DiY LED - Cree XPE XTE XML2 - Luxeon ES - Oslon SSL

[SupraSPL]

Although it is possible to grow just red and blue, allegedly some varieties require white for flowering. I have never tried without whites, I am basing that of KNNAs testers from Cannabiscafe. Removing the whites would increase your saturation and I suspect it would decrease the efficiency of the SPD. If you did remove the whites I would recommend increasing the 630nm red or decreasing the 660nm red.

The fasttech driver is good up to about 50vF. The string I mentioned pushes it pretty hard 45vF if I recall.

I have always been skeptical of the value of far red and infrared LEDs. They are relatively low efficiency and not photosynthetically active, so in theory they should significantly decrease your grams/watt yield. I am aware of the emerson effect but I suspect it may not be worth the efficiency penalty and cost if infrared LEDs are used.

Halogen floods are much more efficient at creating infrared than LEDs and much cheaper. Halogen can be used to simulate dusk at lights out, but I have never experimented with it (last thing I need is more complexity in the rigging of my grow space lol). Up to this point I have been focused on getting as many photosynthetically active photons/watt as possible. If it turns out that infrared is actually yielding more bud then I would rethink my entire approach and probably go back to HPS and supplement with blue and deep red LED.

All that said, if you are in an experimental mood I say go for it!

 

[Positivity]

I experimented with far reds a little. I'd say the whites give more than enough far red. If going red and blue you would probably need a little or otherwise backtrack to the early led days when plants wouldn't flower for weeks. I tried them in excess along with whites and they didn't magically make bigger buds. I did get lots of extra stretch...like not good type stretch.

so...red and blue a little far red needed. I really think that lighting scheme is down the road though. With whites..you should have more than enough and not need any more supplemental.

far red on a seperate timer to simulate dusk...even that I'm a little skeptical. Maybe a little faster flowering..maybe...definitely not leaps and bounds faster.

 

[SupraSPL]

tnx good info

 

[bicit]

Although it is possible to grow just red and blue, allegedly some varieties require white for flowering. I have never tried without whites, I am basing that of KNNAs testers from Cannabiscafe. Removing the whites would increase your saturation and I suspect it would decrease the efficiency of the SPD. If you did remove the whites I would recommend increasing the 630nm red or decreasing the 660nm red.

The fasttech driver is good up to about 50vF. The string I mentioned pushes it pretty hard 45vF if I recall.

I have always been skeptical of the value of far red and infrared LEDs. They are relatively low efficiency and not photosynthetically active, so in theory they should significantly decrease your grams/watt yield. I am aware of the emerson effect but I suspect it may not be worth the efficiency penalty and cost if infrared LEDs are used.

Halogen floods are much more efficient at creating infrared than LEDs and much cheaper. Halogen can be used to simulate dusk at lights out, but I have never experimented with it (last thing I need is more complexity in the rigging of my grow space lol). Up to this point I have been focused on getting as many photosynthetically active photons/watt as possible. If it turns out that infrared is actually yielding more bud then I would rethink my entire approach and probably go back to HPS and supplement with blue and deep red LED.

All that said, if you are in an experimental mood I say go for it!

Well I'm considering running the R/B emitters as supplement to some white cobs. Figured the cree whites wouldn't really be needed with the cobs providing ample white light.

 

[SupraSPL]

Oh gotcha, 3000K COB + reds and blues is definitely a good plan. You could just put the blues and reds on one string and the COB on the other and use 2 drivers.

 

[Mellodrama]

So if I just copy/paste Supra's recommendation we're talkin' the LED's Supra listed in Post #91 powered by the driver from Post #95, right?

I apologize if this has already been answered, but where do you buy those LED's? Oh, there it is, Post #87.

Supra, do you solder the AC input wires to those little FastTech boards or use round terminal ends with screws/nuts? Those dudes are open to the world. What precautions do you take to avoid personal and/or property damage once they're in place? Do you mount them behind a piece of plywood or something?

Thanks!

 

[SupraSPL]

Here it is all put together

32W module:
(4) Cree XM-L2 7a3 3150K T4 (aliexpress)
(2) Luxeon ES royal blue M4R (Steves LEDs)
(8 ) Luxeon ES deep red EX6 (Steves LEDs)
(4) Cree XPE 630nm red P3 (Cutter or LEDGroupbuy)

650mA driver

To answer your original question bicit, if you went with a COB for the whites you would be doubling the wattage of the whites and increasing the efficiency. Based on that you could put something like this on the red/blue string:
(3) Luxeon ES deep blue M4R (Steves LEDs)
(12 ) Luxeon ES deep red EX6 (Steves LEDs)
(4) Cree XPE 630nm red P3 (Cutter or LEDGroupbuy)

That would give you a vF of about 46.

 

[SupraSPL]

Supra, do you solder the AC input wires to those little FastTech boards or use round terminal ends with screws/nuts? Those dudes are open to the world. What precautions do you take to avoid personal and/or property damage once they're in place? Do you mount them behind a piece of plywood or something?

Thanks!

Yes I solder the connections and mount them on plywood or pegboard. Currently I only have 4 in service. Once they are mounted securely I just unplug the driver board if I need to work on it. That is a nice thing with LED I can unplug it and plug it back in as much as I like whereas with HPS I always found myself waiting until lights out to work on the wiring.

 

[Mellodrama]

Well, dangit, copy/pasted Cree XM-L2 7a4 3150K T4 at Aliexpress - zero hits. I kept dropping off parts of the search until all I got was flashlights.

Maybe going along the lines of your second list, the one for bicit, would be bestest. I've got two Cree CXA3070 Z230F's as described in that other post

So here's the StevesLED Luxeon ES deep red, right?

And here's the Luxeon M4R, listed as Royal Blue. That's the one you describe as Deep Blue?

Finally the Cree XP-E 630nm P3 Red at GroupBuy

Sheesh all this clicking I need more coffee

 

[SupraSPL]

my bad 7a3. your links are correct.

 

[bicit]

650mA driver

To answer your original question bicit, if you went with a COB for the whites you would be doubling the wattage of the whites and increasing the efficiency. Based on that you could put something like this on the red/blue string:
(3) Luxeon ES deep blue M4R (Steves LEDs)
(12 ) Luxeon ES deep red EX6 (Steves LEDs)
(4) Cree XPE 630nm red P3 (Cutter or LEDGroupbuy)

That would give you a vF of about 46.

You're sure that driver will handle that string of lights?

If so I think I have a game plan for my panel and I need to start ordering parts. Have you had a chance to test the actual efficiency of the 650ma and 1050ma drivers yet?

 

[SupraSPL]

The (5) 650mA drivers I tested all worked up to 50vF and efficiency was 87-88% across most of the vF range. The are not tightly regulated so if you run it at 46vF it will put out about 625mA once it is warmed up. Of course there is no need to run them that hard you could reduce the string a bit if you want the drivers to put out more current.

I am still waiting for the 1A and 1.6A drivers to get here. If the 1A tests just as good I plan on ordering a bunch.

 

[Someacdude]

Supra you da man, im getting my parts ordered tomorrow.
My room is 8x10. I was thinking about using a full sheet of aluminum and mounting the leds to the underside .

In other words, get ready for some silly questions.

 

[bicit]

Supra you da man, im getting my parts ordered tomorrow.
My room is 8x10. I was thinking about using a full sheet of aluminum and mounting the leds to the underside .

In other words, get ready for some silly questions.

That would be very heavy and awkward to work with. A bunch of smaller heat sinks would be easier to work with and offer better coverage.

 

[SupraSPL]

Finally finished sanding the rest of these. I did 120 grit->400grit->1000 grit. It is amazing how bad LED stars are. Even though the surface is very smooth on a microscopic scale, the shape of the extrusion itself is not flat. You could actually improve the metal contact by using a 60 grit sandpaper

 

[SupraSPL]

5 foot tall DNA Stacked Kush at 53 days. Another week or so but they are looking good so far. It has been directly under a 50W RWB module.

 

[captainmorgan]

Finally finished sanding the rest of these. I did 120 grit->400grit->1000 grit. It is amazing how bad LED stars are. Even though the surface is very smooth on a microscopic scale, the shape of the extrusion itself is not flat. You could actually improve the metal contact by using a 60 grit sandpaper



View attachment 3015969

Back in the day I used to Lap my CPU's and their heat sinks for overclocking,you can do it on a mirror or piece of glass.I would use up to 2000 grit wet sandpaper and they would end up dead flat and mirror like finish.If I remember right it would drop my temps like 5 c.

 

[Banana444]

https://www.google.com/search?q=japanese+wet+stones&client=ms-android-verizon&hl=en-US&source=android-browser-type&source=univ&tbm=shop&sa=X&ei=vNofU7TrLqmX7Qbww4HABg&ved=0CCMQsxg&biw=360&bih=615#spd=14247521030919642563 wonder if a set of sharpening stones would save any time off your sanding, like these

 

[SupraSPL]

Yeah it is amazing how not flat CPU heatsinks are too.

Good idea banana. I have tried using files too. Ultimately I decided 80 grit on an electric palm sander seems to chew the worst of it off with the least effort. Once you get past that stage the rest is much quicker.

 

[Someacdude]

Finally finished sanding the rest of these. I did 120 grit->400grit->1000 grit. It is amazing how bad LED stars are. Even though the surface is very smooth on a microscopic scale, the shape of the extrusion itself is not flat. You could actually improve the metal contact by using a 60 grit sandpaper

View attachment 3015969

Outstanding , i didnt get to order my parts yet but im getting closer, maybe this week. Thats a fine stack or parts, can you pm me the total cost ?