So dion my friend I've been looking around at different cobs and think I'm gonna change my mind not sure yet. I've been looking into the bridgelux veros and I seriously thinking about the vero 18 4 3000k and 2 5000k or maybe 6 3000k and 2 5000k, still thinking of a configuration that would be best. What's your honest opinion on veros I know u use em some but what is the best bang for your buck, the price of 8 veros is bout the same as 4 of the cxbs I was looking at, more coverage or more power? This being my first led was thinking maybe the cheaper vero might be best then upgrade later when I find my way and get more comfortable.
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LED FAQ) Building and DIY
- Thread starter Dion
- Start date
Anyone tried mounting LEDs to an acrylic case? Wondering if it gets too hot to melt the acrylic. Not saying mount directly to the plastic but mount heatsink to it. Just trying to think of a nice enclosure for things (obviously while still cooling properly). I love DIY things but like them that much more when it doesn't look fully DIY. Figure if the fans on top of heatsinks can survive just fine then acrylic should be fine.
Dion
Active member
it honestly doesnt matter
the little veros are good bang for buck and the bigger ones dont decrease in efficency like the cree do(thay arnt as efficenct to start with) if u are happy with 37-40% efficiency the veros are super cost effective because even driven at upt to 2A they r still pretty effcienct
but if u want 40% plus your $ per watt will suffer unless you use the smaller veros
The reason I used vero 13s in the micro kits is to get good efficiency while using less chips(because the solder less connectors raise the price)
Those kits are what I would use in that space
You could easily get $100 of vero 13s plus connectors(15 I think) and run them off a Chinese driver- gurrilla found a few good ones I'll link if u r interested
With heatsinks USA and a pc fan or 2 u will be way under 200 bucks for almost 40w per sq ft of 40% plus efficiency
If ur interested I'll post a kit for u in that thread
would be fine
you could look into roof guttering(aluminium i think)
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Ah yes that would work as well, was thinking either aluminum (didn't think about the gutter stuff though) or acrylic but acrylic seemed easier to work with in my make-shift apartment based workshop. That gutter stuff is fairly easy to work with though and gives me some more options.
Many thanks for putting this together Dion
, been wanting to try LEDs for a long time, really just don't trust LED fixtures being sold and ones that are 'quality' seem to run easily $500+ (while still feeling like a bit of a gamble to me). Even got me thinking of replacing my fluoro tubes in my breeding chamber to LEDs but that will be a next year project and would have to figure out what LEDs to use for 18" total grow height.
Many thanks for putting this together Dion
, been wanting to try LEDs for a long time, really just don't trust LED fixtures being sold and ones that are 'quality' seem to run easily $500+ (while still feeling like a bit of a gamble to me). Even got me thinking of replacing my fluoro tubes in my breeding chamber to LEDs but that will be a next year project and would have to figure out what LEDs to use for 18" total grow height.morgandecaptain
Active member
I'm having a difficult time finding proper research that's been done for using LEDs to grow cannabis. Do an of you guys have any leads on where to find some decent scientific or university studies done for specifically growing cannabis with LEDs? Any and all info is appreciated.
You won't find much and the problem with the little that is out there is they were done with inferior LEDs compared to what is available now,the tech is advancing that fast. I would check out grows here and the RIU LED section using the latest gen of COBs from Cree and Bridgelux,CXB 3070 and 3590 and the Vero 2.0 29s.
Yea if you wouldn't mind I'd like to check into that. I think my space requirements have gotten bigger too, a possible 2x5x3'4" might be available so I'm kinda trying to figure a way to make that work if I can use it, just wanting to be prepared will know in bout a week if I can use it.
Dion one quick question. Im not electric expert so please for your help. I have driver MW hgl 185 1400mA i would order 2x cbx 3590 3500k cd 36v and 1x cbx 3590 5000k cd 36v. What was minimum and maximum output power? Driver is dimmable i think so 
Do you have any sugesstion aboute bin choice?
Thanks, Belivitez
Do you have any sugesstion aboute bin choice?
Thanks, Belivitez
Dion one quick question. Im not electric expert so please for your help. I have driver MW hgl 185 1400mA i would order 2x cbx 3590 3500k cd 36v and 1x cbx 3590 5000k cd 36v. What was minimum and maximum output power? Driver is dimmable i think so
Do you have any sugesstion aboute bin choice?
Thanks, Belivitez
That's a 200 watt driver, with a current adjustment range of 700MA - 1400MA. With three COBs @ 36V each (108V) you would have to adjust the current down to 75% of maximum. When wired in series that would supply each of your COBs 36V @ 1.05A for 37.8 Watts each.
If you were to use four 36V 3590s you could run the driver at maximum and get 35.75V at 50.05 Watts to each of the COBs. Better, simpler with more light, and easy to cool. It's the way to go - if you can afford four COBs.
Next question? How to adjust the current level. That depends, do you have the HGL-185-C1400A or the HGL-185-C1400B?
I disagree bob, being a dimmable driver(=change of current) and adaptable on volts(range 71-143V), with the HLG185C1400A you can dim from 700-1400mA which translates to 25-50W for each cob module. The number of cobs is not related to current if you wire in series. This driver can power 2-4 36V cobs.
I have one with 3 cobs and driving it on 1400mA without any need to dim whatsoever.
@dion - question about spectrums similar to what belivitez asked.
I will get another 2 cobs for my setup(at the moment 2 drivers, 3 cobs/driver) and must chose between 5000K CD or 6400 DB bin. Which one should I get? Now I have 6x 3000K.
I have one with 3 cobs and driving it on 1400mA without any need to dim whatsoever.
@dion - question about spectrums similar to what belivitez asked.
I will get another 2 cobs for my setup(at the moment 2 drivers, 3 cobs/driver) and must chose between 5000K CD or 6400 DB bin. Which one should I get?
Now I have 6x 3000K.
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Dion
Active member
I disagree bob, being a dimmable driver(=change of current) and adaptable on volts(range 71-143V), with the HLG185C1400A you can dim from 700-1400mA which translates to 25-50W for each cob module. The number of cobs is not related to current if you wire in series. This driver can power 2-4 36V cobs.
I have one with 3 cobs and driving it on 1400mA without any need to dim whatsoever.
@dion - question about spectrums similar to what belivitez asked.
I will get another 2 cobs for my setup(at the moment 2 drivers, 3 cobs/driver) and must chose between 5000K CD or 6400 DB bin. Which one should I get?
Everything u said about the driver is correct
I think bob didn't see it is not a CV driver
Check the data sheet;I'm on me phone so can't
Get whichever is the higher bin
I think id prefer 6500k if all else was equal just because it's a bit better spectrum
Dion
Active member
Dion one quick question. Im not electric expert so please for your help. I have driver MW hgl 185 1400mA i would order 2x cbx 3590 3500k cd 36v and 1x cbx 3590 5000k cd 36v. What was minimum and maximum output power? Driver is dimmable i think so
Do you have any sugesstion aboute bin choice?
Thanks, Belivitez
They r the same bin (cd) so doesn't matter
Others answered ur driver question
Download the data sheet
Dion
Active member
No bob, it's not a constant voltage driver, it is adjustable voltage so it will match what the cobs want also those cobs pull less volts than that at that current
*unless u know smth I don't then please do explain
Dion
Active member
Thanks for answers guys!
Is any driver 200w dimmeble from 25w-75w or somethink like that? Or its totally necessary to drive each cob at 75w which is half of bin power?
Hi
I think u got a bit confused
1st the driver u have will drive 3 cxb3070s no problems
2nd each cob has a dif 1/2 power (for 3070 50w is standard)
3rd each driver will have it's own unique voltage, current and if it's dimable-0-10v der/ internal current regulator- down load the data sheet of ur driver
Dion
Active member
you are right im confused. dont speak english perfectly so i have some problems
yes) 3-4 cobs 25-50w(approximately)
you can not go higher with that driver
we run cobs however we like, i put the spread sheet for the cxb3070 above
you see that at lower current we get higher efficiency( eg at 700mA=55.37%(means less than half of the electricity is converted to heat,more than half beocmes light)
at 1400mA 48.2% so less than half becomes light
HPS is about 20% efficient fyi
I was wondering about the heat sinks and how to cool them. I plan on recessing the lights in the ceiling and having the heatsinks stick out of he top in another compartment, now the question is do the fans have to be attached to the sinks or can I pull cool air into that compartment over the tops of them to cool them? So basically set them up like the passive sinks but they will still get airflow with just 1 fan in the compartment they are in. What's your thoughts on this?
@belivitez
Practically you could put 2x cxb3590 72V on that driver and drive them on 50-100W each.
Theoretically(maybe practically) you could put 2x 36V cob and 1x 72V cob on the same driver and have 2x 50W cob and 1x 100W cob
I don't know if the second option is actually possible with cobs(would a cpu heatsink like Arctic 64+ handle the heat easy?), but in theory it would work without problems. So why not?
@Dion
About bins and colors.
I think I heard Supra say he uses 5000K CD for full cycle, I seen some new manufacturer offer a 4000K for full cycle and 3000K for flower cycle.
So the colors matter to some point for specific needs. Not by much but there seem to be logic driven preferences.
For my case I use 6x 3000K for flower and partially for veg(along with 6500K cfls) and I need two more cobs to compensate for the lack of blue light in 3000K cobs. So it would be logical to think 6500K would be a better option than 5000K, especially because of higher bin - more lumens and general output.
Only thing that worries me with higher bin is lower CRI.
Something is telling me high CRI is somehow more important than lumens alone, on the other hand more photons is necessarily better so I really don't have an easy choice wanting a broader light vs a more efficent one.
Definitely gotta sleep over it.
Practically you could put 2x cxb3590 72V on that driver and drive them on 50-100W each.
Theoretically(maybe practically) you could put 2x 36V cob and 1x 72V cob on the same driver and have 2x 50W cob and 1x 100W cob
I don't know if the second option is actually possible with cobs(would a cpu heatsink like Arctic 64+ handle the heat easy?), but in theory it would work without problems. So why not?
@Dion
About bins and colors.
I think I heard Supra say he uses 5000K CD for full cycle, I seen some new manufacturer offer a 4000K for full cycle and 3000K for flower cycle.
So the colors matter to some point for specific needs. Not by much but there seem to be logic driven preferences.
For my case I use 6x 3000K for flower and partially for veg(along with 6500K cfls) and I need two more cobs to compensate for the lack of blue light in 3000K cobs. So it would be logical to think 6500K would be a better option than 5000K, especially because of higher bin - more lumens and general output.
Only thing that worries me with higher bin is lower CRI.
Something is telling me high CRI is somehow more important than lumens alone, on the other hand more photons is necessarily better so I really don't have an easy choice wanting a broader light vs a more efficent one.
Definitely gotta sleep over it.
