led high power panel

jimmy slim big

jimmy slim big

Well-Known Member
k so im doing it!! ive been researching about diy led strip pannels and im gonna go get all the stuff i need the only thing i wanna know is, would i get the same light out put with 3m led strips as i would with 5m strips?? it seems the 5m is a bit harder to find and also the cost of the 3m is half the price....
 
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churchhaze

Well-Known Member
You should probably head over to the LED section and look at some of the threads there before spending a ton of money on LEDs.

It's really easy to waste your money with leds.
 
vostok

vostok

Well-Known Member
The more strips the more light
the more light the happier and bigger the plants...
 
jimmy slim big

jimmy slim big

Well-Known Member
i saw a video on youtube a guy made an led panel with the strips for photography and it was brighter then any led grow light ive seen!! it was about 16 x24" it said to put out as much as 1,000 watt hid..... sooo idk sounds like it might work?? and if i made two!! ....
 
Yodaweed

Yodaweed

Well-Known Member
You should go check out the LED section of the forums there is a lot of DIY threads there with pretty good information about LEDs.
 
Rahz

Rahz

Well-Known Member
jimmy slim big said:
i saw a video on youtube a guy made an led panel with the strips for photography and it was brighter then any led grow light ive seen!! it was about 16 x24" it said to put out as much as 1,000 watt hid..... sooo idk sounds like it might work?? and if i made two!! ....
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I think a large group of wide angle LEDs is the best theory. There is some speculation that previous generation LED panels were inefficient due to the narrow beam angles, so that's one consideration if the strips aren't made for growing. Another is figuring out the efficiency of those strips. Commercial and DIY grow lamps are running 115-140 lumens per watt @ ideal temps and that represents cost over time. Thermal characteristics of the panel will affect efficiency. If you have a link to the vid I'd like to check it out.
 
jimmy slim big

jimmy slim big

Well-Known Member
Rahz said:
I think a large group of wide angle LEDs is the best theory. There is some speculation that previous generation LED panels were inefficient due to the narrow beam angles, so that's one consideration if the strips aren't made for growing. Another is figuring out the efficiency of those strips. Commercial and DIY grow lamps are running 115-140 lumens per watt @ ideal temps and that represents cost over time. Thermal characteristics of the panel will affect efficiency. If you have a link to the vid I'd like to check it out.
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http://www.diyphotography.net/build-a-pro-quality-light-source-with-this-awesome-diy-led-light-panel-tutorial/
 
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churchhaze

Well-Known Member
The guy in that link has absolutely no clue what he's doing.

He just put all those LED strips on an MDF board... and then covered it in plexiglass... I don't know what to say... You just can't do that... It's going to burn out, and maybe burn down his house.

Please go take a look at the LED section here on RIU, and also check out reef forums (aquariums). Reef forums are having an LED revolution too.
 
Rahz

Rahz

Well-Known Member
It's also only a 100 watt panel. Might put out as much light as 1000 watts incandescent. The price is not bad, but I'm not guessing it would be very efficient even if it didn't burn the house down. The money would be lost down the road with electric bills.
 
Rahz

Rahz

Well-Known Member
Those LED strips probably aren't highly efficient to begin with and sandwiching them between MDF and plexiglass isn't the coolest solution. The hotter LEDs run the less efficient they are. Maybe not a bad solution for photography but not ideal for growing. The price is ok, but you might want to check out COB units from Cree, Bridgelux and others. Pair them with a driver and heatsink and you can get similar wattage for similar price and they will probably put off a lot more light than that panel (guessing since I don't know the light strip efficiency or panel operating temps).

Also, I don't think he's comparing them to HID but to incandescent bulbs which operate at sub 20 lumens per watt and it's probably not equal to 1000 watts in that case either. It looks bright in the vid but like others have said, check out the LED forum and read some of the builds. Post the light strip idea there and you will get more knowledgeable feedback. We're downing the strip panel because we don't want you to waste your money. That said, if you did some research on the strips and found their efficiency rating if it's available you would be more able to make an objective choice without help, and even if they are worth using mounting them on MDF isn't going to be the most efficient way to utilize them. They will run hot and have a relatively short lifespan. Put a COB on a heatsink and it will last years.
 
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churchhaze

Well-Known Member
Even for photography, i think that guy is a crock. He must have deleted every single negative comment on his youtube video, because it looks like every single commenter is calling him a genius. I'm not saying the guy is an idiot, but acting like an authority on a subject he clearly knows so little about is just plain arrogant and very misleading to his viewers. He must delete negative comments on a regular basis...

His design is crap even for a photography light. If he replaced the MDF sheet with an aluminum sheet, his design would be viable for short operating periods.... His MDF design should have been laughed off the internet... Also, the CRI of the lamp isn't even that good, so for photography, it kind of sucks! It's too high in blue, and not enough cyan or red (for color rendering)
 
jimmy slim big

jimmy slim big

Well-Known Member
thanks for all your input and you have made some very good points and i had already thought of changing a few things of his design, yes mdf is fire retardent but not the right material for a grow light or any light made for bright settings, also the blue light would need to be changed to maybe half red and half white ?? and the whole it being worth my time to build isnt a huge deal for me as i have always been very "handy" i can build anything i can think up, and if i have a set of drawings to go from i could build something like that in one night after work, if i can figure out how to make it be like 2 or 3 times stronger/brighter and it really could be as good as a 600-1000 watt grow light that can cost up to and over 1,000 bucks and i can build it for say 200-300 then hell yes it would be worth it right?? plus the feeling it gives you to make something with your own hands and a little brain power is more then worth it ya know.... but again thank you all for the input im thinking it still can be done so i am gonna continue to do more reading and research and i will let you all know what i figure out!! thanks!!
 
Coolvibes

Coolvibes

Well-Known Member
They started using led in street lights people . The old style led I agree up to tri band LEDs are pointless but the next gen leds are awsum expensive but awsum have some pics of mates grow room just using LEDs only in the flower stage the yields are about the same after all you have to remember that they are equal in lumes so lume per lume same job for fraction of price in energy consumption hope this helps
 
Rahz

Rahz

Well-Known Member
if i can figure out how to make it be like 2 or 3 times stronger/brighter and it really could be as good as a 600-1000 watt grow light that can cost up to and over 1,000 bucks and i can build it for say 200-300 then hell yes it would be worth it right??
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It would. I would want to know the output at ideal operating temps (25C at the thermal junction) before I jumped in. If the product has no data sheets available you can try contacting the manufacturer and inquire about the thermal efficacy. Without that information I would be hesitant. If the best they can do is 80 lumens per watt the electrical bill will be 50% more than a lamp operating at 120 lumens per watt. That 7-800 savings would be melted away over time. If it was more like +100 lumens per watt and was mounted to an aluminum plate with thermal adhesive, properly cooled it could be a viable project. If you can pull it off a lot of people would be very interested in that design.
 
jimmy slim big

jimmy slim big

Well-Known Member
Rahz said:
It would. I would want to know the output at ideal operating temps (25C at the thermal junction) before I jumped in. If the product has no data sheets available you can try contacting the manufacturer and inquire about the thermal efficacy. Without that information I would be hesitant. If the best they can do is 80 lumens per watt the electrical bill will be 50% more than a lamp operating at 120 lumens per watt. That 7-800 savings would be melted away over time. If it was more like +100 lumens per watt and was mounted to an aluminum plate with thermal adhesive, properly cooled it could be a viable project. If you can pull it off a lot of people would be very interested in that design.
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thanks for the positive feed back!! as soon as ive researched all i can i will map it all out and draw up a design and see what you guys think, if a apache tech can make one im pretty sure i can too..... thanks again!!!
 
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