on the part/hole so gravity shoves the wire into it as it heats). You shouldn't need to apply any extra solder if everything is pre-tinned.

Make sure you have a HOT enough soldering iron, ~40w works fast and won't heat up the surrounding area--only flash melting the solder. You should not hold the iron on your parts for more than 2 seconds. And a good way to not burn your parts up is to hand hold the stuff close to your joints, so if it burns your fingers will feel it and drop the part before you destroy it with heat. If you have to re-do something its usually best to let the whole thing cool again before putting the iron back on the joint.

Solid line tends to break and rip off your soldered joints. Make sure if you use solid wire that you DO NOT MOVE THE WIRE, EVER! Stranded you can solder on, and bend back and forth and not break the connection. I've always heard stranded wire was better anyway.


http://www.rowand.net/Shop/Tech/WireCapacityChart.htm

"Stranded vs. Solid Wire This one is a bit of a mind-boggler, but it's important. When electricity flows through a wire, it mostly flows on the surface of the wire, not through the middle. This effect is more pronounced on high frequency AC than it is on DC or low frequency AC. This means that a "wire" of a given size that made up of many smaller strands can carry more power than a solid wire - simply because the stranded wire has more surface area. This is one reason why battery cables in your car and welding cables are made up of many very fine strands of smaller wire - it allows them to safely carry more power with less of that power being dissipated as heat. However, this "skin" effect is not as pronounced in a typical 12V DC automotive application, and the wire and cable used there is stranded for flexibility reasons."
Click to expand...


THANK YOU!!!
 
Phychotron

Phychotron

Member
No problem. I always wondered why you need a third hand when soldering until I realized that pre-tinning was the way to go. Your wire strands don't flare out and keeps the joint clean and to a minimum. A few more things I've learned recently:

There are times when you have to feed/glob it on there direct (e.g. circuit boards) but they are rare. Sometimes you just want a stronger connection.

With pre-tinning you can keep the actual bare wire/joint much shorter (1mm). Which is more consistent with manufactured electronics.

On sensitive electronics pre-tin and let it cool before connecting.

Shrink wrap tubing is cheap, check ebay, China direct to anywhere.

Flux: The "core" of solder. It removes the oxidation from the surface of the metal and allows the solder to bond to it.

Rosin core is for electronics. Rosin core has enough for most applications, but if you re use solder a lot you can run out. Either apply new solder or get some paste.

Acid core solder should never be used for electronics, it will corrode them. Its for welding radiators and such.

De-soldering braid is a bunch of tiny stranded wires weaved together. it will absorb the solder off your parts like a sponge. Good to have around to clean up messy jobs. If you don't have any you can use some uninsulated braided wire to kinda soak up some of the excess.

Get a wet sponge/paper towel to wipe the tip of the soldering iron on occasionally to clean it. The old solder that collects at the tip really sucks and makes it harder to heat the joint properly. Every 2-4 uses give it a quick wipe on both sides.

You don't always need to hand hold the iron, you can have it safely resting on something and the iron overhanging (i like to point the tip downward to collect excess solder at the tip). touch the tinned parts to the bottom of the iron quickly and remove. Helpful if your trying to not burn your components and hand holding very close to the join.

I have a point tip iron and a flat tip iron, I like the flat one much better. the point would be more suited for precision electronics.

I think that's about all I've learned. I'm sure there's more to it but I've just been getting into it again. I used to solder stuff when I was a teenager but was never really good at it--I learned from my cousin who also didn't know how to solder.
 
L

luvdemshrooms

Member
Roasty McToasty said:
So for this application would you use rosin core?
Click to expand...

For stranded wire you must use rosin core. The alternative is water-soluble. Water-soluble flux is corrosive. It wicks between the strands and as a result... wicks up into the insulated parts of the wire. There is no way to effectively clean the flux from stranded wire. It will slowly but surely corrode. Rosin core is also known as 'no-clean' solder.


[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]All I can find is 18 awg stranded. Will that work if i dab the tip with solder before i push it in the chip holder?
Click to expand...


Here are the instructions: http://www.idealind.com/media/pdfs/products/instructions/ND_7868-8_50-21_Instructions.pdf

You don't need to tin first.
[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][/FONT]
 
Roasty McToasty

Roasty McToasty

Member
luvdemshrooms said:
For stranded wire you must use rosin core. The alternative is water-soluble. Water-soluble flux is corrosive. It wicks between the strands and as a result... wicks up into the insulated parts of the wire. There is no way to effectively clean the flux from stranded wire. It will slowly but surely corrode. Rosin core is also known as 'no-clean' solder.




Here are the instructions: http://www.idealind.com/media/pdfs/products/instructions/ND_7868-8_50-21_Instructions.pdf

You don't need to tin first.
[/size][/font]
Click to expand...


THANK YOU SHROOM!

Peace, Roast.
 
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