How’s the voltage stability? That’s where I’ve seen the biggest issues - no true constant current stability, as the LEDs heat up, voltage climbs right with them, until the over-voltage breakers are tripped, or worse ~sizzle~
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Stable enough. Just set the drivers to under volt by about .2 and those dramas you speak of are gone. Which I might add you also see on meanwell drivers on a 240v circuit in the UK. The power at the wall tends to fluctuate between between 237/248 volts. Give one another go under volted see what you make of it
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They seem fine. I’ve got a voltmeter In a draw somewhere I’ll give it a test tomorrow and see how much it fluctuates and report back. They only really climb higher than rating when I adjust the pot. It only takes a really fine adjustment and they shoot up so I’ve learned sometimes only just push the driver into the slot can be enough for the required adjustment. My drivers are both located externally and above the tents so shock from water is unlikely. Don’t get me wrong. As soon as they play up if I’ve got the cash I’ll invest in some meanwells but for now I’m a little cash strapped and these work fine. No heat issues. I do admit both are running on 30 amp car wiring loom cable as standard cable became too hot for my liking
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You can counter that on the Chinese by splitting your loom along the run and running from the other outputs on the DC side of the driver mate
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Something I didn’t think about doing. The 30amp cable was cheap enough mate and no heat at all coming from it so we are golden 
it only cost me £5 for 3 meters so…
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One of the reasons they are so much cheaper (aside from the obvious reasons) is that they are not true Constant Current LED drivers. Note that they are “regulated power supplies”, which is not even close to the same thing. LED’s really need a Constant Current or CCCV power supply to function best. Regulated will work, but not as well as it could and not as safely. You will notice drifting ans there is a real chance of thermal runaway if pushed hard.
Not saying you cant do it, but its far from best practice.
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It is a CCTV driver. 480w 24v wish people would stop repeating other people’s speculative shite and just try it. If not keep blowing your doh. Cola is past giving a fuck
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Your correct about the drift but I’ve noticed they drift downwards (wattage drops) but only ever by around 10 - 20w max. Nothing drastic and nothing worth worrying about. I’m sure if I shortened the cable from the solstrip to the driver (it’s around 2.5 meters at the moment as I have it located outside my tent and up high for safety reasons) I’d be able to get it to stabilise and keep the power more constant. I have no heat issues what so ever with the cheaper driver and because of this I highly doubt it will ever fail on me. It does exactly what it advertises and drives the strips at a rate that’s more than acceptable for my needs. If I had the cash spare I’d definitely have dimmable meanwells but at the moment this is not the case.
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Mate its working perfect in my eyes and it’s covering my needs. What I’m seeing here is like what I used to see on RIU. But instead of quantum board fan boys we have meanwell fan boys
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I am literally out tryna save brothers a few quid. Fuck I’ll help people freely as you know. But after a while of repeatedly repeating the same shit. I’m about done. OG has developed a right collection of cock measuring nonsensers
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Agreed. Same shit happened over there and it was enough for me to leave and never go back again. We both gave our views and advice that they work fine and are a quarter of the price. I was that impressed with the 480w I went out and bought a 120w for my small tent.
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You’re spot on there mate. I was there under the same name. I fell for all the meanwell bollocks to start with with my first lights. (The first I ever made I sold to a spark who said he couldnt do better). Luckily i had materials to fuck about with and learn what works.
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It’s like choosing between a Ferrari and a Ford. It doesn’t matter as long as it gets you too your final destination
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I’d rather drive the ford with today’s pricing 
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Yep and likely more reliable 
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Sorry. Really. I was not trying to start a fight, but if you want to complain about ‘cock measuring’, you guys started it by claiming those 4" long limp power supplies are just as good as a 10" long, fully engorged Meanwell (there is a cock measuring joke in there)
Im not sure if that was a typo on your part, but I was not talking about CCTV supplies. Closed Circuit TV has nothing to do with power supplies. I was talking about CCCV = Constant Current Constant Voltage power supplies.
The link above to the “regulated LED drivers” is to regulated power supplies. They are NOT CCCV. They are NOT the same. They are not true drivers at all.
I have no problem with you using them or recommending them - unless you claim there is no difference between them and a quality LED driver that is actually designed to drive LED’s safely and properly at the max efficiency.
Sure they work. Sure they are cheaper. That does NOT equal the same or better.
Im fine if you dont think its worth spending the extra $$$ on a Meanwell or some other true CCCV driver. What you decide is “worth the money” or “not worth the money” is entirely up to you. I cheap out on some things but not on others. Im sure you are the same way. Others may want the added benefits and be willing to pay the difference.
I just dont want people thinking there is “no difference” when there is actually a very large difference in circuit design and function. Which ones you buy or use is entirely up to you.
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It was a typo my bad. Well an auto correct anyway but yeah even a meanwell isn’t cccv. It’s CC or CV. I wouldnt use CV in a COB application. I would use CC. And if it’s a strip build I would use CV. However you look at it. A regulated power supply is usually CV which is notable by the voltage it runs at constantly usually stated somewhere on the driver.
I’ve only made like 40 light rigs in the last year but I don’t know shit 
I don’t know why people think I’m here to bash meanwell. I’ve got a hlg120hC1050B running on my cob cool tube.
At no point have we said there was no difference either. There’s an evident difference. All I want people to know is IT IS NOT THE ONLY OPTION to buy a meanwell.
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Ok, most of that is incorrect, but Im not going to argue with you any more. I just dont feel well enough to get into the details.
Edit: I lied. Its a personality flaw on my part I guess. I have to correct part of this. Sorry. Im pretty well stoned and fighting kidney stones, so I hope this is understandable and doesnt come across as an attack. I do tend toward being a pedantic ass sometimes. Sorry.
Meanwell drivers are CCCV. They are not CC or CV = they are both. CC is the primary mode. Which mode is active at any given moment depends on a number of things I wont get into, but they can be operating in either mode at any time. The mode of operation (CC vs CV) switches automatically depending on what the “load” is at that time and the settings. It helps if the “load” is within the range that supply is designed to handle. If the load goes ‘out of range’, they will limit the damage by limiting the output of the supply.
Im sure you know ohms law - E=IR. Ohms law is why a CV only power supply is a bad choice to drive LED’s.
Thats because LED’s do not have a constant fixed resistance. I feel like I should put that in bold type. Its the key to all this discussion.
The resistance of an LED goes down when they heat up. The harder you drive them, the lower the resistance. Less resistance means a lower voltage drop. A CV supply will try its best to keep the voltage the same while the resistance of the LED drops. The only way to do that is to increase the current flow. As the current flow through the LED increases, the heat increases, which drops the resistance of the LED even more. That lowers the voltage drop across the LED even more, which forces the CV supply to increase the current flow even more, which leads to more heat, less resistance, more current flow, lower voltage, more heat, etc etc etc until things burn up.
This is pretty much the definition of thermal runaway.
Only a true CCCV /power supply/driver can handle that situation correctly. It will keep the voltage AND the current from getting too far out of spec.
Yes, cheaper supplies will work fine - most of the time. Unless you are pushing to hard or the diodes are getting old or have poor cooling, etc, etc.
Take a look at these two graphs. One os from Meanwell and one from the data sheet of the most commonly used LM561C LED’s. They show what Im talking about.
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Run cobs in parallel on a meanwell CV without resistors before each diode. They don’t do that well at keeping shit in check. Just as liable to thermal runaway. Go on see what happens. Cos if a resistor is needed for a meanwell then it will be the same for a regulated PSU will it not? So they are not true CCCV because they are meanwell or we wouldn’t have these issues would we.
On another note. Sorry to hear about your poor health mate that’s no good
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I have this driver and it’s both cc and cv , @anon58740919 mate , when i wire this up will i need to change anything and if i don’t have an ammeter how do i know how much it’s putting out etc - just a few ??'s , asi need to know before i use it bro.
Any info appreciated.
Gaz
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