If its what you got go for it, i like 48A; you can adjust it up a few volts to cover the desired voltage and squeeze a few extra watts out of it. But 54b works, just make sure to not connect only one board, it will try to draw 240w. A version got a trick to limit max wattage per board.
Since I already have the 480 driver and two 288 boards, can I use a dimmer to lower the power for two boards without damaging the boards or driver? I now have four boards but my growing area it's small now and four boards would be too much.
Theres some diablos available at cobkits.com Get them.while they last, only outlet ii knoww of... Make sure you dont reverse connect these cause you will burn out the reds, conntact hlg if unsure cause wrecking them means no warranty.
Current flows because a voltage happens to be present. If there's no voltage then there's no current. If there's medium voltage then there's medium current, and if there's high voltage then there's high current. Voltage is what dictates current. When you wire things in parallel, it means that every object between the positive rail and negative rail will always have the same voltage across it as every other object. There's a resistor, a child's plastic smiley pin, an inductor, and a 70Vf COB (forward voltage =70V at 1mA). Everything that is between those 2 rails has exactly 50V across it because evidently that's what they tuned the voltage to, whoever set the driver up in the picture (assuming an A or an AB which have built-in voltage POTs), and in parallel all strings have the same voltage across them. The resistor will flow a certain current with 50V across it, the smiley face will flow a certain current with 50V across it, the inductor will flow a certain current with 50V across it, and the 70Vf COB will flow a certain amount of current with 50V applied across it. The certain amounts of current will be different, some may be 0, some maybe lots of current, but the voltage will be exactly 50V across every object between those rails. (*edit* - Inductors will act like shorts, or act like single copper wires with no resistance after a little bit of time goes by. The greater the inductance rating of the inductor, the longer it takes before it turns into a short. When + voltage is applied at one end of an inductor, and ground or - voltage is applied at the other end of an the inductor, the current flows from + to - just like everything else in electronics, but it takes awhile for the current to finally reach its calculated amount. The current ramps up from 0. This is different than other components, say resistors, where when a voltage is applied to both ends (of a resistor) the current immediately reaches its calculated amount. There is no lag with a resistor like there is with an inductor. The phenomenon of the time delay before an inductor behaves like a short (or more precisely, a very small resistor), is referenced in the below explanation and it's assumed that the reader is already aware about this property of inductors. Also, Ohms Law of V = IR, where V is voltage in volts (V), I is current in amps (A), and R is resistance in ohms (Ω), is also assumed the reader is already slightly aware of. When a certain V is applied to a certain load (object) with a resistance of R (Ω), then a certain special amount of current I (A), will flow. You can use the equation V = IR (same as V = AΩ) to determine what the voltage or current, ect, in a linear circuit will be, or, if you're designing, then what the R needs to be to create a certain I, given a certain V, ect. ** end edit**) If your driver could supply 1000's of amps then the voltage would stay at 50V between those rails, but the reality is that we only have 8.9A to play with when we use a 480H 54B. At first everything would have 50V across it because the power rail would be at 50V, but then as a bit of time went by the inductor would act like a short and hog all 8.9A. Once some time passed and the inductor impedance began to drop, the voltage required to flow 8.9A through the inductor would also drop, and if the voltage across the inductor drops, then so does the voltage across everything else, because the voltages of all the objects wired in parallel are always the same! So the voltage would start at 50V because that's what you tuned it to provide if there wasn't a damn short(!), lol, but as the inductor impeded less and less, the current would flow more and more until it reached 8.9A, and then the voltage would begin to drop because the inductor would continue to drop impedance until finally its not impeding at all (its behaving like a copper wire with hardly any resistance), and after the impedance dropped to zero, so too does the voltage needed to flow the 8.9A (V = IR; if R is tiny, like 0.005Ω, and I = 8.9A, then V only needs to be 0.044V!), and thus the voltage across all the objects would also gradually drop in exact unison with the inductor, because everything wired in parallel will have the same voltage across it. If the inductor has 0.1V the smiley face and resistor ect can't have 50V, they too would only have 0.1V across them. That's all just to illustrate that regardless the objects (could be your hand, a glass of water, air, not just components), when wired in parallel they'll all have the same voltage across them. You don't have to design anything special for it to happen, it's just part of the laws of physics. Parallel means voltage is the same across all strings. Pound it in your head haha, ok, so tieing into LEDs.... LEDs will flow a certain amount of current when a certain amount of voltage is applied. For example, lets say we have (2) QB's. In order to flow 1.75A, the 1st QB requires a forward voltage of 50V, and the 2nd QB requires a forward voltage of 52V. If these QBs are given their respective 1.75A forward voltages, then each QB will flow 1.75A. Let's say we took out all the objects we had between our 50V power rail and replaced them with the 2 different QBs. Because they are wired in parallel, each QB has the exact same voltage across it. The 1st QB with a Vf of 50V in order to flow 1.75A, flows 1.75A. The 2nd QB with a Vf of 52V in order to flow 1.75A, flows less current than 1.75A. Because the driver can supply 8.9A, and because the 2 loads, or the 2 QBs only flow a combined current of less than 3.5A, the driver definitely has the ability to provide the current draw of the load, and so the voltage across the power rail remains at the tuned 50V (again assuming A or AB style drivers with built-in Vo POTs), and the 2 QBs, despite having different Vf's, were both able to operate within the ratings of the boards. Because only a certain special amount of current flows when only a certain special amount of voltage is applied, the boards will not consume all 8.9A, they will only consume less than 3.5A (1.75A × 2 = 3.5A, and we know at least 1 of the QBs is actually flowing less than 1.75A, so in reality the total current is less than 3.5A). Use a 110kΩ POT to ensure you can operate at max brightness should you desire. Lots of times 100kΩ POTs are actually under 100kΩ, so if you get a 110kΩ then you'll account for any error. When you dim your driver with the aftermarket POT, you're regulating the current. What this means is that you're allowing the driver to distribute all of its current, or 0 of its current, or somewhere in between, as long as the voltage required by the load in order to flow that current is within the bounds of the drivers' rated output voltage. If you look at the data sheet for the 480h 54B, you 'll see that the voltage range is listed at 45.9V and goes to 56.7V. So if you put a single QB with a maximum rated voltage of 55V (just a made up figure), which draws a max rated current draw of 3.5A (at that max rated voltage of 55V, and all of these are made up figures, not actual numbers), in between the power rails, and then turned the POT all the way up, the driver would try to output 8.9A, and because we said the QB has a maximum rated voltage of 55V which correlates to a maximum rated current of 3.5A, the driver would ramp up its voltage to flow the desired current, and when 3.5A were flowing, it would mean that the driver would be outputting 55V, but you told the driver you wanted all 8.9A, so the circuitry would try to create an even greater voltage between the power rails than even 55V, finally the driver would create a voltage of 56.7V and the board would flow more than 3.5A and burn up (just because the board is rated at 3.5A and 55V, it doesnt mean that it wont pass more current at higher voltages, it just means that you cant safely flow more current than 3.5A or it will burn up after awhile), but assuming it doesn't burn up right away, then in the meantime, if it happened that the QB was able to flow 8.9A with a voltage under 56.7V, then whatever that voltage ended up being, is what you'd end up measuring across the QB if you had a multimeter, the voltage would be limited by the load because the load would be pulling all the driver current and the driver wouldnt be able to output more voltage because then more current would want to flow and the driver only has 8.9A to give. Iif the QB required more than 56.7V to flow 8.9A, then the driver would flow less then 8.9A, because at 56.7V the QB still wouldn't be subjected to enough voltage to flow the 8.9A (but it'd probably burn up even still after awhile because 56.7V flows more current than 55V would, which is the max rated voltage). All this happens within a split second. The driver has circuitry that automatically creates the necessary voltage to flow your desired current amount, there may be slight delay in response, but otherwise it should seem as if you're manipulating current (because you are but indirectly) but in reality your driver is actually translating your POT tuning into supplying a necessary voltage, within its bounds, to flow the tuned current you desire. Some drivers have built-in voltage POT's (A and AB do) and these can come in handy when wiring in parallel because you can simply tune the voltage to whatever you wish, and the driver will then supply as many amps as all the objects can cumulatively flow, given your tuned voltage. You can add lots of QB's but only to a degree, because once you add enough QB's where the 8.9A is split up between so many QB's, the required voltage needed to flow that tiny amount of current through a QB will drop under some of the QBs' Vf's, and then only the QB's with the smallest Vf's will light. So after a certain amount you just won't be able to light anymore. For QB 288s you could probably put close to 20 wired in parallel on a 480h 54B if you wanted, but they'd all be flowing around 0.4A - 0.5A so they'd no be super bright. QB288 = (16) parallel strings of (18) LM301H/B in series... If you used a 480H c1750A/B driver (CC) which only has an operating voltage range maximum of ~274V, you'd only be able to hook up 5 of them (and they'd have to be wired in series), and on the 6th you wouldn't have enough V to flow any current I wouldn't think, for surely by 7 you'd be not flowing enough current to give off light. This is why I recommended the CV driver and parallel wiring. It gives you more options to add boards. Lol ya I was stoned and rambled quite a bit so now on to your question lol... Ya, you could use a dimmer to regulate the current (or rather have the driver create a certain voltage to flow only your desired current), but you'd have to hook up a multimeter (handheld or an aftermarket one that you wire in) to know how much current was flowing in order to tune it to a certain amount, and you'd probably want to put an inline quick blow fuse before each QB, sized for the max amount of current you'd like to see through a single board, that way if you accidentally bump the POT, or one of the boards shorts out (which means now your driver will try to create a voltage to flow the current amount of the 2 boards, but because 1 shorted out it'll try to create a voltage to flow all the tuned current through only the single board), your boards won't fry. A fuse before each board is just making sure that you'll never go over your desired current limit regardless what happens at the driver or other places in the circuit. Here's an inline multimeter wired up to a 320H c2800A so I can tune the correct current I want. Ignore the small driver that powers my CPU fans ziptied to the top, the multimeter is only hooked up to the main driver. You can see here that the driver is on, but because I have no boards hooked up at the time the pic was taken (I use household extension cords to wire my stuff up so I can easily plug and unplug it when I want to dismantle/put together, but you have to make sure the prongs line up with the right hole, that the polarities match, ie you have to make sure positive to positive and negative to negative otherwise when you plug it in you'll short your driver out), the voltage between the 2 power rails is ~114V, or the max that the driver can supply. It's trying hard to flow the 2.62A I have it set to, but the air in between the 2 ends of the oppositely charged conductors (plug holes) provides enough resistance so that when the driver is outputting its max 114V, there's still no current flowing. Lightning happens after tons and tons of voltage has accumulated, and thus can overcome the resistance of air to flow current to the ground from the sky, with only 114V though, you'd need a really small air gap in order for the 114V to overcome the resistance and flow current, so small that even the distance between the holes in a plug is too large. Air is a pretty good insulator. Here I've 2 boards hooked up and I've tuned the current POT to output 2.62A, and thus means that the driver had to create 109V to flow the current. Go through a mental check before you plug your drivers in. Prepare yourself an anticipated action if things go wrong. Expect the worse and be prepared for it so that you can quickly and safely de-energize the circuit, this just means be watching your setup as you plug it in and be ready to quickly unplug should things not go right. Sometimes you might get flustered and forget to unplug without a mental check telling yourself what to do and what to anticipate ect, and things can then fry if you take to long to act. Multimeter pics that might be useful... When measuring current the probes have to be wired in series with the QBs (current flows in one probe of the meter, then into one side of the meter, then onto and out the other side of the meter through the other probe, and onto the beginning of the QB, its like having a goofy extension onto one of the power wires, if you need help ask and I'll post a better explanation), while voltage can be measured in parallel (touching the black and red probes to the positive side and negative side while in operation). You want to make sure you set your multimeter dial to the 10A selection when measuring your current, because if the dial is on the 200mA setting and you measure over 200mA then your multimeter will blow a fuse. Make sure your dial is at the 10A selection, and that your probe is in the 10A hole. In this picture I've a makeshift probe lead but its plugged into the 200mA hole, which is the wrong one for our purposes atm. The black probe or negative probe, goes in the COM or common hole, then your red probe or positive probe goes in the 10A hole. Your dial gets turned to the 10A selection.
Chris Christ chief, whenever i have any question on electrical ill refer to this, not that i read it all, just that there no chance the question not being covered in that wall of text. I write from phone so i get lazy or my wife gives me the stink eye. You get full points for effort!
lol thanks man, my buddy hooked me up with some of his new herb and it just hit me pretty good and I just kept going lol its mainly only about parallel wiring.
Thanks Fish, I appreciate you taking the time to explain it in detail. I had to smoke a couple of joints and then hit the bong, but it makes sense to me, plus I learned a few things. I'm committed for now to go with the 480- 54B drive and already order the four 288 boards and het sinks. I was going to start out with two, then later add a couple more, but decided just to go with the four 288 from the start. Already have a audio volume Control Potentiometer dual ganged +/- 2% Tolerance .05 watt Control Potentiometer, I'm planning on using. Do I need to use heatsink plaster?
Haha awesome. I don't think we're conducting much thermal to warrant the need for mitigating air pockets, at least with QB288's. I'm not sure the guidelines for when is necessary, ie 2W/cm2 or something, but QBs are operated at relatively low temps without thermal mgmt compared to say a 200W COB. I'd use thermal paste for COB's or QB96's but probably not with QB288's. I run QB304's at ~145W each and I don't use thermal paste. COB's or QB96's much more energy dense, QBs spread their wattage over more chips and area. Arctic Silver is the best stuff to use, highest quality, but any thermal paste should work. There's tiny imperfections on the surfaces of both the heatsink and the back of the PCB. If you laid them together, 1 ontop of the other, the tiny imperfections will create spaces where the heatsink doesn't make contact with the PCB or device. These tiny gaps aren't vacuums but rather have air that was trapped or present. Air isn't the best conductor of thermal energy, it acts more like an insulator compared to copper or aluminium. This means the thermal energy or heat will not conduct to the heatsink as efficiently if there are small air gaps. This is why you'd use thermal paste. It has a greater rated thermal conductivity than air, but also while having low electrical conductivity. It fills in the air gaps and while it's not going to conduct heat as well as if the 2 surfaces were directly touching (but that's just not the reality we see with the imperfections in manufacturing), adding a thin layer of paste in between the surfaces will conduct (transfer) thermal better than not having it.
HLG has two of my 288 boards on backorder. Now, I'm waiting again. I have the 480 driver,double heatsink and two 288 boards. Are there any other boards I could use with these 288 to connect at least one more to my other two?
HLG has two of my 288 boards on backorder. Now, I'm waiting again. I have the 480 driver,double heatsink and two 288 boards. Are there any other boards I could use with these 288 to connect at least one more to my other two? Not sure if I can tune down the driver enough to drive just two 288 boards.
Finally found an 288 board at LED Grow Light Depot. Kind of disappointed with HLG due to mostly because their products are out of stock and so far failure to respond to emails asking technical question on their board usage. I'm sure they are great system and look forward to using it.
@Daleoo2 Ya you can add any ~50V board (or whatever the Vf's of your other QB's are) onto that setup to help spread the power if you'd like. The closer the Vfs of the boards the closer the intensity of each board will be compared to each other.
Going to start with three boards, that is if I get the one I order yesterday. This morning I stumble into hlg guide on parallel connection. I advised against daisy chaining and mention something about runaway if a board craps out, also mention the first board taking on most of the power and adjusting the dc voltage to around 48v as it supposed to keep a runaway from happening. Should I have any concerns?
Na should be good. All wires have a bit of resistance and will eat some voltage before it gets to your board. If you make your parallel wires the same length, then all 3 boards will get the same voltage. Adjusting your Vo POT to not exceed a certain V is a good practice. Then you can dim up or down with the Io POT. The Vo POT just acts like a safety at that point. At high currents you'll need high voltages, and if you've set your Vo POT to only allow a certain max V, then you'll be saved if for some reason your boards try to eat lots of current (because they'll need high voltage to flow the high current, and if you've regulated the voltage to never exceed a certain value then they'll not be able to flow too much current then).
How would I wire an inline multimeter and pot to the 480-54B driver? Finally got my lights completed and in the tent. I'm still waiting on a couple of WAGOs
Good work on getting it all setup! There are several options when looking at digi's (what I call digital multimeters). I've seen many use these before and they look nice imo ($19)... I personally use these (cause of price) but they don't display wattage. Wattage = V × A, so I just multiply it out when I want to calculate watts, but having it automatically do it for you is a nice little touch that the other digi has over this one imo ($7)... There's others too, but they'll all have instructions on how to wire. The voltage probes/wires get attached to your driver leads in parallel, while the current leads are wired in series. That's the jist, but if you get stuck or the instructions are in a different language ect, just message or tag me and I'll work with you to get it figured out. No biggie, it's ez peezy.
If u do not have all the parts already qb120/132 setup would be dam nice for $500 in parts. very very easy to build
I’v got 4 QB648s and a MW 48h C1750B. Can I run 2 boards on this driver? Or what’s best driver for all 4 Qb648s? Thanks for the help. Also anyone got a link to the math to match the boards to the ballast . Thanks