Hadez411
Well-Known Member
I ordered a bridgelux EB setup and that's all fine and well. However, I'd like to get some COBs eventually as they have their own unique uses. The issue I have is that I can't seem to find a happy balance between the number of cobs I have and the heat sinking where I end up with a decent $/watt figure. The big ones have like 130$ heat sinks and the smaller ones above 10W need many heat sinks to get up to a 240W system. That or you're running a lot of big cobs, very under powered, and they become expensive per watt by themselves.
The way I've priced it out so far is with Bridgelux components:
24 Bridgelux EB Gen 2 + 2 HLG-240H = 480W for 488.08$CAD delivered. ~170 lm/W
8 Vero 29 SE Gen 7 + 2 HLG-240H + 8 PC fans = 480W for 591.16$CAD ~165 maybe 170 lm/W without the fans included and those are fans I'm not even entirely sure can handle a 60W cob, they only say 50W CPU. Maybe a cpu makes more/less heat? I dunno.
Someone suggested I double up the amount of cobs, running them at 30W each instead of 60W. That adds another 240$ (30$ per vero 29 SE) and takes off the heat sink cost of ~150$ for small fans (19$ each), leaving you near 680$/480W.
Also, small power supplies seem to be more expensive per watt delivered and less efficient. Anyone know of some that are cheap and effective? I wouldn't mind making a ton of individual lights, in fact I'd love that, but I can't find any 10W-120W power supplies that are cost effective.
I looked at star boards and they didn't seem cost effective per watt, little cobs either. I don't want to go too tiny on the cobs or it's basically an SMD with a lot more effort. I'd like to have some decent mid-sized beams for penetration on grows where I'm not dealing with a perfectly flat canopy or maybe some individual lights for spot lighting. I grow all kinds of stuff at home so my uses are going to be everthing from super low power strips for barley sprouts, to veg lights for early season greenhouse vegetables and some all round lights for my my hobby pot plants.
Ideally I'd like to stay around the 170 lm/W area for around 1$/watt CAD delivered. Like 480-520$ for 480W would be my target. Or for a single unit, I understand the cost doesn't scale as well, maybe like 150$-160$ for 120W.
Any suggestions? I haven't found anything on the forum so far with the kind of info I'm looking for and heat sinks aren't as cheap as down in the US. I was looking into things like DIY water cooling etc but it seems like failure would mean dead lights. The pin fin heat sinks are the most redundant for sure, but I can't find a way around the staggering price of the 130mm+ sized ones. Also, most LEDs will lose 5% or more lumen output efficiency if they're hot so around 5-15 lumens per watt depending how high above the 25C test ratings they have.
The way I've priced it out so far is with Bridgelux components:
24 Bridgelux EB Gen 2 + 2 HLG-240H = 480W for 488.08$CAD delivered. ~170 lm/W
8 Vero 29 SE Gen 7 + 2 HLG-240H + 8 PC fans = 480W for 591.16$CAD ~165 maybe 170 lm/W without the fans included and those are fans I'm not even entirely sure can handle a 60W cob, they only say 50W CPU. Maybe a cpu makes more/less heat? I dunno.
Someone suggested I double up the amount of cobs, running them at 30W each instead of 60W. That adds another 240$ (30$ per vero 29 SE) and takes off the heat sink cost of ~150$ for small fans (19$ each), leaving you near 680$/480W.
Also, small power supplies seem to be more expensive per watt delivered and less efficient. Anyone know of some that are cheap and effective? I wouldn't mind making a ton of individual lights, in fact I'd love that, but I can't find any 10W-120W power supplies that are cost effective.
I looked at star boards and they didn't seem cost effective per watt, little cobs either. I don't want to go too tiny on the cobs or it's basically an SMD with a lot more effort. I'd like to have some decent mid-sized beams for penetration on grows where I'm not dealing with a perfectly flat canopy or maybe some individual lights for spot lighting. I grow all kinds of stuff at home so my uses are going to be everthing from super low power strips for barley sprouts, to veg lights for early season greenhouse vegetables and some all round lights for my my hobby pot plants.
Ideally I'd like to stay around the 170 lm/W area for around 1$/watt CAD delivered. Like 480-520$ for 480W would be my target. Or for a single unit, I understand the cost doesn't scale as well, maybe like 150$-160$ for 120W.
Any suggestions? I haven't found anything on the forum so far with the kind of info I'm looking for and heat sinks aren't as cheap as down in the US. I was looking into things like DIY water cooling etc but it seems like failure would mean dead lights. The pin fin heat sinks are the most redundant for sure, but I can't find a way around the staggering price of the 130mm+ sized ones. Also, most LEDs will lose 5% or more lumen output efficiency if they're hot so around 5-15 lumens per watt depending how high above the 25C test ratings they have.
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