Quantum Tower LED PC case: 46w of SDOG

[trem0lo]

@jubiare, lunatick, patty thanks for stopping in! glad to have you. things are smooth sailing until harvest; looks like the indica gal is going to be first over the finish line all the while slowly cannibalizing herself, lol. she's turning all sorts of colors!

here are a couple more shots, just about 6 weeks now.

 

[VladTheInhaler]

Sorry to hijack the thread, but will osram diamond dragon red leds work for a grow light? I can get them at a reduced price that is much cheaper than golden dragon.
http://catalog.osram-os.com/catalog...Oid=000000040002682701410023&act=showBookmark
Oh, great grow tremolo.

 

[trem0lo]

Sorry to hijack the thread, but will osram diamond dragon red leds work for a grow light? I can get them at a reduced price that is much cheaper than golden dragon.
http://catalog.osram-os.com/catalog...Oid=000000040002682701410023&act=showBookmark
Oh, great grow tremolo.

Hi Vlad, no problem at all.

After a quick glance at the Diamond Dragon datasheets, it seems that they are not quite as efficient as the GD+ line. However, you can drive them harder, say at 1-2A, which would probably make up for any light output loss. Technically they are the brighter light and higher up in the GD hierarchy.

I see they have two reds, one at 625nm and one at 617nm. The difference in wavelength is probably negligible to the plants, but the 617nm is slightly more efficient.

 

[VladTheInhaler]

Well, I was counting on 30 diamond dragons running @ 1,4 A,
10 cool white golden dragon + running @700mA or 10 AVAGO SMD LED ASMT-JW32-NUV01 @ 600 mA and 5 blues (probably GD).
This is for a box that is 2'x1,5' surface.
I'm on a budget so I'm trying to save everywhere, yet I would like to do this, dammit!

 

[trem0lo]

I think the diamond dragons will work fine if that's within your budget. Plants use well any wavelength between 610 and 680nm for photosynthesis, in the 90% range of efficiency. Of course the closer you get to the peak (660nm for most charts) the better.

Ideally in our LED lamps we want to hit the PAR peak wavelengths of both chlorophylls as hard as possible while giving some extra green, yellow, orange (and maybe some UV) for good measure.

Stick with the 5R:2W:1B ratio and you'll be good. I'd choose the Osram warm whites as they spike at 615nm; comparatively the Avagos spike at 580nm, a slightly less efficient wavelength for photosynthesis.

 

[VladTheInhaler]

Thanks for the advice, trem0lo, I nedeed the input from someone more knowledgeable than myself.
I seem to have a problem with finding warm white leds that have high enough lumen output compared to cool whites, and are available to my country. For example 3w warm whites have output of 32 -52 lm @500mA, while cool whites all go well over 100lm. I know that luminous flux isn't really the most relevant data with leds, but I use it as rough indication. I could get Cree warm whites, but reflow soldering scares me.

 

[trem0lo]

Can you get the Crees pre-mounted on MCPCB stars? Then you can just thermal glue them to the bottom of the heatsink.

 

[trem0lo]

a mini-update for y'all...

I was hanging out with the girls this morning, hung over, and the skunky pheno was giving off this disgusting diesel/garlic stench. I had to shut the door as it was making me nauseous. She still smells citrusy if you rub her but damn. I'm glad the scrubber is keeping up. Here she is.

Her sister is much more elegant. Still fruity, but fermented fruit and perfumy like lavender. The buds on her are noticeably bigger from being in the larger pot.

 

[VladTheInhaler]

For some reason they go up 3x in price when mounted on stars.
I have a deal on discontinued golden dragon LUW W5JM cool whites, they emit cca 70lm @350mA, but I don't think I could drive them over 400mA.

Wow! your plants look phenomenal!

 

[Dr.Zoidberg]

Hey guys

i've been following this thread for some weeks now and i have to congratulate you for your work so far. i'm thinking about building a PC case aswell and do a lot of research right now.

at the current state of your plants - would u consider LED lights for a new project? im not sure if LEDs really work as well as CFL or HPS lamps.

 

[trem0lo]

For some reason they go up 3x in price when mounted on stars.
I have a deal on discontinued golden dragon LUW W5JM cool whites, they emit cca 70lm @350mA, but I don't think I could drive them over 400mA.

Wow! your plants look phenomenal!

Ahh I see. The stars can be purchased separately through places like Digikey. Those discontinued GDs don't look so bad, but you're right, they top out at about 400mA and are not as efficient as the newer W5AM. If you can get a high bin you might consider it, as it would cover your blue. Also the viewing angle is much narrower on those, so getting them very close to the plants might be an issue depending on how large your growspace is.

Hey guys

i've been following this thread for some weeks now and i have to congratulate you for your work so far. i'm thinking about building a PC case aswell and do a lot of research right now.

at the current state of your plants - would u consider LED lights for a new project? im not sure if LEDs really work as well as CFL or HPS lamps.

Thank you Zoidberg I'm glad you are enjoying the grow.

For a very small space (like a PC case), I think there is nothing better than LED. I have grown with CFLs and HPS. At this point, it is safe to say that LED is equal to lower watt HPS (70, 150) in terms of bud size and resin production. With higher watt HPS you have to have so many LEDs at a high efficiency that it becomes difficult (and expensive) to match. As my plants finish I will be able to compare size and yield directly to a 250w HPS, which is what I used last time. It is really too early to tell, but from what I remember I am very pleased, however I don't want to raise expectations yet.

Heat is a large problem in PC case. If you put even a lower watt HPS in there you'll be battling heat like crazy. Definitely a cooltube is required or very noisy fans. And few big CFLs put out more heat than you think, sending your temps into the 90s easily. Also CFLs are quite large and need to be very very close to the plants. LEDs basically solve all these problems.

The problem is finding a well-designed lamp that fits in a PC case (basically there aren't any), which is one of the reasons I built my own. If you look around, the best results (1+ g/w) are with more expensive retail and DIY lamps. The great thing about DIY is that we can match the efficiency of those expensive lamps for much less, use better drivers and heatsinks, and customize them to our space.

 

[VladTheInhaler]

After couple of days of reading various led specs, banging my head against the table, and nearly going insane, here's what I've concluded:
I will probably plan my led lamp around avago mini 3w leds, as they are the cheapest of all that is available to me, while still retaining some quality, and I can drive all colors off a single driver @0,5 - 0,6A (I would run multiple strings, of course). Right now it looks like this:
35 ASMT-JR30-ARS01 (red 610 nm)
15 ASMT-JY31-NSU01 (warm white)
7 ASMT-JB31-NMP01 (blue 470 nm)

This is for a space that is 0,5 x 0,6 m, now covered by 220 watts of PL-L.

 

[killerweed31]

lookin so yummi..what a nice nuggs bro..color ,structure and everythings look so beautifull!!
great job!!

 

[trem0lo]

Vlad, I see the 610nm is red/orange, which is not optimal but the plants will use it. Heck, we get good results from HPS and they have plenty of orange light, however that's because the intensity is so high. Avago has 625 and 660 reds if you can get them. Anyway, good luck and let us know how it turns out!

@killerweed, thanks man! that's a compliment coming from you, with so many great strains under your belt!

 

[VladTheInhaler]

I looked into it: the seller claims these are 625nm reds, giving out cca.45 lm @350 mA.
I mixed up avagos color markings JR30 is red (625 nm) and JH30 is orange-red (610nm). Sheesh!

 

[trem0lo]

I looked into it: the seller claims these are 625nm reds, giving out cca.45 lm @350 mA.
I mixed up avagos color markings JR30 is red (625 nm) and JH30 is orange-red (610nm). Sheesh!

lol, what a difference a few nanometers make

Yes it's enough to make your head explode sometimes.

 

[trem0lo]

They are getting fat now... 50 days in. Right after Miss Yellowpants shed those leaves the buds started plumping up. Not gonna argue with that. I'm guessing two weeks left, probably more for the SD pheno.

 

[blynx]

Great job! Love seeing all the micro scrogs, they're very inspirational!

 

[lunatick]

good progress m8,plants look full of resin and dense.

im planning a pc myself with 2 20w warm white leds,or 1 20w warm white and 2 10w 660nm.

 

[trem0lo]

Thank you lunatick. New pistils are still packing on both phenos, so I'm not sure when they will be done. Based on the strain history it's 65 for OG phenos, 75 for SD, and they may have been delayed by up to a week from transplant/overwater stress. I spotted a couple amber trichs but only on the leaves. The ones on the buds are still cloudy. The yellowing has also slowed a bit, thankfully, I thought she was just going to shrivel up. I am very tempted to take a taster since I haven't had anything to smoke for at least 6 months.

Good luck on the PC case, and let us know how it goes. It sure is a fun way to grow stealth. Hidden in plain sight!