Bueno Grows w/ DIY COB LEDs

[Bueno Time]

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.

I think you will be fine in this case since all the COBs are Vero 10s they are unbinned so all are comparable and within the same specs range even between different K spectrums. As long as you match the total vf of each of your 7 strings to be as close to equal as possible, you shouldnt have any issues.

Also I dont know what driver your using but it sounds like your following my setup. If its the HLG-185H series, make sure you ground your heatsink to the same ground wire as the driver on the 3 prong plug/power cable, it is a high voltage driver and could potentially kill if the DC output wires to the LEDs were to short out somehow, so safety is important. Wouldnt want to touch an ungrounded heatsink with around 140v DC running through it.

 

[Dknickles]

Hi'

I've been looking thru the threads. I'm getting so much information so fast is kinda disorienting. lol. Think I need to slow down.

I doing a PC Micro Grow. Here is the link so you can see the box. Its as far as I have gotten so far. I want to plan my lights right now. Gonna use LED's and so far its COB's or bust. The inside of the box is roughly 1.89 sq inches. How many lumens do I need for this area? Is there a thread that can teach me about that?

Also is there a thread that goes in detail about building a DIY LED? I want more pics so I can see about design. Do i need a reflector around the lights? I'm using reflective insulate to line the case.

 

[fuggzy]

Hi BT hope all is well for you. I just wanted to stop in and say thanks. I harvested my 1st plant using vero 10s in a micro cab. I have 4 in 143 sq inches running at ~38w. Most the info I learned here or from supra. There where other influences, but you two did a great job at providing tested info.

It was a random bagseed and was only 9" tall. The story of the plant isn't great, but the bud is making me smile every time I see it. This is also my 1st grow ever.

4th day of drying. It grew in a big V for 2 budsicles. Thanks again man, and best wishes to you.

 

[fuggzy]

The 5 Rs of DIY LED

The 5 Rs of DIY LED

Hi'

I've been looking thru the threads. I'm getting so much information so fast is kinda disorienting. lol. Think I need to slow down.

I doing a PC Micro Grow. Here is the link so you can see the box. Its as far as I have gotten so far. I want to plan my lights right now. Gonna use LED's and so far its COB's or bust. The inside of the box is roughly 1.89 sq inches. How many lumens do I need for this area? Is there a thread that can teach me about that?

Also is there a thread that goes in detail about building a DIY LED? I want more pics so I can see about design. Do i need a reflector around the lights? I'm using reflective insulate to line the case.

Read
research
read
read
and research.

This thread your on has tons of info.

This is a good read, tons of useful info. This guys is smart, and shares his tested results.
Hmm, seems I can't link it.... Google "diy led supraspl farmer" it should be the first link. (I can't even type thc in front of the word farmer. just gives me *****)If not anything by him is good.

This has pictures, although I have not read it. It may give you a design idea.
http://www.rollitup.org/t/diy-led-grow-lights-with-cree-cxa3070-cobs-and-cpu-coolers.805681/

There is another guy her named Dion. Search for his post. He has lots of experience also, and post some good info.

Cree, bridgelux, and Phillips have data sheets for their leds, and cobs. Read those. IMO if the item doesn't have a data sheet. The company didn't think it was worth testing, and you shouldn't test them either. Don't waste time & money on crappy leds.

Start learning about electricity if you don't have a base knowledge yet. Get a vlot calc on your phone you will need it frequently.

Picking the led is the easy part. Picking a driver might just make your ears bleed. Good luck, I have nothing good to offer for that.

All the vendors I used are contained in this thread. I had no problems, and some I now use regularly. (digi-key makes it easy to spend some cash!!)

This is a light I am using in a micro cab with 143 sq inches.

4 vero 10. 2 @ 3000k, and 2 @ 3500k. Ran at 350ma. ~26.7v * .35a=9.345w *4= ~37.38w total.

I would look in to bridgelux, vero 10s for a small space. Although there might be a better new model now, I'm not sure.Also there is no link to your pc case. Best of luck to you.

 

[Dknickles]

Read
research
read
read
and research.

This thread your on has tons of info.

This is a good read, tons of useful info. This guys is smart, and shares his tested results.
Hmm, seems I can't link it.... Google "diy led supraspl farmer" it should be the first link. (I can't even type thc in front of the word farmer. just gives me *****)If not anything by him is good.

This has pictures, although I have not read it. It may give you a design idea.
http://www.rollitup.org/t/diy-led-grow-lights-with-cree-cxa3070-cobs-and-cpu-coolers.805681/

There is another guy her named Dion. Search for his post. He has lots of experience also, and post some good info.

Cree, bridgelux, and Phillips have data sheets for their leds, and cobs. Read those. IMO if the item doesn't have a data sheet. The company didn't think it was worth testing, and you shouldn't test them either. Don't waste time & money on crappy leds.

Start learning about electricity if you don't have a base knowledge yet. Get a vlot calc on your phone you will need it frequently.

Picking the led is the easy part. Picking a driver might just make your ears bleed. Good luck, I have nothing good to offer for that.

All the vendors I used are contained in this thread. I had no problems, and some I now use regularly. (digi-key makes it easy to spend some cash!!)

This is a light I am using in a micro cab with 143 sq inches.
View Image View Image

4 vero 10. 2 @ 3000k, and 2 @ 3500k. Ran at 350ma. ~26.7v * .35a=9.345w *4= ~37.38w total.

I would look in to bridgelux, vero 10s for a small space. Although there might be a better new model now, I'm not sure.Also there is no link to your pc case. Best of luck to you.

Thanks alot for your advice. i was gonna go cree and when I see the price differential in their cobs and the vero's I'm glad i keep asking questions and you guys keep helping me.

Thank you.

 

[Jason Voorhees]

Nice job Beuno, every pheno from your latest run looks dank as can be expected. I am just now starting my first run with diy cree cobs also using some RD genetics. Inspiring results!

 

[Cinderella Man]

So much great info in this thread man... thanks for posting!

 

[Buddah Watcha]

Awesome thread Bueno! Still catching up on page 12 or so, long way to go! So far awesome stuff! Starting to understand a bit more about these LED's ! Thanks for the wealth of information!

 

[riigori]

Great thread and beautiful images. Thanks for all information.

 

[Buddah Watcha]

Hey Bueno, still catching up on this thread, but I haven't seen the answer to this yet. I got a really smal cab. About 23"Dx15"Wx32"H, pretty much a 2'x1' floor plan and almost 3' height... after pots I'll have 20" of space till the top of the cabin, I'm thinking about maybe installing some COB LED's.

My plan is to SCROG the plants... My question is, At about 10" distance from the LED whats the coverage area that this light covers? U think that would cover a 12"x12" floor plan? Would 10" be enough to keep plants away from burning?

I was thinking of maybe upgrading to 2 or 3 LED COB, maybe run them at around 50-70W...

I'm really trying to figure it out if these lights would help me or not. Or if I should just stick to CFL's maybe some T5s... At the moment I got 4x 23W cfls in it!

I was thinking of maybe installing the LED COB's on the top side shooting the light to the bottom opposite side and run a V scrog, with a little bit of intertwined light's in the cabin, that way I would increase the distance a bit more and increase the distance and open the floor plan a bit more!

Hope it's ok asking this here!

Peace brotah, keep on rocking!

 

[GoeRilla]

My plan is to SCROG the plants... My question is, At about 10" distance from the LED whats the coverage area that this light covers? U think that would cover a 12"x12" floor plan? Would 10" be enough to keep plants away from burning?

I was thinking of maybe upgrading to 2 or 3 LED COB, maybe run them at around 50-70W...



I was thinking of maybe installing the LED COB's on the top side shooting the light to the bottom opposite side and run a V scrog, with a little bit of intertwined light's in the cabin, that way I would increase the distance a bit more and increase the distance and open the floor plan a bit more!

Hope it's ok asking this here!

Peace brotah, keep on rocking!

I think you would like to play a bit with THIS:

http://www.leds.de/en/Umrechnungswerkzeug/

Rilla.

 

[Buddah Watcha]

Ok finally finished reading the whole thing, beautiful nugshots! Very frosty stuff in here Bueno! Awesome Job to keep the show rolling!

I think you would like to play a bit with THIS:

http://www.leds.de/en/Umrechnungswerkzeug/

Rilla.

Awesome bro! It seems like at 10" would be around .4 meters coverage! Just about what I need!

However, I think putting the LED's on an angle on the corners would be better utilized than putting them straight pointing downwards.

I made a little drawing, maybe it can help to explain what I mean!

On this picture you can't really see it, however I have an extra few inches which I could put the plants lower...

Red arrows in the way I would point the LEDS, yellow lines is ruff light coverage!

So the SCROG net would be around where the top of the pots are located!

From what I've been reading it seems like 3000K light spectrum is good. I was thinking maybe mixing a 2700K and a 3500K to get a good spectrum mix. Maybe even a 4000K instead...

The LED option i'm leaning towards 2x Vero 10's, or maybe the cxa3070... is there any advantage of one over the other one?

The LED Driver I'm still a bit confused and would appreciate some input! Was thinking maybe the Meanwell LPC-60-1750, but that doesn't seem to be compatible with the Voltage, max led fwd voltage max says 34vdc, where the Vero 10's are rated at 39.8V ... am I correct?! So it seems like I'll need 2x LPC-60-1400 to run them at 1.4am * 39.8v =~ 58W... Is there any driver that would allow me to run similar wattage, however using only 1 driver instead of 2? like a 3amp one or something, tried looking a bit but couldnt find it..

Most likely get the same fans/heatsink which you mentioned earlier on the thread! Alpine 11... 12v supply I have it...[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Coolers [/FONT]

Does that sound right? Please correct anything wrong I said... I'm still in the process of learning all this new stuff

Peace!

 

[hopesluck]

hey buddha watch, i just made my own very 18 led light. you can check it out if you waant to get some ideas. you can actually go with any vero and adjust its voltage easily with a dimmable driver. the vero 10s are nice but if you want to go with something a bit more realistic for your grow you can go with 13s or 18s and cut their amps by half if you're worried about heat. http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/BXRC-30E2000-C-23/976-1254-ND/5180226 is the led i recommend and they're 120 degree angle or the vero 18 http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/BXRC-50G4000-F-24/976-1285-ND/5180257 if you wanna match the wattage you have now. the vero series is also plug and play you can buy pigtails http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/0688014227/WM9593-ND/3880993 so you run less of a risk of burning the leds from the soldering.

if you wanna drive the 13s i recommend this driver http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/BXRC-50G4000-F-24/976-1285-ND/5180257. if you wanna drive 3 of either vero 13 or 18 you can go with this http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10001_10001_2189257_-1 ( its also 91% efficient which means less power/heat )

if you get a good heatsink you wont have any problems. i recommend http://www.heatsinkusa.com/4-600-wide-extruded-aluminum-heatsink/ . they're serrated so they allow more heat dissipation. you'll only need about 5 inches long so you could cover more area.

these fans http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master...F8&qid=1445639548&sr=8-16&keywords=coolmaster are really silent with high cfm and static pressure. plus they're only 4 for $12 and cant beat them. use this to drive the fans http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00VM28NU4?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s01 the fans sit right on top of the heatsink since they're exactly the same size

i know i threw alot of info at you but its the only way to learn.

 

[hopesluck]

and the second driver i recommended can actually drive up to 4 or 5 vero 18' if you ever wanted to expand later.

 

[hopesluck]

the cree series run at higher voltage so you'll be spending more on a driver than you would with the vero's. they're pretty much the same efficiency as well. to answer you question abbout running multiple leds i would recommend doing them in series not parallel. parallel you'll have to add up the amps and not voltage and series you'll add up the voltage. lets say you want 4 vero 18s in series you'll do 28.6v * 4 = 114.4v with 1.05 amp. also its safer running in series.

the 3000k for vero actually has more blue and red than the cree ( according to the par charts) i mixed the 2700k and 5000k in my light.

 

[grouchy]

Bueno and I discussed a similar setup in this thread and it carried over to the thread linked in my signature. I ended up going with two cxa3070s with a meanwell hln-80h-42b driving each one. The driver can do 1750ma (80w) at 42v and is dimmable with a potentiometer. The dimmer is necessary imo. If the plants get to close you can back the power off a little. I think aiming them straight down is pretty effective but I haven't tried the angled approach yet. I would go with a couple cxb 3590 cobs if I were to build another light.

 

[Buddah Watcha]

Thanks for the all the imput guys! I'm gonna do a bit more research before pulling the trigger on anything! Much appreciated! Might give another run or 2 with the CFL's before going for the switch!

 

[zone51]

how close can i keep a cob without burning the plants i have a seedling under 1 cxa2540 at 24 inches

 

[fuggzy]

how close can i keep a cob without burning the plants i have a seedling under 1 cxa2540 at 24 inches

Zone I had my vero 10s at ~14" form my seedling. After a few leaves I dropped it to 8", a few more leaves, and went to 6". My last flower I had it at 4" and the plant loved it. I had no bleaching or ill effects. My first trial run I was at ~20", and the seedlings stretched to the point of falling over.

This is a girl going 12/12 from seed that followed the above heights.


I'm not familiar about the cob you have, but 2' sounds a bit high. LED lose intensity fast just like a cfl. If you can control the heat, get the light closer.

In my case the cobs are under driven, and the cooling is over powered. At 1" below my cobs the temps are only 95F and that is in a FL garage. I have 4 cobs pushing ~38 watts in 1 sq foot. There is a pic of it on the last page (46) here.

Best of luck.

 

[Dion]

I have a 2'x3' footprint, 5' max height in flower floor to ceiling.



Which spectrum (K) are you going for with the Vero 29s? At 2100mA each they should be dissipating approx 79w each (474w total for 6) at ~37-38% efficiency depending on which you choose 3000K, 3500k, 4000K listed in order of least to most efficient. Not bad but also not record breaking efficiency, pretty comparable to HPS as far as efficiency, I would think you would have similar results as 600HPS possibly better but hard to say, if you designed it more efficient overall as a system then obviously it will be even better.

Just for example my CXA3070 3000K AB bins are 42% efficient at 1400mA and my new Vero setup will be ~42% efficient at max current and even a little more efficient when dimmed. Should be sweet, I always encourage people to build the most efficient setup they are willing to pay for (more efficiency = more $$) because then you are getting one of the main advantages of even using LED in the first place IMO (possibility of higher efficiency, better spectrum choices, etc. vs HID).

Also I want to mention the difference between 38% efficiency and 42% efficiency isnt just 4% more light, it is more than that, 42/38 = 1.105 or 110.5% an increase of just over 10% more light for an increase of 4% efficiency! That is 10% more light and should theoretically mean 10% more bud for the same wattage/power draw used when all else is equal.

Most guys run their Vero 29s and CXA3070s on the Alpine 11s at 1400mA (~52w) with the fan at 5v it cools them perfectly fine, I am not sure what the coolers can cool properly with the fan at the full 12v speed I would have to ask someone like SupraSPL on RIU about that he does lots of testing of current droops and light looses/gains due to chip temperatures from slower and fast fan speeds, etc he would probably be able to tell us if the Alpine 11s can effectively cool Vero 29s at 2100mA. (Im going to ask him and see.)

I have and am going to be using a Meanwell HLG-185H-C1400A to run all 35 Vero 10s 5 per string in series (vF adds together), 7 strings of 5 in parallel (current divides by 7). So approx 25.5 vF per Vero 10 x 5 = 127.5 vF total and 1400mA (have heard will put out ~1500mA when vF isnt maxed to give as close to 200w of output.) divided by 7 strings = 200mA per Vero 10 (215mA if at 1500mA total). Im just waiting on a cheapo driver I ordered to run single Vero 10s so I can run them individually and test vF of each to match strings of 5 as close as possible to same total vF so one string isnt hogging more current than another and everything should balance more evenly.



Thanks cheese good to see your still around.