Been lurking for years. Now its time to build.

Hey guys. Ive lurked around here for a few years since green genes first cob build. I bought some 3070s a while ago and never got around to building a light because of me being too ocd to use ghetto frames and i live in a horrible place for finding things i need. Well time has come that i found some good aluminum to make it look not fully ghetto. So i have everything for a 6 cxb 3070 build ran at 1050ma. Im about to buy 6 3590s and everything i need for another build from rapid led. But i started thinking. What about quantum boards? And now im thinking about buying some samsung fseries strips. I can get about 20 strips with a driver and aluminum for about the same price. Ive been stuck for a few weeks and not wanting to post. But what do you guys think? 6 3070 and 6 3590 build. Or 6 3070 with about 20 2 foot strips that are 171lm/w. I would build the strips so ther are more in the middle and put the cobs around the edges to make the light spread more even. (Im a total noob at this)

Thanks in advance for all your help.

Respect, but your ocd is playing hell. Stick to the original plan. Build to your first instincts on the lights you want. Don't double think it.

Why not build them all?

Photon Flinger said:

Why not build them all?

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Thats what i was thinkingXD thats why i wanna get the strips. Build a 3070 and a strip light. But im not in the position to be testing atm.

I have built 3 cob lights and 2 strip lights and the strip lights are so much easier. No fucking around with heatsinks just thermal tape them to an aluminium sheet and away you go. I would go for the strips in the centre and cobs around the edges idea. Just be careful of hot spots in the centre.

lotus710 said:

Im about to buy 6 3590s

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We have great vendors here on RIU who will sell you chips from either Bridgelux or Citizen that are half the price of the 3590 and more efficient

DrBlaze said:

We have great vendors here on RIU who will sell you chips from either Bridgelux or Citizen that are half the price of the 3590 and more efficient

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Ok so im def out dated. Veros and clu are better then 3590 now?? God damnXD i was looking at getting everything off rapid led since its a one stop shop.

klx said:

I have built 3 cob lights and 2 strip lights and the strip lights are so much easier. No fucking around with heatsinks just thermal tape them to an aluminium sheet and away you go. I would go for the strips in the centre and cobs around the edges idea. Just be careful of hot spots in the centre.

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Easy for you. Ive been looking for some good metal for the strips. If i want light weight stuff ima pay an arm and leg for it. The 19 dollar heatsinks from rapid led would be cheaper then me paying 27 bucks for one thing of aluminum that can fit maybe 2 or 3 stripsXD now steel. I can find any kind of steel for dirt cheap. Problem is i would need a damn engine lift to hang the light

lotus710 said:

Easy for you. Ive been looking for some good metal for the strips. If i want light weight stuff ima pay an arm and leg for it. The 19 dollar heatsinks from rapid led would be cheaper then me paying 27 bucks for one thing of aluminum that can fit maybe 2 or 3 stripsXD now steel. I can find any kind of steel for dirt cheap. Problem is i would need a damn engine lift to hang the light

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I don't what size of "one thing of aluminum" you are looking at, but its likely to fit much more than 2 or 3 strips. One 18 x 24 inch sheet of aluminum can easily handle 8-10 strips.

Try looking at the 1" profile from Heatsink USA. At 16 cents per inch, 22 inch strips are only 3.52 each.

Steel is a very poor heatsink.

nfhiggs said:

I don't what size of "one thing of aluminum" you are looking at, but its likely to fit much more than 2 or 3 strips. One 18 x 24 inch sheet of aluminum can easily handle 8-10 strips.

Try looking at the 1" profile from Heatsink USA. At 16 cents per inch, 22 inch strips are only 3.52 each.

Steel is a very poor heatsink.

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Well. The size is an inch. And its 8ft long. Only aluminum i can find that is flat. Heatsink usa could work living in canada shipping sucks.
Yes steel sucks.

lotus710 said:

Well. The size is an inch. And its 8ft long. Only aluminum i can find that is flat. Heatsink usa could work living in canada shipping sucks.
Yes steel sucks.

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It only needs to be an inch for strips: See here
That's actually 3/4 inch channel, but it works fine. 1 inch heatsink would actually work much better. Making bars is better than using a sheet because it allows cool air to flow upwards without interruption.

Not sure what you mean by it being 8 feet long ...

lotus710 said:

Ok so im def out dated. Veros and clu are better then 3590 now??

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heres a rough idea of what current chips look like

the citizen "CLU" chips are into gen 6 now and test a little higher

most popular chips i sell are the $17 luminus cxm22 (which you see is pretty much as good as anything out there up to 70W) and the $8 1212 gen 5 (which are the most similar to the 3070 you have now). the 1212 are not the most efficient chips on a single chip basis but they sure are when you stack em up, some guys make massive arrays with them.

@DesertHydro has some good journals with both these chips

that top row of chips (vero C and citi 1825), are both about $35. as you can see for twice the price over a CXM22 you dont gain much unless youre jamming them well over 100W each. theres about one more tier of chips above those (citi 1825 gen 6, 3618 gen 5 and 6, and luminus cxm32), but they are all $40-$50)

check out my site at cobkits.com, should have everything you need

CobKits said:

heres a rough idea of what current chips look like

the citizen "CLU" chips are into gen 6 now and test a little higher

most popular chips i sell are the $17 luminus cxm22 (which you see is pretty much as good as anything out there up to 70W) and the $8 1212 gen 5 (which are the most similar to the 3070 you have now). the 1212 are not the most efficient chips on a single chip basis but they sure are when you stack em up, some guys make massive arrays with them.

@DesertHydro has some good journals with both these chips

that top row of chips (vero C and citi 1825), are both about $35. as you can see for twice the price over a CXM22 you dont gain much unless youre jamming them well over 100W each. theres about one more tier of chips above those (citi 1825 gen 6, 3618 gen 5 and 6, and luminus cxm32), but they are all $40-$50)

check out my site at cobkits.com, should have everything you need


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Well i was gonna pay 42 per 3590 from rapid with the holder and reflector included. So i dont mind paying for the good good.

nfhiggs said:

It only needs to be an inch for strips: See here
That's actually 3/4 inch channel, but it works fine. 1 inch heatsink would actually work much better. Making bars is better than using a sheet because it allows cool air to flow upwards without interruption.

Not sure what you mean by it being 8 feet long ...

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Ill have to email heatsink usa about shipping prices. Im honestly leaning on the strips. I was planning on doing seperate bars instead of a big one. And i mean the aluminum is for flooring and its an 8 ft long 1x1in L channel for 27XD thats before the mental 12% tax here in bc.

lotus710 said:

Well. The size is an inch. And its 8ft long. Only aluminum i can find that is flat. Heatsink usa could work living in canada shipping sucks.
Yes steel sucks.

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Hey, I found these guys here in BC but they have stores across North America. I walked in to the front office and within' a minute a guy was taking me into the shop and showing me everything they had in stock so I could get an idea of what I wanted to use. I had 12 pieces of 45" long x 1" wide aluminum tubing 1/16th" thick. Also 2 pieces of the same material but 68" long. It came to about $100 including cutting it. If you're only using 1" angle the price would be much cheaper. Anyway, it's by far the best place for Canadians to get their aluminum for building frames. You can see the place HERE.

If you want to try strips and lower your build costs a bit (sacrificing a bit of efficiency) then check out the Bridgelux EB strips seen HERE. I ordered 12 1120mm strips from them, shipping was free and they showed up at my door in 1 and a half days.

I'm building something similar. Using Vero 29's 1750K and 5000K along with 6 EB strips 3000K and 6 4000K. Also 3 growmau5 initiator pucks and I'll probably throw some UV in their too but haven't found what I want yet.

lotus710 said:

Well i was gonna pay 42 per 3590 from rapid with the holder and reflector included. So i dont mind paying for the good good.

Ill have to email heatsink usa about shipping prices. Im honestly leaning on the strips. I was planning on doing seperate bars instead of a big one. And i mean the aluminum is for flooring and its an 8 ft long 1x1in L channel for 27XD thats before the mental 12% tax here in bc.

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Ahhh... OK, I got ya. I get 3/4" 8 foot long U channel at my local "Do It Best" hardware store for 10 bucks (USD) each. 3/4" angle is a buck or so less.

Cripes Canada prices suck! and 12% tax on top? Ugh... I'd be smuggling that shit across the border somehow....

lotus710 said:

Well i was gonna pay 42 per 3590 from rapid with the holder and reflector included. So i dont mind paying for the good good.

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more expensive/efficient chip isnt always indicated

(8 ) $17 luminus would beat out (6) of any of the bigger chips in both cost and efficiency

also with your heat sink supply issues more smaller chips would spread out the head load to where you could use common flat stock

Danielson999 said:

Hey, I found these guys here in BC but they have stores across North America. I walked in to the front office and within' a minute a guy was taking me into the shop and showing me everything they had in stock so I could get an idea of what I wanted to use. I had 12 pieces of 45" long x 1" wide aluminum tubing 1/16th" thick. Also 2 pieces of the same material but 68" long. It came to about $100 including cutting it. If you're only using 1" angle the price would be much cheaper. Anyway, it's by far the best place for Canadians to get their aluminum for building frames. You can see the place HERE.

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I get my al plates and sheets from them. Scrap the expensive heatsinks and get more cobs!

I would move towards the strips. All are Constant Current so any drivers you get mostly 1050B style are reusable anyway. Go cheaper and if it does not work out you just have to replace the light engine not the whole system.