DIY LED Grow Light Vero 18 (Economy light)

AquariusPanta

AquariusPanta

Well-Known Member
DonPetro said:
Vero18 with http://m.ebay.ca/itm/111252011567?nav=WATCHING_ACTIVE
??
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One more thing. I've heard that if you drive your LED chips too hard you don't get a good efficiency in regards to your plant's light absorption. I'm not really up-to-date on why this is or if I'm even correctly describing the proper issue but hopefully someone can chime in on this point.

The point is is that the 35W driver might be the ideal piece because the LED can comfortably run at 30W, with the ability to reach up to 60W (not recommended).

Maybe it's considered a good thing to let the driver be the bitch in the relationship between it and the LED...
 
SomeGuy

SomeGuy

Well-Known Member
I know these veros like to be driven hard. Aquarius. I think you will be happy running them. I can tell you the 50w driver w vero 18 runs great. the plants love it. My picks this friday will be good I can tell. :-) LOL Literally overnight there are nugs. :-)

@Mohican no they are not. I didnt see the point. I could just leave the 4 cob bar off during veg. I anticipate I will still have enough light once I move to the 4x4. these are so bright its nuts.
 
AquariusPanta

AquariusPanta

Well-Known Member
SomeGuy said:
I know these veros like to be driven hard. Aquarius. I think you will be happy running them. I can tell you the 50w driver w vero 18 runs great. the plants love it. My picks this friday will be good I can tell. :-) LOL Literally overnight there are nugs. :-)
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This is good to hear as I plan on running 50W drivers with the V18. I'll actually be using two different 50W drivers for my two V18's (waiting on shipping); one like yours, without the shell, and another with a waterproof shell (was a little more expensive but will be cool to differentiate between the two).

What did you use to connect and power the alternating current wires of the driver and power supply unit? I guess you can't just insert free wires in an output jack. I'm new to this any haven't had any luck with google.:wall:
 
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churchhaze

Well-Known Member
This thread has inspired me to use vero 18 in one of my own projects.

I just bought some toys.... When it comes in, I'll post pics of the DIY build and maybe make a thread with picture and details of the light.

12x vero 18 3500K 80cri
3x heatsink usa 10" profile cut to 10" length.
3x HLG-80H-C700A (700mA @ 64V ~ 129V MAX) dimmable

http://www.mouser.com/ds/2/260/HLG-80H-C-spec-47388.pdf

Each 10"x10" panel will have 4x vero 18 driven in series by a HLG-80H-C700A. I will use the potentiometer on the supply to dim if i need to.

The drivers are 91.5% efficient and have active power factor correction built in and were 52 bucks each at PowerGate! (never ordered from them before, so I hope I get the right thing!! There was limited availability of these supplies).

All 3 panels (12x vero 18s) when driven at 700mA will consume 235W of power, which is perfect for the 6sqft area it will be used for.
 
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AquariusPanta

AquariusPanta

Well-Known Member
churchhaze said:
All 3 panels (12x vero 18s) when driven at 700mA will consume 235W of power, which is perfect for the 6sqft area it will be used for.
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That's a bunch of V18's for a tiny 3' x 2' area. I guess at 700mA, it should really do the trick, leaving you with some tricked out buds :bigjoint:

I ordered some just a few days ago. 4000K at 80CRI. I'll throw up a thread on the process if you do too :grin:
 
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churchhaze

Well-Known Member
I'm really excited for the sinks. I'm a sucker for giant pieces of aluminum. 10x10 sinks will really simplify things over all the 4x4's and artic 11 (also 4x4).

Also, artic 11 is very good at cooling when the fan is running, but this should work with a light breeze, unless supra kills my dreams again with heatsink reality.

Are there any good 660nm leds that run at 700mA?

AquariusPanta said:
That's a bunch of V18's for a tiny 3' x 2' area. I guess at 700mA, it should really do the trick, leaving you with some tricked out buds :bigjoint:

I ordered some just a few days ago. 4000K at 80CRI. I'll throw up a thread on the process if you do too :grin:
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churchhaze

Well-Known Member
It's definitely something I've had in mind. It would be possible to add reds in series with the v18s. There's enough voltage for plenty of reds.

The v18s at 700mA already provide more than enough light for the cabinet though (40W/sqft at full power) so if I added reds, I'd probably want to dim or use the panels in a larger area.

AquariusPanta said:
There's gotta be. Are you thinking of rolling series between some reds and V18's?
I was thinking about drafting up a project based on infrared and maybe even UVB
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AquariusPanta

AquariusPanta

Well-Known Member
Thinking about it now, I don't think you will even need additional 660s with 12x V18's specced at 3500k in such a confined space. At 3500k, each V18 is basically gonna give your 30-45% of 600-700nm reds, with the rest in green and blue.

I did some research on a few different kelvin models for the V18 and you should be covered in the red spectrum. Do you use UVB and infrared any?
 
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churchhaze

Well-Known Member
I have a 730nm bar almost identical to positivity's.

I'll have to make a second bar, or put 1 far-red star on each panel. (and another driver+timer)

No UV-Bs. It's something I'll have to consider later.
 
SomeGuy

SomeGuy

Well-Known Member
Yea.. I think I need to make this trigger light to speed up the flowering change in the future. Things are going well though. I am at 3.5wks and very happy. I think there will be some buds in this tent. I am looking forward to filling up my new 4x4.

7.jpg 8.jpg
 
SomeGuy

SomeGuy

Well-Known Member
BTW. I baught a cheap led troffer from HD. it has 4000k ct and like 4200 lumen. Plants vegging seem to like the last 12hrs under it. Eventually I can upgrade the fixture if need be. But I intend it for just clones and party cups when I get my spaces all set. the tent this current led grow is in will be split with top for clones and cups and the bottom for larger vegging plants.

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SomeGuy

SomeGuy

Well-Known Member
FOR sure Cree would give me more photon, but I wanted something for small plants that I really didn't have to build out right away... This is something I could upgrade IF i need to down the line. I am already working on building the lights for the larger vegging plants. I like it for what it is though! :-) under 100$ and maybe 15min of my time was worth it to get moving away from the cabinet and on to the tents. :-)
 
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