DIY LED with mid power chips and no fan.

2RedEyes · Dec 14, 2017

The goal with this light is to provide plenty of light and disperse it evenly through out the grow space and down into the canopy. It uses strips of LED’s that can be spread out in the grow space. Each strip has 96 LED’s at a max of 48 watts per strip. This should work well in my small 4.3 sf grow cabinet and allow me to keep the light fairly low over the canopy. Theoretically I could run this thing at 240 watts but my driver will be capable of only 185 watts giving me a max of about 40watts per sf. Each strip has a heatsink and should stay well within its max operating temp without any active cooling.
So far I have built the frame and temporarily mounted the led strips. I need some heat sink compound before I make them permanent.
Here is a cost breakdown.
5 led strips @ $20each————$100
5 heatsinks @ $10 each————$50
1 185amp CC driver——————$89
Misc frame,screws,wire,etc——-$20
Total—————————————$259
And here are some progress pics so far.

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umbra · Dec 14, 2017

that's how I'm doing mine

screwdriver · Dec 15, 2017

Are the strips of LEDs wired in parallel with the one driver?

2RedEyes · Dec 15, 2017

screwdriver said:
Are the strips of LEDs wired in parallel with the one driver?

Yes they are. You can use as many strip as you like as long as the driver can support.

bombbudpuffa · Dec 15, 2017

Nice diy!

2RedEyes · Dec 15, 2017

Thanks Puffa, you inspired me!!!

bombbudpuffa · Dec 15, 2017

Yours will have less downfalls then mine. Active heatsinks can fail, something I have to constantly look out for. Less worries going passive. Looks good too. Very nice design.

umbra · Dec 15, 2017

I got the 240W driver for the 5 strips

2RedEyes · Dec 15, 2017

umbra said:
I got the 240W driver for the 5 strips

I have such a small grow space, but I still have about 40 watts per sf. I wired it up today and plugged it in, it is very bright. I made the mistake of watching it as I turned it on. Just a fraction of a second and it was 30 seconds before I could see to find my screw driver... according to my kill-a-watt, my 185 watt driver actually goes above 200 watts. Of course it’s a cheep Chinese measuring device so perhaps not so... I haven’t put it in my grow cab yet though since currently it’s supposed to be night time in there.

umbra · Dec 15, 2017

they added something new, solsticks . Used arrange them pretty much the way you set them up

2RedEyes · Dec 16, 2017

So their selling the light strips pre attached to the heatsinks... wish Id known cuz I didnt have any heatsink compound in hand. I got some on the way though. Im gonna add a couple of those far red bloom initiators as well to see how much that might help. He also has some blue-red strips and some multi color white strips on the way. Kinda nice to be able to mix up the spectrum a bit and customize your lights.

2RedEyes · Dec 18, 2017

Trying to finish up these two girls, Harlequin on the left and Blue Dream CBD on the right.

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screwdriver · Dec 24, 2017

How far away are the lights from the top of the plants?

2RedEyes · Dec 24, 2017

They were about a foot or so in the pic but I gotm about 6 or 8 right now and they seem to like it...

2RedEyes · Dec 24, 2017

I got the parts to try a little far red flower initiator for my next run. I’m also looking into an arduino control setup so I can leave home for a week or so when I want. Besides it’s fun stuff...

umbra · Dec 24, 2017

Hey red, you mentioned the led strips were parallel circuit, but I think you meant series. When you do large banks it can be done as a combination of parallel and series circuits. But with the driver you have, you want the resistance high enough to draw enough current to drive the leds without exceeding the max current of the leds.

2RedEyes · Dec 24, 2017

Mine are definitely wired in parallel though there may be some series wiring internal to the strip. Each strip needs 24v and my driver only puts out 24v so it would need to be parallel in order to work.

umbra · Dec 24, 2017

2RedEyes said:
Mine are definitely wired in parallel though there may be some series wiring internal to the strip. Each strip needs 24v and my driver only puts out 24v so it would need to be parallel in order to work.

Well that's not exactly how that works. Yes each strip is getting 24v, but to get it to burn brightly you have to provide enough resistance to draw enough current. A resistor by definition is a current limiting device. By arranging the strips in a parallel circuit, it would not provide enough resistance to draw enough current to make the strips very bright.

umbra · Dec 24, 2017

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdLeA2BFT0A

2RedEyes · Dec 24, 2017

I don’t know how the LEDs are connected within the strip but my strips are all wired in parallel. I assume that within the strip there are some parallel-series connections going on.
Here is a thread on another forum describing the use of these led strips with more info than I could come up with.
150 watt led using Solstrips

DIY LED with mid power chips and no fan.

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