DIY LED PORN

[Dion]

Hey growers, might be nice for others to draw inspiration from lights u built.


So here is a thread to show your builds. As most of you who know me know I'm not really into spending on making things pretty so most of my creations are ugly as fuck. However ill show you a few of them here and hope others will do the same.

ive got a couple more but cant find pics now


In an effort to keep this thread lean and clean let's keep discussion to a minimum.

Most ppl will want to know the chips you used and the drive current or details, right? so




4xCXB3590 3500k @ 1750mA on an HLG-240-C1750B (52ish % efficient)

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[Dion]

10x SUREXI F1 by illumitex @ 560mA

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2x CXA2540 95CRI @ 600mA

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[Koondense]

Here are my cob units, going to fit them on a frame someday.
CXB3590s 3000K CB on Alpine64+

 

[wildgrow]

Nice lights guys. Dion, what is that all over the 2nd light? Silicone?

Mines not quite done - hopefully tonight. And its kind of ugly too

Going to mount the control box under the light to make using the dimmers easy.

 

[Dawn Patrol]

I'll play

I'll play

The ugly - CXA3590's that burned up (2014)

The bad- CXA3070 with supplemental red/blue - it works but just OK (2015)

The good - (8) CXB3070 COB lights in a cabinet (2016)

 

[Arf]

Here are my cob units, going to fit them on a frame someday.
CXB3590s 3000K CB on Alpine64+

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That's the style I am doing nowadays, I like the ability to adjust individual COBs up and down depending on the canopy height below them, and the CPU coolers do nice airflow for the plants.

I run the coolers at 7.5volts to keep the noise down, and the temps are fine.

 

[Koondense]

The advantage of individual height adjustment is great, only drawback in my case were the hanging wires with high voltage. That can be solved with individual cob drivers.
I have the hlg185H-C1400B which will get two more cxb3590s 6500K DB, so each driver will power 3x 3000CB + 1x 6500DB.
I run the fans at 6V(used also 5V but had trouble starting the vents sometimes, 6 is perfect) with cobs @700-1400mA, no trouble with heat at all.

 

[Dion]

The advantage of individual height adjustment is great, only drawback in my case were the hanging wires with high voltage. That can be solved with individual cob drivers.
I have the hlg185H-C1400B which will get two more cxb3590s 6500K DB, so each driver will power 3x 3000CB + 1x 6500DB.
I run the fans at 6V(used also 5V but had trouble starting the vents sometimes, 6 is perfect) with cobs @700-1400mA, no trouble with heat at all.

NOKIA chargers give a perfect 6.5v and can be had for a euro @ the flea market =D will run up to 10 cpus


Yah that is silicon, the whole thing was IP65 lol great for flowering underwater

 

[Arf]

The advantage of individual height adjustment is great, only drawback in my case were the hanging wires with high voltage. That can be solved with individual cob drivers.
I have the hlg185H-C1400B which will get two more cxb3590s 6500K DB, so each driver will power 3x 3000CB + 1x 6500DB.
I run the fans at 6V(used also 5V but had trouble starting the vents sometimes, 6 is perfect) with cobs @700-1400mA, no trouble with heat at all.

I don't use high voltage, I use 3A dimmable 36v 100W drivers, with a splitter cables feeding in parallel to 2 or 3 COBs. So there is only 36v and 7.5v for the fan going to each CPU cooler. You can get some nice silcone flex wire to do that from Hobbyking.

 

[wildgrow]

The ugly - CXA3590's that burned up (2014)View Image View Image
The bad- CXA3070 with supplemental red/blue - it works but just OK (2015)
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The good - (8) CXB3070 COB lights in a cabinet (2016)

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Whoa! What caused the burn? Was there some crap under the paste(?)? Or was it not spread evenly enough?
I like the rigs. Nice and simple.

NOKIA chargers give a perfect 6.5v and can be had for a euro @ the flea market =D will run up to 10 cpus


Yah that is silicon, the whole thing was IP65 lol great for flowering underwater

Super handy for when the ice caps melt.

You can get some nice silcone flex wire to do that from Hobbyking.

I ended up using automotive wire for use under the hood, or bonnet, depending on where you are.


I wanted to make 2 separate units, but there wasn't a good way to do that to cover my 3' x 3'6" space.


I finally finished the wiring. Wished I had gone with the 7" project box. Test fired perfectly. My neighbor wanted to see it - hes still seeing spots! All that's left to do is neaten the cob-to-cob wires.
Ill post another pic when I get that done.

 

[Dawn Patrol]

Whoa! What caused the burn? Was there some crap under the paste(?)? Or was it not spread evenly enough?
I like the rigs. Nice and simple.

I used a thermal adhesive to secure the COB to the heatsink and I wired them in parallel instead of in series and experienced thermal runaway as best I can determine. I'd gotten away with that on the under driven Chinese COBs I built to start with but 3590's won't stand for that nonsense.

On my cab lights I used the metal mounts - it was a pain in the ass to drill and tap the holes but IMO it is the best way to secure the COB to the heatsink and if something fails it's much easier to replace.

 

[Dion]

blurple circa 2014

blurple circa 2014

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[Dion]

weekend rebuild for a buddy

weekend rebuild for a buddy

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[wildgrow]

I used a thermal adhesive to secure the COB to the heatsink and I wired them in parallel instead of in series and experienced thermal runaway as best I can determine. I'd gotten away with that on the under driven Chinese COBs I built to start with but 3590's won't stand for that nonsense.

Ahh... I hadn't thought of thermal runaway. We learn more from our mistakes than our triumphs. No structure fire or injuries, so it wasn't all bad.




Nice D. Do you know what the dissipation is for those radial fin heatsinks? They look like a good option for a restricted height grow?

Well, I still need to tuck all the wires away. I started over thinking and became indecisive then the lazies hit.

Ended up not having to secure the control box at all. The tension from all the cords keeps it firmly in place.
Knobs on. They were being sold as Gibson replacements. Numbers can be read from any angle. Sorry about the flash.

Dialed down to around 10%.

Full blast!

She is damn bright. Lit up my kitchen more than the sun coming in through both windows.

Next summer Ill make one for veg - and maybe my seed tent.

 

[jikko77]

pannel 1:
driver cooled from the cpu heatsink.
grow box too short, too much heat.




panel 1 v2:
driver moved out the grow box.
less heat near the canopy.
driver cooled by a supplemental fan.

 

[jikko77]

panel 2:

1,5 m long cable between leds and drivers.
driver cooled by an external fan.

about 400w of mixed cxb 3070 and 3590 with different cct and cri


pot to dim the pannel:

 

[wildgrow]

Nice work J. Very clean and neat. Good idea making the driver remote to lessen the heat.

 

[bpwilly]

Jikko77
I know I am quite the nub at these DIY LED lights, but I guess I had never really thought about needing to cool off the LED drivers. Are you running the lights pretty hard, or is this something I need to take into consideration for most and DIY LED. I have only made one smaller LED DIY so far and have not really used it enough as I am between grows while I wait for the ones growing under the sun to finish and the cooler weather to return.

Is this something we need to keep in mind as we build these various designs?
Sorry is that sounds like a foolish question, but I had just never thought about it untill I saw your builds and comments.

 

[jikko77]

Jikko77
I know I am quite the nub at these DIY LED lights, but I guess I had never really thought about needing to cool off the LED drivers. Are you running the lights pretty hard, or is this something I need to take into consideration for most and DIY LED. I have only made one smaller LED DIY so far and have not really used it enough as I am between grows while I wait for the ones growing under the sun to finish and the cooler weather to return.

Is this something we need to keep in mind as we build these various designs?
Sorry is that sounds like a foolish question, but I had just never thought about it untill I saw your builds and comments.

heya it's all good .

both the driver have a max output of 1400mA, an half way between soft and hard.
driven at 1400mA they are hot, they don't burn your finger, but still hot. the design is an evolution from the v1.

the fist pannel was used with a 140cm tall tent, too shot, the heat was all over the canopy. so i moved the driver out, but the heat was still there. since i don't like the idea of possible fault for "missuse" or overheating, i've preferred to had a fan on top of them; this is just me and my "thinking".
mind this: if in my tent there is a temperature of, let's say, 27°c adding a couple of power supply will increase that temperature, the faster solution was to move it out.

to be real the driver should be fine without a fan, but again, it's a lot of money and i prefer to stay safe than sorry

 

[AvidLerner]

Three lights here, all are 50w per cob, two are 200 w veg and bloom lights, the third is just single passive 50w cxb3590. The bloom has Far red leds, deep red and IR all timed. The Veg has royal blue added leds. the 50w passive are for everything else. The cxa is 200w with hlg-185-C1400B. thecxb is 400w with two hlg-185H-C1400B, and the two passive are 50w no name drivers. peace
Avid