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testiclees

Well-Known Member
I have a Mars 900 with dual spectrum switches and an hps 600 for the money I get close to the same yields.... but I'm only growing in a 4ft x 2ft area...call Mars junk or whatever but they work just fine for me and a few others I know. I get a little less weight with led around 10 to 20 grams less than with hps on my setup but the buds are almost always Danker..but to each his own
i too have a mars 900. i retired it. It grows a decent plant but it hasnt got nearly the flower power of my vero/cxb hybrid. The mars pulled about 525w while the diy pulls about 660w. The biggest most important difference is in efficiency.'Because the diy is about twice as efficient it provides as much par as 2 mars 900s. The difference in yield, power and density are dramatic.
 

littlejacob

Well-Known Member
I use 3500k for both veg and flower

View attachment 3512161 View attachment 3512162 View attachment 3512163 View attachment 3512164

I'll be harvesting in 2 days on the thin mint and 9 days on the Blue Dream
Bonjour
Hello REALSTYLE...do you really use only 3500ºk from seed to harvest!??
Nothing else?
And do you increase mA slowly...or you have a setting for seed, vegg and flo?
Or is it the lower mA (10%...140mA) between 30 and 60% for vegg and from 60% to 100% in flo!??
Do you do always the same thing...or is it more like following the plants grow...you know what I mean!
Have a great day ★
 

REALSTYLES

Well-Known Member
I just hang the light 24" above the seedling for a week and then drop the light over them 12" I just dim during the summer due to high heat where I live but now it's getting cooler so I will run them full blast. I try to do the same thing lol but sometimes the plants don't want to lol
 

MrEus1

Active Member
No offence intended bro. I just noticed your avatar or whatever and it does look a bit like an led. I just bought some 3590's with ideal cob mounts and a Mean Well driver, all at 36v from Kingbright but get the feeling like I probably should have gone with the 72v version. Don't know why though. This will be my first of nine 4' fixtures so if it is a mistake, I can change it on the rest of them. I'm putting 4 cobs on each 4' heatsink and I'm thinking of adding a fan for hot weather, maybe on a thermostat to automate it.
 
Would like some thoughts on a build
EDIT: went with 6x vero 18s @1050ma at 4000k on mean well driver below on 2x 22 inches of 5.886 hsusa heatsink. Wish me luck boys.

1. Which would be best? 6x vero 18 @ 1050ma 31 watts).
Vs 4x vero 29 @ 1400ma (50ish watts)

The vero 18s would be a bit cheaper and wouldn't make me cry as bad if I broke them. More spread vs more intensity? Which would yield me more in a 3x3? EDIT: With having to buy less drivers on the v29s, cost might not be much of a difference.

2. Heatsink. I'm thinking heatsinkusa 5.88 inch model. 2x @ 22 inches. Figure this could give me some insurance if the fan was to fail. 2 cobs per heatsink 3 inches from end for vero 29 and same with vero 18 but an extra in the middle. Edit: on second thought if going with vero 29s I'd probably put both LEDs closer to the middle...

3. Fan. I'm thinking 1 120mm rose will computer fan per cob bar in the middle, although if I went vero 29 route there will be no led in the middle so not sure if I would just do a fan over each led.

4. Drivers. Ive been scouring cheap Chinese led drivers on eBay, but maybe wanna go with me an well? http://www.trcelectronics.com/View/Mean-Well/APC-35-1050.shtml. Probably a few of these if I went the vero 18 route. EDIT: If I went with v29s, maybe something like: http://www.trcelectronics.com/View/Mean-Well/LPC-60-1400.shtml . Is it worth the extra cash for the meanwells?

5. Color temp: can't decide between 3500 and 4000k. These will be for flowering and likely run alongside a 150 watt Hps until I upgrade that with more LEDs. The low temp of the Hps makes me think 4000k would work well and they would ve more efficient as well, but 3500 might excel at flowering? I might consider half 3500, and half 4000 as well.

Thoughts?
 
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littlejacob

Well-Known Member
Bonjour
I would go with V18...more coverage!
Why don't you buy an hlg-185-1050b ? For 6 v18 it is ok
I would take a lower mA and add more cob to have a better efficiency/spread (700mA or even 12x V18 @500mA...)
Have a great day ★
 
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PurpleBuz

Well-Known Member
Would like some thoughts on a build

1. Which would be best? 6x vero 18 @ 1050ma 31 watts).
Vs 4x vero 29 @ 1400ma (50ish watts)

The vero 18s would be a bit cheaper and wouldn't make me cry as bad if I broke them. More spread vs more intensity? Which would yield me more in a 3x3? EDIT: With having to buy less drivers on the v29s, cost might not be much of a difference.

2. Heatsink. I'm thinking heatsinkusa 5.88 inch model. 2x @ 22 inches. Figure this could give me some insurance if the fan was to fail. 2 cobs per heatsink 3 inches from end for vero 29 and same with vero 18 but an extra in the middle. Edit: on second thought if going with vero 29s I'd probably put both LEDs closer to the middle...

3. Fan. I'm thinking 1 120mm rose will computer fan per cob bar in the middle, although if I went vero 29 route there will be no led in the middle so not sure if I would just do a fan over each led.

4. Drivers. Ive been scouring cheap Chinese led drivers on eBay, but maybe wanna go with me an well? http://www.trcelectronics.com/View/Mean-Well/APC-35-1050.shtml. Probably a few of these if I went the vero 18 route. EDIT: If I went with v29s, maybe something like: http://www.trcelectronics.com/View/Mean-Well/LPC-60-1400.shtml . Is it worth the extra cash for the meanwells?

5. Color temp: can't decide between 3500 and 4000k. These will be for flowering and likely run alongside a 150 watt Hps until I upgrade that with more LEDs. The low temp of the Hps makes me think 4000k would work well and they would ve more efficient as well, but 3500 might excel at flowering? I might consider half 3500, and half 4000 as well.

Thoughts?
suggest you pick up one Meanwell hlg-185-1050 or one hlg-185-1400 first. you can run 6 vero 18s on one hlg-185-1050. The meanwell driver is not bargain basement, but its cheaper to use one of these to run multiple cobs than to purchase cheap drivers for each cob, and it may out live your cobs. ( 7 year warranty from meanwell).

then pick your cobs to match the meanwell driver.
then pick the heatsink since you will have narrowed down the heat requirements,

I go with 3K for flowering and 5K for veg. others have found 3.5K also good for flowering. I'd ignore the hps as part of the choice.

oh the fan ... I use the rosewill hyperborea fans. great fans.,
 
suggest you pick up one Meanwell hlg-185-1050 or one hlg-185-1400 first. you can run 6 vero 18s on one hlg-185-1050. The meanwell driver is not bargain basement, but its cheaper to use one of these to run multiple cobs than to purchase cheap drivers for each cob, and it may out live your cobs. ( 7 year warranty from meanwell).

then pick your cobs to match the meanwell driver.
then pick the heatsink since you will have narrowed down the heat requirements,

I go with 3K for flowering and 5K for veg. others have found 3.5K also good for flowering. I'd ignore the hps as part of the choice.

oh the fan ... I use the rosewill hyperborea fans. great fans.,
That's a great idea, however I have a confession, I had a few drinks, felt Impulsive and made my order already. I was afraid of 1 big driver in case the driver fails and also the high voltage associated with it so I ordered the mean well APC I linked above. I already have the 150 watt Hps, so I'm gonna go ahead and use it along with the Leds. I figure it's got a pretty low kelvin temp, so I went with 6 vero 18s at 4000k @1050ma to balance things out (gives me the option. Of using these for a veg chamber in the future if I wanna upgrade the flower room)... In the future if these work out well I will consider upgrading the Hps with vero 29s running at 1050 on a similar heatsink and will likely consider a lower temp color.
 
Bonjour
I would go with V18...more coverage!
Why don't you buy an hlg-185-1050b ? For 6 v18 it is ok
I would take a lower mA and add more cob to have a better efficiency/spread (700mA or even 12x V18 @500mA...)
Have a great day ★
Lower current means more cob and drivers and heatsink to buy and I'm on a limited budget. Also, regarding the driver, I like it but the single point of failure and running that many volts on a string of LEDs scares me somewhat? Not sure if it is rational fear or paranoia though.
 

PurpleBuz

Well-Known Member
That's a great idea, however I have a confession, I had a few drinks, felt Impulsive and made my order already. I was afraid of 1 big driver in case the driver fails and also the high voltage associated with it so I ordered the mean well APC I linked above. I already have the 150 watt Hps, so I'm gonna go ahead and use it along with the Leds. I figure it's got a pretty low kelvin temp, so I went with 6 vero 18s at 4000k @1050ma to balance things out (gives me the option. Of using these for a veg chamber in the future if I wanna upgrade the flower room)... In the future if these work out well I will consider upgrading the Hps with vero 29s running at 1050 on a similar heatsink and will likely consider a lower temp color.
haha too bad, of course you can always cancel the order before it ships. otherwise you could have built one of these .... http://rollitup.org/t/pictures-of-your-diy-lights-post-your-pics.871625/page-6#post-11809689
 
Merci Miseur
haha too bad, of course you can always cancel the order before it ships. otherwise you could have built one of these .... http://rollitup.org/t/pictures-of-your-diy-lights-post-your-pics.871625/page-6#post-11809689
All I see is red, white, n blue sexiness... How does the 4.85" heatsink hold up? It was very tempting to me due to price but I have heard supra and others mention the base plate is too thin to run more than some veg lights.. Though I dont k ow if that is a theoretical situation or from experience.
 

PurpleBuz

Well-Known Member
All I see is red, white, n blue sexiness... How does the 4.85" heatsink hold up? It was very tempting to me due to price but I have heard supra and others mention the base plate is too thin to run more than some veg lights.. Though I dont k ow if that is a theoretical situation or from experience.
the 4.85 heatsink is working fine for the vero18s at 1050ma. active cooling (as in the pics). might not be enough hs for 3590s or vero 29 unless your driving with low current.
 
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