buildinga small 10 LED Light, have some questions!!

Hi towelie, lovin the Avatar!! afraid I can't help with your Questions...but I'm very interested to see what Replies/Info you get back?

Think LED Grows are wicked...but the Panels are well expensive at the moment..well for decent ones anyway..

So is this a Home Build D.I.Y. project you working on...

Peace

EDIT: So how much is the Project gonna cost..is it cheaper to buy your own(per unit or in bulk) gonna have to look into LEDS more me thinks..don't know if you've seen slipons LED Grow.....Tis Nice...

God Damn Captcha!!!!

towelie... said:

UHH I have tons of questions!

Im building a small LED light.

my plan is to use 10 or 13 LEDs. (the larger version would have 25)

Click to expand...

Go*ing to try and make this quick, Captcha keeps fu*kin with me!! Aarrgghh!! Well that went well!!
/Hiya towelie, quite a bit interested in LED myself..Kinda thought more Peeps would've replied?? had a look through some Info, this was -*/

oh bugger! only taken a hour to do this...My Baby daughter and Cat had other ideas!!

Found this and even though its old Info..thought I would Post:

DAMAN2U1_Posted 08 September 2011_grasscity.com


Build your own led grow lights for 30 bucks!!!

SO..... Who want to spend hundreds of dollars on LED grow lights? NO ONE!! So I just built my own. This is my own design of a "UFO" Grow light that uses 100 high intensity RED LED's dialed in on exactly 623 nanometers on the light spectrum. They are all soldered in parallel running off a a DC power supply system for electrical testing. It draws less than 4 AMPS, but don't let that fool you. When it comes to LED's, it's not so much the intensity of light, but the exact spectrum used for certain stages of cannabis development. This thing gives off NO HEAT, so it will literately rest on top of the buds. In particular, the plant that has grown past my 1000W light that is FIXED to the 10 FT ceiling. If this works as well as I think it will, I will be making much more of these, even though the soldering is horribly tedious to put 100 LED's in one parallel circuit in such a small space. But..... Did i mention this only cost me 30 bucks to make?!





Sorry I posted all these pics with out a single word on how to do it. I just got really tired last night after hours of soldering. Here it is:


Materials and locations:
- 100 5500mcd 623 nanometer RED piranha LED's
found at: LED Lights & Accessories - SUPER BRIGHT LEDS
- 4 bread boards or one big one
found at radioshack. Make sure you get ones that have a metal background
- Cardboard cut out of a circle (about a foot in diameter, these is dependent on
preference
- Duck tape
- Soldering iron
- Solder
- Glass of scotch, steady hand, and a shit load of patience.


The last thing you need is the only real variable, and can be pricy.
You need to be able to power this thing. I have a degree in electrical engineering, and I have lots of equipment that the school gave me, including a DC power supply. Most LED run off of 3.5 - 5 volts, and usually draw anywhere from .001 AMPS to a full AMP or more. Some people prefer to buy static drivers that are fixed on a certain voltage and amperage. If thats the route you want to take, you need to find a driver that will have an output of 5V and 2AMPS. Here is the spec sheet for the LED's I used:
5mm Red Piranha LED | Super Bright LEDs
You can see that each one requires .02Amps (20mA). So, 100 of these draw 2 AMPS in order to illuminate to it's full capacity. I prefer a variable DC power supply so I can have options to add or take away LED's depending on application
The method of power is the only thing that is pricy, look online and get a cheap DC power supply that is used.
After you have gathered your supplies and smoked a fat bowl, check out the next post.


The hardest thing about this is soldering these little fuckers onto the bread boards. Before you begin soldering, develop a plan of attack. Every bread board is configured differently in regards to how it's pre-drilled holes are arranged and what lines of conductivity there on. Since this is going to be one huge parallel circuit, not series, we need to establish common lines of ground and common lines of hot. What that means, is that every positive connection must have a direct line to power, and every negative connection needs to have a direct line to ground. Thats a parallel circuit for those of you who did no know. There are lots of ways to do this, but the best way is to work WITH the design of the bread board you bought. Radio shack has some that make every other vertical row pre connected, so instead of using jumper wires you could bleed solder over rows to establish parallel lines. I know this sound confusing, and I wish I took pics of the back of the finished boards to show you what I mean, and if anyone would like I will go into more detail with this, but the goal is to not use jumper wires and to make it as clean as possible. Depending on whether or not you got 4 sep boards or one big one, you will need to wire each board in parallel as well. Each board (or the one big one) should have a positive wire soldered to a hot line, and a negative wire to a ground line for easy access, and so you can lace the wires to the back of the puck. Once all of soldering is done, position the 4 boards ( or one big one) on the card board cut out. I used duck tape. Lace the wires to back, attach to power supply, and then literately lay the light on top of the bud. This thing gives off NO HEAT. Let this fucker rest on top of the plants and buds, it won't burn it.


If anyone has any more questions, feels I didn't go into enough detail on something, or just want to chat, please do so. I welcome comments and constructive criticism.


Well, like I previously said, the soldering was very intensive. It took hours, and you have to be precise, unless you spread out the lights more. As for the 12 V charger, the AMPs aren't a problem. When I say it draws 2 AMPS, it doesn't mean it cant have more running through it. On my variable DC power supply, there is an out put that is constantly fixed at 5V 4 AMPS, and I just use that so I don't have to mess with dials. It just DRAWS 2 AMPS from the Circuit. Now the voltage could destroy the LED's. These Red LED's actually have a rating of 3.5V, and too much can and will burn out the LED. 12 V will most certainly blow out these LED's, but you could run some more powerful LED'S like CREE ones that run off of 12 V. But those cost 7 bucks a pop, but are much more powerful. But like I said in the beginning of the fourm, intensity is for canopy penetration. With LED's it's all about the spectrum. To adapt the device you have to run my LED set up, you would need a 5-10 W resistor, and I would have to do the math to figure out what OHM's you would need, and to see how it affects the current. Your best off finding a pre - built driver, or fork over some money for a real variable DC power supply for labatory testing. With that you could run multiple grow light systems depending on what AMPerage it can deliver.




THIS MAY BE OF SOME INTEREST_POSTED BY RongBip_


I think this would work fine as long as you used it mainly for flowering.


I found this on another site, not sure how reliable it is, but it sounds right.


200 - 280 nm UVC ultraviolet range which is extremely harmful to cannabis plants because it is highly toxic.


280 - 315 nm Includes harmful UVB ultraviolet light which causes cannabis plants colors to fade.


315 - 380 nm Range of UVA ultraviolet light which is neither harmful nor beneficial to cannabis plant growth.


380 - 400 nm Start of visible light spectrum. Process of chlorophyll absorption begins. UV protected plastics ideally block out any light below this range.


400 - 520 nm This range includes violet, blue, and green bands. Peak absorption by chlorophyll occurs, and a strong influence on photosynthesis. (promotes vegetative growth) 520 - 610 nm This range includes the green, yellow, and orange bands and has less absorption by pigments.


610 - 720 nm This is the red band. Large amount of absorption by chlorophyll occurs, and most significant influence on photosynthesis. (promotes flowering and budding) 720 - 1000 nm There is little absorption by chlorophyll here. Flowering and germination is influenced. At the high end of the band is infrared, which is heat.


1000+ nm

EDIT: I don't know how much of this Info is correct or not, just thought might be of some help..and maybe get this Thread moving...

Peace

hmm interesting... hes using 100 cheap leds instead of 10 expensive ones.

im going to buy quality name brand leds for like 3$ a pop... so its kind of a different build (also a lot less work) i just wanna know if the leds i picked are the best i could be using.

Hiya towelie, hope you managed to find out more Info? Wow I see loads Peeps interested in this...Lol

Found this on instructables looks pretty good, bit more expensive than the $30 one though..

108W LED Grow Light Panel by GoonyLex



Hi
This is my first instructable, I hope you all enjoy it and hopefully some of you will get some use out


of it.


Growing with LED lights


Using LED lights for plant growth is a nice alternative to using HPS and metal halide. While many argue


that the results are simply not the same in recent years LED's are slowly gaining respect in the indoor


plant growing community.


Advantages:
+Uses up to 80% less energy on your bill making it a green solution.
+Lower heat and easier to control temperature.
+Long life span up to 50,000 hours
+Precise spectrum for photosynthesis


The main disadvantage with LEDS is the cost of certain high end units. This instructable is here to


give those that are interested in plant growth with LED's a nice cheap alternative DIY solution.

[h=2]Step 1: Tools and Materials[/h]


Tools:
+Drill
+Soldering Iron
+Wire stripper
+Ruler
+Marker
+A little series/parallel wiring knowledge


Materials:
+Cooling fans($6-$20 or salvage)
+Thermal glue ($7) http://dx.com/p/fujik-silicone-thermal-glue-50ml-grease-like-4579?item=1
+Nuts + Bolts ($3)
+2 - 3 feet of 18 AWG wire (3$)
+Metal Panel 7"x7" from http://www.metalsupermarkets.com/ ($16)
+Led Drivers x 3 (36$)


http://dx.com/p/waterproof-670ma-36w-power-constant-current-source-led-driver-85-265v-42906?item=2
****use bulk rate because you get a disscount when purchasing 3 or more****
+DC transformer 8-14V (salvage)
+AC power cord/plug (salvage)
Total: $110-120


LED's from Ebay(about 40$):
3W Blue x4 (455nm)
3W Blue x4 (445nm)
3W Deep red x16 (660nm)
3W Red x12 (630nm)
***you dont have to use the same configuration as me, try your own let me know how it works out for you***

[h=2]Step 2: Drill Holes[/h]


The first step is to drill 6 holes for the led drivers and 1 hole for the wire to go through.


+Use a ruler to find the approximate centre of the led drivers when they are next to each other.
+Take a marker and ma


rked the six holes where to drill for the led drivers.
+Then mark one hole for the wires to go though (look at pic which will show you where to place it).
+Time to drill the holes
+First drill the six driver holes using a drill bit that is about the same size as the bolt
+Then use a bigger drill bit and drill the hole for the wires
+When finished you should have a metal plate similar to the one in the picture below

[h=2]Step 3: Glue the LED's to the panel[/h]


In this step you will mark the placement of where each LED will go


+This is easy, measure one side of your panel, take that measurement and divide it by 6
+Now for me this came to about 1.16"
+Now use a ruler and place a dot every 1.16" on both that side and its opposite, once you are done this


connect the dots and you should get 6 rectangles on the panel.
+Next you do the same thing to the other 2 sides of the panel and you are left with 36 even squares and


should have a pannel that looks something like the picture bellow.
+After that we will mark where each LED will go (or you can use my picture as a reference, or you can make your own configuration)

[h=2]Step 4: Glue on the LED's[/h]

In this step we will attach the LED's to the panel


+Simply take the thermal glue apply a little to each led and stick it on the panel
+Add moderate pressure and twist slighty to spread the thermal glue and get a good surface contact
+MAKE SURE THAT LED's TERMINALS ALL FACE THE SAME WAY (+) and (-) unless you are doing your own configuration
+its not a big deal if you mess up but prepare for some messy wiring
+wait a couple of hour or overnight for the glue to harden and cure

[h=2]Step 5: Soldering[/h]

+Once all LED's are in place and the glue has cured it is time to solder the LED's
+ I did this in rectangle shapes but you can solder it any way you want as long as you solder only up


to 12 LED's in series.
+If you are unsure what series wiring is just simply google it, but in the simplest way to describe it


to you is simply always solder the + terminal onto the - terminal of each individual LED so that every


LED will have only two connections and will look like the picture below.


+Cut a piece of wire the length of one terminal to the next, and use the wire stripper to strip away a


small portion of the end of the wire
+For easy soldering add a little solder to the terminal before adding the wire
+then simply re-heat the solder and solder the wire onto the terminal and your final product should


look something like mine


+Once your have finished that, you then solder the + and - terminals of each driver to each of the 12


LED's in the series circuits and should have something that looks like the last picture of this step

[h=2]Step 6: Bolt on the drivers[/h]

In this step you will bolt on the drivers on to your LED panel


+first take each bolt and use the nut to secure it to the panel
+after this add another nut close to the top of the bolt
+do this for all 6 bolts and it will resemble the picture below
+then add the driver on top of the bolt and tighten the last bolt to hold the driver in place
+do this for all 3 drivers


****the main reason behind raising the drivers of the panel is to add air circulation to the panel and drivers for heat manegment***

[h=2]Step 7: Power to the Drivers[/h]

In this step you are simply adding a 120V or 220V plug to your drivers


+take a power plug salvaged of anything thrown out
+Solder the matching 3 AC blue wires from the drivers together and to one of the plugs wires
+after this do the same for the other 3 blue wires
+I used electrical nuts or whetever you call them to simply screw the 3 blue wires + plug wire together


for both AC wires
+also if you wish to add any switches I recommend that you add it to the AC line and not the DC ( for


example you can add 3 switches to power on and off each individual series of 12 LED's)


****I used a retractable AC power cord this is totally unnecessary, it is simply the cord that I had available at the time and will most likely change to a regular cord****

[h=2]Step 8: Cooling and mounting[/h]

This last step is really up to each individual user to determine how they want to approach


+because most people have spare PC fans it is perfectly fine to use those or any other fans available


to you
+I personaly used a fan I bough from a second hand electronic store for $6 and it works quite good
+ as you see in the picture this type of fan nicely pushes air along the surface of the plate cooling


down the whole plate


+you can add any type of cooling you like just remember that you will need a external power sourse to


power your fan/fans
+I used a salvaged transformer to power my fan simply connect the + and - terminals of the DC


transormers to the mattching terminals of the fan/fans(require parallel wiring) and there you have it


****cooling is extremely important it is never a bad idea to add a thermal switch to the main LED


circuit in case your fan circuit fails****this panel can reach dangerous temperatures without cooling


and can become a fire hazard use at own risk*****


remember that this panel will produce a fair amount of heat, keep this in mind along with the fact


that some plants require up to 12 hours of constant light


How you mount your panel depends on where you will mount it, I personaly am going to use the bolts of


the drivers to mount my panel onto a cabinet shelf, this will be included in my next instructable as I


tend this to be part 1 of MAKE an automated arduino garden

[h=2]Step 9: Finished[/h]

Thank you
I hope you have enjoyed this instructable
If you have any question feel free to ask me I will answer them when I can
If you made one enjoy your panel


EDIT: I think its a pretty cool Tutorial

Peace

Respect to [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]GooneyLex[/FONT]

towelie... said:

hmm interesting... hes using 100 cheap leds instead of 10 expensive ones.

im going to buy quality name brand leds for like 3$ a pop... so its kind of a different build (also a lot less work) i just wanna know if the leds i picked are the best i could be using.

Click to expand...

Hiya towelie, I've only just started looking into LED, my Hippy m8 was chatting about this kinda thing maybe 5-6yrs ago...but just seemed too expensive at the time..

The Fact you can get the LED'S so cheap now is what got me thinking about em again, that and seeing Slipons Grow. Will def be building one myself....Fancy the idea of running a couple of panels for side lighting/lower growth areas

Peace

Spose you do get what you pay for..gonna check out the prices of LEDS @ Maplins

Peace