Hey guys, New here and dying to get some answers. There is another post on here asking about driverless cob chips but wasn't really answered well. I want to know why people aren't talking about this more since it would make life so much easier. Are there any disadvantages to running these? They are 200w Full Spectrum led cob chips that run directly on 220v.. Why would people choose to go the more complicated route of choosing a drivered led chip? Here is an example: 1pcs 30W 50W 100w 200w AC220V 380~840nm COB driverless integrated Driver diy led full spectrum led light grow chip hydroponics-in LED Grow Lights from Lights & Lighting on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group
I ordered a 50w 110v to try. Ive read heat may be a issue and it may need active cooling. Downside being if it gets to hot or come unconnected you have bare high power wires hanging straight from the mains.. Probably gonna take a month to get my 50w chip
Hey thanks for the reply. Thats what I got. 4 of those 50w full spectrum 110v chips. And yeah I think they need active cooling if you're not using massive heatsinks. On ebay they're selling 10cmx6cmx1cm heatsinks for $2.50 and also 5cmx5cm cooling fan 5volts for $2.50. So im thinking 1 chip to 1 of those heatsinks + 1 of those fans.. Thoughts?
Yea i seen some of the ones out there. I will probably use an old led frame, heatsink and fans. it wont have much wiring to do either
people use drivers because they protect/limit the chips from having too much current running through them, which will burn them out. if you are only running a single chip it will draw what it wants based on voltage and should be able to handle the current, but when you start linking chips together is when you want some control.
You can get a case of ten 90 mm CPU fan/heatsink combos for under 30 bucks. They are perfect for 50W cobs. I have one running at 38W and it is barely warm to the touch. Just waiting for the other COB's to arrive so I can build some more. Here is the light:
Scariest post I have seen in a while. Seems some think these are driverless, not, they are a COB with an integrated driver. But terminating AC on a COB attached to a big piece of metal, no thanks. I will spend the extra $$$ personally. I can so see that going wrong, ...guy goes into his grow, oh! my lights out, wonder what happened, (touches light) BANG! On your ass on the other side of the grow! (not that that wouldn't be funny as hell to see rofl) unless dude had a pacemaker or sumthin :-(
well as long as you do a good soldering job and maybe add some kind of protection to the terminals so they can't be touched or something. And technically they are driverless. For each half-cycle of the AC’s sinusoidal waveform, half of the LEDs emit light and half are dark; this is reversed during the next half-cycle. All this happens in a matter of nanoseconds resulting in more stable operation then a drivered cob. 50w AC 110v Full spectrum driverless COB's cost $15, $2 for heatsink, $2 for fan. Now multiply that by 10, and you have a true 500w rig for basically $190..
Lot 10x CPU Heatsink Fan Cooler 12V 4Pin For Intel Core2 LGA 775 To 3.8G | eBay Just need to provide a 12V source for the fan. Little 1 amp wall wart power supplies will run a half dozen of these fans.
So far so good. Built this 50w for 4 dollars. Waiting for thermal paste to really let it run longer than 5 minutes. Need to cover some bare wires still also. This thing is crazy bright.
I would use wire nuts for those connections instead of tape. 110v at the tape, not good. or use wagos to have a protected connection. That is your weak link.
Those are all soldered connections, I just ran short of the smaller heat shrink tubing I normally use. There is no 110 V on those, they are regular 32V COBs..