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w4rchyld

New Member
Thanks for the reply guys! I'm obviously starting small first before going to 1m2 to see if the lights work!

They are juniz rgb 3m undercabinet lights and the led driver has an output of 12v - 1.5a ? Each strip has 30 led. I couldn't find any info about watt per light though
 
littlejacob

littlejacob

Well-Known Member
smokehog said:
@Stephenj37826 i am hopefully getting 16 x driver for about £10, which should run 16 cxa3070 3000k.
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Bonjour
I beliebe that 10 £ is 14 € so about 16.5 $...right?
66 $ could buy you a MW hlg-185-1400!with 4 cob on it! And it is one of the best driver for oir needs!
And why cxa 3070? Cxb 3590 are better...a bit more expensive but worth it imo!
Have a great day ★
 
AllDayToker

AllDayToker

Well-Known Member
PSUAGRO. said:
lol................not tent approved..................have fun hanging it!:mrgreen:
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Defiantly not tent approved haha.

It will fit perfectly in my long and skinny closest though. :D

Yeah no tiny chains and hooks for this sucker. Already got a 2x4 running opposite of the studs or whatever runs above my closest. We have ventilation that runs above it so I'm guessing they wouldn't be struts.

Anyways yeah should be pretty secure!
 
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Aidan87

Member
Hey guys, looking at building my own led unit. Doing a PC Grow. Grow area is 21(W) x 36(L)x60(H) in centimetres. That gives me roughly .75m squared, but that will likely drop to around .6m.squared. Going to be for full grow period. Was looking at using 100-150w but am open to suggestions.

If possible Id like to be able to toggle different power states, so I'm leaning toward a multi led setup. If efficiency is going to be dramatically reduced with a multiled setup compared with using say a single 100w/150w cob led. Could I get some recommendations on a few different options

cheers. Oh I suppose I should say I would like to keep the costs under $200(aus) if possible.
 
alesh

alesh

Well-Known Member
Aidan87 said:
Hey guys, looking at building my own led unit. Doing a PC Grow. Grow area is 21(W) x 36(L)x60(H) in centimetres. That gives me roughly .75m squared, but that will likely drop to around .6m.squared. Going to be for full grow period. Was looking at using 100-150w but am open to suggestions.

If possible Id like to be able to toggle different power states, so I'm leaning toward a multi led setup. If efficiency is going to be dramatically reduced with a multiled setup compared with using say a single 100w/150w cob led. Could I get some recommendations on a few different options

cheers. Oh I suppose I should say I would like to keep the costs under $200(aus) if possible.
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TBH 21x36cm is 0.0756m^2. That's 0.8137 sqft. 50W of quality LEDs would be overkill.
 
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Aidan87

Member
Hey Alesh, thanks mate. Id heard of people running 100w plus on pc grows before. I think they may have been running cfls.

Are these new high powered cob leds alot more efficient than the standards?

I really want to be able to switch between multiple power states. What are people opinions, 2-5 10w cobs, or just just forget the multi power states and get a single or double higher power cob.

This is probably a dumb question, can cobs be dimmed? Thinking current limited switch or pwm controlled driver.
 
littlejacob

littlejacob

Well-Known Member
Bonjour
@Aidan87 do you vegg and flo in the same place?
For cree cxb the tendance is to run 30w by sq/ft in flo and 15/20w in vegg
Since you have less than a sq/ft and 60cm height I would aim for vero13 or cxa/b 2540 @350mA...I beliebe cxb 3590 would be too much even underdriven (unless you run only one!)for your space!
I would try something like bueno grow on ic!
Have a great day ★
 
alesh

alesh

Well-Known Member
Aidan87 said:
Hey Alesh, thanks mate. Id heard of people running 100w plus on pc grows before. I think they may have been running cfls.

Are these new high powered cob leds alot more efficient than the standards?

I really want to be able to switch between multiple power states. What are people opinions, 2-5 10w cobs, or just just forget the multi power states and get a single or double higher power cob.

This is probably a dumb question, can cobs be dimmed? Thinking current limited switch or pwm controlled driver.
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All the CXBs are pretty efficient when run soft. It's reasonable to have multiple sources especially when you're extremely height limited. One 50W COB wouldn't do a very good job in your case.
The best way to achieve multiple level states is to get a dimmable driver :)
Vero18/13, CXA2530/40 for clearance prices from Newark or even CXA3070 as they're quite cheap lately (better choice than CXB2540).
 
Scotch089

Scotch089

Well-Known Member
Aidan87 said:
Hey Alesh, thanks mate. Id heard of people running 100w plus on pc grows before. I think they may have been running cfls.

Are these new high powered cob leds alot more efficient than the standards?

I really want to be able to switch between multiple power states. What are people opinions, 2-5 10w cobs, or just just forget the multi power states and get a single or double higher power cob.

This is probably a dumb question, can cobs be dimmed? Thinking current limited switch or pwm controlled driver.
Click to expand...
You don't need 100w To be happy with that space, loo at medmans mini fridges recent post with 44w
 
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Aidan87

Member
@littlejacob
Plan was to veg and flower in the same tower. Will check out this bueno grow. Appreciate the advice.

@alesh
So dimmable drivers exist. Cool. Do they usually come bundled with a driver or will I still need to make one?I have an old light 240vac dimmer I converted(put in its own box, lol) So I could lower the power on my old soldering iron, If I can reuse that I'd be pretty chuffed.
Wouldn't the CXA3070's be a little too much power? I just read 117w? How low can you drive these things? The CXA2530/40's look like they would do the job. Maybe 4-8 of them. 3000K/4000K/4500K/5000K? Mixed?

One thing that is really confusing me atm is the different wavelengths. From ages ago, I thought the blue/red mix was suppose to be the best. Bit of the 400nm and 600nm and you were in business. Now everywhere I read is different. Do the rollitup gang have a general consensus on this matter? What are your thoughts?

Really appreciate the advice guys.
 
alesh

alesh

Well-Known Member
Aidan87 said:
@littlejacob
Plan was to veg and flower in the same tower. Will check out this bueno grow. Appreciate the advice.

@alesh
So dimmable drivers exist. Cool. Do they usually come bundled with a driver or will I still need to make one?I have an old light 240vac dimmer I converted(put in its own box, lol) So I could lower the power on my old soldering iron, If I can reuse that I'd be pretty chuffed.
Wouldn't the CXA3070's be a little too much power? I just read 117w? How low can you drive these things? The CXA2530/40's look like they would do the job. Maybe 4-8 of them. 3000K/4000K/4500K/5000K? Mixed?

One thing that is really confusing me atm is the different wavelengths. From ages ago, I thought the blue/red mix was suppose to be the best. Bit of the 400nm and 600nm and you were in business. Now everywhere I read is different. Do the rollitup gang have a general consensus on this matter? What are your thoughts?

Really appreciate the advice guys.
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Yeah dimmable drivers exist. They either come with an internal pot or with wires to connect your own external pot. It's a simple $1 thing. LED drivers aren't usually compatible with triac dimmers.
The choice of driver determines how much current flows through a COB. You can run them hard to get lower upfront cost or soft to get better efficiency and less heat.

White works well and there are no (very efficient) red or blue COBs. General consensus there is to use 3000K, 3500K or 4000K for flowering and combo lamps and 5000+K for vegging lamps.
 
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Aidan87

Member
@alesh
You are a fountain of knowledge. Thank you. By combo lamps, do you mean having all the different wavelengths? or do mean some other light, not these cobs?

So far, for my light I'm thinking of having 2x 2530@ 5K for vegging and 2x 2530 @ 3000K and 2x 2530 @ 4000K. Was thinking maybe just one of each of the 2530's but I'll be switching them all so I can toggle whatever combo I want.That will also give me a bigger overhead if I plan to upgrade to a wardrobe grow...If the boss lets me. haha. Only thing I'm not sure of is the drivers. I suppose I'll need 3 dimmable drivers. What should i be looking at? I remember reading about meanwell?
 
alesh

alesh

Well-Known Member
Aidan87 said:
@alesh
You are a fountain of knowledge. Thank you. By combo lamps, do you mean having all the different wavelengths? or do mean some other light, not these cobs?

So far, for my light I'm thinking of having 2x 2530@ 5K for vegging and 2x 2530 @ 3000K and 2x 2530 @ 4000K. Was thinking maybe just one of each of the 2530's but I'll be switching them all so I can toggle whatever combo I want.That will also give me a bigger overhead if I plan to upgrade to a wardrobe grow...If the boss lets me. haha. Only thing I'm not sure of is the drivers. I suppose I'll need 3 dimmable drivers. What should i be looking at? I remember reading about meanwell?
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By combo lamps I meant those used for both vegging and flowering. TBH 3000K or 4000K, you'll hardly notice the difference in plant growth in my experience (4000K will cause shorter internodes) or you can use all 3500K. Get those which are the cheapest in a reasonable flux bin.
I'd say Meanwell HLG-60H-C350 and 5 CXA2530s will be the best solution. Check out Newark - they have CXA2530 2700K T2 for $5.23 (!!!) http://www.newark.com/cree/cxa2530-0000-000n00t227f/led-hb-white-3609lm-screw/dp/44W6083
I've seen some ppl complaining that 2700K causes excessive stretch in sativas - maybe 4x 2700K and 1 5000K to prevent stretching?
 
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Aidan87

Member
@alesh
Thought that was what you meant about the combo lights. Reason why I initially wanted a spread of 3k to 5k was really just to do my own research.

In regards to going the 2700k, I'm thinking maybe the 4000k would be better since my space is quite limited. Went ahead and checked out the cxa1507's after scotch89 chimed in earlier about medmans fridge grow. Found some decent ones which I think may work. On paper, they seem to output very similar lumen/watts and cost is very good also at $1.15 for the 4000k, whereas the 4000k/3000k in the 2530 go for $12-$17. Lumen per dollar seems to favour the 1507.

Are there any reasons why using the older 1507's wouldn't be a good idea?

The power supply you mentioned. If running 2530s. Are you suggesting one each?quite conservative given the total output of the 5 could be upwards of 250w. If thats what you meant, I'm not too keen. I'd be more in favour of going for a supply that can take them to atleast 80% of their power output. Much rather have to dim them then have to worry about getting a stronger supply if I end up doing a larger grow. Can you recommend something for that?

Now lets say I did go for the 1507's. what supply would you recommend for maxing 160w?

Really appreciate all the advice Alesh.
 
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