Bueno Grows w/ DIY COB LEDs

[SweetDee]

exciting . Awesome work .

 

[budelight]

Nice show of skills Bueno!

Rocking those new lights like a pro

 

[non]

total killer grow. looking forward to the next one!

 

[blynx]

Awesome round!! What's up next strain-wise?
Are you done upgrading/adding/modifying this cab? or are there more plans in the works?

 

[Bueno Time]

exciting . Awesome work .

Nice show of skills Bueno!

Rocking those new lights like a pro

total killer grow. looking forward to the next one!

Thanks for watching guys.

Awesome round!! What's up next strain-wise?
Are you done upgrading/adding/modifying this cab? or are there more plans in the works?

Thanks B.

Got 4 Rare Dankness The OX which is Pre 98 Bubba x Stone Mountain. Stone Mountain is Katsu Bubba x (Katsu Bubba x Blue Moonshine). Blue Moonshine is a DJ Short Blueberry F3 cut so basically has a hint of that mixed in but mostly Bubba.

Also got a 5 pack of VerdantGreen Purple Kush x Pre 98 Bubba Kush (reversed) but only got 3 to sprout, 1 good one, one slower one, and one runt that hasnt done much yet.

So for next round 2-3 PKBK and 4 OX they are at 14 days old today and transplanted to 2 gallon grow bags last night.

Im using the bigger tent (6 sq ft) I bought and going to be running 3 CXA3070 3000K AB bin COBs instead of the 1 Z4 bin and 1 Z2 bin COBs I used last run and also adding in the 18 red and blue LEDs for around 185w of LED dissipation probably around 210w of power draw from the wall with driver losses and heatsink fans/12v adapter pulling a couple of those watts. Ill know once I get it all installed and measured with the Kill-A-Watt.

Ive had the AB bins, red, and blue LEDs for a month or more I just wanted to finish up the first run with 2 COBs to see what I could get for GPW and what I would yield from just the 2 COBs at 1400mA each or ~104w of LED dissipation.

Going to try out the 3 COBs and reds/blues and see how that works out but most likely wont be changing the lighting up for a while I think this new setup should work very well for my needs without much if any modification.

Eventually though I do want to add a couple 730nm LEDs maybe one per red/blue bar on a little driver and timer to kick on at lights out for 10 minutes. This effectively makes the night seem to the plants as if it is 2 hours longer and I have seen/read reports of saving a week or more on flowering times. If you are interested in this idea google "phytochrome state", there are scientific reports about it or there is a short youtube video on it about 2 minutes long that explains the whole concept really quickly in a way that makes sense.

Pretty interesting stuff I plan to experiment with that eventually but not this run.

 

[Unclecrash]

Just joined the forum and got my MMMP card I must say those are some really nice Cola's. Might be doing a grow soon, need to get some funds together so I can get growing. I grew a couple back in the 80's one Cola was 1/4lb and was tasty stuff. Been a long time too long.

 

[Bueno Time]

***The new run starts here with the bigger tent and upgraded LED lighting setup.***

For the next run I have 4 Rare Dankness The OX regulars and 3 VerdantGreen Purple Kush x Pre 98 Bubba fems in 2 gallon grow bags of recycled FFOF that was amended and cooked for a month and a half before use, I just transplanted them into the 2 gallon bags from red solo cups less than 24 hours ago.

The other plants in red solo cups are 4 Sugar Jones clones from my last run with the 150w HPS, revegged and took cuts to give to my buddy who gave me the Sugar Kush cut I used to hit with the Chemmy Jones. So 2 of those are his and the other two I am doing an experiment in straight coco hand watering drain to waste with just Floranova Bloom on one cut and Floranova Bloom and Floralicious Plus on the other. These are not the main focus of this round though, just a side experiment/project/test.

The real goal is to grow some killer indica buds, possibly finding a keeper pheno or two along the way, but really hoping to find a nice OX male to hit some pollen to the OX females and LVPKxPre98 fems as well.

Here are the plants at day 14 from seed, 4 in top left are the OX, the two on right and the runt in front are the LVPKxPre98.

I got all 3 AB bin COB modules built, hooked them all up tonight in the tent for the new round. I have to solder a couple wires and crimp a few bullet connectors on to complete the red/blue LED bars but wont be running those anyway until flower.

New driver board 3 matching drivers are 1 for each COB and the smaller bare circuit board driver is for the red and blue LEDs. One power cord for the 3 COB drivers and one power cord for the red and blue LEDs so I can easily run with or without supplementary red and blue. I could have also installed a switch inline on the Live wire on the AC side of the driver (If you want to run a switch on your driver(s), DO NOT use a switch on the DC side of a driver or on the neutral AC wire, use an appropriately rated switch on the live AC wire.)

The 3 brand new CXA3070 3000K AB bin COB modules assembled with Ideal COB Holders. The heat sinks were sanded flat and polished, drilled and tapped for #5-40x1/4" socket head screws. I used a #38 drill bit and a #5-40 tap.

And them installed and glowing.

 

[repobird]

I am excited for this

 

[tleaf jr.]

good shit B , pulled off without a hitch

 

[Bueno Time]

I am excited for this

Me too, not going to be the greatest yield this run with all the Bubba dominant crosses but the quality should be very good. Cant wait to see what I get from these seeds.

good shit B , pulled off without a hitch

Thanks mang, glad you liked round 1 with the COBs.

 

[Bueno Time]

I tested the COB modules on the Kill A Watt and also the 3 heatsink fans/power adapter draw. I had already tested the exhaust fan on the Kill A Watt.

Here is the breakdown of the flowering tent so far for power consumption:

Panasonic Whisper FV-08VKS2 exhaust fan 0.59PF 14.6w 0.2A 24.9VA
3 COB Modules @ 1.4A (includes driver losses) 1.0PF 181w 1.53A 181VA
3 heatsink fans 0.56PF 8.1w 0.12A 14.4VA

Still have to finish assembling and test the red/blue LED string and driver for power consumtion.

So I run the exhaust fan 24hrs a day for a 30 day month it consumes 10.5 KWH of power.

The 3 COB modules running on a 12/12 cycle would be 65 KWH of power per 30 day month.

The 3 heatsink fans I leave running 24hrs a day even when the COBs arent on during dark period it provides plenty of air movement for the plants, I dont need to add any fans to provide air movement in the canopy this way. Ran 24hrs a day for 30 days they consume 5.8 KWH of power.

So in flower the tent will consume 81.3 KWH per month plus whatever I figure for the red and blue LEDs too which I will post up when I finish them and get them installed and tested on the Kill A Watt.

 

[eddie dash]

I've been educating myself on these cobs but get conflicting info on the heat issue.
I've always heard leds are much cooler than hps but I keep hearing about cobs being hot even the heatsinks a swell. Don't want to setup a firetrap as it's tiny Verdant Green style space.how did the two cobs compare to the 150w hps?
Would they burn ones hand?

 

[Bueno Time]

I've been educating myself on these cobs but get conflicting info on the heat issue.
I've always heard leds are much cooler than hps but I keep hearing about cobs being hot even the heatsinks a swell. Don't want to setup a firetrap as it's tiny Verdant Green style space.how did the two cobs compare to the 150w hps?
Would they burn ones hand?

LEDs still put out a fair amount of heat. Depending on how efficient they are the more efficient, the more light output you get and less heat for the same wattage used. So a pretty inefficient LED setup would preform poorly if the goal is to reduce heat while maintaining a good amount of light output.

My CXA3070 AB bin COBs at just over 1400mA are ~42% efficient and the red/blue LEDs I chose efficient bins as well and that string will be almost 45% efficient running at 600mA, which is a quite efficient lighting setup.

The 2 COBs last round I had the Z2 bin COB at 1400mA ~36% efficient and the Z4 bin COB at 1400mA ~39% efficiency. The light output (as well as the spectrum/par efficiency) from ~104w of Cree 3000K COB LED was better than the 150w HPS and ran significantly cooler than the HPS since it was only 2/3 of the wattage AND higher efficiency on top of that so for each watt of power there was less power wasted in the form of emitted heat.

The heatsinks are cool to the touch if you have a properly matched fan/heatsink combo and run the fan voltage at a high enough level to spin the fan fast enough to keep the COB and heatsink cool, depending on what current you run the COB at will determine that.

I just run my fans on the Alpine 11 Plus coolers at 12v so they are kicking out some nice airflow through the heat sinks. I touch the heat sink right next to the COB and it has no heat to the touch feels the same as the temp inside the tent. That is with the AB bin COBs though which are 42% efficient at 1400mA. With the Z2 and Z4 bin COBs the heat sinks felt almost as cool barely any warmth to the touch maybe a couple degrees over in tent temps if that.

The heat sinks stay cool to the touch but they are still constantly shedding heat to the air around them which is the point of the heat sink and fan to extract the heat away from the COB and dissipate it into the surrounding air.

Keep the efficiency level up and run a good heatsink/fan combo for the current you chose to run at and it will help you keep your grow space cooler easier. Also remote drivers outside of the grow space like I am doing helps reduce heat in the grow space. The drivers get surprisingly hot.

If you touched the COB surface that emits light it would probably burn your hand. They do emit some heat from the LED emitting surface and you can feel the heat of the light beam on your hand if you get it close enough to the light emitting surface but they seem to not bombard the canopy with heat as much as HID bulbs do which is good. Very close to the emission point of the light the beam is very intense and definitely feels hot on your skin, not as bad as an HID bulb though.

I would feel safer running an LED setup vs HID as far as fires are concerned.

 

[eddie dash]

Thanks!!! That all sounds great
I'm in. I greatly appreciate your time-you are the man!

 

[Bueno Time]

Was watering today day 17 from seed so took a couple pics. The 4 on top left corner are OX, two on right and front center are the PBs. Two in black pots are the SJ clones in coco.

 

[Bueno Time]

Finished up the red and blue LED bars and tested them out. Holy crap are they ever bright. At least twice as bright as I thought they were going to be, I am very impressed.

They are two 24" heatsink bars with a total of 10 Luxeon ES EX6 bin 660nm, 4 Luxeon ES M4R bin 450nm, 4 Cree XP-E P3 bin 630nm powered by a fasttech 650mA driver (actually runs about 600mA at the vF of this LED string) and is ~28w of LED dissipation at ~45% efficient.

I am not doubting these LEDs should help kick the ladies up a notch this run. Cant even capture it well on camera but took a couple pics anyway.

 

[nuskool89]

You are the man! I'm starting to check this thread daily. Great growing and excited to see your AB bins in action

 

[Bueno Time]

Yesterday I defoliated two fans per the 6 healthy plants from seed to allow some more light to lower branching sites that are growing out. I also topped the two SJ clones in coco again to keep them shorter and closer in size to the seed plants, dont want them to take over the space on the others.

I switched from 24/0 to 18/6 today and also might add in the red/blue LED bars to try and get a little bit of stretch in them. They are a bit more compact than Im looking for so want to initiate a little stretch on them so they increase in size and branch a little harder for me. I want to get them to a decent enough size to take two cuts off each and start flowering within 2 weeks here hopefully.

I usually top and was planning to this round but not sure yet on that.

 

[Bueno Time]

I hung the red/blue LED bars up in the tent and turned them on last night. They will be continuing veg under the 3 COBs and the red/blue LEDs on a 18/6 light cycle. I had them on 24hr constant lighting up until 2 days ago.

Crappy pic, the camera doesnt like how bright the LEDs are I dont think, the pictures turn out cloudy and blurry.

I liked how the red white and blue light was reflecting out of the bottom of the open tent zipper. I thought it looked cool so I took a couple pics. Inside the tent the color is mixed together real well it just reflected out onto the carpet in separate colors.

Day 21 from seed

 

[vitamingreeninc]

Awesome, I just sent through a lot of the first journal and I am looking forward to your weights from the most recent harvest...quick question though. You begged the plants for what 3 weeks? At final harvest how tall were they? I am just wondering because LED you want to keep at least 12" away from the top of the plant during flowering? Thanks! I am looking at this tent or a 2x2x4ish.