More RW-75's or a DIY 3070 COB build?

[makomachine]

Planning my next set of LED veg/flower lights and looking for other opinions. I'm considering in the longterm opening up a recreational store in CO, so dollars spent today as a hobby might end up being 'pro' down the road. That leads me to my next question which is do I DIY a 3070 build or continue on with commercial light purchases, such as my RW-75's? I'm not sure about fire/safety regulations In a commercial operation with DIY as my first concern. The plus is that there is a lot of bang for the buck going the DIY route - likely half the price or cheaper if my math is correct. Any thoughts or opinions here?

 

[makomachine]

Forgot to add, I'm also strongly considering CMH as well. Really impressed with the grow journals with this tech - likely the LEC 315's if I go this route.

 

[GroErr]

Hi mako, if you have nothing concrete/short term planned imo don't worry about utilizing any equipment for a personal op in a commercial op. By the time you do anything technology will have improved/changed and it might be a different decision at that time. Besides, you'd probably want to standardize any commercial op rather than have a small/different panels here & there. If I were doing a commercial op, I'd want to maintain my own personal stash of lower producing but quality strains and some change-up/favourites going and use whatever I had in my hobby setup for that purpose. I can picture it, an "R&D" room in the corner of my office If I were making the decision to expand between 3070 DIY and commercial right now, I'd go with the DIY... Oh wait, I did once I get to building it

 

[makomachine]

Hi mako, if you have nothing concrete/short term planned imo don't worry about utilizing any equipment for a personal op in a commercial op. By the time you do anything technology will have improved/changed and it might be a different decision at that time. Besides, you'd probably want to standardize any commercial op rather than have a small/different panels here & there. If I were doing a commercial op, I'd want to maintain my own personal stash of lower producing but quality strains and some change-up/favourites going and use whatever I had in my hobby setup for that purpose. I can picture it, an "R&D" room in the corner of my office If I were making the decision to expand between 3070 DIY and commercial right now, I'd go with the DIY... Oh wait, I did once I get to building it

Good thoughts and that's kind of where my head is at to be honest. My next set of lights likely fill a 4x8 tent - not exactly filling a grow operation!

I'm thinking of picking up 20 of the 3070 top bin's when cash becomes available, but haven't settled on a design or layout just yet.

 

[GroErr]

Forgot to add, I'm also strongly considering CMH as well. Really impressed with the grow journals with this tech - likely the LEC 315's if I go this route.

I certainly wouldn't trash those A little early to recommend since I've only done one grow and yet to be weighed but it's certainly a promising tech, both personal and commercial if it holds up. If I can consistently replicate what I'm currently looking at and a 3x3 or 3.5x3.5 footprint I'll have no problem recommending these. But I do like LED's and looking forward to trying them out, have been seeing some impressive grows/yields coming off those 3070 DIY COB's. With any experience, both techs should break the 1gpw mark with any decent producing strain.

 

[Mechmike]

Good thoughts and that's kind of where my head is at to be honest. My next set of lights likely fill a 4x8 tent - not exactly filling a grow operation!

I'm thinking of picking up 20 of the 3070 top bin's when cash becomes available, but haven't settled on a design or layout just yet.

You'll be needing some good heat sinks for 20 3070s. I recommend http://www.heatsinkusa.com/ if you want to drive more than one emitter at a time or you could use one Arctic 11 CPU cooler per emitter.

 

[makomachine]

You'll be needing some good heat sinks for 20 3070s. I recommend http://www.heatsinkusa.com/ if you want to drive more than one emitter at a time or you could use one Arctic 11 CPU cooler per emitter.

My plan was leaning towards the Arctic 11's, but probably gets down to how they are going to be mounted. Considering something like the Battlestar Ganjatica design where I can expand and shrink coverages based on the setup. I really like modularity, but I don't think I want 20 hanging independently. Trying to find a good compromise in the middle somewhere.