LEDgardener

So this would be my first build, over the last 2 weeks I've lurked and crammed myself full of knowledge on the subject that is LED.

I settled on EB gen 2 strips, but ran into a problem rather quickly. There seems to be world wide shortage bar the 280mm, which operate at too lower of a current to be useful to me.

Obviously there are the Samsung counterparts which I'm trying to avoid due to cost.

I've come across the gen 1 EB series; https://www.cutter.com.au/product/bxeb- ... 2000-c-a3/

which seem to run less efficient by 10, but once again, even cheaper than the Gen 2'S. Has anyone had experience with running the Gen 1's? Or an active source on the Gen 2's?

I figured I could just add in more Gen 1's to make up for the difference in efficiencies, at a similar initial purchase cost.

Thanks in advance.

What spectrum and which length do you need. That will help us find parts for you.

Arrow has some Gen2 2ft.
Digi-Key has Gen2 1ft in stock.
You can wire two together in parallel to up the current.
Doing so turns two 1ft strips into a two foot strip.

Ideally 3500k, with additional 300k.

Yeah I've seen the 1ft strips, but their max rating seems to be about 700ma, unless you can run them harder? I have yet too see anything on arrow for 2ft, will check now.

Thnaks.

Yea you don’t want to run them max. Nominal power rating is what you want to pay attention to.

3K
https://www.arrow.com/en/products/bxeb- ... /bridgelux

35K
https://www.arrow.com/en/products/bxeb- ... /bridgelux

Why can’t you run the 1ft strips? What driver will you be using?

Ahhh must have missed the 3000k on arrow, there is only 3 available of the 3500k though.

I haven't selected a driver yet, I am aiming for a 500w set up. If that be a single driver or dual.

Running those 1ft boards at 350ma would require an exceptional amount. Sorry should have stated my target wattage earlier on.

Also why against running at max current for strips? Is that a heat-sinking issue?

The f-series strips are not really more efficient then the EB-gen 2... they measure differently, but for the same money you get about equal performance.

Better then the 1st generation EB's, you might want to look at vesta strips from bridgelux. They seem to put out a lot less lumens, but being 90cri their spectrum continues into UV and far red. They put out about 7% less then f-series, but the light is of a superior spectrum, and can be set to be temperature tuned between 2700-5000k.

Being dual diode strips the vestas can handle quite a lot of power compared to the EB-series.

Yea the harder you run them the hotter they get, the less efficient they are, and shortens their lifespan. They become way less efficient at higher amperages.

It can definitely be done but very few do it, if anyone.

optimization wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 10, 2019 8:22 am

Also why against running at max current for strips? Is that a heat-sinking issue?

Those vesta strips seem to be running at 136lm/w, is that due to the higher cri increase?

And yeah that's why I'm sorta looking at the gen bridgelux, they run at 156lm/w but are about half the price of gen 2 which run about 176/w (peak efficiencies).

I figure I can grab alot more gen 1 EB's, and drive them at 700ma/1000ma to reach my target at a similar start up cost that I would incur if I ran the Gen 2's hard to reach my target.

The DIY guides here for LED strips seem to give theory to the fact that Bridgelux has understated their max current, the guides seem to run them quite close to max.

A lot of food for thought haha, sorta makes it overwhelming when trying to settle on a decision. I choose Strips for the fact that shipping on the heatsinks was almost equaling the costs of the heatsinks.