Fairly new. Diy led?

I ordered the viparspectra 300 to veg the plants but im looking for either a cob setup

Tent is 48 by 24 by 60.

Not looking to spend more than 300 on a light and only trying to frow 3-4 plants at most at a time.

Any help would be appreciated

4x clu18 or cxm22 on hlg-185h-48a - add some big heatsinks- <$300.
Shout out to cobkits.com

Yeah, hopefully @CobKits will pop on in and he can hook you up with everything you need.

Id rather get something thats already set up. Does he do that?

I grow in a similar space-just double rows for a total of 8 buckets. I use a pair of 48" long arrays with 4 vero29's and 30W of 660nm discretes for blooming. There are quite a few suppliers of kits and complete assm. I run up to 320W of power on each bar but I can dim the output when needed.

GBAUTO said:

I grow in a similar space-just double rows for a total of 8 buckets. I use a pair of 48" long arrays with 4 vero29's and 30W of 660nm discretes for blooming. There are quite a few suppliers of kits and complete assm. I run up to 320W of power on each bar but I can dim the output when needed.

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Did you build this yourself? My step father would beable to build it for me i just dont know what to purchase otherwise i would. Not looking to spend over 300 really sincei just bought the viparspectra. I thought about just grabbing another 300 and doing 4 plants. Not looking for crazy amounts. Only to smoke for myself.

I mean i get the concept of the leds and basically a ballast or w.e its called to power it along with a heatsink so they don't get too hot? I am just guessing. Gonna start reading alot now

cocoleveo7686 said:

Id rather get something thats already set up. Does he do that?

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You got it, cobs on heatsinks and a driver that provides the dc voltage to power them.
Coby has assembled light engines and I think he does custom work. https://cobkits.com/product-category/light-engines/
Good site for beginners that coby linked to recently. http://ledgardener.com/cob-led-basics/ http://ledgardener.com/diy-guides/

Maybe this if they can ever keep them in stock. https://horticulturelightinggroup.com/collections/diy/products/260w-qb-led-kit?variant=31818878034

cocoleveo7686 said:

Id rather get something thats already set up. Does he do that?

Click to expand...

I was once like you. All the technical talk threw' me at first. Once it clicks, it's rather simple. I have 4 COBs with driver, homemade hanger. Price for the hardware was around $290 without shipping. Another $30 bucks for the hanger. I now have a capability of 320watts. 120 more then I need.

Then you bite the bullet and order the stuff. Open the box and think holy shit. It's definitely diy. But nothing in the build is difficult. Nothing strange or uncommon to buy. Lowe's sells the screws for the sinks. 14 will run $2.

The wiring isn't bad at all. It's doorbell wire. The driver needs a plug. That's $4...

Get a brand new notebook......
Learn the definitions, and abbreviations of the vocabulary terms one, by one, in this forum, they're all in here somewhere.... Google the "unknowns"....
Watch YouTube Videos, gather the knowledge. Search the forums, nearly every question I had so far, had been asked, and answered. Many helpful threads....
Once its starting to make sense, you'll begin to be able to sort of design your own "lamp". That's when easy to get caught up in splitting hairs over "efficiency" and brand names.... it drove me insane temporarily, I understand on a large scale it will matter a whole lot more, but small areas....nah....
Buying kits can make things much simpler, there are excellent quality products being discussed all around here!
I concluded that before my knowledge of LED lighting, you bought a lamp, and built the room to fit it....
NOW, I find the space available, and build a lamp to fit area....

SouthCross said:

I was once like you. All the technical talk threw' me at first. Once it clicks, it's rather simple. I have 4 COBs with driver, homemade hanger. Price for the hardware was around $290 without shipping. Another $30 bucks for the hanger. I now have a capability of 320watts. 120 more then I need.

Then you bite the bullet and order the stuff. Open the box and think holy shit. It's definitely diy. But nothing in the build is difficult. Nothing strange or uncommon to buy. Lowe's sells the screws for the sinks. 14 will run $2.

The wiring isn't bad at all. It's doorbell wire. The driver needs a plug. That's $4...

Click to expand...

I now get the jist of it just dont know how many lights can go on each driver. I got the rest of it understood from watching a few videos.

Can you tell me what you bought for the 320? Id really only need 200-250 but 320 wouldn't be bad.

SouthCross said:

I was once like you. All the technical talk threw' me at first. Once it clicks, it's rather simple. I have 4 COBs with driver, homemade hanger. Price for the hardware was around $290 without shipping. Another $30 bucks for the hanger. I now have a capability of 320watts. 120 more then I need.

Then you bite the bullet and order the stuff. Open the box and think holy shit. It's definitely diy. But nothing in the build is difficult. Nothing strange or uncommon to buy. Lowe's sells the screws for the sinks. 14 will run $2.

The wiring isn't bad at all. It's doorbell wire. The driver needs a plug. That's $4...

Click to expand...

I'd be careful with the doorbell wire unless you're running lower voltage constant voltage drivers/COBs. The shit you get at home depot is only rated for 30v.

RandomHero8913 said:

I'd be careful with the doorbell wire unless you're running lower voltage constant voltage drivers/COBs. The shit you get at home depot is only rated for 30v.

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Ok then, I call it by its other name. "18/2 Circuit Cable".

cocoleveo7686 said:

I now get the jist of it just dont know how many lights can go on each driver. I got the rest of it understood from watching a few videos.

Can you tell me what you bought for the 320? Id really only need 200-250 but 320 wouldn't be bad.

Click to expand...

Sure.


Meanwell hlg-320h-48A driver. 4, Citizen CLU048. 4, 120mm sinks. Ideal holders with arctic pads.

Specifications on the driver. 4 COBs at 1.9A (~85 watts each) for a max total of 340watts. If I had ten COBs, it'd push 380watts(38watts each) at 0.76A.

At 50% dim it's in the 170wattage range.

To make it work. Spool of 18/2 wire. 24, M3-.50 x6 machine screws. 16 screws for the COB holders. Another 8 to bolt the sinks to the hanger brackets. The screws come in packs of 14. Hanger was made out of 1 x 1, 16gauge angle aluminum. Lowe's has 4' and 8' sections of it.

One male three prong electrical plug. (The driver comes bare. It has a short cord but no plug on the end.)

Cordless drill, wire stripper, dikes, and a hacksaw. Phillips screw driver, black tape or wire nuts for connecting the 18/2 to the driver.


I had hanger cables left over from a LED box light. I used those for the COB hanger rack. If I hadn't had the cables, I would have used some light duty chain. The kind you see CFL bulbs hung with in a warehouse setting.

The driver puts off some decent heat. I wired it to where the driver is on the outside of the grow space. The sinks get hot enough without the heat off the driver helping. In a room with a temperature of 64°f. The driver temp is 99.3°f.

Here's a picture of the hanger. It measures 12" x 18".

4 sections at 18" each. Two sections at 12". Held together with metal screws at the corners and center sections. Threads pointed up.

SouthCross said:

Here's a picture of the hanger. It measures 12" x 18".

4 sections at 18" each. Two sections at 12". Held together with metal screws at the corners and center sections. Threads pointed up.

Click to expand...

Wanna make me one? This is exactly what i want. Say im looking for only 200w one instead or 320 what would you buy? As it being my first time id rather do a 200w and add later. My tent is 4x2x5