Maciej Stelmach Posted November 30, 2013 Report Share Posted November 30, 2013 (edited) Hello, I've been testing several setups of LED panels built with 5050 strips. Raising Wattage when I wasn't satisfied with plant coloration. At first I used 3 strips with 1cm space between each other, all glued to 2mm aluminium plate. It was barely warm at that time. But then the decision was made to add 2 more strips between them, so I glued the rest leaving no space inbetween. After plugging in whole panel after short period of time the aluminium got really hot. As hot that made me worried. Not having much experience with electricity I can't tell if I can keep it that way or something has to be done asap. My question is if it's normal for strips to produce that much heat, or was I placing them too close to each other (the amount was not even doubled)? Would 1cm space (just like before) make a difference? If not then what should be done there? Maybe using aluminium was a bad idea and I should use MDF board instead? I just don't want to dismantle whole thing and start over if the result will be the same - aluminium plate as hot as before. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Edited November 30, 2013 by Ptaah Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gringo Posted November 30, 2013 Report Share Posted November 30, 2013 Temps depend greatly on the diode colour - red/blue LEDs produce less heat than white ones. Which ones do you have? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maciej Stelmach Posted November 30, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 30, 2013 I'm using all the colors you mentioned, and in my case after adding red/blue the temperature raised dramatically. The 1st thing I do is to peel off the strips and make as much space between them as possible. I truly hope this will solve my issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mobile Posted November 30, 2013 Report Share Posted November 30, 2013 I would definitely not use MDF or any other insulator. Ideally heat needs to be drawn away from LEDs as fast as possible, which for high power LEDs means mounting them on a heatsink, which is typically made out of aluminium. If the aluminium plate gets too hot then I would consider changing it to a vaned heastsink, or thermally bonding one of more heatsinks to the plate. If passive cooling is not sufficient then active cooling with a fan is an option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prompt Posted November 30, 2013 Report Share Posted November 30, 2013 (edited) Follow the indications of the mobile, the heat is very dependent on total power strips. Also, the more the temperature of the led chip is high and more their efficiency decreases. Another important factor is the power supply, the LED strips are manufactured to operate at 12 vdc stabilized. If the plants do not take color, it means that they do not receive enough light, so you can buy lenses that reduce the cone of light from 120/140° to 80 ° / 60 ° degrees or approaching the plants to the LEDs (http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Free-shipping-High-quality-High-power-LED-Lens-CREE-XML-T5-T6-U2-Lens-10mm-Convex/219000_764984513.html), in according to the size. Prompt Edited November 30, 2013 by Prompt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maciej Stelmach Posted November 30, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 30, 2013 Thank you guys. I'll see how hot it gets after making 1-2cm space between led strips. As my led panel was running at this temperature for about 5 hours until I've noticed its temperature is far too high I'll probably buy new strips with time to replace the old ones (I believe the damage is done already, just as Prompt suggested). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gringo Posted November 30, 2013 Report Share Posted November 30, 2013 I don't think that making more space between the strips gonna change anything. The aluminium plate will absorb the same amount of heat anyway, maybe it will just need a bit more time to get so warm. The only solution is to attach heatsinks and fans to the panel. My 150W panels are cooled by 4 aluminium heatsinks and 3 computer fans - works perfectly and keeps the panel cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maciej Stelmach Posted December 2, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2013 Indeed it's just as you said. The aluminium plate is just as hot as before. I'll make sure to add radiators and cooling fans if needed. Until then I made sure things are safe and unplugged 2 strips. Thank you for your input. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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