no offense, but you're not looking in the right places.
check the LED - GPW thread and LED - 1LB+ grows thread. both links in my sig.
LEDS have arrived my friend.
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no offense, but you're not looking in the right places.
check the LED - GPW thread and LED - 1LB+ grows thread. both links in my sig.
LEDS have arrived my friend.
Chloemobile
Active member
I was checking around after seeing the results of Trem0lo's thread and still not happy with the cost - in my defense though i havent looked for LED's like im trying to buy them yet - which in that case i would probably do a bit more digging into costs and price etc.
T
trem0lo
If you haven't found knna's thread about LEDs yet it's a great (albeit very technical) introduction to the technology as it relates to growing. Required reading imho... just have google handy to look up anything you don't understand. Building a good micro light shouldn't be too cost prohibitive considering ebay UFO lights cost $150+.
The Chinese lights get thermal management all wrong, on top of which they're using cheap diodes, so no wonder we see more leaf than bud in some of the grow diaries. Combining maximum thermal management and quality diodes should be the goal. It's the reason I use ultra thin thermal pads to mount directly to the heatsink instead of stars: Better thermal transfer equals cooler junction temps, equals higher light output and longer life. To this end it's good to oversize your heatsink too.
Here are a couple pics from today (day 27):
can you toss a link to that thread please, tremolo? cannot find it via search engine...
or is the nickname different?
stay cool, bro
Chloemobile
Active member
I've actually been reading up hard on LEDs lately and am making my first purchase(tonight hopefully) once I finalize some details!
I'm sourcing all of my parts from rapidled - convenient and cost seems comparable since they have high quality bins. The LEDS come mounted on stars...I thought hose were desirable...I was going to go with their solder-less LEDs because I've never soldered before and it seems like I can keep the unit modular this way.
1 - 6"x 10" pre drilled(24 LEDs) heat sink
1- meanwell 35-700 and power cord
All soderless - wires/clips included
8x Cree xt-e red
2x Cree xp-g nw
1x Luxeon 660
All of them will run at 700ma( maxing the reds out obviously). Still trying to figure out the voltage for each at that current to make sure I'm within my limit..I may be able to add one more LED. If I how this works out I will fill the rest out with another string... I'm considering getting all 24 LEDs right now but the additional 12 LEDs driver and fan(needed at this point) is like 80 more bucks! :/ without the second string its like 100 bucks - reasonable for right now.
I'm growing in an 11"x11" cab I think the 12x 3w will be just enough. Whatcha think?
=D
I'm sourcing all of my parts from rapidled - convenient and cost seems comparable since they have high quality bins. The LEDS come mounted on stars...I thought hose were desirable...I was going to go with their solder-less LEDs because I've never soldered before and it seems like I can keep the unit modular this way.
1 - 6"x 10" pre drilled(24 LEDs) heat sink
1- meanwell 35-700 and power cord
All soderless - wires/clips included
8x Cree xt-e red
2x Cree xp-g nw
1x Luxeon 660
All of them will run at 700ma( maxing the reds out obviously). Still trying to figure out the voltage for each at that current to make sure I'm within my limit..I may be able to add one more LED. If I how this works out I will fill the rest out with another string... I'm considering getting all 24 LEDs right now but the additional 12 LEDs driver and fan(needed at this point) is like 80 more bucks! :/ without the second string its like 100 bucks - reasonable for right now.
I'm growing in an 11"x11" cab I think the 12x 3w will be just enough. Whatcha think?
=D
T
trem0lo
NKOTS, http://buymarijuanaseeds.com/community/threads/how-to-build-your-diy-led-array.117772/. Start brewing some coffee!
Chloemobile, looks like a good plan. Those solderless kits are nice. I might add another warm white or two or a blue, then you're not relying on just red. Without doing the math I'd guess you are approaching the 48V limit on the driver. The datasheet of each led will have a graph of the voltage at a given current, 700mA in your case. Then just add them up, that's your forward voltage.
Chloemobile, looks like a good plan. Those solderless kits are nice. I might add another warm white or two or a blue, then you're not relying on just red. Without doing the math I'd guess you are approaching the 48V limit on the driver. The datasheet of each led will have a graph of the voltage at a given current, 700mA in your case. Then just add them up, that's your forward voltage.
Chloemobile
Active member
I went with the more traditional 8 x 660 3 x ww 1x royal blue.
=D
=D
Chloemobile
Active member
I didn't realize that I have about 16 more FV I can use ><. So I can order a few more LEDs...not sure what I should fill them with though.
=D
=D
T
trem0lo
Warm white. Leave a few volts to spare though, don't want to overwork the driver.
T
trem0lo
Thanks! Generally it does, but I tend to run out a week or two before each harvest. Now that I have my soil and cloning dialed in I should have plenty.
I'm thinking next time I'll pop a few more seeds and run them alongside to do more pheno hunting.
T
trem0lo
I finally got around to changing the carbon filter on my mother/clone box, as well as sealing up a couple light leaks that made it immediately obvious that there weren't hard drives in there. I also moved the filter from the inside to outside, so the 140mm fan is pushing instead of pulling against it. That'll make it easier to replace the carbon pads in the future. Mothers and clones put out a surprising amount of stink, and I'm super paranoid about smell so we can never be too careful.
Here is the main PC, beginning 5 weeks for the older two. They are just now beginning to show their signature acrid skunky perfume (with a hint of garbage) so my time to admire them every day gets shorter and shorter.
Here is the main PC, beginning 5 weeks for the older two. They are just now beginning to show their signature acrid skunky perfume (with a hint of garbage) so my time to admire them every day gets shorter and shorter.
T
trem0lo
Quick pic @ 41 days just after lights out.... 
Lots of good stuff happening, these ladies are loving their soil microbes. I can say now that I would not grow without a quality mycorrhizae inoculate in the future.
Lots of good stuff happening, these ladies are loving their soil microbes. I can say now that I would not grow without a quality mycorrhizae inoculate in the future.
wow dude they r looking gre8.
T
trem0lo
The yellowing has begun, won't be more than a few weeks now as its a 65-70 day strain if you want her fat & ripe (although I've taken her as early as day 58 with excellent results). The left plant is beginning to finish up her pistil production as the buds take shape. Her large main cola is in the back left.
Here's the full monty shot, as you can see the lower buds get some love too in this cab.
Here's a reminder that Christmas is only a few crops away... you can see the bare copper traces here connecting the LEDs on the heatsink. I've had no problems with the lights being exposed like this, I just have to be careful when spraying and hold a piece of paper over them. Some of the leaf tips find their way up to the lights and get burned, however. No big deal.
Here's the full monty shot, as you can see the lower buds get some love too in this cab.
Here's a reminder that Christmas is only a few crops away... you can see the bare copper traces here connecting the LEDs on the heatsink. I've had no problems with the lights being exposed like this, I just have to be careful when spraying and hold a piece of paper over them. Some of the leaf tips find their way up to the lights and get burned, however. No big deal.
Chloemobile
Active member
Lookin super tasty should be a nice crop!!
T
trem0lo
Day 53
Opening the side door...
Gives you a sense of how bright the Osram LEDs are!
And a few random shots...
Opening the side door...
Gives you a sense of how bright the Osram LEDs are!
And a few random shots...
T
trem0lo
Thanks xmobotx, I'm feeling pretty good about this run. It's all about keeping the root zone and soil microbes happy.
The bleaching is there but doesn't seem to stress the plants out and doesn't affect potency (just flavor). Next run I'll move the screen down an inch or so to adjust for this. I took leaf and bud surface temps with an IR thermometer and it's a balmy 81 degrees, so no worries about heat. Lumen hotspots seem to be the issue here.
