Vero 10 build, design critique wanted!

eric_pwb

New Member
First off, I just want to say thank you to all the people here who have spent countless hours designing, building, testing, and refining the use of LED grow lights; your efforts and the knowledge you have shared are invaluable!

I have been lurking and gleaning information for quite some time for a build that I have wanted to do, and I think I finally have my design flushed out well enough that I am ready for some feedback on it, to ensure that I am not crazy!

In my small apartment, I want to build an indoor hydroponic garden to grow lettuce, spinach, herbs, vegetables, etc. The space I have available dictates the setup to be a 4 tube, 4" pvc NFT system, each with 6 - 8 plants in it. The tubes will be stacked vertically 2 high, along two perpendicular walls (in a corner).

For each tube, I want to build a light bar, with 8x vero 10's (4000k), my intention is to run the soft 150-250ma.
I have come up with two options for mounting/heatsinks, and am not sure which one will be better. Option 1 is to use a 4' section of 35mm din rail, and 8 individual "I" heatsinks attached to it. The heatsinks are designed to cool a 40A solid state relay: http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Heat-Sink-For-Solid-State-Relay-SSR-Small-Type-Heat-Dissipation/32276899402.html
Option 2 is to mount all 8 COBs directly to a 4' section of 1"x1" x 3/32" Aluminum square tubing, spaced 6" on centre, with fans at each end in a push-pull configuration.

Ultimately I would like to have them passively cooled, but I am unsure if either of these options would allow me to do that.

Along with that I also have found two options for drivers, and again, am unsure as to which would be best. Option 1 is to use a philips xitanium 150w 350mA dimmable driver: http://www.futureelectronics.com/en/technologies/semiconductors/lighting-solutions/led-driver-modules-rev/Pages/2001241-LEDINTA0350C425DO.aspx?IM=0
I would use one driver to power 16 COBs in series (2 bars of 8). By my calculations, IF I were to run these at the rated 350ma I would be drawing 148.8W @ 424V, which is right at the limit of the driver, however I fully intend of running at approximately 150-250ma, based on my calculations, at 200ma, each COB should be running at about 25.33V and drawing 5.1W, based on that, this driver should afford me a small amount of head room.

Option 2 is to use a 200W inventronics 1.4A dimmable driver: http://www.futureelectronics.com/en/Technologies/Product.aspx?ProductID=EUC200S140DVINVENTRONICS9035431&IM=0
With this driver, I would split two 8 COB bars into 4 parallel strings of 4, to be driven at 0.8A/101V (0.200A/25.3V each), again this driver should allow me some head room, but, even after reading MrFlux's build where he paralleled strings of 5, I am still a little worried about current balancing.

Any feedback or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
 

nogod_

Well-Known Member
Easiest answer is dont copy mrflux. Im pretty sure he self-binned each cob to make sure that he had an even voltage accross the line.

Why bother with parallel when you can just buy the xitanium or hlg-120h-c350 and run in series?

@caretak3r is that driver from ebay dimmable?

First off, I just want to say thank you to all the people here who have spent countless hours designing, building, testing, and refining the use of LED grow lights; your efforts and the knowledge you have shared are invaluable!

I have been lurking and gleaning information for quite some time for a build that I have wanted to do, and I think I finally have my design flushed out well enough that I am ready for some feedback on it, to ensure that I am not crazy!

In my small apartment, I want to build an indoor hydroponic garden to grow lettuce, spinach, herbs, vegetables, etc. The space I have available dictates the setup to be a 4 tube, 4" pvc NFT system, each with 6 - 8 plants in it. The tubes will be stacked vertically 2 high, along two perpendicular walls (in a corner).

For each tube, I want to build a light bar, with 8x vero 10's (4000k), my intention is to run the soft 150-250ma.
I have come up with two options for mounting/heatsinks, and am not sure which one will be better. Option 1 is to use a 4' section of 35mm din rail, and 8 individual "I" heatsinks attached to it. The heatsinks are designed to cool a 40A solid state relay: http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Heat-Sink-For-Solid-State-Relay-SSR-Small-Type-Heat-Dissipation/32276899402.html
Option 2 is to mount all 8 COBs directly to a 4' section of 1"x1" x 3/32" Aluminum square tubing, spaced 6" on centre, with fans at each end in a push-pull configuration.

Ultimately I would like to have them passively cooled, but I am unsure if either of these options would allow me to do that.

Along with that I also have found two options for drivers, and again, am unsure as to which would be best. Option 1 is to use a philips xitanium 150w 350mA dimmable driver: http://www.futureelectronics.com/en/technologies/semiconductors/lighting-solutions/led-driver-modules-rev/Pages/2001241-LEDINTA0350C425DO.aspx?IM=0
I would use one driver to power 16 COBs in series (2 bars of 8). By my calculations, IF I were to run these at the rated 350ma I would be drawing 148.8W @ 424V, which is right at the limit of the driver, however I fully intend of running at approximately 150-250ma, based on my calculations, at 200ma, each COB should be running at about 25.33V and drawing 5.1W, based on that, this driver should afford me a small amount of head room.

Option 2 is to use a 200W inventronics 1.4A dimmable driver: http://www.futureelectronics.com/en/Technologies/Product.aspx?ProductID=EUC200S140DVINVENTRONICS9035431&IM=0
With this driver, I would split two 8 COB bars into 4 parallel strings of 4, to be driven at 0.8A/101V (0.200A/25.3V each), again this driver should allow me some head room, but, even after reading MrFlux's build where he paralleled strings of 5, I am still a little worried about current balancing.

Any feedback or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
 

caretak3r

Well-Known Member
Easiest answer is dont copy mrflux. Im pretty sure he self-binned each cob to make sure that he had an even voltage accross the line.

Why bother with parallel when you can just buy the xitanium or hlg-120h-c350 and run in series?

@caretak3r is that driver from ebay dimmable?
that particular one is not - I did get one that IS dimmable but they only had a few of them
 

eric_pwb

New Member
I did see there was quite a few of the philips drivers on ebay for a pretty deep discount, unfortunately I didn't find any of the dimmable variety.

Overall I'm pretty happy with my design, I just am unsure about the amount of light I will have. I figured that at about 5W per COB, with 2/sqft, I am running at about 10W/sqft, it seems like it is a fair bit lower than at lots of the grows I have seen here, but it is also approximately the same amount as I seen in this video:
and they had pretty impressive results growing lettuce.

Any thoughts? Should I be looking to up the lighting?
 

nogod_

Well-Known Member
If youre growing lettuce youre more than covered in fact youre really overdoin it.

If youre growing the devil's cabbage youre probably going to want more.

I did see there was quite a few of the philips drivers on ebay for a pretty deep discount, unfortunately I didn't find any of the dimmable variety.

Overall I'm pretty happy with my design, I just am unsure about the amount of light I will have. I figured that at about 5W per COB, with 2/sqft, I am running at about 10W/sqft, it seems like it is a fair bit lower than at lots of the grows I have seen here, but it is also approximately the same amount as I seen in this video:
and they had pretty impressive results growing lettuce.

Any thoughts? Should I be looking to up the lighting?
 

tightpockt

Well-Known Member
That looks awesome tightpockt! Any chance you could share which COBs are on there, the spacings between them, then dimensions of the aluminum and how well it stays cool?
Vero10's, I just eyeballed the spacing..I believe it's the 2.079' profile from heatsinkusa and it's 14 inches long. There's one 50mm fan in the center with a plate on top of the fins to force the air through the channels. It stays pretty cool...I touched the heat sink right next to the cob and it's barely warm.
 

Seriousbuds

Active Member
I'm doing a similar setup however I want to do a stacked NFT system that has 4 channels, each 4ft long x 4.625 wide.... totaling about 19.5 inches of growing space. I'll have 12 total shelves in the whole system.

How many COBs per shelf do you guys think I'll need?

Also, the philips driver above costs $45 now, is there a cheaper alternative to drivers for my setup that anyone would recommend? Possibly just order from kingbrite to keep the cost down.

I figured I'd need 8 per level, but I pulled that number out of my ass

any help is greatly appreciated.
 
Top