My emitters are a specialty item at $75ea but have to be ordered in qtys of no less than 12. You probably dont need the high CRI and tint for an outdoor application. If you’re considering building your own, I can get you started on a basic parts list and source through digikey, but you’ll have to design or modify your own fixture, properly ground and heat sink it and make it completely waterproof. As with all of these AC powered projects, if someone gets electrocuted, its your fault.
Down and dirty:
Unless you can find used equipment, I would estimate approximately $90-150 to modify each of your existing housings with quality parts; if you wish to convert them to 100 watt Bridgelux Vero29. You wont save a significant amount with 75-50 watt emitters with projects like these and you can run the 100 watt emitters at lower than full rated power, which will extend their life and still have a lot of lumens. These will be capable of around 10,000 lumens each if ran to spec and far more if overdriven, but can be adjusted through a pot on the driver by removing a plug and inserting a screwdriver. You’ll need to set them up by connecting a DMM inline with a DC output to the emitter so you can dial in the amount of current and brightness you require. If youre meticulous, you’ll need to recheck the current after a few hundred hours of operation because the emitters will break-in and draw more power.
Bridgelux Vero29 Emitters (chose your tint) $30.70ea + shipping
MEANWELL CLG-150-36A 150W Single Output Switching Power CC driver: around $54 plus shipping
You will have to decide if you would like to use active cooling (ie: water resistant fan - about $20 plus a 12 volt water resistant power supply - around $15 plus basic copper core heatsink - $15) or a large 10 - 15 lb deep finned aluminum heat sink. +$30 or more used if you can find them. Remember, proper cooling is paramount to the life of the emitter. If there’s fins or a fan and its outdoors, you’ll need to service it ever so often to keep the bugs from clogging your cooling solution.
Then there is the reflector and choices offered in beam pattern and shape. Check out ledils excellent selection for the Vero29 arrays.
Once you select one you like, google the part number and compare prices. You’ll probably want to combine your orders through digikey since they do such a great job with small orders. For instance, this looks like a good one for indoor use or could be concealed behind a modified housing by removing the integral ledil lens from the front of the reflector… or ordering it without the reflector under a different part#.
As you can see, a properly engineered quality luminaries (not chinese garbage) earns every cent of their high asking price.
Id almost suggest buying the 100W Chinese fixture and swapping emitters and PSU, but I doubt it would come close to sufficiently cooling the emitter. I have 10w-50w aluminum chinese floodlight housings, and they all get quite hot once modified to run to spec and would require a good amount of additional heat sinking to be reliable and provide sufficient cooling for sustained operation. Again, its junk to avoid unless you know how to mod.
Cree also manufacturers high powered emitter arrays, but I dont like the higher DC voltages in which they operate, they can more easily lead to potential electrocution.
