Bueno Grows w/ DIY COB LEDs

[Bueno Time]

OX F2 #2

Truepower OG #4 (x2)

 

[Wreched75]

Hey Bueno

Can't thank you enough for all the valuable info that you have provided me with.

 

[mar1o]

Hi Bueno Is it possible to mount the cob module to heatsink with kapton tape and regular thermal paste will it hold together?

 

[Bueno Time]

Hi Bueno Is it possible to mount the cob module to heatsink with kapton tape and regular thermal paste will it hold together?

Yes and I have done it that way but I also dont recommend it, but it can be done.

 

[Dready_jake]

I'd love to make my own led to beat the fuck outta some hps. Is it hard or something I'd have to take a college class to figure out properly? (totally an option just went back to college lol but not for electrical stuff)

I kinda get into these arguments with people who say they're only for micro grows. Lmfao! Good LEDs are beating out equivalent hps sometimes by double the yield! I'm convincing people one debate at a time.

Do you somewhat enjoy the debate with"hpsheads"? Or are you just sick of the naysayers at this point.

 

[Bueno Time]

Heres some pics from after 4 weeks 12/12. Kind of slow to start building buds but seems they are on their way now. I kicked the red LEDs on two nights ago when I evened the canopy out again (turned them off for pics).

 

[Bueno Time]

I'd love to make my own led to beat the fuck outta some hps. Is it hard or something I'd have to take a college class to figure out properly? (totally an option just went back to college lol but not for electrical stuff)

I kinda get into these arguments with people who say they're only for micro grows. Lmfao! Good LEDs are beating out equivalent hps sometimes by double the yield! I'm convincing people one debate at a time.

Do you somewhat enjoy the debate with"hpsheads"? Or are you just sick of the naysayers at this point.

No, its not hard just do a lot of research and be handy with some tools is about all it takes. LED is excellent for micro grows but can work very well in somewhat larger scale operations but probably not feasible on a large scale say for example 4+ HIDs up to warehouse scale is probably not reasonable price wise yet for most people. Theres a few guys I know of on RIU that run 1200-4000w of DIY LED with excellent results (similar or better results to mine only scaled up to a much larger size than the 6 sq ft that I have for flowering). The debate can be fun but I mostly dont try to convert or argue with people about HID vs LED, different things work in different scenarios and for different environments theres too many different ways to grow that you can never say one way is the right way (only for yourself). I will put some info out there in my thread and if people chose to believe or not or accept the info and use it or not is up to them, doesnt bother me either way. Sometimes its fun though.

 

[Dready_jake]

No, its not hard just do a lot of research and be handy with some tools is about all it takes. LED is excellent for micro grows but can work very well in somewhat larger scale operations but probably not feasible on a large scale say for example 4+ HIDs up to warehouse scale is probably not reasonable price wise yet for most people. Theres a few guys I know of on RIU that run 1200-4000w of DIY LED with excellent results (similar or better results to mine only scaled up to a much larger size than the 6 sq ft that I have for flowering). The debate can be fun but I mostly dont try to convert or argue with people about HID vs LED, different things work in different scenarios and for different environments theres too many different ways to grow that you can never say one way is the right way (only for yourself). I will put some info out there in my thread and if people chose to believe or not or accept the info and use it or not is up to them, doesnt bother me either way. Sometimes its fun though.

"LED is excellent for micro grows but can work very well in somewhat larger scale operations but probably not feasible on a large scale say for example 4+ HIDs up to warehouse scale is probably not reasonable price wise yet for most people"


Wow lol first time I'll have to informant led expert. I completely agree that start up is still outrageous for buying a "QUALITY" LED setup. But research reveale gems that won't vist an arm and a Leg. And if you build them you could possibly have roughly the same startup cost.(not including trial and error) as filling the sane warehouse with hot yellow hps. But after power and lack of bulb replacement and no heat it only makes sense to do LEDs at this point. Here is my ammo to defend leds these days

An equal watt side by side. Buy the kicker is i don't believe its drawing the watts they're comparing I.e. they draw about 60% of the potential of the led bulbs. So an equivalent amount if LEDs with a lesser draw of power nearly doubled yields of hps

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...uvkVqjfQU4Px2M0oA&sig2=G_JHDsXkEDjf1CE4Vrde1Q

Results


https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...uvkVqjfQU4Px2M0oA&sig2=G_JHDsXkEDjf1CE4Vrde1Q

 

[Bueno Time]

Took some quick pics after watering tonight after 35 days 12/12. Buds are pretty small on all so far and the buds on the Sour Bubble and OXs are micro small like the MCNS some people experience with cookies cuts. I think maybe they dont like the small root size on these pots but not sure.

Starkiller

TPOG #2

OX F2 #2s

Sour Bubble F2

 

[Bueno Time]

OX F2 #1

TPOG #4s

 

[fuggzy]

This is such an informative thread. I think i may need to get some medical attention to reinsert my eyes back in their sockets. I feel like I found a secret gold mine of info. I've read some of other DIY LED guides/threads, but being able to see your work in action over multiple grow is just amazing. Thank you so much for the time, research and experience you have shared with everyone.

I plan on getting a grow setup here soon, and plan on doing a lighting like yours. I plan on playing with the spectrum some myself, cant just read about people having fun. (although this thread will be a GREAT point in reference) I will have some questions for you later, but for now, I think I'll just try to absorb what I've read so far. Again, thank you so much.

 

[The Dopest]

Yeah, great job Bueno, plants are looking good!

 

[littlejacob]

Hello everyone
First, sorry for my not so good English.
Hi mister Bueno grow! Do you know that you are "famous" in France?!? People talk about you and take your DIY as exemple.
I plan on a diy a bit like your. 25 vero13 drive at 500, 600mA max so 16, 20w max cooled by 5x5cm ventirad (a bit more than 2 inches) in a 1square meter box (3.1/3x3.1/3x4.1/3 feet).I'm going to start with 10 cob, to try, is a MeanWell HLG-185-700B is a good option for me? The ventirads (ventilator-radiator) 50mm would be enough to cool 15, 20w of cob? If I use them only for blooming, is it 3000k I have to buy, do I have to had far red during the bloom, wich cri should I buy?
Thanks for this thread and have a nice grow

 

[BuhBeeLawnFall]

Amazing thread, man.

 

[Bueno Time]

Hello everyone
First, sorry for my not so good English.
Hi mister Bueno grow! Do you know that you are "famous" in France?!? People talk about you and take your DIY as exemple.
I plan on a diy a bit like your. 25 vero13 drive at 500, 600mA max so 16, 20w max cooled by 5x5cm ventirad (a bit more than 2 inches) in a 1square meter box (3.1/3x3.1/3x4.1/3 feet).I'm going to start with 10 cob, to try, is a MeanWell HLG-185-700B is a good option for me? The ventirads (ventilator-radiator) 50mm would be enough to cool 15, 20w of cob? If I use them only for blooming, is it 3000k I have to buy, do I have to had far red during the bloom, wich cri should I buy?
Thanks for this thread and have a nice grow

Your plan is 25 Vero 13 @ 500-600mA and you want to start with 10 Vero 13 to try them out. The HLG-185H-C700B has a vF range of 143-286v and output max of ~700mA. Your Vero 13 typical vF per COB is 31.3 (+/- some). 10 in series would be 313vF total which is too high for the C700B. I think maybe a better option is the C500B for you the vF range is 200-400v so you could run your 10 Vero 13 in series (positive driver output to first COB positive, first COB negative to second COB positive, second COB negative to third COB positive, etc all in a single chain). The HLG-185H drivers are rated 200w and will try to output 200w LED dissipation at full throttle (around ~215w power draw when not dimmed). The actual max current would be around ~635-640mA Im guessing to maintain the 200w rated output with 10 Vero 13s in series. You would have enough headroom on the driver to add two more Vero 13s to the string and run 12 total Vero 13s in series per HLG-185H-C500 and the max current would be around ~535mA since your vF would be closer to max on the driver it wont compensate nearly as much by increasing current to maintain output wattage and with the chips running softer, there would be an increase in efficiency. Also if then you wanted 25 Vero 13 total but wanted to try 10 on the HLG-185H-C700 originally, why not do 12 Vero 13 on a C500 to test and then if you like them just double the setup 12 more Vero 13 and one more C500 driver to get you 24 total (very close to your 25 intended COBs). Might not be a bad idea. Also your drive current of your selected COBs is going to determine the efficiency of your lighting fixture. Based off the charts I have saved that SupraSPL made, Vero 13 3000K @ 500mA ~36.5% efficient, 700mA 33.75% efficient. Vero 13 3500K @ 500mA ~37.45%, 700mA 34.65%. Vero 13 4000K @ 500mA 38.15%, 700mA 35.5%. So running 12 Vero 13 in series on a HLG-185H-C500 driver, keeping the max (un-dimmed) current close to 500mA, will increase your efficiency to a fairly respectable level IMO, though not really quite near as efficient as my setup which runs at ~42% efficiency at max current (higher efficiency when dimmed, Im currently dimmed to ~2/3 power or ~66% of max, so somewhere north of 42% efficiency). The higher efficiency you build your LED system the more worthwhile the benefits will be in increased light output with less heat (which is one of the biggest advantages of going LED). You wouldnt want to spend hundreds of dollars and time on building a DIY LED setup only to have efficiency be less than that of HPS (would be a losing economy) so overall efficiency should always play a large role in the design of a quality DIY LED setup. For flower only, the 3000K would probably do you quite well. Vero 3000K is slightly more red/less blue than Cree 3000K, I havent personally used Vero 3000K but I think it would do well by themselves for flowering without added red LEDs. I personally like and stick with the 80CRI COBs, some people feel one way or the other about the CRI number but by far most go with the 80CRI COBs. I dont know anything about the 5cmx5cm coolers so I cant say how they would work, if they have a fan on each one they may work well for your application. Maybe order one or a few and test to see if they can keep the heatsink and COB cool. The cooler running the better but they can still be a little warm to the touch and be fine, just not hot. The cooler they run the longer the COBs will last without lumen depreciation (decrease in output over time) and the cooler they run the more output you get (cooler COBs also means higher efficiency). Hope this helps you.

 

[Bueno Time]

Sorry for the giant wall of text I split it up into paragraphs but my browser deletes the spaces when I post so its all one big text.

 

[littlejacob]

Hello Bueno!
Merci beaucoup, thanks a lot.
What do you think about the choice of cobs and their numbers? What would you do in a 3.3x3.3x4.5 feet box? How many watt max you would drive in a square feet? I have a 600hps and i harvest about 480g in soil/coco in scrog, so i believe that i need 480w cob to do the same if i can reach the gr/w of course...but i prefer to have multiple light source and to use cheap ventirad like Asetek vapoChill Micro High end K8 or Evercoll shazks HDP 815, PT03-9232CP who cost less than 5 €(6 $)or maybe smaller one 55mm on aliexpress at less than 2 €(1.80 $) I'm going to investigate on small ventirad...
Thanks again and good grow★

 

[Bueno Time]

Hello Bueno!
Merci beaucoup, thanks a lot.
What do you think about the choice of cobs and their numbers? What would you do in a 3.3x3.3x4.5 feet box? How many watt max you would drive in a square feet? I have a 600hps and i harvest about 480g in soil/coco in scrog, so i believe that i need 480w cob to do the same if i can reach the gr/w of course...but i prefer to have multiple light source and to use cheap ventirad like Asetek vapoChill Micro High end K8 or Evercoll shazks HDP 815, PT03-9232CP who cost less than 5 €(6 $)or maybe smaller one 55mm on aliexpress at less than 2 €(1.80 $) I'm going to investigate on small ventirad...
Thanks again and good grow★

Your 3.3x3.3 ft footprint is ~11 square ft. People tend to be running around 30w per sq ft with the COBs, some more or less. 480gr with a 600 is a respectable harvest, If you want to harvest the same or better in your space it would be pretty safe bet to assume you would want around 480w of LED. Two sets of 12 Vero 13s on the HLG drivers @ ~200w each would put you near that when ran at max and not dimmed.

Its hard to say what is the best route really since there are so many options for do it yourself LED, I like more COBs running at a lower power for even coverage vs less but larger more powerful COBs in a small scale setup like mine with short headroom, but people also do very well in larger tents and rooms with the larger COBs using them at around 1 COB per sq ft or so of the CREE 3070s or Vero 29s. If you have more headroom you can run the larger COBs at a higher distance from canopy to get the good spread and coverage with the less amount of emitters.

Definitely do a lot of research, thinking, and planning before you make your purchases for your new light that way you can help make sure what you buy is what you think is best and what you want for your setup so you dont kick yourself for jumping on a design too fast without rethinking possible better ways to do it. Its like measuring twice and cutting once, only this is designing the light system multiple times in your head or in CAD before commiting to the build.

I like to help steer in a certain direction but also leave some things up to each person in their build to make it their own design and whats best for their situation. One of the harder parts can be finding an effective but also inexpensive heatsink option for your setup but is one of the most crucial decisions of the build. Take your time and do research on the cooling capabilities of the coolers and dont be afraid to spend a small amount on testing ideas, for example order one of the COBs you think you want to use and order one of each of a couple different options for heatsinks/coolers to test them and see how well they perform (cool) your COBs in the intended application and power level. You can find cheap drivers to run single COBs at or near your intended drive current, so you can hook up single COBs to test them at the intended power level on your heatsinks or coolers to see if they are sufficient for the task before commiting to purchasing a larger quantity. That way you dont buy 24 Vero 13s and 24 coolers and they dont end up working how you thought and now you have all this equipment you dont really want.

That is the best way to go in my opinion when going with a new design of your own, or take the easy route and copy someone elses design that already works.

Hope this helps again, let me know if you have more questions about your build or your plans.

 

[littlejacob]

Thanks again my friend
I think now about vero18 x 16 (16x30w=480w) on 92mm ventirads, it is the best option for me, if they really are 67w @ 2.1mA so about 30w at 1050mA.3000k 80CRI.Always the same problem for me the driver...which one is the best for 16 vero18? And i want a dimmer 500mA to 1050mA.
Do you think it will be better with 4000k and far red added? Than 3000k and what do you think about 2700k?
Thanks for your time★

 

[Bueno Time]

The Vero 18s @1050mA are ~30.75w each and ~37% efficient, so you could just make it simple and say 30w each like you said. At 1050mA they would run ~29.3v each at 50 celcius. 16 x 29.3v = ~469 or 470v total. Since we probably wont find a 470v+ driver at 1050mA and if we did the cost would probably be outrageous, now we need to try to find a high quality dimmable driver(s) that can run 4 or 8 Vero 18s each, or so, using 2 or 4 drivers that are dimmable to 50% or less with max of 1050mA. 4 Vero 18 ~117v and 8 Vero 18 ~234v, could be more or less by a couple percent so we want to leave a little headroom in the vF range of the driver to make sure since we dont know the actual vF of our COBs until they are installed and running, the manufacturer only gives a vF range from min to max or typical in the datasheets.

The HLG-185H-C1050 are rated 95-190v DC output, 1050mA max and dimmable like you want, also very efficient ~94% when not dimmed below ~50-60% if using 220v, ~93% max on 110v here in the states. They only lose a couple % efficiency when dimmed very low. Too bad you cant get away with just a pair of them with 16 Vero 18s due to vF of 8 V18s being too high for the driver, so you would need to run 3 drivers and an uneven # of emitters per driver if you want to stick with 16 COBs, but in this case I would advise you to add 2 more COBs for a total of 18 and run 6 per HLG-185H-C1050 to keep things even between drivers and COBs.

You would possibly need to dim the drivers slightly to maintain 1050mA max, since these HLG drivers would compensate for a little lower vF than max by adding a little extra current to try to maintain ~200w output each driver (600w total for 3). If you went with 3 HLG-185H-C1050B you can set up the dimming circuit to dim all 3 drivers equally with a single knob, rather than trying to dim and balance output evenly on each seperate driver with the A version. (Just throwing this in for example, I have a 185H-C1400A for flower and a 60H-42B for veg and I love both but would have went B version if using multiple drivers for the flowering fixture mainly for dimming simplicity.) So you would probably want the B version if you went this route. The cost will be fairly expensive for 3 of them but in my opinion worth the cost if you can afford it, the Meanwell HLG series are very efficient and reliable, very high quality, some of the best drivers out there.

Feel free to search for other cheaper or more local options, I see you are in France so I dont know what all you can get in the region, just keep in mind the 1050mA max you want and dimmable to ~50% or more, and also that it will operate in your vF range for your COB strings.