Economical multi LED Chip Projects for Growing

This is what im working with, im not sure where what im gonna do now i had planned on putting them on the top, but its serrated. Any idea what I could do? Could I attach heat sinks to the top and place cobs on that? I know someone who welds so I could get something going, I just dont understand the heat dissaption aspect of things. Would heat transfer well from one heatsink to the next, I wouldn't think so, but idk

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From what I can see in the pics... Can you detach the sides and flip them over and screw them on the other side, so you can have a large flat surface? Next cover the flat side with as thick an aluminum plate you can find or work (use heat sink paste between the plates). You'll mount your LEDs on the bottom of this plate. Next flip over the heat sink and fill the rectangular holes with heat sinks salvaged from PCs or other electronic equipment screwed to the aluminum plate, a CPU heat sink looks like it might fit in the large hole. Looks like the side rails might be useful as sides, if you can reverse them somehow.

A skill saw with a carbide tipped blade (almost all come with one) can saw aluminum plate or the heat sink easily, Use safety glasses and goggles when cutting aluminum. 1/8 thick plate should do as a heat spreader on the bottom of the heat sink and if there is room on the top you can add more junk heat sinks to the existing one.

Yeah the sides are very thick, I was think I could get heat sinks to run across to put the cobs on or maybe attaching a flat piece of aluminum across and attach it to the sides. The sides are serrated so seem very useful and hard to turn around. It would have been perfect had they had been reversed.

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Is it one piece or are the sides separate? if they are riveted on you can use an old screw driver as a chisel to drive in between with a hammer and wedge them apart.

Sorry meant to clarify, its just one solid piece. I wish it wasnt but im thinking it can still work out. It just would have been a whole lot easier if I could place the cobs on the flat side. Im partially ghetto I have aluminum tape so I could use thermal paste and tape some heat sinks onto the sides going across or buy a solid piece to go across.

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I also looked and saw i could buy an aluminum plate .249 inches thick for 20, would that be decent for heat dissipation

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Perhaps only use it for a couple of chips and a driver. I would suggest you keep looking and visit junk yards. Old audio Amps have great heat sinks on the back and the cases can be used to house things, generally you would take the heat sinks off the back and put them in the top or bottom and use the power cord etc. Have a look around for a dead amp to strip, most of the better ones (in their day) have almost everything you need. Use the flat sides of the heat sink(s) to mount the LEDs and if you have 2 heat sinks or can saw one in half, you can spread them out to the sides, each sink with 3 chips. There might even be enough room in the middle of the box to put a couple of more chips on PC CPU heat sinks and expand to an 8 LED unit with 4 drivers in the box. That would give you close to 400 real watts of power for a central top light,it might be all the top light you need for a 4X4. Your own DIY high end, high power grow light that if you bought it new online, they would claim was a 600 or 800 watt unit and cost many hundreds of dollars. If you got the right amp for free or a few bucks, four drivers and 8 warm white chips (add one cool white to the mix instead of a warm white) it would cost a little over a hundred bucks US.

Alright I have a couple of weeks to find it so i think I will be able too make it happen. I have another car amp laying around that might be pretty good as well. But im gonna take a look online and see if there are any used or broken amps . Yeah I didn't want to pay 800 dollars for a light that just seemed ridiculous but thanks again for the help. I need all I can to get this project finished

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jpizzle4shizzle said:

I also looked and saw i could buy an aluminum plate .249 inches thick for 20, would that be decent for heat dissipation

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That would be 1/4" plate and if the pieces were big enough (at least 3"x 5") you could bolt a CPU heat sink on the back and a couple of LEDs on the front and use it as a heat spreader. Also if you can get a large enough piece you could cover one side with LEDs and the other with junk heat sinks and make a whooper of a lamp. 1/4" aluminum plate is very useful and can be the foundation of many lamp designs. It allows you to cool two cheap chips with one CPU heat sink. For instance you could strip an old ATX computer power supply (ones with the fans on top are best), leaving in the fan and power connector and switch (if it has one) in the box. Next cut a large hole in the bottom of the box for the chips to go through (see the pics of the canister lamps earlier in this thread) Attach the heat sink to the 1/4" aluminum plate and drop it in the box, put the 2 LEDs on the bottom of the plate, and squeeze the driver in the box too (the heat sink can be off center, since the aluminum plate can spread the heat). Use the fan in the power supply to cool everything, though perhaps you may have to mount it on the outside of the box if you need the room inside. Use the power connector in the box (leave the surge suppressors on the connector if it has them), then use a computer power cord to plug into the connector. See the Power supply lamp pics earlier in the thread.

Yeah I want to be able to fit a decent amount of cobs on it, so ive been looking into heatsinks and I also have some pc fans on the way to help cool things down so it will be actively cooled. But I am starting to like your idea, I may have to make two lights. I was wanting to fit them on one but that may be very difficult

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VEG Lamp Rig #1 Completed
VEG Lamp Rig #1 was completed today, it was built in collaboration with a friend who put in half the time at my bench constructing the lamp. He contributed a few good ideas to the design of his lamp, like using the left over white tubing pieces as wire conduits in the middle. This also eliminated the cut thru sections of tubing side wall caused by the hole saw and provided a short wire path to the driver. This is a cabinet rig and will provide the foundation of a new veg lighting system for my friend. The cool white 5000K LEDs use about 100W of power and according to the specs it should produce about 95 Lm/W X 97W = 9200 lumins, at the level the LEDs are currently driven.

Here is a photo taken just before closeup and bench testing.

VEG Lamp Rig #1 Completed
A few more photos of VEG Lamp Rig #1 after close up and during bench testing. I hung it from the ceiling with chains to take some readings with my new LUX meter.

If I had it to do over I'd use thinner tubing, I already bought enough for several lamps, but if I was buying it again, there's a wall thickness between 1/16" and 1/8" that would be easier to work and would cool effectively enough. 4"X1" tubing would be easier to cut fan holes in and would make a neater job. Also I'd just use dabs of silicone caulking on the corners of the fans instead of screwing them to the tubing, silicone sticks very well.

Reflectors made from 1 -1/2" wide strips of aluminum flashing lined with aluminum tape, bent to 30 degrees in the center is an option we are considering. We would attach sections of flashing to the sides of the tube with dabs of silicone caulking and clamp them in place until it sets.

A micro grow 10 Watt LED Fan Lamp Design idea
Here is an idea I'm toying with to make a small cabinet Fan Lamp Using a small eBay heat sink and some erector set style parts, screws and nuts from a dollar store kids toy kit. I have it mounted to a small, but powerful 2" computer fan, but you could replace the fan with the yellow bar shown and bolt it to the cage of a small fan and use it as a small fan lamp. I figure there is room to mount up to a half dozen 10 watt cool white chips on the front of the heat sink, but whether it will cool that many is another question, guess I'll have to arrange a test when the 10W LEDs arrive. I figure I could run 3 X10 watt chips in series off of one 30 watt 120VAC driver, if I mounted this on a cabinet fan. I don't think it will run too hot, but a test is in order I should think. I've got a DMM with a "K" type thermocouple temperature probe, an infrared thermometer gun and finger tips (rule of burnt thumb), so I can find out how hot it runs.
Here is a picture to give you an idea of what I''m talking about. The heat sink can swivel on the mount to adjust the light angle.

What's the weight like?

100 Watt 5000K VLR#2 (Veg Lamp Rig #2) Using Salvaged Street Lamp LED Arrays
This is the second design using aluminum tubes to cool led arrays salvaged from street lamps. This rig is an expanded version of VLR#1 with 4 tubes and a larger central electrical box. It will use 2 100W adjustable drivers and 4 large panels of 24 X 4, 3 W 5000K LEDs, divided into two switchable parts of 48 LEDs, a total of 96 LEDs drawing about 200W at full power and 100W at half power. 12 Three watt LEDs in series make one array and there are two arrays per panel, so when I wire it I can run the arrays in a checkerboard fashion at half power. This might be useful for the first few days when introducing new clones to the veg tent

Here is a preliminary layout for my lamp VLR#2. It will use 4 tubes and the central box will cool the two of the middle ones with one larger fan, I'll cut vents along the ends of the box lid (used upside down) and into one side of the center tubes. The two outside tubes will be cooled by their own fans like in VLR#1.

AquariusPanta said:

What's the weight like?

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Haven't measured it yet but probably around 6 to 10 pounds, basically what ever 3 pieces of 3"x1"x12" 1/8" thick aluminum weighs, plus a couple of pounds for the arrays, driver, fans, box, screws, wires, nuts and bolts. I'll make it a point of weighing VLR#2, since the first one is now in my buddy's veg cabinet growing plants and I don't think I could talk him into taking it out! (He really likes it).

DIY-HP-LED said:

Haven't measured it yet but probably around 6 to 10 pounds, basically what ever 3 pieces of 3"x1"x12" 1/8" thick aluminum weighs, plus a couple of pounds for the arrays, driver, fans, box, screws, wires, nuts and bolts. I'll make it a point of weighing VLR#2, since the first one is now in my buddy's veg cabinet growing plants and I don't think I could talk him into taking it out! (He really likes it).

Click to expand...

I was just finished washing the cooling tubes for VLR#2 and scouring them with steel wool. I put one of the outside tubes (with a fan hole) on the kitchen scale (this is identical to each of the 3 tubes used in VLR#1). It weighted 15.4 ounces, so the cooling tubes, support tubes, the nuts and bolts to hold them together weigh under 3 pounds, so I estimate VLR#1 to weigh between 4 and 5 pounds, probably closer to 4 pounds.

VLR#2 Progress Report
The design of VLR#2 has changed. I decided to make an air duct to join the two center cooling tubes and to support the electrical box. I made this by screwing and siliconing a couple of 6" long 2"Wx1" HX1/8"T pieces of aluminum channel together to make a 4"x1"x6" air duct. Using the duct allows the cooling tubes to be equidistant from each other and allows a much better component layout in the box. I'll attach the central air duct to the two center tubes with "L brackets and silicone caulking to form an "H". Most of the bottom (top) of electrical the box will be removed over the air duct and air will cool the drivers on the way to the cooling tubes. I'm planing on putting two short 3"x5" LED panels each composed of one array of 12x3W LEDs on the bottom of the air duct in the center of the rig and they will over hang the ends by a 1/2", but I don't see an issue with cooling.
The aluminum cooling tubes were cut, filed, cleaned, sanded and painted this evening and the 8 holes drilled in the support frame to bolt onto the outside support tubes. Tomorrow I'll begin assembly by drilling and bolting the 2 outside cooling tubes using the the 4 outside bolts, then I'll square up the frame and drill and bolt the other 4 holes. I'll then assemble my "H" out of the duct, corner brackets and the two center cooling tubes, then bolt it to the frame. Next I'll fit the lid of the electrical box (used upside down), cut out a large piece of the bottom over the duct and mount the drivers, fan(s) power supply and terminal connector block.

Here are a few photos to give you an idea of how VLR#2 is shaping up.

VLR#2 Progress Report
Got the support tubes and the outside cooling tubes squared and secured with eight screws and nuts. I assembled the central air duct to the two inside cooling tubes to make an "H" with "L" brackets and when I got it all squared and adjusted, I put silicone caulking in the joints to adhere them, stiffen the structure and seal it. I have about 20lbs stacked on it to keep every thing as flat as possible while the silicone cures, it will still have a bit of flexibility in case I need to adjust things a bit when bolting it to the support structure. After I get the structure together, I'll work on laying out, cutting and fitting the bottom (top) of the electrical box, but I'll wait before adding the components like drivers. Next I'll flip the rig over and start applying the LED panels and do the preliminary wiring, then I'll cover the LED arrays with masking tape before flipping the rig right side up again.

VLR#2 Progress Report
I got the frame bolted together and the bottom of the electrical box cut out and mounted. I placed the major components on the bottom of the box ( a dollar store metal cookie box) to determine the final layout. I cutout the top of the box and mounted a more powerful fan than I was going to originally, so I'm going to slow it down a bit. I'm going to mount a DC to DC voltage converter circuit with screws and stand offs on top of the metal 12VDC fan(s) power supply box to under volt the central fan only. I'll bring AC power into the box by mounting a computer power supply connector(salvaged) above the fan power supply in the rear of the box top, Then I'll just plug in a 3 prong computer cord to power the rig.

Next I'm gonna take the components off the electrical box, flip the rig over mount the LED panels, run some wires and put masking tape on the arrays. Then flip it right side up and mount the drivers, fan power supply and connector terminals in the bottom of the electrical box.

Here are a couple of photos of the progress thus far.