LED FAQ) Building and DIY

[Koondense]

You're planning on running six of these in a 10' x 5' area? Or did I miss a post somewhere?

I hope you keep us updated, I'd like to follow along on this

EDIT: Ah, found your thread


.

Of course not, I'm not a magician
It's 6 units for a 120x60cm tent, total of 300w, upgradable to 400w in a bigger tent eventualy.

 

[welder22]

good to hear from you agian, hope you are well?


store is going ok, was going to sell kits but now it looks like ill be building lights primarily for the european market, but also offer international shipping.

thanks for asking

so about your light how can i help?

drivers? you want those two 18s on one plug and the 5000k 13 on a separate rig? you need dimming?

heatsink depends on how many watts we need to dissipate so 1st we choose the drivers and then we find the sink to cool the watts

Well I was wondering if it would be wise to run them all on one driver that is dimmable with a max of 1050mA? If not then a dimmable for the 18's and a cheap 1050mA for the 13. Which would be more practical? And the sink I was thinking maybe putting them all on an 18"-20" sink probably the 4.85 from heatsink USA

 

[welder22]

Do you have a website for your store? I would like to check out what you got going on those kits sound interesting

 

[mugenbao]

Do you have a website for your store? I would like to check out what you got going on those kits sound interesting

 

[mugenbao]

Of course not, I'm not a magician
It's 6 units for a 120x60cm tent, total of 300w, upgradable to 400w in a bigger tent eventualy.

Lol. Smoked myself silly this morning, apparently. Read that as 120" x 60" originally. I think I've got it now

 

[Dion]

Well I was wondering if it would be wise to run them all on one driver that is dimmable with a max of 1050mA? If not then a dimmable for the 18's and a cheap 1050mA for the 13. Which would be more practical? And the sink I was thinking maybe putting them all on an 18"-20" sink probably the 4.85 from heatsink USA

first questions:
ok so you are on us ac right? 120v is it? and you want to run passive cooling(no fan)?

you have a bit of a dilemma here as far as cost goes with drivers


1stly
so the 18s @ 1050mA are almost 40% efficient-thats fine but the 13 @1050mA only 32% not so great

and it seems the idea is to use the 13 for veg?


the thing is that you need a driver that will run only 2 vero 18s in that case and the 60w drivers arnt half the price of the 120w drivers more like 15% less SO

because you want to expand later just run them all on 1 driver for now, when you expand you can put the veg cobs on another driver


so in this case if i were you i would probably use a HLG-120-C1050
to run all 3 cobs(thats a 150w driver so room to expand)

you could go with a HLG-185-C1050 but its min voltage is 95 and those 3 cobs at max current are just barely 95v-if you tried to dim it im not sure how it would react(its only a few bucks more though so....)

now you coudl add 1 more vero 18 and use the 185

anyways for your set up id say go with the 120 and then expect to re-use it later for your veg light(as long as 150w is the most you will need in your veg area{think 300w mH equivelent)

now for cooling with those 3 cobs you will be producing around 33 heat watts max

so you will need 15 inch min of the 4.85 profile

agian because of expansion in the future it is wise to get smth a bit longer-especially seen as when you add a fan you tripple its cooling potential

so get the 4.85 as big as you can considering only spread on the canopy and no less than 15 inches

i dont think i can just put links to the store here-plus its not running yet now i am builing prototypes

you can see what im up to in this album
its just the rough idea exact dimentions will change a bit

parts are in the mail and will put it all together over the next few days and refine it towards the end of the week

thanks for your interest, are you in the EU?
https://www.icmag.com/ic/album.php?albumid=65280

 

[mugenbao]

i dont think i can just put links to the store here-plus its not running yet now i am builing prototypes

you can see what im up to in this album
its just the rough idea exact dimentions will change a bit

parts are in the mail and will put it all together over the next few days and refine it towards the end of the week

thanks for your interest, are you in the EU?
https://www.icmag.com/ic/album.php?albumid=65280

I'm not in the EU, I'm in the US.

I was looking through that gallery yesterday actually. Went to send you a profile message and saw the gallery link there on the right, then got all distracted and forgot the profile message lol

 

[welder22]

first questions:
ok so you are on us ac right? 120v is it? and you want to run passive cooling(no fan)? Yes 120 and I have 2 120mm fans I figured I would try to use them

you have a bit of a dilemma here as far as cost goes with drivers


1stly
so the 18s @ 1050mA are almost 40% efficient-thats fine but the 13 @1050mA only 32% not so great

and it seems the idea is to use the 13 for veg? No they will all run in both stages


the thing is that you need a driver that will run only 2 vero 18s in that case and the 60w drivers arnt half the price of the 120w drivers more like 15% less SO

because you want to expand later just run them all on 1 driver for now, when you expand you can put the veg cobs on another driver


so in this case if i were you i would probably use a HLG-120-C1050
to run all 3 cobs(thats a 150w driver so room to expand)

you could go with a HLG-185-C1050 but its min voltage is 95 and those 3 cobs at max current are just barely 95v-if you tried to dim it im not sure how it would react(its only a few bucks more though so....)

now you coudl add 1 more vero 18 and use the 185

anyways for your set up id say go with the 120 and then expect to re-use it later for your veg light(as long as 150w is the most you will need in your veg area{think 300w mH equivelent)

now for cooling with those 3 cobs you will be producing around 33 heat watts max

so you will need 15 inch min of the 4.85 profile

agian because of expansion in the future it is wise to get smth a bit longer-especially seen as when you add a fan you tripple its cooling potential

so get the 4.85 as big as you can considering only spread on the canopy and no less than 15 inches




i dont think i can just put links to the store here-plus its not running yet now i am builing prototypes

you can see what im up to in this album
its just the rough idea exact dimentions will change a bit

parts are in the mail and will put it all together over the next few days and refine it towards the end of the week

thanks for your interest, are you in the EU?
https://www.icmag.com/ic/album.php?albumid=65280

I'm not in EU but am interested because these lights will be way better than the commercial ones for sale now. It's great that you will be helping folks out with a way more effecient and all around better light, that's he best part people will actually get what they pay for and that my friend is great for the community as well as your business. I like the enclosed sink design you have that will make it look really slick when it's all together. Thanks again for your advice and wise words

 

[belivitez]

Dion prototypes will be killing maschines!!!

 

[Dion]

thanks for the support guys the lights will also be available worldwide shipping will be about 50 usd

i really dont want to say too much because i dont know the rules here and obvioulsy dont like to cause problems for the admins and community

 

[welder22]

first questions:
ok so you are on us ac right? 120v is it? and you want to run passive cooling(no fan)?

[]

you have a bit of a dilemma here as far as cost goes with drivers


1stly
so the 18s @ 1050mA are almost 40% efficient-thats fine but the 13 @1050mA only 32% not so great

and it seems the idea is to use the 13 for veg?

[]


the thing is that you need a driver that will run only 2 vero 18s in that case and the 60w drivers arnt half the price of the 120w drivers more like 15% less SO

because you want to expand later just run them all on 1 driver for now, when you expand you can put the veg cobs on another driver


so in this case if i were you i would probably use a HLG-120-C1050
to run all 3 cobs(thats a 150w driver so room to expand)

you could go with a HLG-185-C1050 but its min voltage is 95 and those 3 cobs at max current are just barely 95v-if you tried to dim it im not sure how it would react(its only a few bucks more though so....)

now you coudl add 1 more vero 18 and use the 185

anyways for your set up id say go with the 120 and then expect to re-use it later for your veg light(as long as 150w is the most you will need in your veg area{think 300w mH equivelent)

now for cooling with those 3 cobs you will be producing around 33 heat watts max

so you will need 15 inch min of the 4.85 profile

agian because of expansion in the future it is wise to get smth a bit longer-especially seen as when you add a fan you tripple its cooling potential

so get the 4.85 as big as you can considering only spread on the canopy and no less than 15 inches




i dont think i can just put links to the store here-plus its not running yet now i am builing prototypes

you can see what im up to in this album
its just the rough idea exact dimentions will change a bit

parts are in the mail and will put it all together over the next few days and refine it towards the end of the week

thanks for your interest, are you in the EU?
https://www.icmag.com/ic/album.php?albumid=65280[/QUOTE
Yes 120 and I have 2 120mm fans I figured I would try to use them. No they will all run in both stages I like the idea of having a little blue. I like the upgradable idea cause if I like this as much as I think I will def will want more lol.

 

[Dion]

Cool

So just go with the hlg-120-c1050
And get as long as the space permits for the sink

Or get 1 more cob and the hlg-185-c1050

U will have to choose version A or B of the driver
A is simple so go with that one

 

[mugenbao]

I just replaced one of my three cheap "180W" red/blue units with a 2x CXB3070 DIY unit, and had to laugh because you almost can't tell the two r/b units are even on now. You can see the red only in shadows left by the CXB unit, lol

 

[Dion]

I just replaced one of my three cheap "180W" red/blue units with a 2x CXB3070 DIY unit, and had to laugh because you almost can't tell the two r/b units are even on now. You can see the red only in shadows left by the CXB unit, lol

True that.
I'm playing around with using my surexi chips for veg
I believe custom spectrum could be very positive in combination with cobs

Ie royal blue with 6500k for veg

And reds(deep far) with 3500k for flower

BUT photons are king and with the cost of these custom spectra I believe adding another cob and reducing driver current would be better....dunno

But yeah, it's funny to because I have some 97 CRI cobs I use for photos. Even at 20w when I add those in the blurpple is gone

 

[jesbuds]

Finally got my COBs installed on the heatsinks, slight mods here and there but mounted and wired to driver.

Crude wiring since I just wanted to turn things on to test and hope that I haven't messed up along the way. Only wired one driver for the test since part of me was worried it'd blow up in my face but....let there be light!

These things are quite bright when running the full 1.4a, when I first powered on I didn't even notice I was dimming. Know some others had questions on dimming so under the black shrink wrap on the red wire is a 10k resistor and wired to a normal 100k pot.

Usually with these projects I just splice on the end of an extension cord for power but this time I wanted something nicer. Found this nifty little switch (with fuse) that can be mounted on the case, again took me a minute to understand the wiring but this project is awesome to remember some of the circuits stuff I learned years ago.

And connections from driver to socket (green/blue/brown wires) using easy ole quick disconnects, using almost all quick disconnects for this if I can, makes swapping parts that much easier.

At this point I need to think about finishing the case, could leave as-is but kinda want a case. Know that'll take me a bit though since I'm thinking I'll make out of 1/4" acrylic and clean cuts will require patience. This is a lot of extra work though so we'll see....no real reason for the case other than aesthetics.

 

[mugenbao]

Sweet job, man

 

[Dion]

yes indeed, very well done

how important are on/off switches to ppl btw?

 

[jesbuds]

Thanks man, I have multiple switches on some T5 fixtures which turn a few bulbs off each but rarely use them, not a huge deal for me. Have used them in the past when I left town to lower heat/slow things down a few days but dimming on the LED I feel gives me equivalent abilities.

Switch for the entire fixture I think just looks nice but also not necessary, guess I'm still used to HID lights I've used in the past that just had a cord to plug in.

 

[Dion]

Thanks man, I have multiple switches on some T5 fixtures which turn a few bulbs off each but rarely use them, not a huge deal for me. Have used them in the past when I left town to lower heat/slow things down a few days but dimming on the LED I feel gives me equivalent abilities.

Switch for the entire fixture I think just looks nice but also not necessary, guess I'm still used to HID lights I've used in the past that just had a cord to plug in.

cheers

i was thinking the same
just because im designing some lights now wondered if others care about this or not

i will not include switches(also because there is sometimes crazy shit with leds and switches like not fully turning off)


question: are you planning on mounting that pot or just let it dangle?
for casing you can build a box around it with L profiles and sheet alu

 

[mugenbao]

i will not include switches(also because there is sometimes crazy shit with leds and switches like not fully turning off)

I had thought that only happens when it's the neutral wire that the switch is connected to rather than the hot wire. That's what has been reported for several wall plug timers, at least.

Switches are a convenience, but since the lights will almost certainly be on a timer I guess they are not that important