Bueno Grows w/ DIY COB LEDs

[littlejacob]

Hello!
Thanks a lot Bueno!
Is it working with 15 vero18 and 3 MW hlg-120h-c1050D or B? 5 on each...I prefer to have one less and pay a little less too,I saw them at 64$(60€)on mouser.fr so 192$(180€)
If you say that it is OK I'm going to order 15 V18 3000k 80 cri + 15 90mm ventirad +3 hlg 120_1050mA,
What kind/size of screw do I need,size/kind of wire I need to plug the cob together.
I thank you

 

[Bueno Time]

The 120H-C1050B would probably work for a string of 5 Vero 18s but cutting it close on the vF range of driver which is 74-148v and a string of 5 Vero 18 @ ~29.3vF each is 146.5v very close to the 148v listed as max and like I said earlier your Veros could have a higher or lower vF than 29.3 which may cause an issue if exceeding 148v the driver will decrease output. May or may not be an issue in your application since we wouldnt know until you purchase and install your COBs on the drivers, each COB manufactured will differ in vF slightly. The datasheet for the 120H series says overvoltage protection is 165-175v so maybe these will work just fine. Probably it would be fine but I cant say for sure.

That being said those are nice drivers rated at 155w output each for 120H vs the 200w of the 185H. Your max wattage would be around 465w with 3 of the 120H-C1050 drivers.

18 gauge wire would probably be plenty big, I would go with OFC or copper wire vs CCA or copper clad aluminum which is also common, mostly for speaker wire applications. I used 18 gauge OFC speaker wire on my newest fixture to keep things tidy since the wires positive and negative are connected as a pair keeps things cleaner and the wiring is more flexible than what was available in the same gauge wire from local stores.

Bridgelux recommends M2.5 screws, x2 per V18. I used 2.05mm drill bit (proper size for this tap size) for the holes and tapped with M2.5 x 0.45 tap and screws. Use M2.5 x 0.45 x (your length) screws, choose your screw length that you need depending on thickness of COB and thickness of the baseplate on the heatsinks your using and how far you want the screw to go into the metal of the heatsink. 5mm is usually plenty long but would depend on the base plate thickness of the heatsink too. I think I used 5mm on my CXA3070s with the ideal COB holders on Alpine 11 coolers and only 3mm length on my new Vero 10 setup since the baseplate is very thin on my heatsinks I didnt want the screws sticking way through the baseplate.

They make pico-EZ mate connectors with wiring pigtails of various gauges for Veros if you dont want to solder wires to the connections on the COBs, I personally dont like the pico connectors they are pretty fragile and cheap, I bought a few to play with and decided not to use them on my fixture and soldered everything.

 

[littlejacob]

Merci beaucoup mon ami
If one day you come on french riviera (Cannes:the film festival one) call me...
I saw somewhere that you said cree are better than vero expect for small cob, so do you think cree 2540 would be better cause you know vf (it is not simple to understand and it is in English, so there's many technical word i don't understand)
But, you, Bueno if today you have to build a light for a 4x4x6 tent only for blooming, wich way would you go???knowing you not gonna keep it more than 2, 3 years, cause in 3 years you gonna need a single cob to cover this area, with half the power you use now and make twice the weight! (Dream on!)
Thank you again i will bring you a present next time i will come to visit my aunt in Sacramento, you are really helpfull...

 

[Bueno Time]

Merci beaucoup mon ami
If one day you come on french riviera (Cannes:the film festival one) call me...
I saw somewhere that you said cree are better than vero expect for small cob, so do you think cree 2540 would be better cause you know vf (it is not simple to understand and it is in English, so there's many technical word i don't understand)
But, you, Bueno if today you have to build a light for a 4x4x6 tent only for blooming, wich way would you go???knowing you not gonna keep it more than 2, 3 years, cause in 3 years you gonna need a single cob to cover this area, with half the power you use now and make twice the weight! (Dream on!)
Thank you again i will bring you a present next time i will come to visit my aunt in Sacramento, you are really helpfull...

Id stick with the smaller Veros over the Cree 2540.

There are/is really so many ways to go with DIY, if you want to keep it simpler you could probably get away with 9 CXA3070 (CXBs I think are the new thing, havent read much at all about them, havent kept up a lot with the LED readings the past couple months, but I believe they are better than the CXAs) and 3 of the HLG-185H-C1400B drivers (3 3070s per driver). Less components to assemble but also less emitters but still could cover the area well if kept high enough over the canopy probably 12-15" gap over the canopy would yeild a good light spread if you can maintain that gap with a scrog or similar trained and even canopy. When the plants grow to close the the COBs they will start to yellow the leaves and also your light wont be spread as wide since the COBs emit light in a cone, the farther the distance form the canopy the larger the area the base of the light "cone" will cover.

Each 3070 at 1400mA would be ~52w for a total of ~470w (also this would be considerably more efficient than your previously mentioned Vero plans, given you can find any bin higher than Z2, Z2 bin 3070s are outdated by new bins but even those would net about the same ~36-37% efficiency as previously mentioned Vero setups you were considering).

Also forgot to answer your question, vF refers to the forward voltage or the voltage the COB runs at when in use.

 

[Bueno Time]

Some pictures for you followers from after day 42 12/12. Buds are nice and frosty but hard to get in pics without taking plants out of tent, there are some nice chunky frosty buds below the canopy on the hybrid types but also hard to get in pics due to canopy density. The buds on the indica types are relatively smaller but look very dank, hard to get good pictures of again without taking out of tent and Im not taking the plants out until harvest too much of a pain when they are so crammed in there and floppy and they stink so I like to keep the smell contained in the tent in mid-late flower. I will get some better full plant pics at harvest time.

The Sour Bubble F2 #2 looks almost done already at 6 weeks, going to give her half strength nutes for a week and then water only for last week probably harvest her at 8 weeks and let the others go another 1-2 weeks longer, whatever is needed to finish them.

Truepower OG #4s

OX F2 #1, shes also looking to probably finish around 8 weeks too.

 

[Bueno Time]

OX F2 #2s

Sour Bubble F2 #2

Starkiller

Truepower OG #2

 

[Bueno Time]

Heres the last pics for this update from a top view and an overall tent shot. Going to probably thin out a decent amount of the fan leaves from the canopy as we get near the end to allow some more light to the buds below the tops to help them ripen up nicely.

 

[littlejacob]

Id stick with the smaller Veros over the Cree 2540.

There are/is really so many ways to go with DIY, if you want to keep it simpler you could probably get away with 9 CXA3070 (CXBs I think are the new thing, havent read much at all about them, havent kept up a lot with the LED readings the past couple months, but I believe they are better than the CXAs) and 3 of the HLG-185H-C1400B drivers (3 3070s per driver). Less components to assemble but also less emitters but still could cover the area well if kept high enough over the canopy probably 12-15" gap over the canopy would yeild a good light spread if you can maintain that gap with a scrog or similar trained and even canopy. When the plants grow to close the the COBs they will start to yellow the leaves and also your light wont be spread as wide since the COBs emit light in a cone, the farther the distance form the canopy the larger the area the base of the light "cone" will cover.

Each 3070 at 1400mA would be ~52w for a total of ~470w (also this would be considerably more efficient than your previously mentioned Vero plans, given you can find any bin higher than Z2, Z2 bin 3070s are outdated by new bins but even those would net about the same ~36-37% efficiency as previously mentioned Vero setups you were considering).

Also forgot to answer your question, vF refers to the forward voltage or the voltage the COB runs at when in use.

Ok thanks again. Where to find 3070 AB bin? I heard not to on alibaba, kingbright opto cause they are not an official cree dealer.what do you think? I can't wait to order everything i need.what is the size of a 3070AB? What size must be the heatsink of my cpu cooler.
Have a nice grow★

 

[Bueno Time]

Ok thanks again. Where to find 3070 AB bin? I heard not to on alibaba, kingbright opto cause they are not an official cree dealer.what do you think? I can't wait to order everything i need.what is the size of a 3070AB? What size must be the heatsink of my cpu cooler.
Have a nice grow★

Not sure where to get them but I believe they are around. I wouldnt personally buy from alibaba or other similar site, how are you going to know you really got what you paid for when all the 3070s look the same you cant tell what bin you got visually and you would have to take the sellers word for it, so I always buy from very well trusted sources, I get my COBs from digikey, actually I did get my AB bins from a friend but I know they are the real deal, I wouldnt trust an unknown seller on an auction site.

The 3070s are 23.85mm square and 1.7mm thick according to the listed specs. The CPU coolers I used for my CXA3070s were Alpine 11 Plus which are 92mm.

The CREEs will need COB holders to install properly with screws on the heatsink, they are not built into holders like the Veros. For CXA3070 I recommend and most use the Ideal 50-2234C COB holders.

 

[Bueno Time]

Snapped a bunch of halfway decent pictures last night and cropped some bud shots out to better show the ladies off. These were taken after dark period on day 47 and starting day 48 12/12.

 

[Bueno Time]

OX F2 #1

 

[Bueno Time]

OX F2 #2

 

[Bueno Time]

Sour Bubble F2 #2

 

[Bueno Time]

Starkiller #3

 

[Bueno Time]

Truepower OG #2

 

[Bueno Time]

Truepower OG #4

 

[Unclecrash]

Damn Dude, killin it as usual.

 

[Lepreschone]

 

[littlejacob]

Hello Buenos
Very nice plants,green healthy,frosty...when do smell is going to be an option on cpu?!? Not tomorrow I guess...
Before I buy the real ''things'' I did like to practice with a few vero10 on 80mm ventirad in 4000k like yours what is the best driver for this little test.10 is the max but I want to buy only one driver and a hlg if possible.
Thanks for all the advices and for your time!
Merci mon ami

 

[fuggzy]

So Confused....

So Confused....

Hi Bueno,

I have decided to get my feet wet with a diy led micro grow. I went ahead and got 5 vero 10s off digi-key http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/BXRC-30E1000-B-03/976-1177-ND/3913153, along with 8 3w to play with the fine tuning. The 3w lights are not in the same ratio as yours, but minus a Luxeon ES 6300k I used the same colors to supplement. The space measures 11"x13"x36"

The problem I'm facing is I can not seem to figure out what driver I need. Every time i start reading about how to wire them, then try to come up with what I think is ideal voltage/current range, i end up just running my brain in circles . I understand with with the "typical" rating the BL uses each cob can have variances and each cob needs to be tested to get a final voltage, but would you be able to help me find a driver based on the typical voltage?

I would like to use just 1 driver and being able to dim them is a plus, but at the moment I'm trying to be budget minded, so it depends on the price difference. The fans on the heatsinks will be powered off a separate source. Also I'm not against only using 4, if say 2 drivers with 2 cobs ea or a 4 on 1 would actually be a better idea.

I don't normally like to just ask for the answer, but I am so lost. Thank you for any help you can provide. Thank you for all the info you have already shared with us all, its a tremendous help.