Hi all. I was hoping someone might help me get past this pickle I find myself in. A recent hurricane wrecked the driver (HLG-240h-24b) on one of the small arrays I built a year ago. I thought I'd take it as a sign that I should expand it, as well as play around with driving the existing 10 EB Strips a bit harder. I had a bunch of the newish EB Thrive strips laying around so I threw 2 of them onto the array and hooked everything up to an HLG-320H-20B. Except for some reason, I can't seem to drive the whole array higher than 3.52 amps now.
Just looking at the data sheets I thought they should be pulling 1.2 a piece at 20v. I've got to be missing something important.
I have already tried pulling the thrive strips out of the equation, so that doesn't seem to be the problem. The only thing I can think of is I'm missing some factor concerning the driver I selected. I'd hate to have to order another 240b and use 2 separate drivers on one array.
Any thoughts on how I could make this work would be greatly appreciated.
Swamp botanist by day... Bedroom botanist by night.
It's hard to say because you don't speak of which exact eb strips your using, but assuming you're using the 19ish V 2' version: since the driver only gives 20V your strips won't be able to draw more current. As current increase so does voltage requirement, and when you can't go any further then your stuck with that 20V ceiling. Put more strips to it, you should be able to get it to pull more. In any case, the blux eb is best to run soft, they don't have the performance of Sammie strips to run them hard.
It's hard to say because you don't speak of which exact eb strips your using, but assuming you're using the 19ish V 2' version: since the driver only gives 20V your strips won't be able to draw more current. As current increase so does voltage requirement, and when you can't go any further then your stuck with that 20V ceiling. Put more strips to it, you should be able to get it to pull more. In any case, the blux eb is best to run soft, they don't have the performance of Sammie strips to run them hard.
Oh I guess I should have specified. It's a blend of 10 EB Slim gen3 (BXEB-L0590U-40G1500-C-C3) and 2 EBThrive gen3 (BXEB-L0560Z-50S2000-C-C3)
When I had them hooked up to the 240h-24b driver they were pulling much more amperage. If I am understanding you correctly: You are saying that because they were hooked to a 24v driver previously that is why they were able to pull 1A a piece?
I think I might not understand the data sheets then. I thought the forward voltage graph on the data sheet indicated that they should be capable of pulling at least 1a a piece at 20v. Am I doing my math wrong? (3750ma / 12 = 313.5mA)
Swamp botanist by day... Bedroom botanist by night.
No, you're right, according to the datasheet this should run a lot more current. Possibilities:
- Your connections are adding resistance to the circuit: have you got long cables with low gauge? This could mean that they can't quite get full 20V power.
-Your driver might not be giving you full 20V.
- You're mixing EB gen3 and EB Thrive. I haven't checked the ds but not sure they have the same Voltage and if they will play nice together in parallel. Have you tried what happens with only one type on?
- Your strips have come with a bit extra voltage for unknown reasons.
No, you're right, according to the datasheet this should run a lot more current. Possibilities:
- Your connections are adding resistance to the circuit: have you got long cables with low gauge? This could mean that they can't quite get full 20V power.
-Your driver might not be giving you full 20V.
- You're mixing EB gen3 and EB Thrive. I haven't checked the ds but not sure they have the same Voltage and if they will play nice together in parallel. Have you tried what happens with only one type on?
- Your strips have come with a bit extra voltage for unknown reasons.
- is it possible that there are measuring errors?
Edit: youre mixing the 590mm Slim's with the 560mm thrive, pretty sure they act a bit different in parallel with eachother; they don't have the same number or type of LEDs.
No, you're right, according to the datasheet this should run a lot more current. Possibilities:
- Your connections are adding resistance to the circuit: have you got long cables with low gauge? This could mean that they can't quite get full 20V power.
-Your driver might not be giving you full 20V.
- You're mixing EB gen3 and EB Thrive. I haven't checked the ds but not sure they have the same Voltage and if they will play nice together in parallel. Have you tried what happens with only one type on?
- Your strips have come with a bit extra voltage for unknown reasons.
- is it possible that there are measuring errors?
Edit: youre mixing the 590mm Slim's with the 560mm thrive, pretty sure they act a bit different in parallel with eachother; they don't have the same number or type of LEDs.
Interesting. I suspected it might be a problem. But figured I'd take the gamble for the improved cri/nm range I didn't realize that the number or type of smds mattered. I just assumed, with admittedly pretty basic knowledge, that the curves are all that mattered. Comparing their forward voltage curves it looks like it should work. The only difference being that the Thrives would operate at 55% flux.
I took a shot in the dark, and am curious if it might help to switch from a B type to an A type so that I could lock in the voltage. So I ordered a 320-24a. I'm just a little concerned that the minimum CV is 21v. I'm going to try adding more strips to engage the CC to keep the amps in check. Do you think this is a good idea? Or am I going about this all wrong?
Swamp botanist by day... Bedroom botanist by night.
Edit: I haven't tried only one type at a time because I only have 10 of the eb slim gen3's on hand. I thought only hooking up 10 strips to a 320 watt driver would burn something up.
I am using an 18-3 extension cord I cut the ends off of with soldered/heat shrink connections so I don't think that's a limiting factor, but my electrical knowledge is pretty basic.
I was originally thinking there could be measuring issues, due to the cheapo panel meter. However I double checked it with a lux meter and it appeared to be putting out half of the light it did before I replaced the driver. I'm ordering a few more panel meters and am going to try to figure out how to use them with a 20A shunt resistor.
Swamp botanist by day... Bedroom botanist by night.
All this confusion. Turns out DigiKey just sent me a faulty driver.
Additionally, I don't think that the Bridgelux forward voltage curves are accurate on the data sheet. I hooked up 4 V/A panel meters to the array. 2 on the EBgen3 strips and 2 on the EB Thrive strips. As well as a lux meter on each grouping. After a bit of tuning I can confirm that they do play nice together. There is only a 100ma difference in the amount of current that they pull at any given voltage. It works with 16 strips on the array (10 EBgen3, 6 EBThrive). Locking in the driver at 19.2V the Slims run at 110% relative flux while the Thrives run at 80%.
I doubt any one else is going to run into the same situation where they would want to add Thrives to a Slim build. Lol. But just in case they might want to: it definitely works. I would recommend only using an A-type driver though. The numbers jump around a bit too much on the B-Type.
Swamp botanist by day... Bedroom botanist by night.
