Running at max or 75%?

[Cmm2526]

i was really looking for a better understanding of the concepts of running at different levels. I tried reading as much as I could, and felt I had a decent understanding. Then talked to an old timer electrician and he made me second guess everything. So I guess ultimately this was for reassurance. Don't think I'll be asking that guy for any more advice

[unkle_psycho]

I read some article a week back which was explaining how the led manufacturers themselves do not understand why voltage drops when leds are driven hard. The article explained a few theories that manufacturers had tested and failed. One of them was temperature.
The article just concluded that nobody understands, because quantum physics.

So theres an axis between cost of buying strips and efficiency, and its a kind of grey area. Since leds mainly justify their existance through energy saving everyone is left feeling they should do it too.

Personally I spent over a month juggling f-series designs, and as a last step I would always check efficiency and scrap my design. My attachment to efficiency was clouding my thinking. Finally I looked at Vesta strips, and since they were not efficient to start with, I felt comfortable just making a design that covers all my practical needs...

[tazztone]

since they were not efficient to start with,

VESTA are not really inefficient
when you look at photon output, instead of lm/w. so from a plants viewpoint. by using LivingLight's "lm to photon conversion factors" you get these umol/s per watt:
129 lm/W * 0.017 = 2.27 VESTA CRI90 (0% = BASELINE)
144 lm/W * 0.0173 = 2.49 LM561C 2700K CRI90 (+9%)
175 lm/W * 0.0145 = 2.54 EB gen2 3000K CRI80 (+11%)
178 lm/W * 0.01485 = 2.64 F-Series 3000K CRI80 (+14%)
so vestas are only 9% less efficient than a 90CRI lm561c. but massively less expensive. vesta gives you double the amount of photons per dollar as Fseries.
you can use the cost savings to gain efficiency back by driving more strips softer. which also allows you to get a better light spread and to get closer to the plants

[unkle_psycho]

Yeah I was in some marketing hype psychosis, when really its a systems issue. I wonder what kind of efficiency my sidelighting would reach with 16 feet of vestas at 150w...

[sdfoster22]

Did I read somewhere that the harder you run the drivers the more efficient the driver runs? Or am i mistaken?

[tazztone]

harder you run the drivers the more efficient the driver runs?

if you have a CC driver that can supply 1A from let's say 30-100V it's more efficient if you reach towards 100V instead of 30V. that's what i heard.
i don't know about losses when they are dimmed

[unkle_psycho]

The driver is more efficient when its run hard, the leds are most efficient driven soft. Also you seem to save a little with high voltage strips and systems, and loose a little when dimming.