So I’ve been trained to look for meanwell drivers in my gear.
Now the only drivers I’m finding that meet my other specs are sosen brand.
Anybody with first hand experience? They’ve got a 5 year warranty but the numbers mean nothing to me so I’m hoping someone who knows better than me can chime in.
Cheers all!
@Mr.Sparkle is smart with that stuff.
I have two Neocision spectra pro fixtures that use sosen drivers and they have 8year warrantees. Been using them for well over a year with no issues and great results.
My MedicGrow light has Sosen drivers, They seem to be showing up more lately. Haven’t had it long, but it’s pull from the wall is as advertised and it’s heat signature is same as my meanwell drivers.
Mine arrived with a European style plug and a North American adapter.
I use a light with sosen drivers that uses 281b’s and runs significantly hotter(it will burn your hand on top after 10 seconds) than another light with 301b’s w/a done driver(barely warm to touch). Both 150 watts. Not apples to apples and no experience w/meanwell.
No experience with Sosen yet but I have an Inventronics that’s been identical to my Meanwell so far
Given a choice, I would always go with Mean Well, but that’s only because I use a lot of their other power products in my designs at work. I’ve used everything from their medical grade power supplies (AC to DC Converters) to their DC to DC converters, and I can honestly say I’ve never experienced a failure with them. I believe they’re headquartered in Taiwan, but don’t quote me on that. I did a little research on Sosen, and although they don’t have the customer base that companies like Mean Well, Cree, Bridgelux, and Dialight have, there are quite a few companies that are carrying their drivers. I can’t find anything negative on them.
I had to chuckle at the CG picture of their factory on their webpage though. It’s well done, but it’s not a photo:
The problem I’m having is I run a 2x4 which seems to be underserviced by the bar market.
I can’t find anything with a meanwell that suits my needs.
And I’m not happy with the efficiencies I’m seeing as an aside.
I’m getting annoyed with it really.
Maybe this driver is the move.
the Migro aray 4 you’ve been looking at for a while now uses a totally different brand all together?!
“Lifud High Efficiency”
If you willing to spend, ChilLED has 2x4s w/ Meanwell supplies.
I’ve not used their fixtures but they seem to be historically targeting quality with relatively high efficacies.
You may also want to consider a couple of single bar fixtures, plenty of options there. Fluence, ThinkGrow, etc. That’s what I’d do, personally.
I run a enfun ef2000 in a 3x3. Was going to move it to a 2x4 for seedling clone/ run set up. It’s adjustable. Meanwell driver and Samsung diodes I believe. The boards are separate from the driver. And the driver never gets too hot to touch. I have no experience with sosen. Also run mainly hps atm.
I have two of these in my room (one on each side) and they have worked very well since March of 22. They will fit a 2X4 with just a little room to spare on each end. The only thing I don’t like is the manufacturers description. The picture here says 4 bars and mine has 6. The bars on mine run perpendicular to the length of the light and the bars pictured here run parallel with it. The dimensions are incorrect in the description. The actual dimensions are 105cm long and 68.5cm wide (I just went back and measured). I just put my hand on the driver and it is literally room temp. They are really bright as well. I’m with you on the lack of bar lights for 2X4 tents. It’s definitely a budget light, but I was having a difficult time finding something for my room, and these have really performed well.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08QHFMVMM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1
It shows smd led, not samsung… maybe they changed? Even in the questions the mfg answers, no not samsung.
And doesn’t list the driver
Those ChillLED are pretty nice looking!
I’ve got the chilled x6. It’s a Great light. Really really really heavy. Has a meanwell driver that gets so hot you can’t touch it!
The description and specifications are terrible. I think the design has changed, but when you’re dealing with overseas manufacturers, it’s a gamble. I really don’t care about LED manufacturers, and in all honesty (not trying to start an argument) you shouldn’t either. LED tech has come a long way and just because something isn’t Samsung, doesn’t mean it isn’t reliable or effective. Reliability and spectrum are what’s important. Your standard, run of the mill LED has an average lifetime of 50,000hrs, regardless of manufacturer. It’s the environment that increases or decreases lifetime.
I’m not trying to sell anyone on these lights. I took a chance on them and have had great luck with them. But, it could be just that, luck.
Here is the last GDP I pulled from under one of these. You can see the light above the plant:
Here are her tops only. I still hadn’t touched the bottom half of the plant:
My option are not palatable.
Cheap: risk but probably ok
Midrange: not quite what I’m looking for
High end: way too expensive for this cheap ass
My biggest concern was safety. If the light dies after a couple of months, shame on them for a poor design. If it burns my house down, shame on me for cheapin’ out. I kept getting up in the middle of the night to check cable temps, driver temps and bar temps. After a week of that, I finally started sleeping well.
I’m in the market for a new one because my old drivers are beginning to smell bad and I’m not sure I trust them anymore.
That’s the first sign.
