Lighting Info needed, Driver specs for an old Blackstar 240

[Adam & Cola]

So Ive been checking out this DIY LED COB forum for a week. I have an old Blackstar 240 flower spectrum. This LED panel sucks for flowering. But i've held onto it for the last 5 years and I'm glad I did. seeing as I can make an upgrade with it into a cob fixture.

I opened it up and it has two drivers. but they don't say what the output voltage is. all it has on the driver is the input voltage of 80-130v and the output amps of 580ma.

Does anyone know what the output voltage is of these drivers? so I can properly choose the COB's

Thanks
If this project works i might convert my two mars 400's

 

[BigSm0]

That number really sounds like the output voltages. Most drivers in these style lights say input 100-240v. Can you snap a picture?

 

[Adam & Cola]

I put the blackstar 240 back together until I get my 2 Citizen CLU048-1212 80CRI
in the mail. Actually I was going to go buy a volt meter today. So i could just check myself since nobody had replied. until now! thanks

I'll open her back up after I get the volt meter and I'll snap a pic. So if that's the actual output of 80-130v then these two cobs wont work will they. Since there Min input voltage is 31.8 and the max is 37.5 They could burn up. even though the amps is a minuscule 580ma. Am I correct? I was thinking I would put one cob on each driver. but now I don't think I could even put two on one driver.

Pics to come
Again thanks for the reply BigSm0

 

[BigSm0]

I have never figured out why they put a minimum voltage on drivers. I have run quite a few 36v cobs on minimum 90v minimum drivers and never once ran into an issue. I would go with the 1812's instead as their higher voltage would increase the wattage. 36v cobs would give you 19w per cob and the 1812 would give you 27w per cob. The meter is a good choice.

Sorry for the late reply and I'm pretty upset no one else offered advice. Plenty of knowledgeable folks here.

 

[Adam & Cola]

honestly, getting the volt meter made things more confusing.

so I snapped a few pics of the original blackstar in action that way I can compare when this mod is all said and done.

1st pic is her over a dark devil auto in a 2 gallon DWC.

2nd and 3rd pics is the draw at the wall with a kill o watt meter. Watts and Amps. 126 Watts and 1.07A

4th and 5th pics are the guts of the Blackstar 240

ok, First I disconnected the drivers and just ran the unit with the three fans on.
the Kill o watt meter showed that just the fans it was using .15A and 10.2W of energy just for the fans

Next I used the volt meter on one of the drivers. Not running any LEDS (This is whats confusing) the meter shows that I got 169.4 VDc coming out of the driver and only .172 amps. I'm expecting to see what is listed on the driver itself, somewhere between 80 and 130V and 580mA. I don't get it??? What am I missing here?

So I still have my Kill o watt plugged in, it reads that its pulling .51mA and 58 Watts.. which makes more sense than what the volt meter showed me. I got the same reading from both drivers while only running one at a time. With both drivers connected, the kill o watt said it was pulling 1.01 Amps and 117 Watts. Which again makes sense because the fans aren't connected which pulled just over 10 watts.

So the volt meter showing me that I got 169.4 Volts coming from the driver.. does this mean I can actually run 6 of the CLU048-1212 per driver? Or should I not go over the 130 volt max, which would be 3 CLU048-1212 running at 37.5 volts?

 

[Adam & Cola]

Oh I went with the 1212's only because I didn't think the drivers would have enough ooomph, since it's so old! in hind sight if I go with 3 1212 cobs per driver. that would put me back at 114 Watts + 10 watts for the fan 124Watts 2 watts under the original pull from the wall running the blurple's.. If it were the 1812 I would be able to run 4 from these drivers and total watts would be 118 with the fans running. Am i correct, or am i way out in left field on this?

 

[BigSm0]

The listed specs on driver are the output and not the input. I wouldn't worry to much about maxing the drivers to get maximum wattage when your just about tripling the real light output as it is. As long as you make it all within specs you'll be fine.

 

[Adam & Cola]

one other question. What size tap to use for the citizen cobs to drill into a heat sink. I've bought two taps now from home depot and both have been too big. of course now i'm returning both.. but they don't have anything smaller at the store. so I would like to order the correct size for these cobs.

I realize its a cost thing but you would think when you buy the cobs and the BJB holders they would come with the mounting screws. Or at least be able to find somewhere what size screws and tap to use. not too much to ask is it? lol

 

[BigSm0]

one other question. What size tap to use for the citizen cobs to drill into a heat sink. I've bought two taps now from home depot and both have been too big. of course now i'm returning both.. but they don't have anything smaller at the store. so I would like to order the correct size for these cobs.

I realize its a cost thing but you would think when you buy the cobs and the BJB holders they would come with the mounting screws. Or at least be able to find somewhere what size screws and tap to use. not too much to ask is it? lol

I supply screws when I ship cobs and so does northern grow lights. The screws are M3x6.

 

[Adam & Cola]

Thanks again, back to ordering parts. lol