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Building New Panels - Sharing the Process
- Thread starter rrog
- Start date
Well hot damn! I'll just slide over to the CW, NW and WW in 10W and keep going. Thanks!
EDIT:
I'm looking on that linked Luxeon PDF for these values with no luck:
Cool White ( 6000-9000°K )
Neutral White ( 4500-6500°K )
Warm White ( 2500-3500°K )
Are these whites unique to Cree? I wonder whats the worst that could happen if I ran the Crees at full to get the 10W.
EDIT:
I'm looking on that linked Luxeon PDF for these values with no luck:
Cool White ( 6000-9000°K )
Neutral White ( 4500-6500°K )
Warm White ( 2500-3500°K )
Are these whites unique to Cree? I wonder whats the worst that could happen if I ran the Crees at full to get the 10W.
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I find this lazy-guy kine light to be an excellent vegging engine.
Just 5 X 15W. (less-efficient), Ledengin emitters.
For a ~65W. array.
It kicks the fan on when it hits 50C.
That causes the centrally hung light to torque a tad.
Free light-mover!
The homebrew current limiters are cheap and easy.
This vegges 6 younglings.
Aloha,
Weeze
I've found the LEDEngin stuff to be great. They are definitely less efficient than some some of the sexy new stuff, but they are inexpensive, have great availability, and my plants love 'em. The onboard zeners are damn convenient, too.
Did you use a LM317 for the current regulator, or what?
Did you use a LM317 for the current regulator, or what?
yeah cree does that; presenting the 'color temp' as a range instead of just '2700k' thr's been consideration that it {cree} may present a more homogenized light
The harder you drive them, the warmer they get and the lower the percentage of increased light output. Take a look at the graph on the top of page 4 of the Cree pdf. They are charting relative flux (light output) vs junction temperature, all at the same current. There is nearly a 30% loss of light as you approach the upper thermal limit of the chip. Just because a chip can theoretically be driven at these current levels doesn't mean that YOU will be able to do it. In order to hit these current levels and get decent chip life, you might very well have to go with liquid-based heat extraction with a refrigeration unit.
I think that you might do well to slow down a bit, spend some time with the spec sheets, and figure out what all of the information that they are presenting means. If you stay somewhat conservative with your application, you will still get a light that outperforms any of the commercial products and keep your DIY experience positive. There is a very good reason that only a couple of manufacturers push their components to anywhere near even the the nominal wattage of the LEDs - the damn things are expensive and a pain in the ass to change out.
Yer only right mate.
Better off running more leds and running them cooler.
Used the LM317;
They cost me $ .37 ea and use one resistor.
I drive a maximum of 12W. on those 15W. emitters.
And the 150W. bloom unit has dual dimmers. to adjust the ratio for veg, bloom, and morphology.
Been running them for years now and they are just as bright as day-one according to my meter.
Aloha,
Weeze
Better off running more leds and running them cooler.
Used the LM317;
They cost me $ .37 ea and use one resistor.
I drive a maximum of 12W. on those 15W. emitters.
And the 150W. bloom unit has dual dimmers. to adjust the ratio for veg, bloom, and morphology.
Been running them for years now and they are just as bright as day-one according to my meter.
Aloha,
Weeze
My point is I had no earthly concept this LED building had infinite variables and require so much relevant technical knowledge to make decision after decision. This is frustrating, as I am not an electrician. I have clearly bitten off more than I can chew and it's frustrating.
You can start your LED experience with low cost (cheap) chinese 10W LEDs and drivers available on Ebay.
For example :
- 10W Cool White High Power Square LED 6000K - 1.85$/piece (much cheaper than XM-L , but less lumens also)
- 10W 110v-240v 900mA Waterproof IP65 Transformer LED Driver Power Supply - 4.5$/piece
You just mount the LED on a heat sink, connect the driver to the LED and that's all you have to do.
If you want to be more energy efficient and to pull as much lumens as posible from LEDs you can later switch to high quality chips as XM-L.
Check this thread for more details : DIY LED Bars
For example :
- 10W Cool White High Power Square LED 6000K - 1.85$/piece (much cheaper than XM-L , but less lumens also)
- 10W 110v-240v 900mA Waterproof IP65 Transformer LED Driver Power Supply - 4.5$/piece
You just mount the LED on a heat sink, connect the driver to the LED and that's all you have to do.
If you want to be more energy efficient and to pull as much lumens as posible from LEDs you can later switch to high quality chips as XM-L.
Check this thread for more details : DIY LED Bars
budlover123
Member
be patient rrog, it's frustrating but its worth it. I recommend saving up for a bunch of LED's and running them at 1 watt each, I think I read in the cree XM-L data sheets they should practically last forever like that, and you dont have to worry about fans or anything with a good heatsink. Those MakersLED heatsinks take a while to assemble but are really cool. Although these cheap 10 watt LED projects are very interesting too.
Thanks guys, but if I'm going to spend the time building, I'd like to build something that I actually need. I never cared about the cost.
I thought I had a good thought process going, but after a lot of time spent, I find my thoughts were fundamentally flawed. Again, I'm in over my head and I'll just have to accept that.
I do appreciate everyone's contributions. Maybe others can read this thread before assuming they can do this.
I thought I had a good thought process going, but after a lot of time spent, I find my thoughts were fundamentally flawed. Again, I'm in over my head and I'll just have to accept that.
I do appreciate everyone's contributions. Maybe others can read this thread before assuming they can do this.
Yeah, that's where I'm at. No mad skillz or equipment to bring it home. Plus, as you have seen, diodes are evolving at warp speed. My DIY solution is to use el cheapo vanity fixtures from Lowes/HD + screw bulbs. This allows me to play with spectrum blends, and move them throughout the house as better bulbs become available for my Secret Garden.
I have combined them with my 3 yo UFO 90 R/B 80:20 (~ total 80w). I was flat out amazed how well it performed, very comparable to the results from my ~ 312 HOT5 watts, using high performance aquarium bulbs
View attachment 202842
There is a super simple kit, if you have the $$$- alas, I deleted the url, but Rapid Leds seem simple, but the one I am thinking of was supper simple. I'll keep looking
Found it...
Solderless leds Makersled.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0U0a0Lm2qE
I have combined them with my 3 yo UFO 90 R/B 80:20 (~ total 80w). I was flat out amazed how well it performed, very comparable to the results from my ~ 312 HOT5 watts, using high performance aquarium bulbs
View attachment 202842
There is a super simple kit, if you have the $$$- alas, I deleted the url, but Rapid Leds seem simple, but the one I am thinking of was supper simple. I'll keep looking
Found it...
Solderless leds Makersled.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0U0a0Lm2qE
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Ya, I thought this was going to be more straightforward. Clearly this takes a person with a significant working knowledge of electricity. I just didn't understand what was going to be involved and how much of an education you needed. I really have no business on this LED forum at all.
Rrog, it's really not all that complicated, but it is certainly more complicated than starting a thread and then being able to slap something together 3 days later. How long did it take you to become a proficient grower?
There are many intertwining variables, and this should be enjoyable. If it was as easy as you are trying to make it, there wouldn't be any need for the commercial offerings. When I decided to start using LEDs, I bought the best fixture that I could find at the time from a manufacturer (Lumigrow) so that I could start getting growing experience with them and to take the pressure off on getting one built. Then I started reading everything that I could find by KNNA, Weezard, OldMac, and many others. Relax and enjoy it!
There are many intertwining variables, and this should be enjoyable. If it was as easy as you are trying to make it, there wouldn't be any need for the commercial offerings. When I decided to start using LEDs, I bought the best fixture that I could find at the time from a manufacturer (Lumigrow) so that I could start getting growing experience with them and to take the pressure off on getting one built. Then I started reading everything that I could find by KNNA, Weezard, OldMac, and many others. Relax and enjoy it!
I would note that I read over the various threads referenced. All threads seemed to be started by guys with significant insight into electricity and the requisite engineering. That should have been my first clue.
I'm not the smartest guy here, but I have a couple of degrees in bio and chem and I frankly feel pretty stupid here.
I'm not the smartest guy here, but I have a couple of degrees in bio and chem and I frankly feel pretty stupid here.
It's true that many of us have an electrical/electronic background, and that certainly helps. However, there are a number of people with no pertinent experience that have done this successfully - for instance, I know that Habeeb was completely new to the field, and he is loving his experience. You have tried to jump right to multiple, very high-powered fixtures and are discovering all of the reasons that the marketing for LEDs is so confusing.
I would suggest that you start a bit more modestly, with a vegging fixture of lower power. I think that once you dabble with this a bit, large chunks of information will fall into place and you will train your mind to juggle the parameters without it seeming so overwhelming. A couple of 6" heatsinks, a few high-powered nw leds mounted on stars, a couple of drivers, and voila!. You will have a couple of very versatile vegging fixtures that outperform anything that you have ever used.
I would suggest that you start a bit more modestly, with a vegging fixture of lower power. I think that once you dabble with this a bit, large chunks of information will fall into place and you will train your mind to juggle the parameters without it seeming so overwhelming. A couple of 6" heatsinks, a few high-powered nw leds mounted on stars, a couple of drivers, and voila!. You will have a couple of very versatile vegging fixtures that outperform anything that you have ever used.
