Driver for xpg-3 660

[Elevator Dude]

Hello, I am planning on adding 27 of the cree xpg-3 660 soderless monos to my 600w 3000k 10 strip fixture. The plan is to wire 9 in series in 3 parallel strings.

https://rapidled.com/products/solderles ... -660nm-led

At 2.65 max volts each im looking for around a 70w driver and I would like it to be pwm dimmable. Any suggestions?

[TEKNIK]

Hello, I am planning on adding 27 of the cree xpg-3 660 soderless monos to my 600w 3000k 10 strip fixture. The plan is to wire 9 in series in 3 parallel strings.

https://rapidled.com/products/solderles ... -660nm-led

At 2.65 max volts each im looking for around a 70w driver and I would like it to be pwm dimmable. Any suggestions?

There is no point in buying one of the most efficient leds available and then driving them hard so you no longer have a super efficient led. I would be adding more chips to increase the voltage to 24V and use an XLG driver for your purposes.
I have 660nm Buddies which have only slightly lower performance than the Cree XPG3 G bin but they are a hell of alot cheaper than the solderless leds you are looking at buying. This means you can purchase more for the same price but not drive them as hard to increase efficiency.

[Elevator Dude]

Thank you for the advice TEKNIK, I agree with you on not driving them hard. My intention is to dim them to around 50% but I wanted to have the headroom on the driver to nearly max them out and find the sweet spot as the driver cost either way is minimal.

I do wish I had checked with you before I pulled the trigger on the crees but I would still have gone with the same number of leds as thats what works for my spacing between my strips. I have 2 fixtures of 10 4ft Samsung f-series strips so I was going to put 3 rows of the 660 reds across the white strips one mono between each of the 10 strips. I could have gone with say 5 rows of cheaper monos but I also run CLW's uvb fleuros above my strips so I don't want to block anymore of that light than needed so I'm looking for more from less if that makes sense??? I try to keep my led arrays fairly dense because I use a light mover just to move them 18 inches side to side so I can run the lights closer to the canopy.

I was just looking for a driver to dim down the 27 xpg3 monos and not leave anything on the table if I feel like playing around, I did the research on drivers 3 years ago when I built the fixtures initially but have forgotten most of what I learned. I was trying to be lazy and have someone point me in the right direction.

[TEKNIK]

Thank you for the advice TEKNIK, I agree with you on not driving them hard. My intention is to dim them to around 50% but I wanted to have the headroom on the driver to nearly max them out and find the sweet spot as the driver cost either way is minimal.

I do wish I had checked with you before I pulled the trigger on the crees but I would still have gone with the same number of leds as thats what works for my spacing between my strips. I have 2 fixtures of 10 4ft Samsung f-series strips so I was going to put 3 rows of the 660 reds across the white strips one mono between each of the 10 strips. I could have gone with say 5 rows of cheaper monos but I also run CLW's uvb fleuros above my strips so I don't want to block anymore of that light than needed so I'm looking for more from less if that makes sense??? I try to keep my led arrays fairly dense because I use a light mover just to move them 18 inches side to side so I can run the lights closer to the canopy.

I was just looking for a driver to dim down the 27 xpg3 monos and not leave anything on the table if I feel like playing around, I did the research on drivers 3 years ago when I built the fixtures initially but have forgotten most of what I learned. I was trying to be lazy and have someone point me in the right direction.

There will be more drivers available if you increase your foward voltage a little more. Running 12 leds in series and 3 strings in parallel gives you alot more options.

I still suggest you check out 660nm Buddies, they a hell of alot cheaper and it will result in higher performance because you can use more of them for about the same price. They are prewired and no heatsink is needed, in most cases you can just stick them to your current frame. Blending will be much better too due to the wide optics.
They are made to do exactly what you want to do, 4 strips of 660nm Buddies running on an XLG50 driver would be about right for your application.

Not trying to be a salesman, I dont make enough money on Buddies in small quantities to make a difference if I sell them or not. The 660nm Buddies are probably one of the best products on the market and really well priced thats all. There is really nothing that comes even close to them for price and performance along with ease of use.

[Elevator Dude]

I have been around this forum long enough to know how helpful of a guy you are teknik and I don't doubt your intentions at all. I will check out your 660 buddies for sure, I wish I had known about them a few hours ago before I ordered the crees. I guess I could return them if I can make the buddies work I only have an inch between strips well between the heatsinks anyway.

[TEKNIK]

I have been around this forum long enough to know how helpful of a guy you are teknik and I don't doubt your intentions at all. I will check out your 660 buddies for sure, I wish I had known about them a few hours ago before I ordered the crees. I guess I could return them if I can make the buddies work I only have an inch between strips well between the heatsinks anyway.

Buddies are just over an inch wide so they may not have fit anyway.

[Elevator Dude]

Yeah, I don't think the buddies would suit my 660nm overhead application buuuuuut I just ordered 4 strings of the 4000k 95cri for some side lighting. Now I just have to go to the bank in the am to do the bank to bank transfer so they can get on the slow boat to the states.

They are going to scratch 2 itches I have had for awhile side lighting and some higher cri spectrum blending.

[Elevator Dude]

Now if you have an equally innovative way to prevent my wife from noticing all of the packages I have coming for my "fucking money pit" I'm all ears.

[TEKNIK]

Now if you have an equally innovative way to prevent my wife from noticing all of the packages I have coming for my "fucking money pit" I'm all ears.

From my experience all women are sex manicas, just give her some good loving the night before your packages arrive and she won't even mention it.

[Elevator Dude]

The 4 4000k strings of buddies shipped today and I ordered a XLG-50-AB driver to run them. Also received my 54 soldelrless xpg-3 660nm monos I went with 2 HLG-60H-C700B drivers to run them. Just waiting on heatsinks to add them to the fixtures.