The driver is what helps regulate the voltage coming into the light so that it doesn’t overpower each diode and cause shorts. It's also responsible for protecting LEDs from power fluctuations that can cause your light to short.
The type of driver used depends on how much power it needs to regulate. There are internal and external drivers that help various types of grow lights depending on the strength of the chips it will need to power.
Internal drivers are small but capable of powering a good amount of chips. They’re commonly used for lower wattage grow light panels like the 50 Watt Advance Spectrum Dual Band LED Grow Light Panel that have one hundred .5w chips, but can be found in higher wattage lights like 100w COBs with one 100w diode.
External drivers are capable of powering many more chips at much higher wattages. For example, each diode cluster in the S180 Advance Spectrum MAX LED Grow Light Kit requires its own external driver. That’s because each cluster contains fifteen diodes with 3w chips, including UV and IR that require a special considerations. Large panels like those from Black Dog LEDs need to power hundreds of 3w and 5w chips across a number of panels, so they also use external drivers.
Because external drivers take in and distribute so much energy, they have built-in heat syncs and even power fans to keep cool.
The type of driver used depends on how much power it needs to regulate. There are internal and external drivers that help various types of grow lights depending on the strength of the chips it will need to power.
Internal drivers are small but capable of powering a good amount of chips. They’re commonly used for lower wattage grow light panels like the 50 Watt Advance Spectrum Dual Band LED Grow Light Panel that have one hundred .5w chips, but can be found in higher wattage lights like 100w COBs with one 100w diode.
External drivers are capable of powering many more chips at much higher wattages. For example, each diode cluster in the S180 Advance Spectrum MAX LED Grow Light Kit requires its own external driver. That’s because each cluster contains fifteen diodes with 3w chips, including UV and IR that require a special considerations. Large panels like those from Black Dog LEDs need to power hundreds of 3w and 5w chips across a number of panels, so they also use external drivers.
Because external drivers take in and distribute so much energy, they have built-in heat syncs and even power fans to keep cool.
