DIY leds Discussion Thread for all your how tos and doubts and anything related

[Rocket Soul]

Hello everyone!

Made this thread for anyone who wants to just generally chat about DIY leds, where to start getting knowledge about it, how to design and build help, where to source parts and anything random

Lets start out with a poll: is DIY Led worth all the effort, and if so (or not) why? Also post if you want more poll options.

 

[Creeperpark]

Hello everyone!

Made this thread for anyone who wants to just generally chat about DIY leds, where to start getting knowledge about it, how to design and build help, where to source parts and anything random

Lets start out with a poll: is DIY Led worth all the effort, and if so (or not) why? Also post if you want more poll options.

Thanks, Rocket, that is a very interesting subject. I'm going to ride with you and maybe I can learn something.

 

[Rocket Soul]

Thanks, Rocket, that is a very interesting subject. I'm going to ride with you and maybe I can learn something.

Thank you, make your voice heard in the poll if you like, and this thread is really for everybody, im not the only 'Teach'

 

[Rocket Soul]

@exploziv / @DARKSIDER or any mod:
- with regards to buying parts for diy projects, theres a bunch of use full sites for distributors and search tools for parts.
Id like to see if you could look at them and see what would be approved as external links so i or others dont post stuff you then have to come and clean up. Im thinking of :
- digikey
- arrow electronics (they have fantastic deals from time to time which may be hard to find unless somebody links them, once they were selling half a quantum board worth of diodes on pcb ready to fit to your grow for 2$!)
- mouser
- TME electronics sales
- octopart component search engine
- Ebay
And brands:
- Samsung, Bridgelux, Cree, Lumileds and maybe a few more
Could you please check up on them and say if there is anything you feel we should avoid posting here. Ill avoid them for now and not post anything to aliexpress or alibaba

 

[DARKSIDER]

@exploziv / @DARKSIDER or any mod:
- with regards to buying parts for diy projects, theres a bunch of use full sites for distributors and search tools for parts.
Id like to see if you could look at them and see what would be approved as external links so i or others dont post stuff you then have to come and clean up. Im thinking of :
- digikey
- arrow electronics (they have fantastic deals from time to time which may be hard to find unless somebody links them, once they were selling half a quantum board worth of diodes on pcb ready to fit to your grow for 2$!)
- mouser
- TME electronics sales
- octopart component search engine
- Ebay
And brands:
- Samsung, Bridgelux, Cree, Lumileds and maybe a few more
Could you please check up on them and say if there is anything you feel we should avoid posting here. Ill avoid them for now and not post anything to aliexpress or alibaba

Hello Rocket Soul a quick check on the tou will be able to answer your question, i see where your coming from, but anything to do with links and advertising just wouldnt be fair to the paying sponsors and vendors of the site heres one to look at below, if its paid advertising your wanting you will have to speak to exploziv, Hope that helps my friend..

The posting of links to other commercial websites, forums, chat rooms or communities, or commercial products are not permitted.

 

[Rocket Soul]

Hello Rocket Soul a quick check on the tou will be able to answer your question, i see where your coming from, but anything to do with links and advertising just wouldnt be fair to the paying sponsors and vendors of the site heres one to look at below, if its paid advertising your wanting you will have to speak to exploziv, Hope that helps my friend..

The posting of links to other commercial websites, forums, chat rooms or communities, or commercial products are not permitted.

Ok, fair dues, i checked the tos and it wasnt totally clear, there was basicly something about anything mods dont like but this made it clear. Not after paid advertising i have nothing for sale just wanna help people get on their way to try stuff out for themselves in a responsible and informed way.

Almost all of the sites mentioned sells something so of course no linking, people would have to find stuff themselves. Theres some DIY available at www.growlightsaustralia.com but they are a sponsor on the forum so i assume this is ok. They are really good guys with some fantastic gear


The led brands are comercial sites but you cant really buy directly as an end user.
Linking to datasheets to these brands and similar, would that fall inside or outside TOS? Its like the same brands used by the sponsors here, samsung especially.

Octopart: its a search engine and i guess no links are needed tbh its just to search a model nr and get price quotes for different distributors. But by now i dont see the point in linking just mentioning how use full it is.

Thx for keeping inside the line, if i eventually get something for online sale, mods will be the first to know and i shall either refrain from running my mouth about it here or get sponsorship

 

[DARKSIDER]

Ok, fair dues, i checked the tos and it wasnt totally clear, there was basicly something about anything mods dont like but this made it clear. Not after paid advertising i have nothing for sale just wanna help people get on their way to try stuff out for themselves in a responsible and informed way.

Almost all of the sites mentioned sells something so of course no linking, people would have to find stuff themselves. Theres some DIY available at www.growlightsaustralia.com but they are a sponsor on the forum so i assume this is ok. They are really good guys with some fantastic gear


The led brands are comercial sites but you cant really buy directly as an end user.
Linking to datasheets to these brands and similar, would that fall inside or outside TOS? Its like the same brands used by the sponsors here, samsung especially.

Octopart: its a search engine and i guess no links are needed tbh its just to search a model nr and get price quotes for different distributors. But by now i dont see the point in linking just mentioning how use full it is.

Thx for keeping inside the line, if i eventually get something for online sale, mods will be the first to know and i shall either refrain from running my mouth about it here or get sponsorship

Good Morning Rocket Soul after our latest discussion behind closed doors so to speak and with what was agreed on i look forward to seeing more ..

 

[Rocket Soul]

Good Morning Rocket Soul after our latest discussion behind closed doors so to speak and with what was agreed on i look forward to seeing more ..

To sum up the convo: here on icmag we treat our sponsor with respect and dont post links to competing businesses that dont pay sponsorships: our sponsors keep the site running. But posting links that may have interest and use for our members that doesnt hurt any sponsors (and obviously isnt dangerous or in any other ways breaching the TOS) is ok as long as we play nice: as far as i understand posting links to datasheets and other links to some distributors of electronic parts are fine but at mods discretion. We will have to play nice and see where we end up so to speak and no bad "internet feelings" if mods have to step in from time to time.

Im going to start out and test the waters by linking to the samsung led product simulation tool - its not a datasheet per se but a little tool where you can input your model, spectrum and bins and it will spit out info expected lums per watt and other details.

LED Component Calculator | SAMSUNG LED | Samsung LED Global Website

Samsung inspires the world and shapes the future with transformative ideas and technologies. The company is redefining the worlds of TVs, smartphones, wearable devices, tablets, digital appliances, network systems, and memory, system LSI and LED solutions.

led.samsung.com

The things i tend to look for using this tool is voltage (which changes with current), lum per watt and if you know how many diodes your build has then you can also get totals. Very handy

The second helpfull link is for arrow electronics search function. Arrow many times have sales, sometimes very extreme discounts, on both drivers and consumer strips. Since the search function needs a prompt ive done a search on meanwell:

https://www.arrow.com/en/manufacturers/mean-well-enterprises?q=Meanwell

Theres an easy way to scan for these sales: go to the search function:

Search for your favored brands:
I did a little search for meanwell , then refine to power supplies and then led drivers and then filtered for some wattages: found a meanwell hlg240-48ABV for 44 $, cheapish but not the outrageously cheap prices ive seen. What you can do with filters here is to just scope out the most common wattages and then go ascending price or even ascending stock (last items always tend to go for cheap) and work from there.
I also found some nice samsung strips: same thing here, tried samsung, led module and ascending prices to see what turned up: i got 13$ so for 44+6x13 , around 120$ ive sourced my main components for a basic 4x2 light with the equivalent of 3 quantumboards of diodes.
Not dropping any links on specific products here yet since i want to just test out the waters first.
Doing searches like this regularly is a good thing for anyone looking for deals. If you find something and youre a bro you tell your fellow diyers or even post links to the search. I didnt here in this case; peeps need to learn how to, and i dont wanna go to far on my first link post.

What could you do with this meanwell and 6 strips: you could do a nice 4x2 light if you had some alu dissipation, alu u-channel of 2-3 mm / 1/8" should take care of that but always best to do some tests before buying your full kit. Where does a guy get these heatsink from? Id suggest looking not online but yellow pages: theres always some scrap yard or just where local builders get their alu from. Heatsinks are expensive to ship so the low tech local approach is usually the best.

I hope these links are fine, as per convo keep me and everybody straight

 

[•Moby•]

To sum up the convo: here on icmag we treat our sponsor with respect and dont post links to competing businesses that dont pay sponsorships: our sponsors keep the site running. But posting links that may have interest and use for our members that doesnt hurt any sponsors (and obviously isnt dangerous or in any other ways breaching the TOS) is ok as long as we play nice: as far as i understand posting links to datasheets and other links to some distributors of electronic parts are fine but at mods discretion. We will have to play nice and see where we end up so to speak and no bad "internet feelings" if mods have to step in from time to time.

Im going to start out and test the waters by linking to the samsung led product simulation tool - its not a datasheet per se but a little tool where you can input your model, spectrum and bins and it will spit out info expected lums per watt and other details.

LED Component Calculator | SAMSUNG LED | Samsung LED Global Website

Samsung inspires the world and shapes the future with transformative ideas and technologies. The company is redefining the worlds of TVs, smartphones, wearable devices, tablets, digital appliances, network systems, and memory, system LSI and LED solutions.

led.samsung.com

The things i tend to look for using this tool is voltage (which changes with current), lum per watt and if you know how many diodes your build has then you can also get totals. Very handy

The second helpfull link is for arrow electronics search function. Arrow many times have sales, sometimes very extreme discounts, on both drivers and consumer strips. Since the search function needs a prompt ive done a search on meanwell:

https://www.arrow.com/en/manufacturers/mean-well-enterprises?q=Meanwell

Theres an easy way to scan for these sales: go to the search function:

Search for your favored brands:
I did a little search for meanwell , then refine to power supplies and then led drivers and then filtered for some wattages: found a meanwell hlg240-48ABV for 44 $, cheapish but not the outrageously cheap prices ive seen. What you can do with filters here is to just scope out the most common wattages and then go ascending price or even ascending stock (last items always tend to go for cheap) and work from there.
I also found some nice samsung strips: same thing here, tried samsung, led module and ascending prices to see what turned up: i got 13$ so for 44+6x13 , around 120$ ive sourced my main components for a basic 4x2 light with the equivalent of 3 quantumboards of diodes.
Not dropping any links on specific products here yet since i want to just test out the waters first.
Doing searches like this regularly is a good thing for anyone looking for deals. If you find something and youre a bro you tell your fellow diyers or even post links to the search. I didnt here in this case; peeps need to learn how to, and i dont wanna go to far on my first link post.

What could you do with this meanwell and 6 strips: you could do a nice 4x2 light if you had some alu dissipation, alu u-channel of 2-3 mm / 1/8" should take care of that but always best to do some tests before buying your full kit. Where does a guy get these heatsink from? Id suggest looking not online but yellow pages: theres always some scrap yard or just where local builders get their alu from. Heatsinks are expensive to ship so the low tech local approach is usually the best.

I hope these links are fine, as per convo keep me and everybody straight

Hola.

I voted for "No, its too expensive nowadays, can find cheaper than diy growlights".

This is judging based on what I could find so far as German customer, doesn't mean I'm correct.

The Samsung calculation tool doesn't include the whole lm301H series, including the currently best lm301H EVO chips or am I missing anything?

Does make the tool irrelevant to me personally if it doesn't.

I'm still interested in the topic and will follow along but feel like china does a good job producing good products that eliminate most benefits of diy, they are getting better and better at it and consider current information regarding light spectrums and additional channels for supplemental UV and IR.

It unfortunately is a similar game as with smartphones where they throw out a hundred models and slowly add new features to some that then become the new standard for all devices over time.
I feel like it's now at a point where the quality is very hard to match by diy projects, especially for tech noobs.

Again, I could be wrong, the web is a big place and I 100% have not seen all sources for parts, especially international websites.


Still following and interested, there will always be a case where diy for whatever reason allows you to do something that fits your needs exactly

 

[Rocket Soul]

Hola.

I voted for "No, its too expensive nowadays, can find cheaper than diy growlights".

This is judging based on what I could find so far as German customer, doesn't mean I'm correct.

The Samsung calculation tool doesn't include the whole lm301H series, including the currently best lm301H EVO chips or am I missing anything?

Does make the tool irrelevant to me personally if it doesn't.

I'm still interested in the topic and will follow along but feel like china does a good job producing good products that eliminate most benefits of diy, they are getting better and better at it and consider current information regarding light spectrums and additional channels for supplemental UV and IR.

It unfortunately is a similar game as with smartphones where they throw out a hundred models and slowly add new features to some that then become the new standard for all devices over time.
I feel like it's now at a point where the quality is very hard to match by diy projects, especially for tech noobs.

Again, I could be wrong, the web is a big place and I 100% have not seen all sources for parts, especially international websites.


Still following and interested, there will always be a case where diy for whatever reason allows you to do something that fits your needs exactly

Hello God Morgon and guten morgen!
I checked the tool and youre right, there isnt an alternative of the 301H EVOs. But that is a hortichip really, so lum/w is not really what youre after i guess. Its good to remember that the B and H versions really are the same chip (with one slight exception for the EVO H):
The difference is just in how the chip gets tested. B versions gets flux binned by lums while the H version gets tested and bined by ppf/w but they all come from the same type of fabrication. Theres some features (like silicone cover for sulfurresistance) that gets marketed differently; the H its featured very prominently as some big wow factor while the B its just a footnote but all other characteristics are the same in these chips. So standard 301b in top flux bin is identical to 301h, which is really just a top bin 301b where they tested pof instead of lum. For the EVO -h theres another little difference thats important to growers: the photon pump is 437nm rather than 450; this is though as preferable for horticulture cause it betters excites both chlor a and b. Theres also some small differences in the phosphor; evo-h contains less phosphor for the same cct, so when you compare efficiency between evo-h and evo-b its quite natural that theres a slight difference in ppf/w as the evo-h contains relatively more blue than the evo-b; the less phosphor on a chip the better the efficiency. So id say you can safely use the evo-b as a substitute.

Im glad you mentioned ir /uv as this was getting some action in the build thread and this issue always seems to generate lots of debate; something better suited for this thread so that the builds in the other thread dont get burried in flame wars.

My own experience of uv was that it was really beneficial (subjectively better and more developed smell in an unmistakable way; every blind test it was clear where there wasnt any uva/violet in thebspectrum) but the effect depended on what was your base spectrum: we tried it with standard 4000k + 660 and the effects were much more subtle (yet somewhat more complex) that with less green heavy spectrums (like the ones you find in ALL lights nowadays). But with a red heavy spectrum where 660 wasnt the only dominant wavelength we found much more bright and in your face terp profiles. Id defo recommend it especially since UV is much more accessible nowadays: good enough china uv is about 1$ per chip/watt. Id rec going for 2:1 ratio of 400ish /365 nm or really just making sure violet>uva>uvb in out put. Violet only also seems to give great results with best of 2 worlds; nicer terps but also within par range: anyone doing bluesupp on their rig should probably consider just adding 400 rather than 450nm. Theres very real plant health benefits aswell; webe not really found yield loss from adding this as the benefits seems to outweigh whatever possible yield loss due to blue response in plants.
IR/far red: didnt see much effect of it in our rather basic test but its likely no conclusive; it was the same tray that had less uv effects and just seems to grow a bit strange; many times the top buds look slightly smaller than the next bud down.

As for german diy: yes, the little ive seen has been quite expensive, but theres also possibilities to start with standard outlets like arrow/digikey/mouser and get somewhat better prices. Also there is a few alibaba outlets considered reliable enough like kingbrite and meijiu that still offers diy pcbs for low prices if your order is big enough to compensate for world wide shipping.

Im really glad to hear the german side of things i know a lot of stuff goes on over at your side of the forum but im a bit lazy to to translation post per post. If anyone (creeper park and darksider, who seems to have posts in all different languages) have a brower based alternative for translation (so that you can just click and get translation in page rather than open a separate browers translator window) id love to drop by and visit in Deutchymag section

For cheap lights from china: this is so true but are they as reliable as other lights? I especially see people having problems with drivers and quick connectors and then the warranty service is not really great until you put the company on blast online. I really like the approach of buying cheap pcbs (ive had as cheap as 474 diodes of white and reds for 10$) in china and then use a power supply from a local outlet which i can get replaced by easy shipping or just in shop.