3500K 8 cob 3590 light 1.4 amps

[Mr Celsius]

From what i seen,,, and what everyone is yielding or comparisons is 400 watts of cob is like a 600 watt Hid . i think 835 watts of cob is compatible to a DE unit 1150 watts 1215 watt nanolux DE is a whole new ball game .. It grows trees and penetrates like a MOFO
Its not unheard off Nano's pulling 3.5 per
I truly have yet to see cob go at VS DE's or even grow a tree all of them are SOG .
Most side by sides like green genes was mogul and the Cob did not beat the Hid in yield, then again when it comes to testing you need grower unbiased
If it was a DE it would of destroyed the cob unit

People also have to realize something also for instance i will be running 52 percent efficient would anyone know what the other 48 percent is other then heat ???

the more efficient you make them i less yields it will produce

Cobs are most efficient under driven
Vero's on the other hand are more efficient when Drive them or clock em

The only good thing about these is there efficient , and suppose to last 50,000 hrs that is the real selling point now again everyone looks at manufactures graphs etc these are made to look good ..

We need to have growers test every 6 months there cobs as how it might be degrading

Reason i am making these is for supplemental vertical lighting and possible pre veg room

PPFD is all that matters when it comes to plants. Pound for pound a COB unit can and will compete with a gavita. If you match them accordingly and they are matching PPFD, the yields will be the same. Other factors come into play like points of light source, heat and spectrum, which in my opinion cobs have that advantage. Time will tell, but you'll likely see the industry shift pretty hard into leds as the price per watt drops more.

Next month I will be doing a journal with 24 cxb3590 driven at 1.4a each in a completely dialed sealed room. The proof is in the pudding and I plan to be completely impartial. If the results go well, I plan to do a head to head against some DEs for the run after that.

You may also find this video interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3tBQEH4lsE

 

[Slipnot]

At what cost ??? i mean right not trying to be against Cobs shit i am going to be making them .. But its rather expensive i mean 430 bucks for a nano De unit how much would it cost to make a Cob unit that is comparable ??? and most importantly how long does either take to pay its self off ??
just ask Crane how much parts alone cost
with shipping and what have you one would be spending 1000 bucks on cobs alone not including drivers heat sinks , connectors lenses , and most importantly for some they may not have the skills to make a DIY unit so its out sourced to a shop there not going to do it for peanuts ,, meanwhile a person spent 430 bucks and plugs in and plays

 

[Ichabod Crane]

PPFD is all that matters when it comes to plants. Pound for pound a COB unit can and will compete with a gavita. If you match them accordingly and they are matching PPFD, the yields will be the same. Other factors come into play like points of light source, heat and spectrum, which in my opinion cobs have that advantage. Time will tell, but you'll likely see the industry shift pretty hard into leds as the price per watt drops more.

Next month I will be doing a journal with 24 cxb3590 driven at 1.4a each in a completely dialed sealed room. The proof is in the pudding and I plan to be completely impartial. If the results go well, I plan to do a head to head against some DEs for the run after that.

You may also find this video interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3tBQEH4lsE

At what cost ??? i mean right not trying to be against Cobs shit i am going to be making them .. But its rather expensive i mean 430 bucks for a nano De unit how much would it cost to make a Cob unit that is comparable ??? and most importantly how long does either take to pay its self off ??
just ask Crane how much parts alone cost
with shipping and what have you one would be spending 1000 bucks on cobs alone not including drivers heat sinks , connectors lenses , and most importantly for some they may not have the skills to make a DIY unit so its out sourced to a shop there not going to do it for peanuts ,, meanwhile a person spent 430 bucks and plugs in and plays

Please dont derail the thread. If you want to debate it start a thread. This thread is about building a 8 cob unit. I dont want the build to get lost or cluttered in a debate on the merits or lack of merits of cobs.

Thanks. Not trying to be a dick but some people truly need to understand how to build a cob setup and may get frustrated by interruption in the build.

 

[Ichabod Crane]

I didnt get as much done tonight as I wanted to. I have a cheap soldering iron that the tip bent on when it got to hot. That is when it was not to cold to melt the solder.

So I didnt get the power box done. I did get the dimmer box mostly done.

Here is a finished box to see what we are going to build next.



This box has the two dimmer switches on the top. Each switch will control four cobs that are run by one driver. To remind you what the driver is, it is the blue box with three cables coming out. One cable is for power coming in, one delivers power to the cobs, and the last cable controls the dimming of the cobs.

This box we will be working on takes two of these cables. The dimmer cable and the power going to the cobs. So we need four glands to get the cable into the box. This here shows what a gland is.



In the picture you see three glands. The bottom one is fully assembled and how it would be when mounted to the control box. The middle one has the locking nut off. This is what will hold it to the box. The top one is fully disassembled. The piece on the left is the nut for sealing the center piece around the cable. The cable goes threw all three.

When you look at the first picture on this post you can see the glands coming out the sides of the box.

Now to get started. When need a box. The box is a 4" x 4" x 2" junction box. You can get it at Home Depot like me or at Menards. Menards was out when I went there to get it. It is a pretty standard box available at most places. You will need two for this build. One for this control box and the other for the power supply box.

What we need to do first is mark for the two glands that are side by side. This will be on one of the sides that have the mounting holes. In the first picture that I show this box you can see them on the bottom of the picture. They are also on the opposite side where you can see the two glands side by side.

So first grab two glands and remove the locking nuts. Set the gland aside we will need that soon. I placed the nuts on a box where I felt they looked good. Then I looked inside to make sure that nothing was in the way of the nut being installed. Once it was in a good spot I made them even up down and right and left. Then I marked the center of the nut with a black marker. Here is what that looks like.




Then I drilled it out with this bit.




Using this bit I drilled slowly till I could slide the gland into the hole to see if it set all the way in. Once it set all the way in I took the bit out of the drill and slide it in the back side of the hole and spun it by hand to deburr the hole. The glands just barely lock on and a bur could stop it from locking on.

 

[megayields]

I'm sorry.....but Agent Orange makes me real talkative.......and get a real soldering iron gezus tap dancing christ!

 

[Ichabod Crane]

Once the two glands are mounted we can locate one of the two side glands. For this set the box on its side with the first two glands pointing out to the right or left. Again take the nut off one of the glands and place it on the side of the box. Move it till it is at the same height from the bottom as the first two installed glands. It should be moved to the side of the box closest to the first two glands. Once you have it where it looks good again mark the center. you should be looking at this here now.



When you have it marked drill it out and put a gland into the hole. Next set the box on its bottom. Directly above the gland in the center of it mark the top edge of the box. In the above picture you can see my mark. In the next picture you can see where I have transferred it to the other side.



Now remove the gland you just put in and place that side down. Take the nut off another gland and line it up with the mark on the top and the two glands you installed first. Mark the center and drill it out.

After you have it drilled out go ahead and install all four glands into the box.We should now have a box that looks like this.



Tomorrow I will go over installing the dimmers into the lid.

 

[Ichabod Crane]

I'm sorry.....but Agent Orange makes me real talkative.......and get a real soldering iron gezus tap dancing christ!

Thats ok where are the donuts?

 

[Slipnot]

My Bad crane sorry

 

[Ichabod Crane]

My Bad crane sorry

We can get into it after the light is built. Then I dont mind. Just a few more days.

 

[Slipnot]

There is no need to get into it period right, But keep up the good work.. i am about a 2 weeks away from being done my landscaping soil sod etc then i may start my 6 k build 400 watt units panels on here ?? really like some of your ideas probably implement it my goals is having drivers all on one wall in a AC room and having some sort of snake line like amplifier cords or something like that so i am going to need many brains on this as i can to make it happen as, like i said i want walls movable and thinking snake cords is the answer

 

[Ichabod Crane]

There is no need to get into it period right, But keep up the good work.. i am about a 2 weeks away from being done my landscaping soil sod etc then i may start my 6 k build 400 watt units panels on here ?? really like some of your ideas probably implement it my goals is having drivers all on one wall in a AC room and having some sort of snake line like amplifier cords or something like that so i am going to need many brains on this as i can to make it happen as, like i said i want walls movable and thinking snake cords is the answer

Well good at least someone is getting something out of this thread. I was going to do remote drivers but didnt want to yet. I know Growmau5 did them, maybe he can help you.

Will be waiting for your build thread.

 

[Ichabod Crane]

Lets wire the dimmer switch and mount it.

You will need a 100k potentiometer. When you get it it looks like this.



In the above picture you can see I removed the nut on the shaft and the two washers.

Next we want to get the hole for mounting it. I placed my speed square on the box and used my piece of scrape 1 inch aluminum as a spacer.



If you have the same one I have a good spacing is 1 inch in and 1 inch down from the corners on the top of the box. I used the spacer like in the picture because it is easier to use than a tape measure. I used it like in the picture and then used the 1 inch mark on the square. I then placed a birds mouth mark on both sides of the box.



Then I drilled a hole centered on the marks. Mine was just a little over a quarter inch in diameter. I cant tell you exactly what size because yours may vary a little. Mine did because one supplier was out after I bought three and had to get the fourth some where else. And here is what varied on mine.



That sucks but it is what I have. Went to Granger and they closed, same with Kendale electric, and Radio Shack had none. So I got these off Amazon.

So after you have the hole drilled you need to prep the potentiometer now. First thing is to break off the tab at the top. It is so it dont spin when you turn the knob. I dont want to try and drill a blind hole for it so I snapped it off. I will rely on the nut being tight enough to stop it from spinning. Here is what must go.



It is the piece just below my thumb tip.

 

[Ichabod Crane]

Now that that is done it we can mount the resister. You need a 10k resister. It goes on the left side as you look as the potentiometer with the nob pointing up. To get a idea of how small the resister is here is one installed.



Before you solder it to the potentiometer it is easier to solder it to a wire first. At least for me anyway. Simple twist it around the wire and solder it on. You tube soldering if you need to know how. I used 16 gauge stranded wire to do this with. It is more flexible than solid wire and therefore easier to get into the box. Here is the wire I used.



You could use a smaller gauge but I used the 16 gauge on the power box so it is what I used here as well.

Now that the resister is soldered on connect it to potentiometer. Then solder another wire to the middle prong as well.

Here is a easy way to strip the wires. I use the red handled tool it the middle.



Just put the wire in like this and squeeze the handles together.

 

[Ichabod Crane]

Before you mount the potentiometer you need to do one more thing. You need to protect the bare metal you just soldered to. I use liquid tape to cover this metal with. You could use electrical tape also. I just find the liquid tape easy to use. But the point is to cover the metal so that it does not short to some other metal in the box. Here is the tape I use.



After the connections are protected just slide the potentiometer shaft threw the hole and screw the locking nut on.

I use these knobs on top of my shafts. They are quarter inch shaft knobs. The knob has a set screw on the side that locks to the shaft. Twist the knob all the way to one side then line the mark up how you want. This will give you a set point of registration for both knobs.

 

[ShetFerBrains]

Wih regards to the potentiometer, a linear one is needed. Not log or audio tapper.

 

[Ichabod Crane]

Wih regards to the potentiometer, a linear one is needed. Not log or audio tapper.

I will take your word for it. I bought what Gromau5 linked to. I am no expert on potentiometers.

 

[megayields]

I am no expert on potentiometers.

Wut? I expected more.......

 

[Ichabod Crane]

Wut? I expected more.......

Dude my light turns on and off and does not catch on fire. What else you want from me huh?

Sorry guys I have been busy and the electric company has been shutting off my power. Some crap about tree roots growing into the insulation on the underground power line. So I think I can start posting again tomorrow. I should have enough time to spend on the build and get all the pictures I need to post tomorrow.

 

[Ichabod Crane]

My drivers will not be dimmed. Therefore I will be putting Wago connectors on the wire ends. They will not connect to the drivers like you would do if you wanted dimming. Here you can see what I mean. Also notice the liquid tape on the potentiometers.



At this point I mounted the control box to my frame. Notice which side it is on. It is the shorter side.



I just used #6 x 1/2" machine head bolts where it went threw just one piece of flat aluminum and #6 x 3/4" machine head bolts where it went threw two pieces of aluminum flat stock. The shorter bolts can be a pain but they look better to me.

Once it is mounted I started to work on the power box. There is no way you can look into the box and tell what goes where so I drew it out. The next three pictures explain it best as to how to run the wires. If you have questions after looking at the pictures as to what goes where maybe this is not for you.

 

[Ichabod Crane]

The Wago connectors were purchased at Menards. I bought two types. The 5 connector style used in the previous posts diagrams and the double connector used on the potentiometers above. This is what they look like.



They are easy to use. Just click the orange lever up, shove in the wire, then lock the wire down. Make sure no wire is exposed past the Wago and the wire is snug and not loose and you are done.