COB strips?

Has anyone had any experience with these?



Their cost makes them an affordable alternative to for my particular situation.

It seems I can drive these directly from an unregulated 12VDC power supply and I've still got loads of overhead on my 30 amp unit.

This is how I'm taking care of things at the moment.

wow it looks like the leaves orient to the side lighting wild. have you completed any grows with that kind of setup?

Hi Bin-Grower!

I'm using two 12v Cobs á 6w(4,5w real) for my cuttings and works great so far. But thats no-name DRL lights for cars from eBay. I know there are better one's from Nichia/Citizen and I'm sure they will work.

Have you seen this typ of soft stripes?
20w/m and 50%(90pcs./m) more LED's as on a normal SMD5630 stripe(60pcs/m),
Ø120lm/w
Really bright, but causes more heat as normal stripes and alu-sheets for better cooling are recommend!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/131479942962?ru=http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=131479942962&_rdc=1

Another cheap option are this SMD7020 hardstripes with 6w each! They are mounted on 2mm thick alu and gives better cooling in a trash bin! They are more efficient as smd5630.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/251701078395?ru=http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=251701078395&_rdc=1

testiclees said:

wow it looks like the leaves orient to the side lighting wild. have you completed any grows with that kind of setup?

Click to expand...

She's still a baby and being trained aggressively under that ring on the bottom. But you're right. They will do that if the side lights are close enough.

I've done a few

http://bucketlink.imgur.com/

I'm emulating @the church man's epic build

Not sure about COB strips. I tried 5050 and 5630 and they just too less power for me. i assume all ebay/chinese crap is same.
I like to use efficient 130+ lumen/watt and powerful strips. these are little expensive.

Here is some info about more efficient powerful SOFT Strips luxeon strips that would require heatsink unless significantly underdriven
https://www.rollitup.org/t/micro-greenhouse-with-luxeon-xf-3535l-led-strips.875345/

Here are efficient powerful HARD strips samsung strip based on LM561B aka 5630 that would require small heatsink unless significantly underdriven
http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/0/1510-1121-ND (24.7V, 1350ma, 33 watt 560mm)
http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/0/1510-1190-ND (24.7V, 450ma, 11 watt 260mm)
http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/0/1510-1100-ND (This is is low power 7W, 12v, less hot so no Heatsink i think, secondary optics make sure light spreads so plants can get close)

If your spacebins are metal, they can work at heatsink for these strips.
@BinGrower
How many watt in each bin and whats the max yield per bin you got so far.

I've got some Samsung chipped 5630 strips on the way. Excited to see how they perform compared to the generic 5630/7020 strips I've used so far. I hope they can dissipate their heat without needing to be metal mounted.

For the COB strips I'll mount them to something like these



and fit them vertically



The heatsinks will be on the outside.

So I'm not sure how best to power multiple 12V COB strips, as many as 10.

Is it necessary to regulate current or only voltage? I don't think it'll be possible to wire them in series because of the voltage requirements. Could definitely do with some advice here. My experience is limited to running single COB chips from constant current drivers and LED strips that don't require any current regulation.

Would it be as simple as wiring 10 of them in parallel and powering them with a buck booster?

@robincnn

There's 140W in the lids and 50 - 75W in the sides. Best yield to date has been 90g but that was under less light and from soil.

Hi BinGrower!
There is a Cree CXB1304 with 9v, 18v and 36v options.
The 9v variant seems good, because a string of 10 needs only Ø90v. If you choose a dimable 40w driver (maybe HLG-40H-C350bb or something similar from ebay) with 90-100v and 350-400mA you can drive 4 strings á 10 CXB1304 @100mA with only one driver and an awesome effiency.
I would prefer the 4k for side lights and the C3 bin/cri80 or D2 bin/cri 70. Ø 180lm@100mA!!

I am considering making a cannabis reactor like the one you have.

Not sure what samsung 5630 you ordered so cannot say what voltage or if hestsink required. Let me know how they work out for you.

a 300x25x12mm reaches 50C if no air movement with 10 watt strip. So your150x16x10 will surely get hot with 5 or 8 watt cob strip If no air movement

usually led are constsnt current driven. Since your COB strips are rated 12v And not constant current.. Go ahead and connect them in parallel and connect to 12v power Just like you would with any regular strip. you should be fine.

Do consider an efficient COB for lid(top) along with strips on the side.
Let me know if you have a grow journal thread. Thanks

What makes you say the COB strips do not need current regulation?

Grow journal is here: https://www.rollitup.org/t/continuous-bin-grow.879850/

If you use 9-12V COBs, connected in parallel on an unregulated 12V constant voltage power supply, each COB will draw a different current but it should not vary drastically. Probably a good idea to stay under 80% of the PSU max current rating. The efficiency of a system like that would be very dependant on the PSU efficiency.

The main problem, they are 9-12V COBs, so that implies that at 12V they will draw near their max current (1A, 10W ea) and allegedly they would be at 100lm/W (30% efficient).

So they are $3.75 ea and make about 3 PAR W, that is $1.25/PAR W not bad. But for comparison the Vero 10 cost only $0.71/PAR W when run at the same efficiency (32%).

An even more important way to look at it, if you are willing to spend $1.25/PAR W you could get 37% efficiency from the Vero 10, 43% efficiency from the Vero29 or 50% efficiency from the CXB3590 for the exact same price.

@SupraSPL

You're the man. You found the words to make me understand.

I'd like to underdrive these somewhat. So I'll dial the voltage at assembly time.

I've fitted a current shunt and ammeter into the side lighting circuit and I'm utilizing 15A of a 30A supply. I'll calculate the power supplies efficiency for reference. I have opened up the casing and improved its cooling significantly. I still need another power supply soon regardless.

Also I can raise the stakes a fraction. I've found alleged 15W units for $3.50 each. How to calculate PAR W?

But their appeal is the form factor for my application and as a replacement for cheap 5630/7020 strips they'll yield efficiency dividends I'm sure

I'm looking forward to building Vero 10's into the lid of this one