My DIY 3590 LEDs

[Gorgar]

I just completed my first LED COB light. It has 3 Cree CXB3590s @ 3500 K powered by a MeanWell HLG-120H-C1400B driver. The COBs are mounted on a 24" heatsink that is actively cooled by a 140 mm PC case fan. I have most of the work done on the second one and will be piecing it together soon.

The control box has an on/off rocker switch, a potentiometer, an input for the power cord and a receptacle to power the cooling fan. I did a suck-o job cutting it out and applying hot glue, but it serves its purpose.

On this last pic, the light is powered to about 60% and I will ramp it up gradually so the Blue Dream can adjust to it. The BD was flipped a couple of days ago and I simply wanted more light for flowering.

 

[Gorgar]

The first step was to drill out the heatsink. I drilled holes for the COB holders (approximately 9" apart), side mounting holes for the control box and LED drivers and two holes to tie down the fan with zip ties. I also drilled out some holes for the light hanger. After drilling out the holes, I tapped the holes for the holders using a 4-40 tap.

 

[Gorgar]

Next I cut the openings in the control box with a Dremel by taping templates from the dimensional drawing for each component. I soldered leads to each component (AC In, AC Out, rocker switch (on/off) and the potentiometer (dimmer).

 

[Gorgar]

After that was done, I mounted the control box and LED driver to the heatsink.

 

[Gorgar]

Then I locked the COBs in the holders and applied thermal paste and screwed them in place. Then the COBs were wired in series and the LED driver was hooked up to the COBs, the AC power and the potentiometer. Powered it up for a few seconds and it worked:

 

[Gorgar]

The final step was to mount the cooling fan and tidy things up with zip ties and some electrical tape. All that was left now was to install the light hangers, put it in the tent and let it do its' job:

 

[Gorgar]

I based my build on a 6 part series of video instructions from growmau5 that he uploaded to YouTube. The comments and links for the videos provide additional technical information.

 

[Densenug]

Subbing on this for future needs, Thank you.

 

[Gorgar]

Subbing on this for future needs, Thank you.

Densenug, you're welcome. Good luck if you decide to take this route.

Terp started a similar thread last year about his builds. He has consolidated some of the data sheets that are important to choosing components. This data is pretty much what growmau5 links to in his videos, but it's easier to find them here:

My DIY LEDs

The only thing that I've noticed is that for Terp's driver matching post (#12), there now exists a more recent version (on another forum) that includes some newer MeanWell drivers (240H series) that are able to power 5 3070s or 3590s.

 

[Kingsnake235]

great job! i will hopefully have use to refer back here in the future as well; first time I've seen a reliable controller box with dimmer on a DIY - be interested to work that out one day.

 

[Gorgar]

Thanks Kingsnake. I should have added my wiring diagram earlier.

I made ample use of the WAGO connectors that growmau5 recommended. The wire colors in the diagram are the same color as those supplied with the MeanWell driver. I only used one color of wire, but when I attached the leads to the components I marked the ends of the hot wires. BTW, I assume that 'L' means 'line' and it is the hot side.

My specific driver calls for a 100K ohm potentiometer, and I've seen it used for other variants of the driver. I'm not sure, though, whether that is universal. I did check the data sheet for the driver to make sure that it was specified. Note that only the MeanWell drivers suffixed with a 'B' have external dimming capability.

 

[Zombiewoof]

mHey Clean job Nice !!!
I'm doing 1600 watts 32 Cree 3590's 8 meanwell 185-1400's on bars 4 cobs per bar with driver 200 watts per bar
+
with dimming & a switch also on the dimmer leads
as with a open circuit on dimmer leads mean wells run @ 105 -110% over max rating
with a pot they run @ 100 % rated power & dim down from there

 

[Gorgar]

mHey Clean job Nice !!!
I'm doing 1600 watts 32 Cree 3590's 8 meanwell 185-1400's on bars 4 cobs per bar with driver 200 watts per bar

Sounds like a killer build, Zombiewoof. What temp COBs are you using?

 

[Zombiewoof]

3500K cd binning , mine r on cpu coolers & sq AL tubing

 

[Gorgar]

Sweet setup, Zombie. I've noticed that a lot of the commercial builds use the CPU cooler approach.

BTW, in case anybody needs 'current' data for their builds, I found the google docs link for the driver and COB data that I referenced in Terp's thread earlier:

Google Docs COB Build Data

 

[Zombiewoof]

I am waiting on some switches for my dimming circuit & I had to re-do the gro room before I made lites , no where to hang if the room not ready Duh .....
did a real live mock-up so my set-up runs , I just know myself if I don't do the dimmer s/w when I make the bars
once up I'll not take down for 10 weeks & a dimmer is a must as I'm overkill mode on how many cobs in the room
more is better is my motto

 

[Zombiewoof]

Sweet setup, Zombie. I've noticed that a lot of the commercial builds use the CPU cooler approach.

BTW, in case anybody needs 'current' data for their builds, I found the google docs link for the driver and COB data that I referenced in Terp's thread earlier:

Google Docs COB Build Data

yeah ,
i've used that chart before i'm in that 56% range with HLG-185-1400 @ 4 3590 per driver
that's how I'm building is bars (like a BLM) 4 cob per bar one meanwell 185 @1400 4 cpu fans & small fan powersupply on each bar with a dimmer knob & boost switch
I'm looking at 50 watts per sq/ft

 

[Gorgar]

yeah ,
i've used that chart before i'm in that 56% range with HLG-185-1400 @ 4 3590 per driver
<snip>
I'm looking at 50 watts per sq/ft

Dang, that should be real nice. I'm probably a little under 35 watts/sqft based on my build and what I'm growing. I based my design on some PAR footprints of similar designs. I'm running at the same efficiency.

I also bought some reflectors for my lights but I screwed up. I did not know that I needed to tap two additional holes for the adapter as I thought it would use the same tapped holes as the COB holder. I did not find out until I was mounting the COBs and did not feel like backtracking.

Post some pics of your build if you can. We'd love to see it!

 

[Zombiewoof]

Dang, that should be real nice. I'm probably a little under 35 watts/sqft based on my build and what I'm growing. I based my design on some PAR footprints of similar designs. I'm running at the same efficiency.

I also bought some reflectors for my lights but I screwed up. I did not know that I needed to tap two additional holes for the adapter as I thought it would use the same tapped holes as the COB holder. I did not find out until I was mounting the COBs and did not feel like backtracking.

Post some pics of your build if you can. We'd love to see it!

you can drill a hole & then use a self tapper , I did my mockup bar without tapping I just used a 'B' style self tapping screw 3M
all the bars will be self tappers on the holders/reflectors to the heatsinks
AL is soft & using a tap in AL is hard to master
the cob holders need minimal pressure so u can use a self tapper to fine tune the pressure just as well threaded screws imo

 

[Gorgar]

you can drill a hole & then use a self tapper , I did my mockup bar without tapping I just used a 'B' style self tapping screw 3M
all the bars will be self tappers on the holders/reflectors to the heatsinks
AL is soft & using a tap in AL is hard to master
the cob holders need minimal pressure so u can use a self tapper to fine tune the pressure just as well threaded screws imo

Hey Zombie, thanks for the tip on the self tapping screws...I did not know they were available. I broke 2 taps before I learned how to tap 'correctly'. Then I broke another one when I got over-aggressive.

One thing that I would definitely NOT recommend, is the way that growmau5 shows in his video using a hand drill. I tried it.