LEDEngin - 10 watt / 15 watt Information thread

[FernanDEL]

I make a mistake 2 parallel of 3 series need (90w 3A 45v)

I have find a Mepos Led driver :
Part Number : ILPA150VU-S052ST
Output Voltage : 52VDC
Max. Output Current : 3.00A
Efficiency (220VAC, Full Load) : 93%
Over Voltage Protection - Min / Typ / Max : 56V / 60V / 63V
Max. Output Power : 150W

 

[bshanahan14rulz]

the initial question is how to plug 6 ledengin 15w at 1500mA and 15v

assuming you want white. I guess these are in series, as Vf is pretty high.

So, lets say you have the first driver option to work with, and you need to power a total of 9 units? Am I reading you right so far?

Normally with high-power LEDs, it's a good idea not to have LEDs or strings of LEDs paralleled. This is because as they heat up, they draw more current. If one string heats up more than the other that is parallel with it, it draws more current. More current means more heat. More heat means more current. This means the other string starts getting less and less current. Eventually the hotter string will fry from overheating/overdriving.

The bad news: this makes the number of LEDs you can safely drive per driver smaller.

The good news: it's easier to calculate how many LEDs per driver, as they are all to be in series!

Now, if you DO want to try to put two strings paralleled, you will need to make sure that the two strings have the same Vf, same heatsinking. Plus, you will want something to limit current from shifting from one string to the other too much. Usually resistors are used for this, but with the amount of current going through these, your resistor would end up being huge. I'm not really sure of a good way to do this, so perhaps someone else will chime in.

As for running them in one series string, if you ran all 9 LEDs at 1500mA, you would need a driver capable of outputting 135V (9*15V) at 1.5A.
Alternatively, you could get 2 drivers and split them up to lower the total Vf needed.

 

[FernanDEL]

I will pay for simplicity i will go with eldoLED driver, it was my initial decision. ;-)

 

[Inkidu]

Just got 6 (10 watt) deep red (661 nm) and 6 (5 watt) warm whites

I have on order a meanwell eln-30-24 (1.25 amp, 24 volt) for the warm whites

also on order is a meanwell clg-60-24 (2.5 amp, 24 volt) plan on running

3 parallel strings of 2 in series. I have seen the precautions of doing so but

there seems not to be a lot choices, that I have found so far, of high volt

low amp drivers. Will this work? Are there better options? Not a great level

of experience but I am learning so please make answers on the simple side.

I got these leds for of all things to grow algae which in turn filters my fish

tank. I got the warm white leds because they seemed unusual as far as the

spectrum contain some fairly low blues and some high reds that correspond

nicely with the chlorophyll a absorption spectra. Can anyone show me a link

for how to use a multimeter to check how I should maybe pair them to get

a similar current running through each string? Do you test when there on or

off or both. Please be basic I am new to this especially the use of a

multimeter. Are there better driver choices? Any help would be appreciated.

I seem to be able to find a lot more info about the low watt leds. I am

concerned I might do something wrong and blow up a $30 deep red led or

worse all 6.

 

[purduephotog]

Just got 6 (10 watt) deep red (661 nm) and 6 (5 watt) warm whites

I have on order a meanwell eln-30-24 (1.25 amp, 24 volt) for the warm whites

also on order is a meanwell clg-60-24 (2.5 amp, 24 volt) plan on running

3 parallel strings of 2 in series. I have seen the precautions of doing so but

there seems not to be a lot choices, that I have found so far, of high volt

low amp drivers. Will this work? Are there better options? Not a great level

of experience but I am learning so please make answers on the simple side.

I got these leds for of all things to grow algae which in turn filters my fish

tank. I got the warm white leds because they seemed unusual as far as the

spectrum contain some fairly low blues and some high reds that correspond

nicely with the chlorophyll a absorption spectra. Can anyone show me a link

for how to use a multimeter to check how I should maybe pair them to get

a similar current running through each string? Do you test when there on or

off or both. Please be basic I am new to this especially the use of a

multimeter. Are there better driver choices? Any help would be appreciated.

I seem to be able to find a lot more info about the low watt leds. I am

concerned I might do something wrong and blow up a $30 deep red led or

worse all 6.

All I can tell you is I've fried so many ledengin LEDs that I won't run them in parallel anymore.

Magtech makes a couple of higher voltage drivers- the highest I saw is a 48V unit, so that could run 4 dies in series- Ithink they make one at 1A.

I purchased a 48v 1.3A driver and plan to run 14 dies in series, each at 1.3A. Solves alot of problems with the xitanium drivers AND I don't have to get the stupid wires in those little pathetic plugs.

 

[Inkidu]

Thanks for the reply.

Points well taken unfortunately I already ordered the CLG-60-24. So needless

to say I would like to make it work. Would a 1 ohm or possible a 2 ohm give

enough protection from burning them up? Is that what a resistor would do

i.e. provide insurance/balance the load? recap 6(10watt deep red)

typ. 10.8 fVat 833 mA 3p2s

I don't want to lose efficiency they (meanwell) mention about a Driver IC in the catalog as

the most efficient, costly, and difficult to hook up. "PWM constant current source

will regulate forward current to achieve even current at each branch" (Driver IC)

It looks like its being used along with the clg-60-24 driver.

What link could I use to find out what and how to use a Driver IC?

Might be beyond someone with little experience. me

But I would like to try.


Thanks for any help.

 

[Inkidu]

If anyone is interested the (6) 10 watt deep reds from LEDENGIN

http://www.ledengin.com/products/10wLZ/LZ4-00R210.pdf

are working 2s3p with the meanwell CLG-60-24 w/o resistors for 5 hours straight

now. Am I over any possibility of failure?

Thanks for any help.

 

[bshanahan14rulz]

TI has a LED design handbook pdf somewhere with lists of specially designed driver chips. IIRC, some were complicated as stink, but some were "hook up to power, hook up LED, add resistor, voila!"

Never tried getting samples before, though...

 

[Bronx68]

We need a 8 to 10 watt heat sink for the LedEngin LZ4 series leds. Anyone know of a good source for these? Mouser has a few but they are all either obsolete or soon to be obsolete.

 

[evilc66]

Walk into any PC store. If you need something more specific, you need to tell us.

 

[Bronx68]

Yes we are using a heat sink made by CoolerMaster part number ECC-00500-01GP. It is 35mm x 105mm and has special mounting for LedEngin (the manufacturers name) mcpcb boards. Three hole mounting. It has a thermal resistance of 7.12 deg C / watt.

 

[David_Campen]

I have several LedEngin LZ4-40R100 623 nm emitters on order with Mouser. These have the 4 dies connected serially on an star mcpcb. Mouser also has heat sinks available for this package:
http://www.mouser.com/Thermal-Management/Heatsinks/_/N-5gg0?P=1yztium
I will be using the Ohmite 76 mm heat sinks:
http://www.mouser.com/ohmiteheatsinks/
and a Magtech L07U-700 driver:
http://www.ledsupply.com/l07u-700.php
These will be for growlights for orchids. I would have liked to use the LedEngin LZ4-40R200 660 nm emitters but neither Mouser or Newark has these as stock items. To buy the LZ4-40R200 from Mouser you have to order a lot of 70. Newark only requires an order for 10, so whenever they get these in stock I will order a lot of 10.

 

[blasterman]

I'm not convinced of the need for 660nm given this wavelength is almost non existent in other artifical sources, but that's a separate arguement.

LEDsupply has triple-up Rebels here at 660nm. Might be worth looking at given the inefficiency of LEDEngin.

When I rolled the prices for triple Cree and Rebel stars they were cheaper per lumen than LEDEngin as well.

 

[David_Campen]

I'm not convinced of the need for 660nm given this wavelength is almost non existent in other artifical sources, but that's a separate arguement.

Yes, after doing some research today I've decided that 625nm will do as well or better than 660.

 

[blasterman]

Also, I'm not trying to distract from the LEDEngin discussion.

For plant lights the die-size / optic issue you encounter with flashlights typically isn't an issue, and so I tend to focus strictly on the absolute performance numbers of the platform - brand aside. In this respect triple Rebels and Crees are becoming increasingly easier to find.

 

[xul]

- The extremely low thermal resistance - about 1/2 of many packages

Means you can use it at a higher ambient, or put twice the watts in, or have a longer service lifetime, other things being equal.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_resistance_in_electronics
http://lightingresearch.org/programs/solidstate/pdf/guSPIE.pdf

 

[David_Campen]

I just had a failure in a string of LZ4-4 LEDs. There are 4 LZ4-4 in the string - an LZ4-40WW00 in parallel with an LZ4-40B200 and that in series with an LZ4-R100 and an LZ4-R200. These were being driven by an LP1040-36-C-1050 constant current driver (High Perfection Tech). They were suitably heat sinked with the star MCPCB boards screwed onto 1/8" thick copper and with 2 3" long extruded aluminum heat sinks attached to the copper, thermal paste was used. The copper and the aluminum heat sinks did not seem to be getting above 130F.

I put this assembly up on a ceiling and had run it for several days at about 8 hours per day. Today 3 of the 4 LEDs went out with only the LZ4-R200 remaining lit. I haven't yet taken the assembly down from the ceiling for examination but since the LZ4-R200 remained lit it seems that the others shorted.

Does anyone have any similar experiences or ideas as to what happened/why?

 

[Illum]

 

[saabluster]

Illum I noticed you edited your post so we will just pretend this never happened.

 

[David_Campen]

I found my short, it was from poor assembly on my part, one of the DC power leads in one of the LED modules had managed to short to the case.