My DIY LED grow light

[xmobotx]

hey vukman

its gonna be so rewarding harvesting from your own DIY lamp

been following all along and it turned out great ~when i would probably give up

 

[vukman]

Great build, very inspirational.

The only thing I'm not clear on is what is the function of the alu "U" channel pieces?
I can't tell from the photos what function it performs. Is it to make the plate rigid perhaps?

Again, great work!

Hi:

If you look at a real `Heat sink`, you will see it has fins on it to create a greater surface area for heat to dissipate.

I could not find any extruded aluminium plate which was already made as a heat sink so I bought flat plate and attached the Ù`channel onto it to have the same effect as the fins on a normal heat sink.

It`s for dissipation of heat through a larger surface area which is the only way I can explain it right now.. I hope that makes sense..

If you do a search for heat sinks, you`ll see what I mean real quick..

Thank you for all your comments and well wishes everyone!!!!!!!

 

[Phychotron]

have you considered heatsinkusa.com?

 

[vukman]

have you considered heatsinkusa.com?

Hi Phychotron...yes, I looked at their stuff and again as always, the shipping costs would have killed me..... I'm in the Toronto area and there are no heatsinkusa.com locations close by let alone in Canada..

I got a good deal from this guy at metalsupermarket.com. I mean it's not a one piece extruded heat sink but it does the job and from what I've been seeing...does it quite well..

 

[Socrates]

That is awesome. Have you thought about putting some UV-B tubes in there for late flowering instead of the sunblasters, to mimic the Solarstorm? Might be interesting to give it a shot and see if makes a difference.

 

[Adwarrior]

Hi:

If you look at a real `Heat sink`, you will see it has fins on it to create a greater surface area for heat to dissipate.

I could not find any extruded aluminium plate which was already made as a heat sink so I bought flat plate and attached the Ù`channel onto it to have the same effect as the fins on a normal heat sink.

It`s for dissipation of heat through a larger surface area which is the only way I can explain it right now.. I hope that makes sense..

If you do a search for heat sinks, you`ll see what I mean real quick..

Thank you for all your comments and well wishes everyone!!!!!!!

Funny, I was reading one of your posts in this thread https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=245530&page=17 and it suddenly struck me what the Alu Channel was for so I came back to say so and you beat me to it

 

[vukman]

NOW I'M PISSED!!!!

NOW I'M PISSED!!!!

UPDATE!!!!!!!


Hello Everyone:

After all that.....one day and this morning when the panel comes on, the reds don't light up!!!!!!!

I know my soldering skills are not the best but there is absolutely no problem with the whites or blues so that leaves one thing. The quality of the reds is very sub-par/below standard or whatever you want to call it!!!!

I have to do some running around today and luckily enough, I have quite a few reds left over from my purchase to test each one and replace the dim and burned out ones.

More to come.......sorry about this gang... No one was looking forward to this more than I was and now here we go with fucking Murphy striking again...

Why that fucking Irishman,,,,wait til I get my hands on Murphy!!!!! LOL....

 

[hempfield]

Sorry to hear that

Anyway, you can easily find the dead led (if this is the cause) by-passing each red LED until the whole chain light.

Did you measured the current of that driver ? Maybe is to high ?

 

[S-V-K]

I'm not sparky but I have built 3 led lights if one led burned out rest of them have to work,at lest that was my case. Leds were dimmed only if I have connected too many in one string.Check your connections(solder) but as I see it I'm betting 5$ on driver. Remove 2-3 reds and try to see if driver is capable to power remaining reds.
Good luck

 

[luvdemshrooms]

@S-V-K...
LED's can fail either open or closed. Obviously one that fails open, will not allow the rest of the string to light.

For those unaware, single die LED's can be tested easily with a meter powered by a 9 volt battery, such as a Fluke 87 style. Merely set your meter to the diode test position, apply your red test lead to the positive terminal and your black to the negative. The battery in your meter is enough to light the LED.

Does anyone know the "alt" code for a diode?

 

[S-V-K]

@S-V-K...
LED's can fail either open or closed. Obviously one that fails open, will not allow the rest of the string to light.

For those unaware, single die LED's can be tested easily with a meter powered by a 9 volt battery, such as a Fluke 87 style. Merely set your meter to the diode test position, apply your red test lead to the positive terminal and your black to the negative. The battery in your meter is enough to light the LED.

Does anyone know the "alt" code for a diode?

Thank you
I didn't know that LEDs are opening and closing :-/ Everyday something new

 

[luvdemshrooms]

Well, they don't actually "open" and "close".

Closed = complete circuit.
Open= incomplete circuit

Compare that to a light circuit in your house. When you flip the switch to the "on" position, it completes the circuit (closed).

When you flip the switch to the "off" position it breaks the circuit (open).

So LED's can fail one of two ways. Closed... meaning current can still pass through and light the remaining LED's in the string. Open... meaning the circuit is broken and current can not pass through, leaving the rest of the string off.

If you understood that from my earlier post, I apologize for being repetitive. The phrasing of your reply left me unsure.

 

[vukman]

Well, they don't actually "open" and "close".

Closed = complete circuit.
Open= incomplete circuit

Compare that to a light circuit in your house. When you flip the switch to the "on" position, it completes the circuit (closed).

When you flip the switch to the "off" position it breaks the circuit (open).

So LED's can fail one of two ways. Closed... meaning current can still pass through and light the remaining LED's in the string. Open... meaning the circuit is broken and current can not pass through, leaving the rest of the string off.

If you understood that from my earlier post, I apologize for being repetitive. The phrasing of your reply left me unsure.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

yup....you can go through my DIY album and see that all of the strings were working and working well......so it isn't the drivers and I actually put in a stronger driver when I blew the one I had from wiring it incorrectly.

I went from 630mA to 700mA and I'm around the mid to higher end of the capability of the driver so again......not the driver.

I do appreciate all the input but seeing that the whites and blues are all working 100% and have been from the start, that would suggest that it is the fault of the LEDs or at least that is the way my deductions figure it working.

I'll replace the LEDs and post a pic with same drivers and you;ll see it was the chips instead of anything else....

Watch Murphy come along and make me eat my words...LMAO!!!!!!

oh well....to work I go...

 

[luvdemshrooms]

Did you keep the voltage drop for the different colors in mind?

3.2v for white & blue. (xpe)

2.1v for red. (xpe)

 

[medmaker420]

now rig this to a solar panel and get growing led style off grid!

I hate trying to diagnose electrical wiring especially intricate soldering. I know there are some solderless kits out there which would allow you to change out leds on the fly which would be a great option for on the fly fixing of panels, like how they do with christmas tree leds for example.

I like how the panel looks, the airflow is going to be SWEET from what I see and you can tell that panel is going to be BRIGHT.

great work vukman

 

[analogue]

what luvdemshrooms said.

700mA is the ceiling for a lot of reds, Cree, Phillips, etc.

 

[vukman]

Did you keep the voltage drop for the different colors in mind?

3.2v for white & blue. (xpe)

2.1v for red. (xpe)

Sure did.. I go the 660's back up and running but I don't have enough 630's in spare and I've been running around all day so....will pick it back up tomorrow..

If you go back and look through the whole thread, you'll see I took each colour separate and put them on their own switches so I could have better control and now that this has happened, it's easier to troubleshoot as well.

Getting to the amperage issue........the 660's are on the 700mA and they're up and running again fine....The 630's are still on the.......well.....ironically enough, a 630mA driver..

The small one can be supply 12pcs 3.4V led,or 20pcs 2.4v led----------min
The small one can be supply 18pcs 3.4V led,or 30pcs 2.4v led----------max

The big one can be supply 22pcs 3.4v led,or 32pcs 2.4v led------------min
The big one can be supply 38pcs 3.4v led,or 50pcs 2.4v led------------max

For the 700mA:

The big driver could be supply:
3.4V 25pcs min....3.4V 35pcs max...
2.4V 35pcs min....2.4V 50pcs max...


The small driver could be supply:
3.4V 13pcs min....3.4V 18pcs max...
2.4V 19pcs min....2.4V 25pcs max...


That info comes straight from the driver supplier.......

Bottom line...the light worked fine for around 1/2 day until the damn cheapo LEDs started giving out....live and learn as they say...

I will say this for the LED supplier....I can't say one bad word about the whites or blues..They are 100% solid!

As I said, don't have many 630 replacements, might just use 660's instead until I get settled into the new place and have room to work again...

I've always said this was a test and learning experience and when i get the ratio and wave lengths right, I'll invest in brand name chips which can be over driven as well as long as the heat stays down and judging by the almost negligible heat which I felt on this heat sink, that should be real sweet...

As always everyone, thank you all for following, reading, commenting and especially suggesting workaround and fixes.....

 

[tenthirty]

I'm really sorry that the cheap leds turned out to be crap.
Thanks for the education.

 

[S-V-K]

Well, they don't actually "open" and "close".

Closed = complete circuit.
Open= incomplete circuit

Compare that to a light circuit in your house. When you flip the switch to the "on" position, it completes the circuit (closed).

When you flip the switch to the "off" position it breaks the circuit (open).

So LED's can fail one of two ways. Closed... meaning current can still pass through and light the remaining LED's in the string. Open... meaning the circuit is broken and current can not pass through, leaving the rest of the string off.

If you understood that from my earlier post, I apologize for being repetitive. The phrasing of your reply left me unsure.

Got it now
You have to go easy and explain step by step to newbees

 

[DrFever]

now rig this to a solar panel and get growing led style off grid!

I hate trying to diagnose electrical wiring especially intricate soldering. I know there are some solderless kits out there which would allow you to change out leds on the fly which would be a great option for on the fly fixing of panels, like how they do with christmas tree leds for example.

I like how the panel looks, the airflow is going to be SWEET from what I see and you can tell that panel is going to be BRIGHT.

great work vukman

lol well once the vuk in ater gets these lights down pact and working without issues were working on 3 true 1000 watt panels
Fo meeee lol powered by wind energy

http://engineeredwindsystems.com/twenty-kw-wind-turbine.html