LEDgardener

Hi,

Question about the two output wires from a Mean Well HLG 480H-24a. I plan to drive 24, 2ft Samsung LM651C strips in parallel. I understand how to connect one cable to the strips, but should I connect the second cable as well? For example, wire 12 strips in parallel to each wire? Or can I just connect the + and - of one of the cables to each other and not use it? What would you recommend? Sorry if this sounds like a dumb question, I just couldnt find an answer elsewhere.

Hey Ted, welcome to the forum

The main thing to keep in mind for these parallel strip builds is the current rating of the connectors on the strips. If I recall, those connectors are rated for a max of 9 amps, so that would mean you couldn't daisy-chain more than 7 strips together if you were running each strip at absolute max (1200mA each).

I think these drivers have 2 sets of leads due to the fact that they're outputting so much current. I would separate your strips into groups of 6 and wire 2 groups per lead on your driver like this:

Thanks, I appreciate the response. I hadn't thought about that, however that makes a lot of sense. And thanks for being a resource, it has greatly expanded my knowledge and hopefully my harvest will benefit. Initially after I purchased the driver, I regretted it, however I think it will give me more flexibility ultimately.

Cheers!

I think that driver is a great choice. With 24 of those 2 footers you should be able to run it wide open without blowing the strips up, which is nice, because you don't have to worry about overpowering them by adjusting the potentiometer up too much. Please be sure to share some pics when you're done!

I was thinking about doing my next build with these 2 ft strips. Could you tell me where you bought them and how much they where.
Thanks

I'll post some pics when I get off the ground, still waiting for some more stuff to come in. This will represent a big upgrade in my current setup, as I currently have some led panels I bought on amazon for cheap, with some cfl and led bulbs. I didnt even notice it until I looked the other day, but the efficacy for the led panels is 36 lumen/watt, I'm sure part of that is the blurple spectrum, but they have been terrible lights.

I ordered the strips on arrow.com. It was a little bit cheaper than digikey, but the shipping is free overnight shipping, compared to $10 ups ground. I placed the order at 9am, and they were at my office by 12pm the next day, pretty tough to beat that.