Another Cree CXA3070 DIY Thread

[AquariusPanta]

Just to add my 2 cents on the 730nm, but I just ordered 3 of these ledengin 10W far-red leds mounted on stars from mouser:

http://www.mouser.com/Search/Produc...virtualkey62410000virtualkey897-LZ440R3080000

And this driver to run the 3 in series.

http://www.mouser.com/Search/Produc...-700virtualkey63430000virtualkey709-APC25-700

I'm excited to try 730nm pulse at lights out.

I suppose you went with the 6.3W stars rather then the 10W because of higher radiancy or radiant flux? I think it was a comparison of 2.1W and 1.210W respectively, with both costing around the same (~$22).

Just trying to better understand your choice and ultimately the differences of the infinite amounts of LED's

 

[AquariusPanta]

@mc130p
edit: @churchhaze beat me by 10 seconds, I notice there is a LZ4-40R300 and a LZ4-40R308. the 00 version has a 1.1 degree C/W and the 08 version is more than double that at 2.8 C/W.

The 00 will run cooler and more efficient.

Thank you for pointing out the thermal resistance differences between the two models. The data sheet on the 00 version was describing the 6.3W model if you check the next page in the first paragraph but I could be mistaken at some degree. Maybe the wattage, such as 6.3W and 10W, doesn't matter, just the model series in determining the C/W. I'm free for a lecture

 

[SupraSPL]

Nice work CAP awesome numbers! GG was just mentioning slight foxtail frustrations with his Blue Dream. I have bumped into that problem with my Ace of Spades, SSSDH Shire cut and the Sage N Sour. Some varieties are much more susceptible to do it and I have been trying to sort out what factors contribute to it. It seems to have some relation to heat because I noticed it a lot more with these same cuts under HPS and I seem to notice it during the summer season the most. As indianajones mentioned it may also have something to do with with what nutrients are available during the finish and that can be hard to control with organic soils. I would really like to nail this down, but luckily most of the varieties I am in love with have a clean finish.

 

[captainmorgan]

Day 21 update on the CK's in 5 gal pots. Still trying to get a handle on how much to up my nutes under these CXA's,5 gal pots with super soil on the bottom just can't supply enough feed and I don't want to go bigger on the pots so I'm supplementing. Supra,the foxtailing can be random and I'm thinking it's more genetic with all things being equal. Last run under these CXA's my deathstar completely foxtailed and next to it the LSD foxtailed much,much less,the cabinet runs a little warm and I think its can contribute to it. These CXA's are amazing and it looks like it will be another high grams per watt yield,they're just covered in buds. I left one light over the back of each plant on for the pics and they are so bright that it's glare blanked out the back of the plants in the pics,it looks like the plants are bare on the back but they are loaded all the way around. I'll use some different lighting for the rest of my pics.

 

[AquariusPanta]

Day 21 update on the CK's in 5 gal pots. Still trying to get a handle on how much to up my nutes under these CXA's,5 gal pots with super soil on the bottom just can't supply enough feed and I don't want to go bigger on the pots so I'm supplementing. Supra,the foxtailing can be random and I'm thinking it's more genetic with all things being equal. Last run under these CXA's my deathstar completely foxtailed and next to it the LSD foxtailed much,much less,the cabinet runs a little warm and I think its can contribute to it. These CXA's are amazing and it looks like it will be another high grams per watt yield,they're just covered in buds. I left one light over the back of each plant on for the pics and they are so bright that it's glare blanked out the back of the plants in the pics,it looks like the plants are bare on the back but they are loaded all the way around. I'll use some different lighting for the rest of my pics.

Great pictures you have taken NMorgan

 

[indianajones]

Day 21 update on the CK's in 5 gal pots. Still trying to get a handle on how much to up my nutes under these CXA's,5 gal pots with super soil on the bottom just can't supply enough feed and I don't want to go bigger on the pots so I'm supplementing. Supra,the foxtailing can be random and I'm thinking it's more genetic with all things being equal. Last run under these CXA's my deathstar completely foxtailed and next to it the LSD foxtailed much,much less,the cabinet runs a little warm and I think its can contribute to it. These CXA's are amazing and it looks like it will be another high grams per watt yield,they're just covered in buds. I left one light over the back of each plant on for the pics and they are so bright that it's glare blanked out the back of the plants in the pics,it looks like the plants are bare on the back but they are loaded all the way around. I'll use some different lighting for the rest of my pics.

have you ever tried botanicare's soil formula? it works really, really well
with a mild strength soil IME. the soil version has less nitrogen than the
coco and hydro version. around here the tap water is about ~130ppm
and pH 7.4 so I used just enough botanicare to get the pH down to 6.3-6.5
and it came out about 400-500ppm. the calcium in the tap water kept
even my most calcium hungry babe (ORGNKID's banana kush cut)
happy under the LEDs. it was also really convenient to be able to use
a single bottle nutrient solution as a feeding and pH corrector. the vanilluna
nug in my avatar was grown the same way, but using general organics
bio thrive bloom, single bottle style. i just thought the bio thrive had too
much nitrogen for the soil mix i used.

 

[captainmorgan]

have you ever tried botanicare's soil formula? it works really, really well
with a mild strength soil IME. the soil version has less nitrogen than the
coco and hydro version. around here the tap water is about ~130ppm
and pH 7.4 so I used just enough botanicare to get the pH down to 6.3-6.5
and it came out about 400-500ppm. the calcium in the tap water kept
even my most calcium hungry babe (ORGNKID's banana kush cut)
happy under the LEDs. it was also really convenient to be able to use
a single bottle nutrient solution as a feeding and pH corrector. the vanilluna
nug in my avatar was grown the same way, but using general organics
bio thrive bloom, single bottle style. i just thought the bio thrive had too
much nitrogen for the soil mix i used.

Thanks for the tip IJ,I have a slight nitrogen def and I'm actually using some Veg+Bloom Dirty and CalMg+ with my RO water,I'm up to 1.8 EC now. I keep a piece of mylar sitting on top of my pots and the roots are so dense right to the top of the pot I don't have room to top dress.

 

[indianajones]

Thanks for the tip IJ,I have a slight nitrogen def and I'm actually using some Veg+Bloom Dirty and CalMg+ with my RO water,I'm up to 1.8 EC now. I keep a piece of mylar sitting on top of my pots and the roots are so dense right to the top of the pot I don't have room to top dress.

holy dog shit, those babies are hungry! i only went that high on EC for one grow
(and it was coco/ewc with minimal espoma added), those CXAs must really make
'em feed heavy.

i have had tomato roots start reaching out of the top of dixie cups before, trying to
find their way to more soil. i thought i had thrips or some other oblong bug but it
turned out to be roots coming out the top.

 

[captainmorgan]

holy dog shit, those babies are hungry! i only went that high on EC for one grow
(and it was coco/ewc with minimal espoma added), those CXAs must really make
'em feed heavy.

i have had tomato roots start reaching out of the top of dixie cups before, trying to
find their way to more soil. i thought i had thrips or some other oblong bug but it
turned out to be roots coming out the top.

I found with a loose cover on top of the pot the plants roots stick out of the soil and use it all,without it the top inch is loose without roots from drying out. These damn plants have a solid root ball right to the top of the pot at week 3 and thats in a 5 gal with 2 gal of super soil and it's not enough to make it 3 weeks.

 

[Positivity]

Yeah.. I went from feeding twice a week with cree xmls to every other day with cxas at 50w sq/ft

In comparison my outdoor girl gets fed at the most once a week.

They grow faster and eat way more under cxas then outside. They really are maxing out the plants light requirements. I doubt a supersoil could keep up with cxas at high irradiance unless it's a huge pot.

 

[indianajones]

i bet it takes you forever to water, lol. when my root balls get that thick
it seems like the water takes much longer to pass through the medium.

 

[Positivity]

B

i bet it takes you forever to water, lol. when my root balls get that thick
it seems like the water takes much longer to pass through the medium.

Blumats.... Perfect for watering really thirsty plants

Mix up some go biothrive and pour a nice drench over each pot every other day. Soil takes it right up and whatever comes out of the fabric pots I let soak back up. Blumats keep them wet in between. That's where biochar chunks, lava rock, perlite, and vermiculite help a lot also.

 

[Mohican]

@captainmorgan - Those girls are getting chunky!

 

[captainmorgan]

@captainmorgan - Those girls are getting chunky!

Thanks Mo,pulled 18 off the last two under these CXA's and that would be nice to do again.

 

[Mohican]

What are you feeding them?

 

[Banana444]

Hey @Captain Morgan been lurking around the diy builds for a while and just ordered the same stuff as you did but I got the z2 bin since z4s were not available. I also could not find which power supply I need on ebay for the fans. I only got parts to build two lights. Great looking grows so far under those 3070s. I needed another light to cover the rest of a 3x5 area that has a rw150 in it. Do you think two 3070 z2 will be enough?

 

[captainmorgan]

I'm using a little over 30 watts a sq/ft,that includes the drivers and heatsink fans.

 

[Banana444]

I know this is a simple question but, will any 12v power supply work to power my fans? I probably have a few old ones in my box-o-wires.

 

[reasonevangelist]

I know this is a simple question but, will any 12v power supply work to power my fans? I probably have a few old ones in my box-o-wires.

...as long as you have enough amps and correct polarity?

I managed to strike gold with a 1A 12V wall wart, leftover from who knows what, which happened to have like 8ft of good wire on it.

Hey @Captain Morgan been lurking around the diy builds for a while and just ordered the same stuff as you did but I got the z2 bin since z4s were not available. I also could not find which power supply I need on ebay for the fans. I only got parts to build two lights. Great looking grows so far under those 3070s. I needed another light to cover the rest of a 3x5 area that has a rw150 in it. Do you think two 3070 z2 will be enough?

Yes. ^^ If you end up deciding they're not quite enough, you could look into some of those smaller (allegedly) cree cobs mounted on e27 sockets (ebay). I think those would be great for supplemental lighting.

 

[captainmorgan]

Well it's the start of day 28 and these Critical Kush have incredible development from top to bottom and are just loaded with buds.