DIY COB grow light

[Hackerman]

Well, I did what you suggested and just ordered 4 of the 90 CRI (2 each of 2700 and 4000). This should be a good start just to learn.

For 4 of these chips, which driver would you recommend?

Thanks

 

[bombbudpuffa]

Well, I did what you suggested and just ordered 4 of the 90 CRI (2 each of 2700 and 4000). This should be a good start just to learn.

For 4 of these chips, which driver would you recommend?

Thanks

https://www.amazon.com/HLG-185H-C1400B-Power-Supply-Single-Output/dp/B00HKJOHBC

 

[Hackerman]

Once again... thank you.

 

[bombbudpuffa]

Once again... thank you.

No problem homie!

 

[Hackerman]

Cool, my stuff arrived. Couple questions....

1. Do the lights wire in series or parallel?

2. It has wires for a dimmer. What kind of pot/rheostat should go in here? Any 110v 2.4 Amp rated?

3. The wiring from the input has ACL (Live, I assume) and ACN (neutral) as well as a ground. Does it really matter which (L or N) gets connected to which terminal on the plug? I never gave it consideration in the past but now days the plugs have one terminal bigger than the other so I wonder if there is a difference or not.

Thanks again.

 

[Hackerman]

OK, answer number 1... this is a 'constant current' driver vs a 'constant voltage' driver.... so the lights are wired in series.

Are ya proud of me yet? LOL

 

[umbra]

lol

 

[Hackerman]

What are you laughing at LMAO

I forgot to order the holders. Actually, I didn't forget. I was just going to solder them. I can see it's going to be a lot easier to mount with the holder so I just ordered some.

I also ordered the 100k single turn pot they had for sale. I figure it's probably the one for the job or they wouldn't be selling it. LOL (no laughing umbra. LOL)

http://cobkits.com/product/bourns-100k-potentiomenter/

I also grabbed a dozen of the thermal pads. I didn't like their heat sinks so I'll look elsewhere for those.

Also, FYI, they have a large stock of all colors of the Citizen chips now, as well as the new gen 7 models. $10 is a pretty amazing price for these considering cobkits themselves sells them for $24 on eBay.

Thanks again for the hand-holding.

 

[umbra]

you'll be growing monsters soon enough

 

[bombbudpuffa]

Youtube is your friend. I could tell ya but wouldn't be near as good as someone showing you.

 

[Hackerman]

Yeah, that's much better. Thanks

 

[sopappy]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HKJOHBC/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

wow, I can actually source this on amazon.CA and it's only 15 bucks more. Somebody screwed up.

Mr H... are you running a thread on this adventure?
(Bomba's thread is excellent more more more) - I'm keeping the budpuff for me
I'm anxious to try this myself, I emailed COB and they'll ship here too.

 

[sopappy]

Youtube is your friend. I could tell ya but wouldn't be near as good as someone showing you.

Wading through all the crap sure is time wasting though, everybody is Steven friggin' Spielberg with the damn music and your title doesn't say My life story and how to germinate seeds. Jezus.

Anybody find any juicy threads on building these, I'd appreciate a heads-up. (Bomba... get a D-cup to assist you and make a quick how-to, you'll be rich)

 

[Hackerman]

Hey pappy, here's a good place for some basic info.

http://ledgardener.com/diy-guides/

 

[umbra]

Hey pappy, here's a good place for some basic info.

http://ledgardener.com/diy-guides/

LOL you actual checked out some of the links I posted. Good info huh

 

[sopappy]

LOL you actual checked out some of the links I posted. Good info huh

Nice. Thanks much, lads!
if anybody else is building, post!

update: ha, one of the first posts I stumble upon in their forum
Old noob wants to build a light... perfect.

As soon as I conquor the thripps, I tackle this
I was trying the weighted hose inside the spray bottle thing so I could spray upside down under the leaves (the bastids),
and then I stumbled across these
https://tinyurl.com/y9dovqoo

 

[2RedEyes]

Nice. Thanks much, lads!
if anybody else is building, post!

update: ha, one of the first posts I stumble upon in their forum
Old noob wants to build a light... perfect

Mine are not cobs but I like the way they work for my space. I get a quite good spread of light @3500k. I’m running right about 200watts which gives me about 45 watts per square foot. The plants seem to like it. They run cool with no fans or active cooling. I can run them as close as 6” from the canopy if I want. Currently about a foot... relatively inexpensive, mine were about $220 in parts. You can run as many as are needed to cover you space...and there are many different drivers available depending on how much power your needing.
Available here

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[Hackerman]

I finally got around to putting this all together. Wow, are these things bright. I can't believe this isn't enough to grow with. Even in the last pic you can see it's brighter than my 8 bulb T5.

Still, I found a calculator for calculating LED light requirements and the numbers don't add up so if this is going to feed a 4x4 room, I need to beef it up.

I am thinking about putting a Quantum board in the middle. That should be able to get me to a 4x4. Also, adding glass lenses might increase performance.

The frame is about 2x2. I did the wiring with snap locks instead of crimp and solder because I am going to make plenty of changes before it's done.

I did put my smartphone LUX meter under it and at about 12" it read 40k. The same conditions under the T5 read 20k.

So far, so good. Now I need to find a nice Q board and accessories.

Best of all.... no blurple.

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[bombbudpuffa]

That looks really good. I'm running 7 chips, a 140w bridgelux led light(chips being over driven) and a 400w hps in my 4x4.

 

[umbra]

that's a lot of light