Multi-Channel LED ‘Dream Chip’
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reefkeeper
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Thanks for the input, That's kinda what I was thinking on the channel separation. I really like the HLG series driver. They're water proof and heavy duty. Thanks for responding Ron....
Edit: By the way, are you using the PVDM capabilities with the APEX? if so, I'm going to test mine soon. I have the VDM module and cables, I'm going to write some code and set up test profiles. If you are using the APEX, do you have any suggestions and or recomendations?
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Can someone please explain to a dummy like me how to power and control these things?
reefkeeper
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Here's a basic explanation without getting to technical.....You drive power to the LED or LED's with a driver or call it a "power supply". The drive output voltage has to spec out to support the LED output voltage. You can run a single driver per LED or a driver to run the LED's in parallel mode.
The challenge with running these type LED's is parallel mode is you need to make sure after calculating the max amp's required per LED, you need to fuse them to protect from failure of one of the LED's "failing" and over driving the others.
That's were the fuse comes in. Once the fuse's sense it's being overdriven they blow to protect the other LED"s from damage. The trick is to make sure you get the right fuse.
Drivers can be dimmable or not dimmable. Dimmable Constant Current drivers are used for dimming. The dimming functionally is separate from the main power. You have a 1-10v PVDM dimming signaling voltage, which can be controlled by most commonly a 100 ohm potentiometer or you can use a Reef controller that supports PVDM Signaling. The APEX VDM ports or VDM module supports PVDM signaling which allows you to control the dimming functionality of your LED's.
Hope this helps.....
The challenge with running these type LED's is parallel mode is you need to make sure after calculating the max amp's required per LED, you need to fuse them to protect from failure of one of the LED's "failing" and over driving the others.
That's were the fuse comes in. Once the fuse's sense it's being overdriven they blow to protect the other LED"s from damage. The trick is to make sure you get the right fuse.
Drivers can be dimmable or not dimmable. Dimmable Constant Current drivers are used for dimming. The dimming functionally is separate from the main power. You have a 1-10v PVDM dimming signaling voltage, which can be controlled by most commonly a 100 ohm potentiometer or you can use a Reef controller that supports PVDM Signaling. The APEX VDM ports or VDM module supports PVDM signaling which allows you to control the dimming functionality of your LED's.
Hope this helps.....
OK, since I got you LED gurus here on the thread I have some questions:
Why run parallel why not serial?
If I want to run 3 x 100w of these chips but would like to separate between blues and whites+UV to two channels, what driver would I need for that and what fuse?
Why run parallel why not serial?
If I want to run 3 x 100w of these chips but would like to separate between blues and whites+UV to two channels, what driver would I need for that and what fuse?
In one word: Voltage
Internally, these multi-array LED chips have strings of 10 LEDs in series for each channel, and that means that the voltage required to activate the LEDs is equal to 10x the Forward Voltage of one of the individual LEDs.
So for a single LED chip that requires 3.6 Volts (typical) to turn on, you need about 36 Volts DC to power on one string (or the entire LED).
If you add 3 100W LEDs in series, you'd need approximately 108 Volts DC to turn them on.
The problem is that most LED drivers can't provide voltage at such a high range, on average they do at most 48V DC.
This is because at 48V DC or above, even small amounts of current can be dangerous - even lethal - if you were to contact it.
If you put them in parallel, you only need ~36V DC, but the total amount of current required multiplies.
So for a theoretical example, 3 x 100W LEDs that consume 1.4A of current would require a driver that provides 36V at 4.2A, since the current would divide by 3.
And since each 100W LED should receive no more than 1.4A of current, if you add a fast-blow fuse rated at 1.5A, this protects the other LEDs in the event that one of the LED chips blows and thus the current division is altered.
Note: The above is an example</em> - the actual numbers required to power a parallel string of 100W LEDs most likely will be different.
Yes and no...
The constant current level is what's important, the voltage range will actually vary depending on the load and what's required to overcome the combined Forward Voltage of the LEDs in the series strings.
If you put LEDs in series, the current is the same across all of them but the voltage is divided by the number of LED chips in series.
If you put LEDs in parallel, the voltage is the same across all the parallel strings, but the current is divided by the number of strings of LEDs.
It gets a little more complicated when you have multi-array chips consisting of strings of 10 LED chips in series, in parallel with other strings of 10 LED chips.
I'll work on figuring out what kind of driver would work, it will most likely be a Meanwell HLG-series in the 100-120 Watt range, depending on the required amount of current and voltage.
reefkeeper
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Bill and Giuliano, I love when you talk dirty. 
Edit:
Edit:
You may want to keep chiming into the San Diego Forum thread. I'm sure those guys are way ahead of us and there designs and recommendations will help all of us going forward.
Reefkeeper;820071 wrote: Bill and Giuliano, I love when you talk dirty.
Edit: You may want to keep chiming into the San Diego Forum thread. I'm sure those guys are way ahead of us and there designs and recommendations will help all of us going forward.
LOL...
Yeah, I've been monitoring the SDR forum thread.
To power even one of these (100W) Dream Chip LEDs will require some hefty drivers - or multiple drivers, never mind trying to power three off of one driver.
More communication from AC-RC:
<span style="color: #1f497d"><span>Hanin, the manufacturer agreed with alternative choice for the group buy:</span></span><span style="color: #1F497D"><span style="font-family: Wingdings">
</span></span>
<span style="color: #1f497d"><span style="font-family: Wingdings">l </span></span><span style="color: #1f497d"><span>Only for either 50 or 100 version at least 50pcs</span></span><span style="color: #1F497D"><span style="font-family: Wingdings">
</span></span>
<span style="color: #1f497d"><span style="font-family: Wingdings">l </span></span><span style="color: #1f497d"><span>Combined 50 and 100 would least 70 pcs or above.</span></span>
Than I got some info from the other seller for the hybrid 100w blue/white. This is what it looks like:
http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=41483&d=1355420587" alt="" />
As you can see each channel can be run separately.
[IMG]http://www.ebay.com/itm/1pc-100Watt-Actinic-Royal-Blue-Hybrid-Led-Lamp-1pc-100w-85-265v-AC-Driver-/110980367210?ssPageName=ADME:X:eRTM:US:1123">
This is the original eBay listing</a> that triggered the communication with the second seller.
<span style="color: #1f497d"><span>Hanin, the manufacturer agreed with alternative choice for the group buy:</span></span><span style="color: #1F497D"><span style="font-family: Wingdings">
</span></span>
<span style="color: #1f497d"><span style="font-family: Wingdings">l </span></span><span style="color: #1f497d"><span>Only for either 50 or 100 version at least 50pcs</span></span><span style="color: #1F497D"><span style="font-family: Wingdings">
</span></span>
<span style="color: #1f497d"><span style="font-family: Wingdings">l </span></span><span style="color: #1f497d"><span>Combined 50 and 100 would least 70 pcs or above.</span></span>
Than I got some info from the other seller for the hybrid 100w blue/white. This is what it looks like:
http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=41483&d=1355420587" alt="" />
As you can see each channel can be run separately.
[IMG]http://www.ebay.com/itm/1pc-100Watt-Actinic-Royal-Blue-Hybrid-Led-Lamp-1pc-100w-85-265v-AC-Driver-/110980367210?ssPageName=ADME:X:eRTM:US:1123">
This is the original eBay listing</a> that triggered the communication with the second seller.
I am not entirely sure that these chips should be called 50 Watt or 100 Watt LEDs, because the power that they can draw is much higher than 50/100 Watts.
Call them 50/100 LED chips instead!
According to this table, which I believe is the 100 LED version:
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Each individual channel can handle 1400mA (1.4 Amps) max, with "safe" levels of 3.5A or 5A for all 5 channels - or 700mA/1000mA per channel.
So at 3.5A@32V, it's actually drawing 112 Watts... and at 5A@33.2V, that's 166 Watts.
Also there was this in regards to using one driver to power all 5 channels:
Call them 50/100 LED chips instead!
According to this table, which I believe is the 100 LED version:
Each individual channel can handle 1400mA (1.4 Amps) max, with "safe" levels of 3.5A or 5A for all 5 channels - or 700mA/1000mA per channel.
So at 3.5A@32V, it's actually drawing 112 Watts... and at 5A@33.2V, that's 166 Watts.
Also there was this in regards to using one driver to power all 5 channels:
Giuliani, few people understand that LED's are actually constant current devices (I'm impressed).
My statement was simplistic, and meant to address the forward voltage requirement.
Most folks don't understand Ohms law, so I was intentionally trying to simplify the discussion.
A 'driver' can be built using a DC power supply, and enough resistors/potentiometers The 'how' exceeds the scope of this thread (IMHO). Voltage divider networks are something I am quite adept with.
It's just easier buying from Meanwell.
My statement was simplistic, and meant to address the forward voltage requirement.
Most folks don't understand Ohms law, so I was intentionally trying to simplify the discussion.
A 'driver' can be built using a DC power supply, and enough resistors/potentiometers The 'how' exceeds the scope of this thread (IMHO). Voltage divider networks are something I am quite adept with.
It's just easier buying from Meanwell.
Yeah, I'm pretty well versed with electronics and these LED array chip types in particular - I did the huge 50W LED thread in DIY about a year ago.. and then the DIY Spectrum Analyzer thing which also worked moderately well.
The really tricky part with these particular LED Array chips is that the different strings have different forward voltage requirements, so the resulting math isn't always the same for each string...
Edit:
Wait, you're an electrician by trade and you don't know Ohm's Law?
Look what came in the mail today
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Yep, just took me a minute to upload