Angus Hung
Well-Known Member
hey man see if these pics help
Pictures of your DIY lights - Post your pics!!!
- Thread starter TimeToBurn
- Start date
berten-ernie420
Well-Known Member
Was wondering what sort of footprint you guys think ill have with this sort of setup. Not pictured: 4 foot aluminum channel housing 6 citi 1212s, running off of hvgc320-1050a (wired off 240), each spaced 4.5inches equally apart. 2 more 4 ft channels each housing 4 citi1818s each off its own hlg and hvgc 320 1400. Now each aluminum channel is 16-18 invhes away from eachother. Should each bar be closer or further away? Im trying to optimize my footprint but not have any weaker points of light in my 3 bars. Thanks for your input.
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DesertHydro
Well-Known Member
bizfactory
Well-Known Member
Here is my latest creation with LM561c boards. The middle is 2700K, 3500K, 6500K and Tiancheng 660nm diodes for the red. I added a Sonoff wifi switch to remotely control the light and set the schedule. It's about 208w wide open. Pretty simple and cost about $250 total.
Check out my garden here: https://www.instagram.com/bizfactory/
Check out my garden here: https://www.instagram.com/bizfactory/
Colanoscopy
Well-Known Member
Nice budget light bro
Rolla J
Well-Known Member
God the plants r soo huge now
The plant on the right in veg
Then the one from the back left. 
The front left i have outside.
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astonehead
Well-Known Member
How mine sits now.
VegasWinner
Well-Known Member
Some nice lights folks impressive
jeepster1993
Well-Known Member
This is 1 Big Bad Bubba at 2 months. I pinched it a lot and removed the huge leaves to give a bushy look.
6 Cree 3590's running at 55 watts each in a 3x3 tent feeding canna.
Switching to 12/12 tomorrow.
6 Cree 3590's running at 55 watts each in a 3x3 tent feeding canna.
Switching to 12/12 tomorrow.
MMJ Dreaming 99
Well-Known Member
Nice bro. What is that? 4 Wavvy Fantom Photon boards and 9 COBs? What COBs? What drivers? It is a beast. Any heat?
astonehead
Well-Known Member
4 genesis boards only running low wattage its 304 Samsung diodes 3500k but I'm not saying what it's like lol. And 9 cxb3590 3000k 90cri again only on low wattage. 500w at the wall at the moment
And thanks
DIY-HP-LED
Well-Known Member
110 Volt AC Driverless COB Lamp Test
I completed the 110 volt AC driverless COB lamp today, it was a one day build. It seems to draw 200 watts from the wall according to my Kill-o-watt (will have to check on that). The fixture runs at about 40C and the single COB light output appears to be about the same as a 32 volt DC floodlight COB running at 50 watts. It tested ok for grounding and there's no current leaking through the COB packages to the heat sink and the lamp is well grounded with a three prong plug.
Now for some pictures.
I used a terminal block salvaged from a streetlamp to hook up the wires. On future builds I might just solder them together and cover with shrink tubing, then I can tuck them under a reflector, if I want to add one. I used gobs of silicone to hold down the wires and to hold the chord strain relief in firmly. For added safety I could put gobs of silicone on the soldered COB contacts too.
I could tape on some sheets of plastic to the top of the heatsink fins to increase cooling efficiency, but the lamp runs cool enough.
During bench testing the lamp ran at 40 C and appeared to draw 200 watts, the fan draws less than 3 watts. I need to look further into this.
You can see the flicker these COBs produce in this picture as horizontal lines and estimate the loss of light by measuring the width of the shadow band as compared to the lighted band. I've got the light on test over a plant for now and it produces about 50K LUX on the grid at a 12" distance, also the full spectrum (burple) COB might be throwing off the LUX readings.
110 Volt AC Driverless COB Lamp Test Update
I took some temperature readings off the AC COB lamp today, it was running steady on a veg plant since I put it on test and the heatsink temp was 43 C. I have a .22 amp 120mm fan cooling it, but could upgrade to a .30 amp fan and cover the tops of the heatsink with plastic to better direct airflow, this should bring the lamp down to the 40 C range. The vendors claim an efficacy of 100 - 120 lumens/watt with a CRI of 80, but I dunno how much credence to give to that. I didn't test the power consumption of each COB, but tutaj5 (using the 220V version), says the 50 watt AC COBs draw 65 watts, which would explain where the 50 extra watts are going in my 3 COB lamp, even though it runs at 110 volts.
110 Volt AC Driverless COB
If these ebay COBs can produce a 100 lumens/watt, then a COB running at 65 watts must be putting a minimum of 60 watts into light, say 6000 lumens per WW COB. Considering the price (under $2!), that's not bad, some folks only want to grow a couple of plants and unlike a larger operation, efficiency doesn't matter so much. Start up costs are a major barrier to many who might like to build grow lights, but most folks can afford $20 to 50 bucks for COBs and other parts. If you use AC COBs to make a cheap grow light, heat sinking will be the biggest expense, but you can keep costs down by getting creative going to junk yards and repurposing other things. The local metal supply or machine shop is another source of cheap aluminum extrusions, like heavey C and D cross sections, depending on the profile, size and thickness prices can range from a $1 to $5 a foot. If you live in the states mail order heatsink extrusions with free delivery are an option too.
If you build using these COBs make sure to check them for ground faults with a multimeter before and after installation. And for Christ's sake USE A THREE PRONG PLUG AND GROUND THE GREEN WIRE PROPERLY TO THE HEAT SINK. Follow the Line Neutral wiring conventions and if you don't know much about that, google it or watch a youtube video and make sure you wire the COBs and plug right. Also, after the light is up and running take yer multimeter and check for current leaking from the heat sink to ground. Better safe than dead!
I just saw on one of the vendors sites that the light output for these 50 watt AC COBs is 4200 lumens/ 50 watts = 84 lumen/watt + 15 watts for the driver= not the most efficient LED grow light. Nonetheless paying for power is a lot cheaper than paying for pot and these can get ya going real cheap. The only advantage is in startup, hopefully one would replace the AC cobs with something better over time. A low income person could still save lots of money over buying pot though, it could be a way for some people to get somewhere better over time.
NOTE:
I can't seem to edit or correct the photos on this thread, go to the thread below to see them.
See more on my thread https://www.rollitup.org/t/economical-multi-led-chip-projects-for-growing.852256/page-15
I completed the 110 volt AC driverless COB lamp today, it was a one day build. It seems to draw 200 watts from the wall according to my Kill-o-watt (will have to check on that). The fixture runs at about 40C and the single COB light output appears to be about the same as a 32 volt DC floodlight COB running at 50 watts. It tested ok for grounding and there's no current leaking through the COB packages to the heat sink and the lamp is well grounded with a three prong plug.
Now for some pictures.
I used a terminal block salvaged from a streetlamp to hook up the wires. On future builds I might just solder them together and cover with shrink tubing, then I can tuck them under a reflector, if I want to add one. I used gobs of silicone to hold down the wires and to hold the chord strain relief in firmly. For added safety I could put gobs of silicone on the soldered COB contacts too.
I could tape on some sheets of plastic to the top of the heatsink fins to increase cooling efficiency, but the lamp runs cool enough.
During bench testing the lamp ran at 40 C and appeared to draw 200 watts, the fan draws less than 3 watts. I need to look further into this.
You can see the flicker these COBs produce in this picture as horizontal lines and estimate the loss of light by measuring the width of the shadow band as compared to the lighted band. I've got the light on test over a plant for now and it produces about 50K LUX on the grid at a 12" distance, also the full spectrum (burple) COB might be throwing off the LUX readings.
110 Volt AC Driverless COB Lamp Test Update
I took some temperature readings off the AC COB lamp today, it was running steady on a veg plant since I put it on test and the heatsink temp was 43 C. I have a .22 amp 120mm fan cooling it, but could upgrade to a .30 amp fan and cover the tops of the heatsink with plastic to better direct airflow, this should bring the lamp down to the 40 C range. The vendors claim an efficacy of 100 - 120 lumens/watt with a CRI of 80, but I dunno how much credence to give to that. I didn't test the power consumption of each COB, but tutaj5 (using the 220V version), says the 50 watt AC COBs draw 65 watts, which would explain where the 50 extra watts are going in my 3 COB lamp, even though it runs at 110 volts.
110 Volt AC Driverless COB
If these ebay COBs can produce a 100 lumens/watt, then a COB running at 65 watts must be putting a minimum of 60 watts into light, say 6000 lumens per WW COB. Considering the price (under $2!), that's not bad, some folks only want to grow a couple of plants and unlike a larger operation, efficiency doesn't matter so much. Start up costs are a major barrier to many who might like to build grow lights, but most folks can afford $20 to 50 bucks for COBs and other parts. If you use AC COBs to make a cheap grow light, heat sinking will be the biggest expense, but you can keep costs down by getting creative going to junk yards and repurposing other things. The local metal supply or machine shop is another source of cheap aluminum extrusions, like heavey C and D cross sections, depending on the profile, size and thickness prices can range from a $1 to $5 a foot. If you live in the states mail order heatsink extrusions with free delivery are an option too.
If you build using these COBs make sure to check them for ground faults with a multimeter before and after installation. And for Christ's sake USE A THREE PRONG PLUG AND GROUND THE GREEN WIRE PROPERLY TO THE HEAT SINK. Follow the Line Neutral wiring conventions and if you don't know much about that, google it or watch a youtube video and make sure you wire the COBs and plug right. Also, after the light is up and running take yer multimeter and check for current leaking from the heat sink to ground. Better safe than dead!
I just saw on one of the vendors sites that the light output for these 50 watt AC COBs is 4200 lumens/ 50 watts = 84 lumen/watt + 15 watts for the driver= not the most efficient LED grow light. Nonetheless paying for power is a lot cheaper than paying for pot and these can get ya going real cheap. The only advantage is in startup, hopefully one would replace the AC cobs with something better over time. A low income person could still save lots of money over buying pot though, it could be a way for some people to get somewhere better over time.
NOTE:
I can't seem to edit or correct the photos on this thread, go to the thread below to see them.
See more on my thread https://www.rollitup.org/t/economical-multi-led-chip-projects-for-growing.852256/page-15
Last edited:
DIY-HP-LED
Well-Known Member
They look ok to me, I copy/pasted pics and text from my thread and edited a bit. Anybody else have trouble with the pics?
nevergoodenuf
Well-Known Member
Yep.
DIY-HP-LED
Well-Known Member
Yep, as in, I can see the pics?
nevergoodenuf
Well-Known Member
Yep, all red X's.
DIY-HP-LED
Well-Known Member
I can't seem to edit or correct the photos on this thread, go to the thread below to see them.
See more on my thread https://www.rollitup.org/t/economical-multi-led-chip-projects-for-growing.852256/page-15
ganjamystic
Well-Known Member
you have a link to the genesis boards?