My first DIY LED grow

Alright, decided a few months ago that I wanted to dabble in a lil home grow to see what I can do. In the process I decided that I’d go ahead and also dabble in creating my own light. Before I get into everything I figured i’d do a run down of my setup since this is something I looked for when trying to decide what to buy.

Equipment

  • VIVOSUN 36"x36"x72" Mylar Hydroponic Grow Ten
  • iPower 6 Inch 442 CFM Inline Fan, with 6 Inch Carbon Filter
  • fan speed adjuster (a must in my opinion)
  • grow light hangers
  • 5 gallon buckets
  • FoxFarm Ocean Forest Organic Soil
  • FoxFarm Big Bloom, Grow Big, Tiger Bloom
  • trellising
  • SensorPush Wireless Thermometer / Hygrometer
  • 6 inch clip on fan

So pretty basic setup since this is my first grow I didn’t feel like messing with hydroponics yet. Where I did decide to have some fun was with my light. Here’s my parts list:

  • 1 x Arctic Alumina Thermal Adhesive
  • 2 × Mean Well HLG-240H-C1400B with dimmers
  • 6 × 140mm Pin Heatsink
  • 6 × Bridgelux VERO29 (3500K 80 CRI B) with molex connectors
  • 3 x 8 ft aluminum angle (1/2" size)

Based on my math I’m looking to get an upwards of 440W from this setup at full power.

Alright time for the fun. First things first I had to put together my light. In hindsight I wish I had spent the few extra dollars and bought bigger aluminium for more structural support. The 1/2" works but my design kinda of made it a bit flimsy and if I had to do it over i’d either use 80/20 or just go with wider/thicker aluminium angle. After framing, the electrical work was pretty easy assuming that you have some basic understanding of how to solder and how to wire things up.

One tip I have for anyone doing a DIY. Make sure you strip your molex wires when they aren’t connected to the LED. I tried to strip a wire that was connected and accidentally

A lil help from some buddies and some work and I have my setup all done. Just waiting on my seeds to arrive so I can put my setup to use.


Photos

mocking up after cutting the bars

rough placement of the heatsinks and driver

fully wired up and functioning

in the the tent set at 24" above pots at lowest setting on dimmers

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@dbrn32 @MAXHeadRoom @happycamper Tagging so you can follow along and see my setup.

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@middlecoast - nice light setup! I plan on doing something similar next week .

What thickness did you use for the aluminium angle? I’m going with 1x1x.125.

I went with 1/2" angle. I would suggest the 1x1 that you are using though. Hopefully give you more stable frame. Also might want to consider some kind of cross bracket if you feel like using a similar setup to mine.

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Looks great!

Can I ask what you decided on for spacing? They look a lot closer to the right and left side than I would put them.

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I think your right. Optimal spacing for COBs is 12’ to 18" isn’t it?

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Yep. Depends on the output a little @MAXHeadRoom some will go as close as 10" on 50 or less watts per cob. I typically shoot for somewhere between 10" and 14" depending on application.

In this case, I feel like they could be tightened up a little, and you can rely on some reflection from the tent. To each their own though.

So in the two rows each LED is spaced by about 12.5". Each row is separated by 25". I’ll eventually bring the rows in about 4" or so so they will be about 17" apart. I’d do it now but I just don’t feel like pulling things apart to drill new holes.

Do you think the spacing will really screw up potential yields?

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Absolutely!

You’re wasting half the output of each cob bouncing it off the side of the tent. Some of the light will reflect, but you want to use that reflection to your advantage, not have it taking up your photons.

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I agree. You don’t want your photons bouncing off the wall right away. They lose half there energy every time they bounce off some thing. It is a good design you just need to tweek on it. If you move the 2 rows to 18" apart then you will have 9" on both ends of your light till the light hits the wall. The light in the middle will overlap and the light on the edges will reflect off your wall. This is the best spacing for your setup
@middlecoast @dbrn32

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If it were me, I wouldn’t space them anymore than 15" tops. The reason being is that majority of your bud producing foliage will be in the center 75% of your space, that’s where you want the concentration of your light. Even with a scrog, you’re not going to have buds crawling up every inch of your walls. You’ll be much better off setting the spacing where the cobs all blend together well in the middle. Even if it’s a little light at the edges, let them be light. At least there you get help from reflection.

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Thanks guys. I guess i’ll be pulling out the light to drill a few more holes.

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You made it look so simple lol! I’m jealous, I want to build mine already!!! Looks great though dude, and I bet you’re going to have an amazing yield with that fixture in there.

:v::evergreen_tree::evergreen_tree:

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Aren’t you building one too

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I neat little trick I picked up that may help you out… Back when I started, I wasn’t sure about the cob spacing either, and found myself doing the same thing. Eventually, it got really tedious. I seen someone else use magnets, and adjusted his method.

I used rubber cement to mount a long strip magnet to my frame, and then the same to fairly strong magnet on my heatsink. Them I could kind of slide them back and forth a little. Once I was sure on placement, the rubber cement was fairly easy to peel off. Then I drilled my holes.

You do have to be slightly careful you don’t knock them off when hanging. But once it’s up, a decent set mof magnets will hold pretty well. Some people have even left the magnets, or glued them in place. Just a thought.

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That’s pretty clever. I’ll probably just drill a bunch of holes along the two rails that are holding my rows together. At some point in the future i’ll spend some money on different framing. Was thinking about trying 80/20 but that’s not happening soon.

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I’ve also thought about doing zip ties since my rails hold everything pretty well in place since I didn’t leave a lot of room for moving things around

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All good options. The 80/20 shapes are pretty dang fly, I agree.

Alright, fixed my light. Decided to move the two rows in 3.5" which brought the rows to be 9" off center. On top of that my seeds finally came in and dropped them straight into a shot glass. Let the growing begin.

Speaking of growing I decided to try to go with manifolding instead of a scrog. Main reason is it’s my first attempt and I want to keep it simple. I’m looking to copy nebulas manifold technique to get 8 nice colas per plant. I’m going to keep the trellis up as support so I don’t have to go out and buy more stuff.

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Nice job @middlecoast can’t wait to see how this grow turns out
I agree with @ktreez420 lol you did make it look easy :+1:

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