Bueno Grows w/ DIY COB LEDs

[Dion]

Linked the cobs now too so you can see what I can get hold of over here in Britain two types of cob on offer, I'm favouring the second one linked, but might be wrong

http://www.digikey.co.uk/short/t7f37n
Z450f

http://www.digikey.co.uk/short/t7f3tq
Z230f

not my place to post here but id hate to stay silent on this one


you can get the cxb(2nd generation cxa) chip in a higher binning(ab) for only a bit more( 4 pound 20 cents?)

http://www.digikey.co.uk/product-se...=1&stock=1&quantity=0&ptm=0&fid=0&pageSize=25

 

[anasrzi]

not my place to post here but id hate to stay silent on this one


you can get the cxb(2nd generation cxa) chip in a higher binning(ab) for only a bit more( 4 pound 20 cents?)

http://www.digikey.co.uk/product-se...=1&stock=1&quantity=0&ptm=0&fid=0&pageSize=25

Didn't see those thanks @dion I'll get those instead

 

[anasrzi]

How about this one Bueno and the cobs found by Dion above?

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=171828890620

 

[Bueno Time]

not my place to post here but id hate to stay silent on this one


you can get the cxb(2nd generation cxa) chip in a higher binning(ab) for only a bit more( 4 pound 20 cents?)

http://www.digikey.co.uk/product-se...=1&stock=1&quantity=0&ptm=0&fid=0&pageSize=25

Thanks D, your welcome to chime in at anytime. Those are a great find, Im generally too lazy to search parts out for people, I mostly try to just answer the basic technical questions.

Didn't see those thanks @dion I'll get those instead

How about this one Bueno and the cobs found by Dion above?

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=171828890620

Definitely get those CXB AB bins Dion linked they are far superior to the CXA Z2 bins (or any CXA bin really for that matter).

That AS5 thermal paste you linked is plenty good for our purposes. You will need to drill and tap holes in the heatsinks and use matching screws, and COB holders too (obviously).

 

[anasrzi]

Thanks guys looks like I'm about sorted now, found the better fan/heat sink you linked also for less which is good. A question I have about wiring up is you link the cob to the driver Obviously but do you also link the fan/heat sink also, or do those on a separate circuit/plug.

 

[Bueno Time]

Thanks guys looks like I'm about sorted now, found the better fan/heat sink you linked also for less which is good. A question I have about wiring up is you link the cob to the driver Obviously but do you also link the fan/heat sink also, or do those on a separate circuit/plug.

Seperate circuit for the fans on the heatsinks. They are 12v DC but can run lower voltage to save a few watts. Supposed to be plenty effective at 5v for cooling CXA/B3070s or Vero 29s at 1400mA (on the Alpine 11 Plus fan/sink combos). I just ran my fans at the full 12v and "wasted" a little power. You can get a 12v fixed voltage power supply or adjustable voltage power supply so you can dial the fans down some if you wanted but its not necessary if you dont want to. Another option would be to get a 5v fixed voltage power supply and that would work as well.

 

[Bueno Time]

Heres some poor quality pics of the last of the harvest.

Also I finished up weighing the harvest: Starkiller #3 34.3g, Sour Bubble BX3/4 F2 #2 9.5g, OX F2 #1 10.2g, OX F2 #2 10g, OX F2 #2 (2nd plant) 17.6g, Truepower OG #2 18g, Truepower OG #4 27.4g, Truepower OG #4 (2nd plant) 38.6g = 165.6g total and using 162.6w total power draw I hit just over 1GPW. This is including driver losses and all for the lighting system which I had previously only counted the LED dissipation wattage toward the GPW total which skewed the results a little but at the time I didnt include fan wattage and driver losses in my totals, this time I did.

Truepower OG #2

Truepower OG #4

Truepower OG #4 (w/ Floralicious +)

Starkiller #3

Buds curing in jars, quart jars on bottom row and pint jars up top, Sour Bubble not included cuz I smoked it all already minus one bud and wasnt going to put a jar up with one bud in it for the pic lol. Left to right top row: OX F2 #1, OX F2 #2 FL+, OX F2 #2, Left to right bottom row: Truepower OG #2, Truepower OG #4, Truepower OG #4 FL+, Starkiller #3.

 

[Bueno Time]

Little closeups of some of the buds of each.

TPOG #2

TPOG #4s

SK

That pretty much concludes the show for now, hope you enjoyed watching, I will enjoy smoking these.

 

[budelight]

Frost city BT - great job hitting 1gpw!

What are your thoughts on the Floralicious buds?

Thanks for sharing

 

[Bueno Time]

Frost city BT - great job hitting 1gpw!

What are your thoughts on the Floralicious buds?

Thanks for sharing

View Image

Thanks budelight, 1GPW with 3 very poor yielding and two lower yielding ladies out of 8 total plants flowered none of which are heavy yielding, could imagine the possibilities with some heavyweight ladies.

Ive done the FL+ test on 3 different strains over two seperate runs, using clones of the same mothers, side by side testing the only difference being one cut gets FL+ at 1mL/gal and one doesnt, all other nutes and variables are the same.

The FL+ I used at 1mL/gal on the first test with Sugar Jones clones and the smell was much sweeter and a lot more of the same terpene profile as I would get when growing the same strain in organic soil mix vs the more Chemmy funk of the one that didnt get FL+. The flavor was a little harsher and muddied on the FL+ cut I ran 1mL/gal on from weeks 1-6 of 8 weeks flower. I thought maybe I should have cut the FL+ out sooner or used less in late-mid flower.

Then I tried the FL+ test on Truepower OG #4 and OX F2 #2 cuts this last flowering cycle. I used 1mL/gal every watering (daily) from start of week 2 through end of week 5 then every other day until the end of week 6 of a 9 weeks cycle on the OXs and 10 weeks on the TPOGs. The flavor isnt harsher on the FL+ ladies and seems to have a bit better flavor. The scent is also increased it seems to bring out the sweeter or fruity notes of strains terpine profile a bit more without adding an artificial or generic flavor of its own it helps bring out what is already there in the terpine profile just in a different way if that makes any sense. The musty flavor of the OX is stronger on the FL+ cut and has a slight boost in smell.

Not sure which I like better, its kind of fun to run the same cut with and without it to see the nuances in the terpine profiles come out in slightly different ways.

So in conclusion in side by sides, the scent profiles are definitely a little bit different on the FL+ cuts a lot of times giving the salt nute grown buds a little more of the smell profile they get when grown in soil (though the flavor still isnt as good in my experience with the same cuts grown in organic soil vs coco with salts, but that is a little off topic). If you use too much or too late in flower I think it can muddy or harshen the smoke for whatever reason but seems good when used properly (cut it off for the last 3 weeks and use at 1mL/gal max if not .5-.75mL/gal would probably be enough to notice the results). I should mention though for whatever reason, could be coincidence since I didnt have a large test group, but all 3 side by sides the cut given FL+ was slightly to quite noticeably lower yielding vs the other not given FL+.

 

[heady blunts]

beautiful!

 

[TheScrogFrog]

I really want to mess with the DIY LED sometime, might have to pick your brain.

Fantastic results. Great job.

 

[#1cheesebuds]

wow those buds look super great!

 

[CannaBuilding]

You can use a cheap driver like you mentioned to test vF of each of the COBs individually if you need to.

If you wanted to run 8 V10 at 250mA each for now and would potentially be upgrading in the future by adding more V10s and increasing the overall wattage of your LED fixture, you could try a HLG-185H-C500 and run the 8 V10s in series and dim the driver to half power or so, so they only get ~250mA current.

The HLG-185H-C500 is a 200w rated driver that has 200-400v output with 500mA max current, dimmable with 94% efficiency on 220v AC input (just a percent or two less with 110v AC input).

When you wanted to upgrade, you could potentially run 15-16 V10s in series with the 400v max rating on the driver at 500mA each at full power, or less when dimmed down to a lower current for better efficiency.

You could also potentially run 2 sets of 15-16 V10s in parallel (30-32 total) and if done properly have no issues. By properly I mean test vF of each COB with the single LED driver like you mentioned and then assemble them in such a way that each string of 15-16 Veros is as close as possible to being exactly equal in total vF to eliminate any potential issues associated with parallel driving. When assembling strings to be as close to equal as possible for parallel driving, it is helpful to order a few extra COBs to help you "puzzle" together the like strings since vF of each COB varies slightly.

I dont have and never have grown anything from TGA so I dont know an answer for that question. Ive got and have grown gear from quite a few different breeders and I also grow some that I make myself, either F2s of strains or crosses of two different strains. Also occasionally some seeds a friend has made will get grown out too depending on strain. Too many to list them all out, if you see a strain or picture I posted and have a question on the specific strain I can tell you more info on it.

Hi Beuno,

remarkable stuff mate, your grows are very inspiring, and one of a kind, its amazing the amount of bud you pull from such a small area, I take my hat of to you sir.

I have a quick question about what you mentioned above about wiring to meanwell 185 c500 drivers in parallel. If this is done, would the wiring from each cob need to be the same gauge and length to control any variables? and also the cobs should be the same model and from the same bin? if wiring two meanwell 185 500ma drivers in parallel would that mean you'd be getting 1a of current now, with the same variable voltage? Or would the better option be to get a single driver and wire the leds in series? the only problem is 1a drivers are almost triple the price as a 500ma driver with the same variable voltage.

Any info would be greatly appreciated, and i really love the frostiness of the nugs you've posted, they look like a killer smoke.

Keep up the happy growing, and peace to all.

 

[Bueno Time]

Hi Beuno,

remarkable stuff mate, your grows are very inspiring, and one of a kind, its amazing the amount of bud you pull from such a small area, I take my hat of to you sir.

I have a quick question about what you mentioned above about wiring to meanwell 185 c500 drivers in parallel. If this is done, would the wiring from each cob need to be the same gauge and length to control any variables? and also the cobs should be the same model and from the same bin? if wiring two meanwell 185 500ma drivers in parallel would that mean you'd be getting 1a of current now, with the same variable voltage? Or would the better option be to get a single driver and wire the leds in series? the only problem is 1a drivers are almost triple the price as a 500ma driver with the same variable voltage.

Any info would be greatly appreciated, and i really love the frostiness of the nugs you've posted, they look like a killer smoke.

Keep up the happy growing, and peace to all.

I dont know of anyone that has or recommends running drivers in parallel to their COBs (two drivers or more with all + and all - outputs wired to the same COB(s) + and - respectively, multi drivers per COB). I run a bunch of Vero 10s in series and parallel on one driver (series strings of 5 COBs each, 7 of those said strings wired in parallel). Most dont recommend parallel driving to begin with but it can be done properly with a little effort with no negative effects. You can wire series strings of COBs on higher voltage drivers, the voltage of each COB will add together over the length of the string.

Keep your wiring gauge consistent throughout, lengths of wire not being equal isnt really an issue, using the same model COBs and bins throughout is recommended.

Hope that helps a little. Thanks for the compliments too by the way.

 

[fuggzy]

If i missed it, sorry.

If i missed it, sorry.

Hi BT I was wondering what in your opinion is the optimal spacing between the vero 10s. I just recently got my drivers in, and am trying to build my lights. I'm trolling over a few ideas, basically mimicking your design, but have less lights than your area. The main idea is 6 bars at 22", each 1 with 4 vero 10. The tent I am using is a 4x2, but I am thinking about just using it as a 3x2 so I can up my watts per sq inch , and have a bit of storage space.

Either way, I'd like to have a nice efficient spread. Also Ill be running them at ~8w each if that makes a difference. Any advice would be awesome. Thanks bud.

 

[Bueno Time]

Hi BT I was wondering what in your opinion is the optimal spacing between the vero 10s. I just recently got my drivers in, and am trying to build my lights. I'm trolling over a few ideas, basically mimicking your design, but have less lights than your area. The main idea is 6 bars at 22", each 1 with 4 vero 10. The tent I am using is a 4x2, but I am thinking about just using it as a 3x2 so I can up my watts per sq inch , and have a bit of storage space.

Either way, I'd like to have a nice efficient spread. Also Ill be running them at ~8w each if that makes a difference. Any advice would be awesome. Thanks bud.

Im not sure what the exact optimal distance is but I wouldnt go any more than 6" (probably less) between Vero 10s for flowering use. Mine are on 4" centers side to side and 4.8" centers front to back. Having them closer together allows the light 'cones' to overlap in the center keeping the lighting more even throughout the fixture.

 

[fuggzy]

Im not sure what the exact optimal distance is but I wouldnt go any more than 6" (probably less) between Vero 10s for flowering use. Mine are on 4" centers side to side and 4.8" centers front to back. Having them closer together allows the light 'cones' to overlap in the center keeping the lighting more even throughout the fixture.

Thanks for the info man. I'll be drilling and taping the vero bars tonight. I got the supplemental bars last night. 108 taps total, I'll be happy to finish that part.

 

[Red Fang]

my God man so glad you are doing so much better than me!

 

[funnymath]

using the same model COBs and bins throughout is recommended.

What's the reasoning for this? I did a little too much thinking on my own and got two different kinds of vero 10's to run on the same driver. Would I be better off buying enough of the one I'd rather have and just run the same exact ones? Or is it really not that big of a deal?

I have 35 vero 10's with 21 being one color and 14 being another, so it was going to be 7 strings of 5 leds with 3 being one color and 2 being the other color.