DIY Cobs . is it real or is it fantasy.

Hi I figured it was time to start a new thread about where Cobb lighting will go from here Do people want Cree Cxb 3590 chips or cheap knock offs . if you could buy a quality DIY light would you or rather build it yourself. As a long time grower I know that it comes down to your garden. And you can't make lights and grow at the same time for most. I want to know what you people that grow and want something better than there HPS/MH system but feal like there isn't enough information about Cobb lighting. The ones saying it ain't broke so don't fix it. Open to suggestions from you DIY light sales guys who don't grow. I want to show the difference between the LED GUY WHO SELLS THEM ,AND THE LED GUY WHO GROWS. And the difference between. And most of the led guys who grow have no time to make a light but had the courage to do it, or the smarts to do it. Truth is most real growers do not have the time or knowledge to research lights then build them. DIY for cobbs is turning expensive and timely so should we leave it to the Profesionals to do. And is a nongrower capable of even building lights or selling parts.

They're real...

I have 2 lights. Both DIY.
My first is a Timber kit of 5 Cree leds powered to 50 watts each in a 5 square foot tent.
This thing kicks it. So much so that I built the second light from parts, no kit. The home made is a 6 cob/54 watts each set up in a 3x3.

The Timber 5 cob 250 watt kit.


The 6 cob set running at 320 watts total.
This in my 1st grow in this setup.

Well I'd have to question some of your assumptions, but in the end it depends completely on the individual regarding time and ability. I'm brand new to the DIY LED arena, and I'll admit that from my experience the learning curve for someone who doesn't have any electronic background is a bit steep, but then I'm an old dog and it's getting harder for me to learn new tricks, lol.

But that said, with all the information, videos and especially the helpful people just on these forums, I don't see why anyone with a modicum of intelligence, the right attitude and some tools couldn't DIY some LED fixtures. And the savings can add up, especially if you're growing area requires multiple fixtures - that's what drove me to try this because the off-the-shelf units have been DISGUSTINGLY high priced (like $2K for a 600w light, ridiculous imo).

Of course if you have more money than most and less time, then it's probably best to buy commercial made, and I have seen some advertised here that aren't stupid-expensive, lol. In my case, even if I had a ton of money, I'd still want to do it myself, because I enjoy the challenge and of course I love to tinker. Sometimes that in itself is the reward, like just yesterday when I plugged my first DIY LED light in, and it shone like the noonday sun, THAT was a joyful moment indeed.

Behold the Russbilt Water-Cooled Sunbar 2000 ;?D







Now mind you this is a prototype, so it's a little rough, not too concerned about looks at the moment. I still have to hook it up to the water pump and rez for a long term test of the cooling capacity, that and I'm planning on adding 4 more cobs to try and get this up to a 500W equivalent fixture. But imo, it's fun building it yourself, and I swear most people don't realize that they really can do this stuff, it's all about pushing your boundaries to discover what your capable of.

For instance, I'm no mechanic, but a couple of months ago I installed a new alternator AND A/C unit (charged it too) just from watching YouTube videos, and before that I pretty much thought it was beyond my pay grade, lol, but you never know until you try ;?)

Qjay420 said:

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Is DIY LED the same thing as DE HPS? Both do a pound and then some at 500 watts easy.

Qjay420 said:

DIY for cobbs is turning expensive and timely so should we leave it to the Profesionals

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Also I think this is wrong. I've kinda been checking back over the years as LED tech matured, and at least from my XP I think the prices have definitely come down, and again there are some pretty simple kits and plans out there to do build them pretty cheap.

Sure, the trade-off is time, as in a LOT of research first, and then sourcing and ordering parts after, but if you're not in a big hurry I don't see any reason a guy/gal couldn't start small and then start replacing their old HPS & MH lights over time. The biggest plus is savings on you electric bill, and if you hate your power company as much as I do, then that's another BIG bonus, lol (seriously, I really hate those fuckers ;?)>

a mongo frog said:

Is DIY LED the same thing as DE HPS? Both do a pound and then some at 500 watts easy.

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Not sure if you mean like is the photon output the same, or do you mean the difference between the two technologies?

I'm no expert on the first, but from what I've been reading, aside from efficiency (i.e. more energy goes into light/photons and therefore less into heat generation, so can save you $$ two ways) it seems that LEDs are getting better than the old arc-tube fixtures. Plenty of info in the LED lighting section and there's some great videos on YouTube (my favorites are the ones by Gromau5).

let me clear the air about that . I have a friend that runs a DE Gavita and between the cost of electricity and the heat build up the technology looks old to what our led systems are putting out. you save on power but also get a much better spectrum out of the light. First and foremost your plants reaction to the cobbs is something never seen before. and they are so simple you can flick them on and off ten times with no issue. and you never have to change bulbs again. if one chip goes out the rest stay on, and all that you have to do is change the one chip with two screws. but they last 50.000 hours.

Qjay420 said:

between the cost of electricity

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What cost of electricity? If everyone is getting 1+ units off 500 watts, its the same electricity. Do you mean the cost of cooling the Gavita your friend has? And how much would it be to cool 1 Gavita? Couldn't be much.

well cooling the Gavita depends on the time of year and the space. but on a ten Cobb lighting system you should pull two pounds out of a 4×4 area. only using your circulation fan . 2grams per watt. and it cost roughly $6 dollars a month for a ten Cobb at 1400ma@ 250 watts ×2 of those drivers.

a mongo frog said:

What cost of electricity? If everyone is getting 1+ units off 500 watts, its the same electricity. Do you mean the cost of cooling the Gavita your friend has? And how much would it be to cool 1 Gavita? Couldn't be much.

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Are you still going on with this bullshit? You can yield way more with 500W of DIY cobs than 500W of DE. Why do you keep trying to equate the 2 when one is clearly a lot better?

(More light...)

The only reason you do this is because you take personal offense to the fact that another light outperforms your DE setups. That doesn't mean anything is wrong with your DE setups, but your judgement is totally based on emotion, not facts. You resort to lying just to make yourself feel better about your own setup. I understand that you like equality, but your equality view gets in the way of the truth. It is what it is.. Nobody is attacking your grow, so why do you insist on getting so defensive. The reality is that nobody cares about your grow or what lamps you use but you. They just want to know which is brighter and which costs more.

If everyone thought like you did, any form of progress would be shunned.

Also, why is this in the nutrients section? This thread has absolutely nothing to do with nutrients.

Qjay420 said:

Hi I figured it was time to start a new thread about where Cobb lighting will go from here Do people want Cree Cxb 3590 chips or cheap knock offs . if you could buy a quality DIY light would you or rather build it yourself. As a long time grower I know that it comes down to your garden. And you can't make lights and grow at the same time for most. I want to know what you people that grow and want something better than there HPS/MH system but feal like there isn't enough information about Cobb lighting. The ones saying it ain't broke so don't fix it. Open to suggestions from you DIY light sales guys who don't grow. I want to show the difference between the LED GUY WHO SELLS THEM ,AND THE LED GUY WHO GROWS. And the difference between. And most of the led guys who grow have no time to make a light but had the courage to do it, or the smarts to do it. Truth is most real growers do not have the time or knowledge to research lights then build them. DIY for cobbs is turning expensive and timely so should we leave it to the Profesionals to do. And is a nongrower capable of even building lights or selling parts.

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I've built 4 and bought 4. If I didn't have have a job, I might would build another. I would rather buy them though. I don't think you save a lot of money on DIY either. Things are moving quickly in the DIY and I think there are a lot more plug and play items available now. I hated tapping all those holes.

churchhaze said:

Are you still going on with this bullshit? You can yield way more with 500W of DIY cobs than 500W of DE. Why do you keep trying to equate the 2 when one is clearly a lot better?

(More light...)

The only reason you do this is because you take personal offense to the fact that another light outperforms your DE setups. That doesn't mean anything is wrong with your DE setups, but your judgement is totally based on emotion, not facts. I understand that you like equality, but your equality view gets in the way of the truth. It is what it is.. Nobody is attacking your grow, so why do you insist on getting so defensive. The reality is that nobody cares about your grow or what lamps you use but you. They just want to know which is brighter and which costs more.

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Who's doing way more then a pound of top shelf with 500 watts of cob? Where are these grows?

So you say LED specifically COB has a better spectrum then DE and because of that produces higher quality then you could also say a CMH has a better spectrum then a COB and will produce higher quality
A Gavita DE is a 2200k light source what would a COBs efficiency be at 2200k? Probably sub 100 lm/W check the graph below it looks like kelvin for kelvin DE wins

a mongo frog said:

Who's doing way more then a pound of top shelf with 500 watts of cob? Where are these grows?

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That's not a fair question to ask considering most people don't grow with exactly 500W. I can pull 310g from 193W. (not 500W). If you scale that up (using math), that's 803g for 500W.

803g = 1.77lb.

If you reword the question to "the equivalent to 1lb per 500W", the answer is easily me. You are purposefully burying your head in the sand. You know there are plenty of people who get better numbers than me (captainmorgan for example), yet you still insist nobody can get over 1lb per 500g with DIY cob. We CRUSH your benchmark of 1lb per 500W.

churchhaze said:

We CRUSH your benchmark of 1lb per 500W.

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Why do you think we do this? Do make ourselves feel better about ourselves? Stop whining about things getting better. Seriously.

churchhaze said:

That's not a fair question to ask considering most people don't grow with exactly 500W. I can pull 310g from 193W. (not 500W). If you scale that up (using math), that's 803g for 500W.

803g = 1.77lb.

If you reword the question to "the equivalent to 1lb per 500W", the answer is easily me. You are purposefully burying your head in the sand. You know there are plenty of people who get better numbers than me (captainmorgan for example), yet you still insist nobody can get over 1lb per 500g with DIY cob. We CRUSH your goal of 1lb per 500W.

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You never showed a garden pulling any of the numbers your talking about.

a mongo frog said:

You never showed a garden pulling any of the numbers your talking about.

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I've showed it to just about everyone that's asked. How do you think I know what I'm doing? You have your head stuck in the sand. Take it out and stop lying to people. Stop being so defensive about PROGRESS. There is absolutely nothing personal about it. The world will improve around you whether you like it or not. YOU are obsessed with the "epeen" of others" more than the actual subject being discussed.

churchhaze said:

I've showed it to just about everyone that's asked. How do you think I know what I'm doing? You have your head stuck in the sand. Take it out and stop lying to people. Stop being so defensive about PROGRESS. The world will improve around you whether you like it or not.

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You haven't showed. You never will.