Anyone try these COB LEDs with onboard drivers?

blep48

420 Member
I'm tinkering with these COB LEDs with onboard drivers. They're designed for floodlight type use. Price is definitely good, IF they last. They're no-name Chinese, so they might not work out in the long term. I bought some 100W units in warm white (2500-3200K) and I'm going to do some testing and see how it goes.

cob22.jpg


These two 100W COBs are temporarily only attached with one screw each and have no heat transfer goop yet. I'm waiting on some taps to thread holes into the heat sink for screws. Had to put the COB panels at funny angles to catch existing holes in my used heat sink. Two 100W COBs do fit end to end on this heat sink.

cob10.jpg


Got a couple used heat sinks pretty cheap on Ebay. I don't think passive cooling is going to work. Heat sink gets pretty toasty during testing. I probably will add a fan or two to the fin side. More testing needed...

cob111.jpg


The COB panels seem reasonably well made. Having onboard drivers is super nice. Just solder 110V cord directly to the COB panel. You need a big soldering iron to solder these, as the solder pads are not thermally isolated from the aluminum backer, which sinks heat away really well. My Weller WES50 iron, turned all the way up, can just barely solder wires to the panels.

cob31.jpg
 
I screwed one of the 150w units to a piece of copper plate I had, and mounted a 4 inch fan to cool it.
The fan defo could not do the job. I wonder how they sell these as passive cooled.
If you look at my recent diy post on water cooling these mothers you`ll see I measured them operating at 70 deg C.

They are super bright and so far have run a couple of days no problems.
If you have a piece of black shiny plastic you can catch the reflection of the led matrix and see all are working properly
without hurting your eyes.

Good luck with your build.
 
I wonder how they sell these as passive cooled.
Do they really specify that? Definitely not without a bunch of heat sink. An aluminum floodlight chassis is a pretty big heat sink though, and whoever engineers that would add whatever cooling he deems necessary (most likely extra fins - active cooling would be a maintenance nightmare).

I have one of the 150W panels too. After testing it I decided to switch to 100W ones. The 150W makes a lot of heat.

But, ya, they're 100 watts. They're going to get hot for sure. I'm kind of thinking I might have to go to one 100W panel on each of my heat sinks, with fan(s). With the two COBs on one heat sink as in the pics, I decided enough was enough when the entire heat sink got to around 125F. Temp seemed to be still climbing, so I called it quits till I get a fan on the sink.

If you look at my recent diy post on water cooling these mothers you`ll see I measured them operating at 70 deg C.
Didn't see that post. I'll go looking for it tonight.
 
I love reading DiY stuff.

Would the 50-watt ones, maybe spaced at one per square foot, be more efficient and give a better distribution (assuming the same total wattage consumption) than the 100-watt ones? Setup would undoubtedly be more expensive, of course.
 
Would the 50-watt ones, maybe spaced at one per square foot, be more efficient and give a better distribution (assuming the same total wattage consumption) than the 100-watt ones? Setup would undoubtedly be more expensive, of course.
I was starting to think about exactly that layout. Great minds think alike. :thumb: Probably build it like my too-expensive Vero 29 COB light, except do it on the cheap.

I might just order a bunch and play. Maybe find some inexpensive CPU cooler that would do the job for each emitter and just buy a bunch of them as well.
 
Maybe find some inexpensive CPU cooler that would do the job for each emitter and just buy a bunch of them as well.

Speaking of which, don't people who push the overclocking envelope use a few different grades of really fine sandpaper to get the CPU:cooler interface as close to flat as possible before adding the gunk? I've read that can actually help (minimally - but measurably). There's labor involved, of course, but not extra parts (other than some sandpaper). Just improves whatever you end up using.

IDK if a degree or three would be considered significant. But every little bit helps.
 
Speaking of which, don't people who push the overclocking envelope use a few different grades of really fine sandpaper to get the CPU:cooler interface as close to flat as possible before adding the gunk? I've read that can actually help (minimally - but measurably). There's labor involved, of course, but not extra parts (other than some sandpaper). Just improves whatever you end up using.

IDK if a degree or three would be considered significant. But every little bit helps.

yeah you can polish the aluminium heatsink or plate with water paper (not sure what its called elsewhere but its 1200 grit sandpaper or higher and some water). Did it for my COB panel. Doesn't take very long to do but would suggest wearing gloves. The fine aluminium sticks to your fingers like glue

blep48 - So I'm an LED noob, got most of my info from that GrowMau5 guy so I'm very curious about cobs like these. Would these cobs cover enough of the spectrum to grow plants, or is it really just about brightness?

And for the drives, how would an onboard driver compete with the standalone ones like meanwells that are needed for the crees / veros?
 
Would these cobs cover enough of the spectrum to grow plants, or is it really just about brightness?
I have no idea about the spectrum. That's why I'm going to do some testing and see how it goes. It's really just about cheapness. My Vero 29 light works great, but it was super expensive. I'm looking around for less expensive lights. I've also got a connection with an electronic guy who buys from Digikey and Mouser at wholesale - hopefully I can get parts at a better price than full retail, even after he puts on his markup. Anyway, don't wait around too long for my testing results. I'm in no hurry whatsoever.

And for the drives, how would an onboard driver compete with the standalone ones like meanwells that are needed for the crees / veros?
Once again, it's all about being cheap.
 
Yeah some cobs and drivers just burned a hole in my wallet so cheaper setups are always welcome. Having a look at some of the quantum board setups, not sure what that type of setup is called but quite a few makes to choose from and all pretty similar in components. They seem like a slightly cheaper option and good output.

Interesting to see where this goes
 
Hey you ever get any results from this setup? I tried out a similar but smaller cob meant for a floodlight and managed to grow some seedlings under.
Haha! I lost interest shortly after posting in this thread. Work got super hectic - I've had zero free time - and work is still going crazy for at least another month. Once work levels off some and spring comes I may have some free time to tinker, plus I'll probably get the gardening bug more than in winter. Might get back to it then...
 
I saway them also, there are also some 12v cobs you could runderstand off a computer power supply. Pretty cheap and I am gonna try sometime. Maybe even use a rain gutter and mouth heats inks in it with a computer fan or two to blow through cooling everything.
 
I saway them also, there are also some 12v cobs you could runderstand off a computer power supply. Pretty cheap

You can get 50-watt COBs on Amazon that you can solder a cord with a ~120VAC plug onto and plug directly into the electrical outlet. They cost around $5.75 each, lol. You'd still need to add a heat-removal setup of your choice, of course (old CPU heatsink/fan? Big chunk of finned aluminum?), and some kind of housing might be a good idea. But... $5.75.

At that price, they're probably cheaply-manufactured Chinese crap. But that appears to be par for the course when it comes to LED grow lights, for the most part, and you could undoubtedly put together a setup running six of them for (much, much) less than $1,000, so....
 
and you want my vote for member oty ?? LOL :thanks:

NO. Got a bet going with my buddy that I can end up with a zero vote count if I don't post some kind of carefully-NOT-campaigning message in that thread; kind of a sociology (aka social proctology ;) ) experiment, if you will. Come to think of it, that contest has probably already come and gone....
 
NO. Got a bet going with my buddy that I can end up with a zero vote count if I don't post some kind of carefully-NOT-campaigning message in that thread; kind of a sociology (aka social proctology ;) ) experiment, if you will. Come to think of it, that contest has probably already come and gone....


OK I won't vote for you.
Need help on your non election campaign
 
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