Project SWARM- Getting My Plan- Need Your Ideas

Earlier this year I built a 300W panel for a buddy. 10" x 23" 3" tall heat sink. 50 Cree XM-L. 5 drivers. Quite the monster and sure puts out the light. Pretty happy with the performance. I can thank Rives for that.

Then along comes Captain Morgan growing with his Cree Home Depot LED light "bulbs". Moving away from a single light source with these LED bulbs from Home Depot. He "swarmed" the plants with small lights placed where he needed them. The problem is that while cheaper, these LED from Home Depot don't directly point their LEDs at the plant, so lots of lost light. You would still need a panel for that. A small panel. Many small panels = SWARM concept.

Rives also started me looking at smaller multiple panels many months ago, so this is really nothing even remotely original on my part. Just plucking ideas from others

Use simple spring-loaded poles, install these floor to ceiling so they stay put. The Swarm panels would come off these poles, like at the end of the tree branch, and this spring pole thing is the tree trunk. So you can get that panel just where you want it and it stays put.

Many smaller panels on lamp-clamps, so they can be clamped to a pole. Or something similar.

Maybe 50W (actual) output per panel.

The panel would be a sink, maybe 6x6. Passive cooled.

Maybe the driver is on a 3' wire(s) and attached to the pole to keep the panel lighter.

Could add low wattage blue(s) and reds in the upper 600.

Could use older LEDs for lower cost. The needs of such a small panel might be lower, since you can get the light source close to the plant all over.

Just looking for ideas.

I am a true believer in what you term the "swarm". Here is my version. Surrounding the entire crop from top to bottom with light makes for highly productive plants! My last 2 plants from this setup came in at 12-1/4 zips.

Very cool! Fucking A! Trophy for you!

So you have strips to swarm. Captain has "bulbs" to swarm. Obviously he gets a trophy!

Both of these are fixed, and I have my buddy supplementing using the Cree bulbs (a string of LEDs on his main panel are out-easy fix) and I was intrigued how he could install the bulb in a heavy lamp with one of those metal arms you can point the lamp wherever. So he can get that light right where he wants it. Close.

So that led me to think that these little swarm panels (6" x 6") would have greater value if they could be moved in closer, or moved in general. Inverse-square law and all that.

Great idea, have been working towards a similar setup for my next grow, don't think there's any such thing as "too much" light…

Like your setup Mechmike, thinking of something very similar. I'm running LED panels, next grow will go into a new room with 2x450W panels above. For side lighting I have 10x 9W 6500k LED Tubes on order that I'll daisy chain to make side-lighting "panels". Once I get them and figure out how to configure them into a 90W "panel" my plan is to build a wall of light on 4 sides and the LED panels on top. I'm about 8-10 weeks away, just starting the electrical for the new 4x8x7' room, can't wait for my current grow to finish, love this stuff, and mostly love the end result

Oh, I'd definitely say there's such a thing as too much light. I've light bleached plants with HPS, and my friend's plants under the 300W were kept squat to some degree because the panel was too close. Lack of red was another factor, likely. My opinion. Panel raised = stretch started again. There is a sweet spot for this intense light. I also feel that adding CO2 would allow for more heat and light tolerance, same as with HPS flower grows.

Anywho- The trick is the arm that would hold the panel at the end. There have to be cheap solutions so that's another thing to look up.

Any thoughts on the 6" x 6" orientation?