Have any of you DIY COB Growers finished a crop under 1000W DE HPS? - POLL

[a mongo frog]

There's nothing magic about having exactly one COB per square foot; it's just an easy way to get people thinking about them in terms of an array instead of bunching them all together in the middle of the tent.

As long as coverage is regular and even things will be fine, especially in a tent with reflective walls.



How many COBs? If you use 16 chips; divide 5' x 12"per ft = 60" / 4 = 15" centers. First one centered at 7.5" from two walls, or about 10.6" measured diagonally from the corner.

How many chips?

16 chips.

 

[cdgmoney250]

Wouldn't a dimmer be able to work as a glorified slow start?
Putting it at 10% before turning on and then slowly turning it to 100% after you've turned the switches on

That would require the grower being there whenever the lights came on. Not very convenient. SDS made a soft start mechanism for his lights. A smart controller (arduino) would be better at controlling a sunrise/sunset function, IMO.

 

[a mongo frog]

That would require the grower being there whenever the lights came on. Not very convenient. SDS made a soft start mechanism for his lights. A smart controller (arduino) would be better at controlling a sunrise/sunset function, IMO.

Why control sun rise and sun set indoor? Makes no sense to me. I want full fucking watts all day all the time. Id feel cheated and i believe gavita has this shitty function.

 

[ttystikk]

Why control sun rise and sun set indoor? Makes no sense to me. I want full fucking watts all day all the time. Id feel cheated and i believe gavita has this shitty function.

In this case, WE are doing the cheating, by trying to find ways around the inrush current issue.

 

[Yodaweed]

Why control sun rise and sun set indoor? Makes no sense to me. I want full fucking watts all day all the time. Id feel cheated and i believe gavita has this shitty function.

It has nothing to do with that, we all want full juice all the time, when you turn on lots of juice at once the surge can cause problems with your breaker. That's why HID ballast incorporate soft start technology.

 

[Mr. Candiano]

Gavitas are very good but have huge disadvantages. Hot spots for one and over all heat like any HPS. Gavitas unlike most HPS have to be a minimum of 2.5' above the canopy . Some strains take the light better than others so some farther some closer but 2' is the closest and then if you don't have a very level SCROG you'll have bleaching in spots. Not a fan of the intense heat on th foilage and LED's definitely are a fraction of the heat. The majority of the heat in north and not south towards the girls. Which gives LEDs a huge advantage to stay closer to the canopy allowing a more intense even pattern. If it's a even layout of LEDs not those little lamps. I SCROG everything and don't see a reason to grow another way. Yodaweed you have to admit some things are just facts and can't be disputed. Everyone who's grown for a grip knows HPS yields like a beast if you know what your doing. Just like LED will do the same or better with less heat less watts higher PPFD. Just the way it is!!! If your using LEDs and not doing as well as HPS your doing something wrong. Technology advanced just like growing skills. Long time growers graduate to LEDs unless you don't care about money or the planet. If you grow cannabis and don't care about minimizing your Eco footprint you shouldn't grow. Peace

 

[Yodaweed]

Gavitas are very good but have huge disadvantages. Hot spots for one and over all heat like any HPS. Gavitas unlike most HPS have to be a minimum of 2.5' above the canopy . Some strains take the light better than others so some farther some closer but 2' is the closest and then if you don't have a very level SCROG you'll have bleaching in spots. Not a fan of the intense heat on th foilage and LED's definitely are a fraction of the heat. The majority of the heat in north and not south towards the girls. Which gives LEDs a huge advantage to stay closer to the canopy allowing a more intense even pattern. If it's a even layout of LEDs not those little lamps. I SCROG everything and don't see a reason to grow another way. Yodaweed you have to admit some things are just facts and can't be disputed. Everyone who's grown for a grip knows HPS yields like a beast if you know what your doing. Just like LED will do the same or better with less heat less watts higher PPFD. Just the way it is!!! If your using LEDs and not doing as well as HPS your doing something wrong. Technology advanced just like growing skills. Long time growers graduate to LEDs unless you don't care about money or the planet. If you grow cannabis and don't care about minimizing your Eco footprint you shouldn't grow. Peace

I do well with my LEDs , just too expensive to cover what I need to do , the quality seems to be the same if you can vent the heat and I have no problem with that. I average right around a pound per harvest with my LEDs. Scrog slows growth theres a reason hardly any commercial growers scrog, they just use some line to support the plants.

 

[ttystikk]

Gavitas are very good but have huge disadvantages. Hot spots for one and over all heat like any HPS. Gavitas unlike most HPS have to be a minimum of 2.5' above the canopy . Some strains take the light better than others so some farther some closer but 2' is the closest and then if you don't have a very level SCROG you'll have bleaching in spots. Not a fan of the intense heat on th foilage and LED's definitely are a fraction of the heat. The majority of the heat in north and not south towards the girls. Which gives LEDs a huge advantage to stay closer to the canopy allowing a more intense even pattern. If it's a even layout of LEDs not those little lamps. I SCROG everything and don't see a reason to grow another way. Yodaweed you have to admit some things are just facts and can't be disputed. Everyone who's grown for a grip knows HPS yields like a beast if you know what your doing. Just like LED will do the same or better with less heat less watts higher PPFD. Just the way it is!!! If your using LEDs and not doing as well as HPS your doing something wrong. Technology advanced just like growing skills. Long time growers graduate to LEDs unless you don't care about money or the planet. If you grow cannabis and don't care about minimizing your Eco footprint you shouldn't grow. Peace

Plus rep. In the end it's about what does the better job. Fortunately, modern technology has given us the opportunity to both grow massive yields and do it for a fraction of the overall power consumption.

Oh, and notice nobody supporting HID in an hps vs led debate wants to talk about any watts expended outside of the fixture. That's completely silly in a sealed room/controlled environment setting, which is exactly where these fixtures are going!

Once ALL the watts are accounted for- and why shouldn't they be?!- HID in general and DE HPS in particular look pretty impractical going forward in an environment of falling prices for product.

 

[ttystikk]

I do well with my LEDs , just too expensive to cover what I need to do , the quality seems to be the same if you can vent the heat and I have no problem with that.

This is a perfectly legitimate gripe, and that's coming from someone who just made the investment. There's no doubt that the high cost of entry is limiting adoption rates.

I did it because I believe there's more to be gained with the technology than just lower power bills. We will see who's right; hindsight is 20/20.

 

[a mongo frog]

It has nothing to do with that, we all want full juice all the time, when you turn on lots of juice at once the surge can cause problems with your breaker. That's why HID ballast incorporate soft start technology.

Ive never had that problem. Pretty sure light controllers help that.

 

[Yodaweed]

This is a perfectly legitimate gripe, and that's coming from someone who just made the investment. There's no doubt that the high cost of entry is limiting adoption rates.

I did it because I believe there's more to be gained with the technology than just lower power bills. We will see who's right; hindsight is 20/20.

I'd love to test out every light on the market , but alas my wallet and my grow space say otherwise I'm the kind of person that wants to see the results first hand.

 

[Yodaweed]

Ive never had that problem. Pretty sure light controllers help that.

Light controllers like a FLIP box? Yeah but those are for HID lights

LEDs offer no safe start option, full blast or off, Ive seen so few with dimmers and never seen one with a soft start option. How many LEDs are you turning on at once by the way?

 

[a mongo frog]

This is a perfectly legitimate gripe, and that's coming from someone who just made the investment. There's no doubt that the high cost of entry is limiting adoption rates.

I did it because I believe there's more to be gained with the technology than just lower power bills. We will see who's right; hindsight is 20/20.

What else is gained other then low power bills?

 

[Yodaweed]

What else is gained other then low power bills?

Makes you look cool? Super fancy and high tech like the Robocop of weed growing?

 

[a mongo frog]

Light controllers like a FLIP box? Yeah but those are for HID lights

LEDs offer no safe start option, full blast or off, Ive seen so few with dimmers and never seen one with a soft start option. How many LEDs are you turning on at once by the way?

Im turning on none leds at once. I thought you were talking about HID and soft start, which i thought that was the sun rise and sun set feature.

 

[a mongo frog]

Makes you look cool? Super fancy and high tech like the Robocop of weed growing?

But the power savings is all that matters correct?

 

[ttystikk]

Light controllers like a FLIP box? Yeah but those are for HID lights

LEDs offer no safe start option, full blast or off, Ive seen so few with dimmers and never seen one with a soft start option. How many LEDs are you turning on at once by the way?

Mine has a remote dimming circuit built in. I'm choosing not to use it, but it's there if I ever do. Most Meanwell drivers that people are using to power their COB LED arrays have dimmable options, both for remote like mine and for built in. No extra charge.

 

[Mr. Candiano]

What else is gained other then low power bills?

Even coverage of your plants. Creates uniform bud production. All HPS have those larger choice buds right under the lamp. SCROG or not

 

[Yodaweed]

Im turning on none leds at once. I thought you were talking about HID and soft start, which i thought that was the sun rise and sun set feature.

Oh no , sorry for the mix up I was talking about LEDs don't have the soft start feature like a HID light which can cause issues if you start up a crapload of them at once, I run my HID lights on 220v to reduce amp draw, I think it may help with power savings as well

Mine has a remote dimming circuit built in. I'm choosing not to use it, but it's there if I ever do. Most Meanwell drivers that people are using to power their COB LED arrays have dimmable options, both for remote like mine and for built in. No extra charge.

My Blackstar Ion 8 has a dimming switch for both it's single red diodes and its 4 COB's. I heard dimming switches can damage your driver over time so I avoid using it as much as possible.

 

[a mongo frog]

Even coverage of your plants. Creates uniform bud production. All HPS have those larger choice buds right under the lamp. SCROG or not

Respectfully i diss agree. Gardening practices and light management is the key to great coverage and yields.