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LED FAQ) Building and DIY

bpwilly

New member
lately, on the dimmable meanwell ballasts, what are you guys using for a dimmer on the ballasts without the onboard potentiometer ?

gmanwho, I can only add what I used, and that was the B type meanweel ballast, and with that one, I used a 100K potentiometer on each driver. Not sure if one can hook them all together, but as they are fairly low cost, I did not mind using 3 for my last light build which has 3 HLG-185H-C1050B drivers on it. Hope this helps.
:tiphat:
 

jikko77

Active member
lately, on the dimmable meanwell ballasts, what are you guys using for a dimmer on the ballasts without the onboard potentiometer ?

the internal pot is present, speaking of meanwell, just on the model A.
use an external one means open the case and replace it, something i wont advice for, isn't too hard, but you wold void any warrenty on the driver.

get a model B, it has a couple pin for the external dimmer, either a resistive pot or whatever you decide to use.

model D2 and DA should be good with dali controller, but i don't have much info on this yet.
 

Dion

Active member
hi, why not use 18AWG speakers wire to connect COB? may it be dangerous?

yes I agree, only problem is pushing them into the solder less cob holders a lot of ppl use.

For that you will need solid core wire, sometimes it's call single strand.

You can try it with the multicore, I've done it... but skimping on wire is usually a horrible idea.
 

Dion

Active member
gmanwho, I can only add what I used, and that was the B type meanweel ballast, and with that one, I used a 100K potentiometer on each driver. Not sure if one can hook them all together, but as they are fairly low cost, I did not mind using 3 for my last light build which has 3 HLG-185H-C1050B drivers on it. Hope this helps.
:tiphat:

yes, if u look at the data sheet for the driver you will see(2nd page i think) 50k for 2, 33k for 3 ect
 

bpwilly

New member
yes, if u look at the data sheet for the driver you will see(2nd page i think) 50k for 2, 33k for 3 ect

Dion,
Thanks a bunch. I completely missed seeing that. I will have to try this when I get a chance and some 33K potentiometer. I need to add this bit of knowledge to my notes. Thanks again!
 

Dion

Active member
stop inboxing me answered questions

stop inboxing me answered questions

ok, so a lot of you just want your questions answered and thats totally fine, some of you want to understand how to find your own answers, thats cool too.

I will respond to messages in my inbox only if questions have not been answered or the answer is not obvious when u read the data sheet.

here is an example

"dion, some months ago you write me throught the forum "hey dude, ill try and help you
vero 7 vs cree CXB3590

vero produces more light
vero produces less heat
vero is cheaper

vero D versione is what you want for ur driver.(its the 37v version)
vero doesn't have bins so just choose the 80CRI 3500K or 4000K"

and now you say me "BUT THE VERO CAN NEVER BE AS EFFICENCT AS THE CREE"what's wrong?"


well whats wrong is you dont understand LEDs.
if you bothered to read the data sheets for both cobs you would understand

cree cxb3590 is an amazing cob and can get some crazy good efficiency up to 200L per watt from memory, but that doesn't mean that everyone using them is getting that efficiency. Why? because to get that efficient you would need to run your $50 cob at around 10w, so thats $5 per watt.....nobody is doing that.


in a nut shell at normal 50w per cob the vero 7 is just a hair behind the cree, but at 75w the vero is kicking cree's ass.

this is because while cree gets ultra efficient at low currents it looses that efficiency quickly. vero while not as efficient at low currents maintains its efficiency even at harder drive currents.


ok?

read the fucking data sheets guys or ask here in this thread.

its just insulting that ppl are asking me to read data sheets for them.

"how many lumens per watt will the vero be at 1300mA? " well depends which vero, Tj temp and if you get a good batch.

READ THE DATA SHEET

TO BE CLEAR: I HAVE NO PROBLEM ANSWRING ANY QUESTIONS IN THIS THREAD, THATS WHAT ITS FOR.
 

Loc Dog

Hobbies include "drinkin', smokin' weed, and all k
Veteran
I have been wrestling whether to get Vero 29's from Cutter, with heavy shipping and handling charges, and are out of stock, with no idea of when they will be in, or pay a little more and go with timber growlights in CA. Will probably go with the latter, since cutter never replies to questions, and will help US economy. I am poor, so was trying to find best price, but wasted a lot of time, and Growmau5 supports the former.
 
ok, so a lot of you just want your questions answered and thats totally fine, some of you want to understand how to find your own answers, thats cool too.

I will respond to messages in my inbox only if questions have not been answered or the answer is not obvious when u read the data sheet.

here is an example

"dion, some months ago you write me throught the forum "hey dude, ill try and help you
vero 7 vs cree CXB3590

vero produces more light
vero produces less heat
vero is cheaper

vero D versione is what you want for ur driver.(its the 37v version)
vero doesn't have bins so just choose the 80CRI 3500K or 4000K"

and now you say me "BUT THE VERO CAN NEVER BE AS EFFICENCT AS THE CREE"what's wrong?"


well whats wrong is you dont understand LEDs.
if you bothered to read the data sheets for both cobs you would understand

cree cxb3590 is an amazing cob and can get some crazy good efficiency up to 200L per watt from memory, but that doesn't mean that everyone using them is getting that efficiency. Why? because to get that efficient you would need to run your $50 cob at around 10w, so thats $5 per watt.....nobody is doing that.


in a nut shell at normal 50w per cob the vero 7 is just a hair behind the cree, but at 75w the vero is kicking cree's ass.

this is because while cree gets ultra efficient at low currents it looses that efficiency quickly. vero while not as efficient at low currents maintains its efficiency even at harder drive currents.


ok?

read the fucking data sheets guys or ask here in this thread.

its just insulting that ppl are asking me to read data sheets for them.

"how many lumens per watt will the vero be at 1300mA? " well depends which vero, Tj temp and if you get a good batch.

READ THE DATA SHEET

TO BE CLEAR: I HAVE NO PROBLEM ANSWRING ANY QUESTIONS IN THIS THREAD, THATS WHAT ITS FOR.

Just saved yourself a pm with this post 😜

All kidding aside, thanks again for all the great info you and others provide
 

jikko77

Active member
You should not answer if ou do not know the answer...the can' t melt as well ;)

are you fucking joking right?

i'm growing tired of you. for real.
go fucking burn out you led and stop coming to ask questions, if you think i don't have an idea of what i'm talking.
 

Sante

In DoPa
are you fucking joking right?

i'm growing tired of you. for real.
go fucking burn out you led and stop coming to ask questions, if you think i don't have an idea of what i'm talking.

are you fucking joking right?

i'm growing tired of you. for real.
go fucking burn out you led and stop coming to ask questions, if you think i don't have an idea of what i'm talking.
His is ot you 3d, and icmag is not your forum, asked a question in an international area also because italian is quite useless right now, nobody write here instead of you and you are non an expert grower and since last year you were never saw a cob led or a led driver...fortunately there are lots of expert user more kind and comunicative than you.As Dion said(he knows what he says) lots of people wire cob with speakers wires, you have only to choose the right sectionk(18 awg may not get burn)Sometime (often?)you're wrong, try to accept that and good luck!
 

gmanwho

Well-known member
Veteran
so i was going back an forth with DIon about building multiple lights. an im not sure if hes around . so i'll post this up here

i ordered up 10 meanwell HLG-320H-2100b.
then 40 vero 29 cobs , 36.8v 2.1a. some 5k for flower, some 3500k for veg.

soldered 4 cobs in series w/14awg solid wire & connected to driver
wired driver input for 220v
installed a 100k linear taper rotary potentiometer for a dimmer.
plugged in the first prototype in an didnt light.

i was beat an i didnt wanna start diagnosing.

is this driver compatible with these cobs? i know a decent amount about electrical but im still not grasping some of the concept of matching the cobs to the driver. with variable voltage an current drivers etc.

the idea was to run 4 of these cobs at 80w to the 320w driver.
are these compatible? wondering what i messed up. my soldering connections were all solid. ive soldered quite often. also im wondering if the potentiometer was wired wrong. could a miss wired potentiometer not make the driver work?

https://www.trcelectronics.com/ecomm/pdf/hlg320h.pdf
https://www.digikey.com/products/en?keywords=976-1283-ND
 

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