What are the best diodes on the market right now? Anything on the horizon?

PJ Diaz

Well-Known Member
I'd like to see more fixtures using high powered 5050 type diodes in 2021. I think a lot of folks are missing the boat on those by focusing on efficiency numbers only. You want a LED light that will penetrate like a 1k DE? Use high powered diodes, not mid-powered diodes like the lm301h.
 

PSUAGRO.

Well-Known Member
I'd like to see more fixtures using high powered 5050 type diodes in 2021. I think a lot of folks are missing the boat on those by focusing on efficiency numbers only. You want a LED light that will penetrate like a 1k DE? Use high powered diodes, not mid-powered diodes like the lm301h.
Well the new chilled growcraft proto1 fixture (3.2umol/j) is NOT for you then, lol. Ultra low current and a shit load of top bin diodes (8000+) to hit that #. Will be pricey with that BOM obviously.......

Cobs are your friend in that case, some of the og never switched to boards/strips with decent grow heights. Also not using the term " penetration" cause of the Nazi tech guys roaming here :-P

Happy fucking new year
 
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PJ Diaz

Well-Known Member
Well the new chilled growcraft proto1 fixture (3.2umol/j) is NOT for you then, lol. Ultra low current and a shit load of top bin diodes (8000+) to hit that #. Will be pricey with that BOM obviously.......

Cobs are your friend in that case, some of the og never switched to boards/strips with decent grow heights. Also not using the term " penetration" cause of the Nazi tech guys roaming here :-P

Happy fucking new year
You're right, the price tag on the newest fixtures aren't my thing. I'll buy those a year after release if they are really so great for half the price. That said, does the chilled fixture really hit those numbers? I mean they have posted skewed numbers in the past, which didn't include driver loss, and was disproved by an independent third party sphere test. I don't really like cobs. Don't like the spread at all. I'm currently a QB96 guy, which uses the 5050 diodes so they can be cranked up hotter. They only get around 2.4 u/j but I'm ok with that.
 

welight

Well-Known Member
I'd like to see more fixtures using high powered 5050 type diodes in 2021. I think a lot of folks are missing the boat on those by focusing on efficiency numbers only. You want a LED light that will penetrate like a 1k DE? Use high powered diodes, not mid-powered diodes like the lm301h.
I agree, with 5050 less can be more, 1200w, 2800PPF
5050kclass copy.jpg
Cheers
 
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welight

Well-Known Member
Interesting fixture. What's with the hose, water cooled?
yes watercooled, so the idea is to use less leds, crank them hard, but maintain efficacy but running cool at higher drive with active cooling, less leds, higher penetration with 5050 leds and as you can see the new Cree K Class 5050 is still over 3umol/j at 150ma.
5050 as they now start to exceed 200LPW are really the ultimate bridge chip between COB and HE single die
Cheers
 

PJ Diaz

Well-Known Member
yes watercooled, so the idea is to use less leds, crank them hard, but maintain efficacy but running cool at higher drive with active cooling, less leds, higher penetration with 5050 leds and as you can see the new Cree K Class 5050 is still over 3umol/j at 150ma.
5050 as they now start to exceed 200LPW are really the ultimate bridge chip between COB and HE single die
Cheers
That's dope. What's the spectrum look like on those chips?
 

PSUAGRO.

Well-Known Member
You're right, the price tag on the newest fixtures aren't my thing. I'll buy those a year after release if they are really so great for half the price. That said, does the chilled fixture really hit those numbers? I mean they have posted skewed numbers in the past, which didn't include driver loss, and was disproved by an independent third party sphere test. I don't really like cobs. Don't like the spread at all. I'm currently a QB96 guy, which uses the 5050 diodes so they can be cranked up hotter. They only get around 2.4 u/j but I'm ok with that.
Did they? Didn't follow the drama but Vitally is a smart cat ..... Find it odd to leave out the drivers in a system efficacy test. Honestly, I haven't really paid much attention since gm5 left. Light labs is a reputable testing center no doubt.

Cobs spread ok when hung higher vs strips/boards. Thermal management should be better on the qb96 though.

Like I said before, if I was building today it would be strips. Cause they would work best in my current situation.

To each their own, happy growing
 

PJ Diaz

Well-Known Member
Did they? Didn't follow the drama but Vitally is a smart cat ..... Find it odd to leave out the drivers in a system efficacy test. Honestly, I haven't really paid much attention since gm5 left. Light labs is a reputable testing center no doubt.
They talk about it during the first 15 minutes of this GML show..

If you listen about 10 minutes in Vitally admits in a DM that they didn't even test the entire fixture, they only tested one bar and then did some math to some up with numbers for the entire fixture.

 

welight

Well-Known Member
Did they? Didn't follow the drama but Vitally is a smart cat ..... Find it odd to leave out the drivers in a system efficacy test. Honestly, I haven't really paid much attention since gm5 left. Light labs is a reputable testing center no doubt.
yes I thought the numbers without the driver losses kinda wierd
cheers
 

PSUAGRO.

Well-Known Member
They talk about it during the first 15 minutes of this GML show..

If you listen about 10 minutes in Vitally admits in a DM that they didn't even test the entire fixture, they only tested one bar and then did some math to some up with numbers for the entire fixture.

Hard to watch with some kids screaming into the mic. Not a fan of these shows and gml is a direct competitor with his Canada distribution== No matter what he says.

Tech talk with gg & gm5 was good and I always enjoyed it though.

But with that being said I've never heard of testing a single bar for system efficiency either outside of the China "hustle". It's definitely dubious and misrepresentative of the final umol/ppf#.
 
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Argentocobs

Well-Known Member
I'd like to see more fixtures using high powered 5050 type diodes in 2021. I think a lot of folks are missing the boat on those by focusing on efficiency numbers only. You want a LED light that will penetrate like a 1k DE? Use high powered diodes, not mid-powered diodes like the lm301h.
I agree, im working in a new lamp that has duris s8 ( 3000k and 5000 k cri 70 ) and oslon square 660 nm (bin 8 ) and oslon 730 nm .
Less diodes and more power, but needs good dissipation .
 

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PJ Diaz

Well-Known Member
I agree, im working in a new lamp that has duris s8 ( 3000k and 5000 k cri 70 ) and oslon square 660 nm (bin 8 ) and oslon 730 nm .
Less diodes and more power, but needs good dissipation .
That's cool, but I'm not sure I want 730nm on my main lights. I prefer to run far red separately, so that I can control how much far red the plants get and at what time of day. I've had some strains get a bit too stretchy when running 730nm all day during transition.
 

Argentocobs

Well-Known Member
That's cool, but I'm not sure I want 730nm on my main lights. I prefer to run far red separately, so that I can control how much far red the plants get and at what time of day. I've had some strains get a bit too stretchy when running 730nm all day during transition.
Me too, but these are cri 70 white lights and only one far red diode , just i litle bump like in cri 90 white lights .
 

PJ Diaz

Well-Known Member
The Growcraft Ultra Proto-1 has been, and is still, undergoing independent lab and grower tests to back up our initial claims for this new light. As for our "skewed numbers" on the Growcraft we responded to those allegations with a transparent explanation as to why we decided to test our bars the way we did. If you need me to further elaborate on our findings feel free to shoot us a direct message! -Dallas

So your reason for testing a single bar vs the entire fixture, is that you think your fixture will block light bounce? Erm, I'm pretty sure that's what happens in any tent grow situation. Additionally you are using math based on theoretical driver efficiency based on spec sheets at 220AC, but in reality most growers will be running 120V AC, so there's another 5% drop in efficiency right there. The reality is that you are posting a theoretical efficiency number for you fixture, based on math, it's not a real test of the fixture. Fact.
 
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