Let's talk DIY lights

@BIGE what’s the area you’re trying to cover with the light? $1,000 opens up some doors.

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With that budget I’m thinking you could build a better light or one at least just as good @BIGE
But I haven’t tried to build one yet myself I don’t really have a lot of time at the moment I may try tho over the winter :+1:
So I’m following this closely
Great reading @dbrn32

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Nice. I just got done making a 4 led cob light. One deep red, deep blue, pinkish and a full spectrum. I love this stuff

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well when i get into shed i’ll have more space but for now a 4by4 tent lol
i’m not above building a light @dbrn32
i have a 1200w cobb and it does not have the core coverage i want…i thought of getting another one to even out the light on my canopy…
i have never built one,but i do have all the tools to do so…
tell me more about building them guys…i do not know much about building lights so talk where i might be able to follow you…at least until i get some of the terms down and know what is what…lol
ignorant not stupid…lol i guess is what i’m trying to convey…
@steve2

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@BIGE I had a chance to look up the light you’re considering. Doesn’t look like a bad light, but here are a couple things I noticed…

  1. Spectrum is very light in red. I was actually surprised how it low it was for $1000.

  2. They make sure to add the cree xm-l2 name, but only 2 diodes per cluster are actually xm-l2. The xm-l2 is one of my favorite discreet diodes for its flexibility. An entire light of them would be a different story, but only about 2% of this light is xml2.

  3. It looks like max output of this light is 480 watts over a 28" x 28" fixture. As we look at a couple other commercial lights, keep those numbers in mind. I think when we consider that discreet diodes lack the intensity of other light sources, we’ll find that we can get a as good or better coverage, more watts, and a better spectrum than the light you’re considering. I may even have an option for less money.

First up, let’s take a look at the light @MAXHeadRoom built. 4 quantam boards driven at 1050ma I think. Light produces +/- 500 watts is latest in mid power tech featuring Samsung 561c s6 bin. Small chip, but can very high efficacy allows it to be effective when used in high quantities. A commercial version of this light is available from horticulture lighting group for $1050 called hlg-550. While you’re there, they have a 9 cob fixture using citizen chips that has similar specs for the same price. Both are available in several color temps, so you pick a spectrum that fits your purpose. I would recommend 3500k or 4000k for a full cycle light, as both temps hit peaks of McCree curve. If you’re intending on just using for a flower room, then jump on 3000k. It wouldn’t veg aa good, but will give you a little more help with bud development.

Want to save some $? Run over to pacific light concepts and check out the plc-6. For $800 they offer a 6 cob fixture producing about 600 watts in a 30"x30" frame. I believe they use the vero 29se cob in 3500k color temp, good for full cycle grow.

Both plc and hlg were founded by people who were at the front of diy lighting. They are small companies that don’t spend a lot on advertising. So don’t be alarmed if you’re not familiar with them. The owners are very active on a few of the forums, and typically not hard to get ahold of. These lights should be relatively easy to find grow journals or videos for using google.

If you want a more familiar name, check out fluence bioengineering. They offer a handful of lights with custom spectrums. A few of them will fit your budget, the spydr series is going to be better for a square room while vypr series better fit for rectangular room. These lights offer similar tech as the hlq quantam board, but configured in strips.

All of these fixtures have their benefits. The cobs are going to give you a lot of intensity under the light fair amount at the edges. The quantam boards and or strip tech is going to give you a little more even canopy coverage. The drawback to these is that they get a little weak at the corners. Depending on distance from cob to edge, you could see similar drop off in cobs as well. What you gain from the qb or strips is typically a little less hear per watt, and the ability to run them a little closer to canopy. Either is not necessarily the best for everyone.

As @Countryboyjvd1971 said, you can replicate all of these builds for roughly half the cost. I completely understand that not everyone is comfortable doing so. Some people may just want the fancy case, or fit and finish of the commercial light. Whatever the reason, I think I covered the best value in commercial lights using the latest technology. If I missed any, please post up!

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@Givemefire you have specs, build list/price, pics, grow journal?

Please post whatever you’re comfortable with and/or tag me. I’d love to see it and talk about your build.

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@dbrn32 this is the deep red I just got on Monday. Haven’t setup yet. Got all three in whilst on road trip.
Making over weeend

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There is a frequent buy with driver too.

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I’m sitting here with John on the edge of my seat too. Good stuff guys! @dbrn32 really very good! Thank you. I’m also interested in comparisons between building versus buying, what is a good value for the person who doesn’t want to build etc. Especially directing new growers toward a good purchase instead of stepping on their crank like so many of us have done haha.

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@ktreez420 asked about the bridgelux led. The 2 hot items from them are currently the vero 29se, and their mid power strips. The 29se is gem when trying to crank out watts. We can call it similar to the cxb 3590, but it doesn’t quite fall off at efficiency as much when driven at higher currents. They also offer them in 3 voltage configurations, which sometimes helps with driver selection. Their strengths are covering larger areas with watts, and not necessarily a great chip to compare in our 2x2. So let’s talk more about the eb strips.

The eb strips are available in 3 lengths. We’ll call them 1 foot, 2 foot, and 4 foot. The actual measurements are 280mm, 560mm, and 1120mm. So we catch a break and can actually have room to mount a 4 foot strip in a 2x4 tent. If you’ve ever tried to jam a 4’ fluorescent fixture in a 2x4 tent, you can really appreciate this! Anyway, the voltage and current ratings of the strips vary with the length. For now we’ll focus on the 2’ version for our 2x2 tent.

The bridgelux data sheet says the fv is 22.1 v at test voltage of 700ma producing 156 lm/watt in 3500k. Let’s note that this is about 10 ish lm/watt higher than cxb 3590 we looked at. Max current is 1.4 amps and cost is about $7.40 per strip (digikey). So let’s see the cost of putting 200 watts in our 2x2.

The meanwell hlg-185-700 is a 700ma driver with max voltage output of 286v. Dividing the 286 by 22.1 volts of our strip, tells us we can run 12.9 strips. My gut tells me it would do the 13, but we’ll stick with 12 for now. Reversing the math, 22.1v x 700ma gives us about 15.5 watts per strip. Multiply the watts per strip by 12 strips, and we’re at 185 watts. Less than the cxb build, but let’s not forget that we had a little more lumens per watt. For now, we’ll call this set up comparable to the cxb and see if we can match up better with a different driver later.

As a big added bonus, bridgelux says we can run these without a heatsink. Weird right, I just spent almost $80 on heatsinks for my cxb… but the data sheet says they binned at 50c, so I’ll buy it. Buy we’re gonna give them a little help with the heat. So let’s try some 1.5"x 1/8 aluminium flat stock. (It will work I promise) but feel free to go wider, thicker, or opt for chanel or angle. The more surface area you provide the cooler it will be. Also, the strips come with poke in style connectors, so fancy holders are needed. Let’s look at pricing…

12 x 560mm eb strips at $7.40 = $89
1 x hlg-185-700. $50
24’ 1.5x1/8 aluminium stock. $50
25 m roll of adhesive heat
Tape. $15
Misc hardware and wire. $20

Total. $225

We smoked our cxb build producing similar amount of light. The best part is, I think we cam do even better with a driver tweak.

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By moving up to the hlg-185-1050 driver we can drive the eb strips a little harder. Still considerably less than the 1400ma max at a slight loss in lm per watt.

The 1050ma driver has a max voltage of 190. The increase in current will raise our fv of the strip a little. Off the top of my head, I think it’s about 23v. I feel confident enough in that number at this time. So doing the math, 23v x 1050ma= 24 watts x 8 strips= 192 watts. So we just increased our wattage using less strips and flat stock. Subtract 4 strips and 8 ft of aluminum. Congrats, you just created top notch led power for under $1 per watt.

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Want to keep up with the Jones’ or brag that you have the most efficient stuff? I got you!

Samsung offers pretty much the same strips with higher lm/watt efficiency for about 2.5 times the price. Driver configurations may be a tad different, but we can tweak on those too.

This is pretty much the difference between 6 months technology in this business. You can produce more light with same amount of power at higher initial cost of build. They will all grow I promise, the difference comes down to individual set ups and builder goals. I’m not here to say one is better than the other. Some just fit different applications better than others. I think all of these set ups provide great coverage and will yeild well.

Edit for qb

2 quantam boards, heatsinks, and same series of driver would put you at about same output built for the neighborhood of $300.

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It’s crazy the amount that companies charge. I’m now just going to build my own the way I want it, not the way they do.

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Good for you. I did it and its not that hard. If you have 2 ounces of common sense you can do it. And its very rewarding when you are done

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informative @dbrn32,let me read and find these folks,youtube and all that…
cute covers don’t impress me much,i want a awesome light that grows buds as big as my head!!
bring on the pie plate reflectors…lol
seriously though i’ll check these guys out…thank you for your time!!
i’m sure there will be many more questions…lol

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lol,you are shooting over my head now…lol i need schematics and pictures…lol at least to see what a driver looks like,or eb strips…
any good vids out there where i could get a grasp of what you are talking about? i will check these guys out and i will get back with you…lol

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check out Grow Mau5 videos on youtube. he has several different types of builds just pick a build and get familiar with what we’re doing

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I’d be happy to go through exact details of a particular build. Since I don’t have a lot of the stuff you’re asking for readily available, I definitely encourage going out and researching yourself. An led driver is nothing more than a DC power supply that usually includes some added features and safety circuits.

A few notes if I hadn’t already mentioned.

I prefer using constant current drivers. In my opinion they are much better for diy builders abilities, and leave a little room for error. If you are wondering why I always suggest meanwell, it’s simply where my experience is. There are other sometimes lower cost options that are viable. I just personally trust their data sheet info, short circuit, and overcurrent protection.

Also, I prefer to wire in series even if there is a lower price option of parallel wiring. I don’t want to say parallel wiring is unsafe, but there’s a greater opportunity for thermal runaway. Most of the time the cost of adding fuses to protect from thermal runaway eliminates the saving from using a cheaper driver.

A question that I have, is anyone looking at doing a particular project we can look at? I assumed we could roughly double the cost for lighting a 2x4 to the same level. But do we have a 3x3 or 4x4 anyone is looking at? Or maybe we need to go smaller and look at a cost effective light for clone dome or side lighting?

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I have a 3x3 and am toying with the idea.
If I can get a better light for less cash I’m all in.
However don’t have funds to start now😣

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i gotcha,yea let me get up to speed here guys…lol
i will catch up soon…thank you @MAXHeadRoom

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