Looking for a bit of advice on drivers for a DIY LED setup

[Matt LeBaron]

Still waiting to see what the dimmer options end up being for the latest Evergrow Group buy but still doing some research on putting together my own DIY LED setup.

 

Looking at RapidLED right now because their solderless option seems like the way I would like to go as it will allow me to make changes to the fixture easily without having to pull the soldering iron out every time.

 

Only issue is that they don't have much in the way of dimmable drivers, it's basically the meanwell ELN-60-48P (which can run about 14 LED's) or the meanwellHLG-185-42B (which runs 60+ LEDs in strings). I'm looking for something that could run 20-30 LED's so that I can minimize the number of controllable channels and plugs I'm going to need.

 

www.ledgroupbuy.com has the inventronics 100w driver that runs at 1400ma, which could do around 20 of the XT-E and/or XP-G Cree LEDS(both have a max current of 1500ma) and then the inventronics 75w - 700ma driver that can run near 30 of the XP-E Cree LEDS (max current 700ma). Has anyone used these drivers or have any recommendations on other drivers I could use to run two LED strings, one of ~24 Royal Blue XT-E and one of ~24 XP-G Cool Whites?

 

This also brings up another question I have, while the XP-G have a max current of 1500ma, I see most setups grouping them with XP-E's and just running both at 700ma, is there a reason for only pushing the XP-G's half of what they could handle or is it usually just a convience thing to run them with the XP-E's so that your white and red/green/UV LEDS are all on the same driver?

 

The PWM dimming expansion for my Reef Angel gives me 6 controllable channels so I'd like to use one to run my blues, one for my white, one for red, one for green, one for UV, and one for moonlights. I'd have to buy another dimming expansion if I have to use two drivers each for my blues and whites. I may just consolidate the red, green, and UV onto on driver anyhow since I don't think there will be a lot of reason to adjust each of them individually but I'd still like to minimize channels and plugs as much as possible.

 

Thanks for any advice or assistance.

[AlanM]

I'd say look into the Meanwell LDD-H drivers if you're using a Reef Angel which already has PWM output. I soldered up a few of the attached boards which I ordered made in China and have some extra if you want some, the board, terminal blocks and IC sockets add up to about 5 bucks. They take 3 channels of PWM input plus a 48V power supply and give 3 channels of LED output. You can put around 16 LEDs on each driver depending on the specific LED used (3V each * 16 = 48V).

 

Most places online (Powergate, Mouser, Jameco were the ones I checked) are out of the LDD-1000H which maxes out at 1000mA, but they're all supposed to be getting them in during the next couple of weeks.