Water Cooling CXA 3070

So I got my first tube up and running. I did some temp tests with my multimeter and I got some alarming readings. My temp at the surface of the LED was pushing 340F but the Tc measured on the point Cree suggests was about 110F, is this normal? If I'm understanding this correctly then I'm fine as far as temp. But the surface temp of the cobs is kinda worrisome.

Side note, how in the nine hells do you guys look at these things?!? I have two pairs of sunglasses on and I can barely look near these things!

there's a company that makes liquid cooled LEDs. Thermal Solutions. they offer the GSTS 1000. saw it in boston at the NE Cannabis trade show.

So, it turns out that grommets as a means of sealing suspended plumbing sucks. So I decided to use what I'm comfortable with and made this instead.
I sealed all the joints with primer and cpvc cement, except for the intake and outtake barbs which I used a thread sealer on.
Of course to my knowledge nobody makes square to round pvc pipe. So I used my handy heat gun to get the ends of some pipe malleable and pushed them onto the ends of my aluminum pipe and then let them cool. I then removed the cooled pieces from the end of my aluminum, this was a huge pain in the ass I recommend lubing the ends of the pipe prior to this step, roughed up the inside of the pvc and the outside of the aluminum and joined them with Loctite Marine Epoxy and let them cure for 36 hours just to be safe.
I just finished the water test and there are no leaks so far and water flow is very impressive. If by tomorrow morning there is still no leakage I'll finish my wiring, make a mounting board for my power supplies, and get some pictures of this thing up and running. I'll then probably put together a organized parts list and figure out what this all would've cost me if I didn't have half of it lying around.

I've been lazy and haven't gotten things wired yet but I did this.

Parts List

- 10' of 1" PVC pipe from Lowe's $4
- 8x 1" PVC slip on T joints from Lowe's $16
- 1x 1" PVC slip on cross joint from Lowe's $3
- 10x 1" PVC slip on 90° elbow joint from Lowe's $20
-4x 1" PVC slip on to 3/4" thread adapter from Lowe's $8
-4x 3/4" threaded barbs from Lowe's $8
- 10' water heater hose from Lowe's $15
- 4x screw on clamps for hose from Lowe's $8
- 1x PVC primer cement combo pack from Lowe's $7
- 1x professional thread sealer from Lowe's $6
-20' 1" square aluminum tubing 1/8" wall thickness cut into 5' lengths from local metal warehouse $45
-1x heat gun from I have no idea where <$35
- sand paper of various grits and 0000 steel wool for lapping/polishing <$20
- 4x Meanwell HLG 240H-C1400a from Arrow electronics $300 with shipping
-20x CXA3070....AB30F from Arrow electronics $700
-1x 33w 700gph submersible pump from local hydro store $70
- 100' 18awg stranded lamp wire from Lowe's $25
-1x soldering gun, I borrowed mine but they're available from $30 up at most hardware stores
-1x roll of solder from Lowe's $6

Total cost: $1326 approx.
Total cost per watt $1.33

Hey all, so the light had been in use for around six months now and it's doing great! If my eyes don't deceive me I'm in for a record harvest, for me at least. They're definitely looking extra frosty as well.


All joints and seals are in good shape, my recirculation pump got clogged once and the temp rose which has caused a slight bowing in the pvc. This was kind of expected as I haven't set up a good hanging solution yet. All things considered this experiment had been a success.

QuinndianaJones said:

Hey all, so the light had been in use for around six months now and it's doing great! If my eyes don't deceive me I'm in for a record harvest, for me at least. They're definitely looking extra frosty as well.


All joints and seals are in good shape, my recirculation pump got clogged once and the temp rose which has caused a slight bowing in the pvc. This was kind of expected as I haven't set up a good hanging solution yet. All things considered this experiment had been a success.

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I also have gone with the water cooled cobs. I also used the 1" Sq aluminum on my cxb2540 veg light. Used 1.25 Sq on my cxb 3590. Both lights run into a manifold. I tried passive cooling. Would never go back. Heat a few rooms in my basement with the hot water.

@Wunderwi Very nice setup, that's a gorgeous light. I see you're supplementing your spectrum, do you think it's necessary? My results with the 3070s were the best I've had or even seen around in years. These are a Jock Horror pheno I'm very happy with.

QuinndianaJones said:

@Wunderwi Very nice setup, that's a gorgeous light. I see you're supplementing your spectrum, do you think it's necessary? My results with the 3070s were the best I've had or even seen around in years. These are a Jock Horror pheno I'm very happy with.

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Thanks. Guess being a welder by trade has its advantages in the DIY light building. As far as supplementing. The royal blue seams to make a difference. I run the blue 24 and everything else 18

Wunderwi said:

I also have gone with the water cooled cobs. I also used the 1" Sq aluminum on my cxb2540 veg light. Used 1.25 Sq on my cxb 3590. Both lights run into a manifold. I tried passive cooling. Would never go back. Heat a few rooms in my basement with the hot water.

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that is scary, water + exposed wires is a recipe for disaster.

Wunderwi said:

Thanks. Guess being a welder by trade has its advantages in the DIY light building. As far as supplementing. The royal blue seams to make a difference. I run the blue 24 and everything else 18

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Gotcha, are you flowering under led as well or just veg?

Yodaweed said:

that is scary, water + exposed wires is a recipe for disaster.

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I mean I can't speak for anyone else but I haven't had any issues with watercooling. People watercool multi thousand dollar computers every day. You just have to take care of your connections.

People are scared of water leaks because they can see them. When you combine something they are afraid of and dont know about they tend to misconstrue the risk (electricity). On its own an electrical leak is dangerous, water cooling adds very little to the risk.

Yodaweed said:

that is scary, water + exposed wires is a recipe for

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QuinndianaJones said:

Gotcha, are you flowering under led as well or just veg?

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Also under led. Use cxb3590 3500k. With photo red. And far red at lights out. I will say in my situation with heat. The water cooling is so much easier to get rid of the heat. Without all the fans and ducting.

QuinndianaJones said:

I mean I can't speak for anyone else but I haven't had any issues with watercooling. People watercool multi thousand dollar computers every day. You just have to take care of your connections.

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My computer has a water cooler in it(thermaltake water extreme 2.0 with AMD 9370), it's a lot different than some janky home made DIY water cooling system. Also there's a big difference in the amount of stress the equipment takes inside a computer vs a grow room, grow rooms are very rough on equipment, what happens when that guy has a seal burst and water spills all over his exposed electronics and wiring.

Safety should always be number 1 for any grower increasing risks of fire by putting water right above exposed wiring and electronics is a bad idea.

Yodaweed said:

My computer has a water cooler in it(thermaltake water extreme 2.0 with AMD 9370), it's a lot different than some janky home made DIY water cooling system.

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I'd

Yodaweed said:

My computer has a water cooler in it(thermaltake water extreme 2.0 with AMD 9370), it's a lot different than some janky home made DIY water cooling system. Also there's a big difference in the amount of stress the equipment takes inside a computer vs a grow room, grow rooms are very rough on equipment, what happens when that guy has a seal burst and water spills all over his exposed electronics and wiring.

Safety should always be number 1 for any grower increasing risks of fire by putting water right above exposed wiring and electronics is a bad idea.

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Then why would you have water cooling in your pc? If you worry about water near electricity. Same could be said for hydronic in floor heating. If it's done right. Why worry?

Wunderwi said:

I'd

Then why would you have water cooling in your pc? If you worry about water near electricity. Same could be said for hydronic in floor heating. If it's done right. Why worry?

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Because the water cooler that's inside my computer was engineered by a professional and not thrown together in a basement, hell if you want to have those risks that's all you, i personally wouldn't run your setup in my house, too much fire risk. I don't see how you can sleep at night when your one seal or hose clamp away from your house burning down. Clamps are not used in water coolers for computers by the way.

Yodaweed said:

Because the water cooler that's inside my computer was engineered by a professional and not thrown together in a basement, hell if you want to have those risks that's all you, i personally wouldn't run your setup in my house, too much fire risk. I don't see how you can sleep at night when your one seal or hose clamp away from your house burning down. Clamps are not used in water coolers for computers by the way.

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And outsourced to the cheapest supplier in china.

Wunderwi said:

And outsourced to the cheapest supplier in china.

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Same with your LEDs , they are all made in china.

Yodaweed said:

Same with your LEDs , they are all made in china.

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Correct. But only my led.