DIY build advice

[lednoob]

Hey guys, Ive been browsing the forums and this site among others for a few months now, trying to decide what kind of set up I want. I'm finally getting close to having everything ready to go, so I just wanted some advice and to basically check that everything I'm doing is correct and will work.

I started out planning to do the bridgelux 4x4 24 strip build on here, but then found out that after I add in the price of aluminum for heat sinking, it was almost double the price (I'm in the middle of nowhere in Australia so no cheap access). So I decided to just increase the amount of strips so I could run them at 50% which I've heard doesn't require aluminum, is this correct?

According to the parallel strip tool here, the minimum amount I'd need to get above 480W at 50% of max would be 32 strips, and that I should pair it with a HLG-600h-24. I was gonna make a 40 inch by 40 inch frame, and do 2 rows of 16 strips. I'm gonna use these connectors http://www.cutter.com.au/product/221-415/
and this wire http://www.cutter.com.au/product/hook-u ... 18awg-red/ to wire all the lights up.

That's pretty much all the relevant info I can think of, sorry for the wall of text. This is my first build, so if there's anything you think I might have missed or made a mistake with please let me know. Any input is greatly appreciated.

[unkle_psycho]

The parallel strip tool always automatically jumps to the next driver, but 480w should give you over 700ppfd and be exactly what you are looking for.

I did a bunch of tests running without heat-sinks, and also using strips of baking foil. As long as the air in the room is not absolutely stagnant they don't heat too bad.

Just to confirm you are looking at the 4 foot strips, so 32 would equal 128 feet of strips? 3.75w per foot of strip would not need heatsinks.

[lednoob]

Sorry, I should have clarified. I was looking at 32 2 foot strips, ran at 50 of max as I read that any higher than that requires aluminum. Which according to the tool would give me 495W or 30.9 watts per square foot. Just to be sure, are you saying I could run them higher than 50% without heatsinking? Thank you for your input.

[unkle_psycho]

It's good to specify, but I assumed wrong. So 64 feet of led with 500w, its a little under 8w per foot. My only experience is with Bridgelux vesta strips, I imagine they are built pretty much the same, but Vesta's should produce a little more heat, from way more diodes. Vestas are 32mm wide but probably have less volume per diode then the EBgen2's, so the gen2's might cool better.

In my tests first I ran a 2 foot strip with 12.5w, so 6.25w per foot. In static air it was running 20c above ambient. With a 10w fan activated and blowing the plants the temperature fell to 10c above ambient.
The next day I doubled the power to 25w per strip, or 12.5w per foot. It felt uncomfortably hot to my hand so I activated the fan. Came back 12h later and they felt cool to the touch.

25w is 50% power for the 2 foot Vesta's. It did need to be in a well ventilated space to work without heat-sinks.

Later I ran strips at 50%, or 12.5w per foot, I sprayed the back with a sticky copper spray to transfer heat in drag race engine gaskets, and attached 40cm long strips on aluminum, which I bent over itself so it became a type of heatsink. It worked too.

[lednoob]

Cheers heaps for that. I'll have a lot of ventilation around my tent as well as air conditioning 80% of the time, so I guess I should be good on temps. Might try your aluminum foil idea, as that would surely be better than nothing.

I have a few other questions if you wouldn't mind. Would you know whether the 18AWG hook up wire here https://www.cutter.com.au/product/led-a ... ire-18awg/
would be the right kind? It's on the same website as the lights, so I'd save money on postage, but they don't have the 14 gauge recommended for the strips in the DIY guide, so I thought I should make sure. I was thinking of getting 10 feet of their red and 10 feet of their black wire, thinking this will be more than enough for 32 strips, do you think this would be the case?

Also looking at the DIY guide, the only part I haven't found is the LLT L20 Waterproof Power Connector for Driver AC Connection. I'm not even sure what it is, or how I would go about finding one in Australia, any info you could provide about that would be greatly appreciated. Sorry for all the questions, I'm really a beginner when it comes to LEDs or electrical work in general.

[Hydrofood]

Also looking at the DIY guide, the only part I haven't found is the LLT L20 Waterproof Power connector.

Here’s the link from the strip build guide.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Waterproof-Con ... 2609964438
Basically it provides a solid/waterproof connection between the driver and the wall.
You can also solder the wires together with whatever extension/plug you want to use.
Or you can use Wago’s to make the connection.
You can find them on eBay or amazon if you have access to either of those in Australia.

[unkle_psycho]

Not sure about the connectors, I think you can get them from amazon or alibaba. Not sure about the wire either, in my first build I used a really thick wire, and in the recent smaller build I switched to pretty thin wire. We use some different designation for thickness, I don't know about awg and all that. For my fixture I didn't use too much wire, when I do sidelighting I tend to use quite a bit. I think 10 feet sounds pretty safe.

At your power I think ventilation will be fine, my ventilation was really a low power fan blowing my plants, so you couldn't feel any air movement at the strips... Air cooling is powerful stuff.

The foil helped a little, but the gasket spray was pretty messy gooey stuff... designed for engines that get reopened.

[lednoob]

Thank you for that Hydrofood. So the power plug goes into that and then you wire through it or something? I was just confused cause it says it's for a power connector, but isn't a plug or anything so I was confused about what exactly you do for it. Also since it said power connector and USA in the ebay link, I was sure if I had to look for a different kind that is compatible for Australia's power or something. If I'm just looking for the exact same, that makes it a lot easier, but I'm still not really sure what I do with it. Thanks again

And thanks uncle_psycho, you've helped clear things up for me. Good to know I should be good on temps and my parts are good. With the foil, do you think thermal paste would be a better alternative to the gasket spray? I got a bunch of that lying around from my various computer builds, so I think it would be worth it to add a bit of heatsinking using stuff I already have.

[Hydrofood]

Thank you for that Hydrofood. So the power plug goes into that and then you wire through it or something?

It’s just connecting wires to each other. Between the driver and the power plug, whichever type that may be in your case.
I highly recommend you read this write up. This will walk you thru the whole process of how to power your DIY LED project.
https://www.rollitup.org/t/diy-leds-how ... em.801554/

[rdooski3]

Another cheap heatsink idea is Aluminum baking pans. Or you could maybe scrap something like a ladder. I used a old aluminum workbench and it worked great. Also a fan blowing directly on your strips can do wonders.