High End COBs vs $2 COBs...

[nachooo]

so 2 - 100 watt cobs (running at 50 watts each) gave the same light as 1 citizen cob running at 50 watts? the 100 watt cobs must have been really crappy. that's half the efficiency, but i can see that...



so would you say that would make Cree chips better then Vero as they are twice the price?

Cree are very good, but overprized--for this reason I did not write about Cree

 

[CobKits]

so would you say that would make Cree chips better then Vero as they are twice the price?

in order of efficiency
citizen 1825 gen 6 ($40)
vero 29C ($35)
luminus CXM 22 ($17)
Vero 29B ($24)
Vero 29D ($24)/Cree CXB 3590 ($36)

id only really recommend the top 2 if youre running above 75W per cob
up to 75W per cob the $17 luminus is as good as any chip out there

 

[nachooo]

in order of efficiency
citizen 1825 gen 6 ($40)
vero 29C ($35)
luminus CXM 22 ($17)
Vero 29B ($24)
Vero 29D ($24)/Cree CXB 3590 ($36)

id only really recommend the top 2 if youre running above 75W per cob
up to 75W per cob the $17 luminus is as good as any chip out there

Hello, do you know the reason of the 11 dollars diference in prize between veros 29C and veros 29B and D?
Thanks in advance

 

[CobKits]

veroC has a lot more dies on it, which is why its more efficient

cree has the least dies per chip of any in that list, which is why its near the bottom

 

[nachooo]

veroC has a lot more dies on it, which is why its more efficient

cree has the least dies per chip of any in that list, which is why its near the bottom

Do you think this increased efficiency justifies a 11 dollars difference? considering is about a 40 per cent more prize.

 

[CobKits]

there is a multitude of factors that go into selecting a chip. At up to 70W, i wouldnt spend over $17 for a luminus for little to no increase in efficiency

 

[muleface]

there is a multitude of factors that go into selecting a chip. At up to 70W, i wouldnt spend over $17 for a luminus for little to no increase in efficiency

View attachment 3947293

that is great! thanks!

 

[nachooo]

there is a multitude of factors that go into selecting a chip. At up to 70W, i wouldnt spend over $17 for a luminus for little to no increase in efficiency

View attachment 3947293

Seeing this graph.. I understand that using same wattage(better for low wattages), 3 vero29 D (72 dollars) against 2 vero 29 C (70 dollars).... the 3 vero 29D will be more efficient...at almost same level prizes (holders and connectors apart)

 

[CobKits]

the 3 vero 29D will be more efficient...at almost same level

better coverage too

 

[muleface]

got this from a vendor off alibiba. These actually don't look bad for value priced COBs. 80 cri go from 140-160l/w

38w - $4.25 (max 88w)
56w - $6.25 (max 132w)
85w - $9.25 (max 198w)

the FW is pretty high on the higher wattage cobs

 

[nachooo]

Apparently they are the only very cheap ones than seem good..There are another post that comment something about the Getians.

 

[muleface]

Apparently they are the only very cheap ones than seem good..There are another post that comment something about the Getians.

thanks for pointing that out! Cobkits did all the heavy lifting for me. I was looking at 38w - 2828s. I was going run that at 45-50 watts each. This looks like a pretty good deal. I wanted to stay under 10 bucks a cob. This gets me right at $5 with shipping and covers.

@CobKits am i ready your charts correct? If i wanted to run these at 45-50 watts are getians a good option? all in im looking about $12 per light (heat sink, holder, cob, shipping)

 

[CobKits]

the 85 W getians were in the range of the citi 1212

https://www.rollitup.org/t/why-are-cobs-better-and-whats-so-great-about-the-3590.920480/#post-12944216

those are all gen 5 the gen6 citis prob hammer them. last i spoke with getian a few months ago they are still on the same gen

they have a few common colors but 3000k and 3500k were minimum 100 order anyway.

a lot of the samples i got were mislabeled and theres no marking on the chips ill literally need to use my spectrometer to sort them out. didnt seem like their quality control was all tehre, plus i had extra shipping cost and import duties

little advantage so i stuck with citi as a distributor. better chip all around imo, and their price includes importing into the us for me

that said i have a handful of getians ill sell for what i paid for them. i bought $600 worth to test. most are 4000 and 5000k

 

[muleface]

looks like the 2828's aren't great. But they are 5 bucks a cob, so that is something i guess.

 

[nfhiggs]

I have about a year under me for growing, I have grown under cheap LEDs, Vero 29 cobs, T5s, and Q-boards.

My question is about COBs; really does it matter if they are $2 ebay COBs or $50 Cree 3590's?

Removing the obvious quality difference of the end product, I would assume someone put more time and love into manufacturing a CREE COB, but the end result is really more important thing. If I'm running 50 cobs, we are really talking about a lot of money in cobs, 2.5k in cobs alone. If i went with some cheap ebay cobs, i could get 100 of them for maybe $150, and each time one burns out, toss it, or replace all of them each grow.

What is the practical life of a cree COB? 2 years?

does the end harvest really suffer $2350 in crop loss?

is there an electrical cost that could help mitigate the higher cost of the COBs?

I am really looking for some hard answers here, not a "you get why you pay for" or "i only run CREE" something quantifiable like...

you would need 3 ebay cobs running at 80 watts to get the same light output as 1 cree running at 80 watts, or statistically ebay cobs have a 20% chance of burning down your house.

thanks!

Well.... the answer is yes and no. The $2 cobs are usually about 90-110 L/W, compared to 150 L/W for the high end Cree cobs that are $50. So you are sacrificing a lot of efficiency for those up front dollars BUT - you don't have to go Cree to get that efficiency. You can get Citi 1212 series cobs that will run right along side those Cree lumen for lumen, for about $10-$12 each.

 

[nfhiggs]

LOL - I knew someone would drag out the old "dodgy cob" video. I've purchased a bunch of these 2 dollar cobs and have not had ANY sort of issues like he shows in that video. NONE.

 

[MMJ Dreaming 99]

no

$12-$15 cobs outperform $35 cxb3590s

there are prob some really good cobs out there under $10 if you start digging


most any cob at the currents we run them at will go 20 years. they may not be the most efficient but if your ebay cobs last 6 mos they'll prob go 10 or more years

So $12 to 15 COBs but are there any cheaper drivers? Like Chinese drivers?

 

[CobKits]

im not sure why people distinguish chinese drivers and chips when 99% of all chips and drivers in use are made in china

You can get Citi 1212 series cobs that will run right along side those Cree lumen for lumen, for about $10-$12 each.

well you gotta spend a shade more.

1212s are a notch down from 3590s on a chip for chip level (but at 1/3 of the price you can afford to run them at 35W a piece)

 

[nfhiggs]

So $12 to 15 COBs but are there any cheaper drivers? Like Chinese drivers?

I just use cheap $25 36V 10 amp power supplies and run them using voltage control, instead of the overhyped constant current meanwells.

 

[CobKits]

drivers are what you make of it. if efficiency is not your concern there are tons of cheap ones out there. might as well run the cheapest cob you can at full blast at that that point because a lot of those drivers are 80% efficient vs meanwell hlg at 92-96%

i think the $0.30/W for meanwell HLG is a steal as they last forever and you can hose them down