Help deciding on lightning setup micro grow

[hestah]

Ave icmaggers. I am planning a micro grow project, it will be my very first grow and the planning is nearing completion. However I stumblez upon the LED section lol, and now I want some input on what lighting setup I should go for. I have two in mind but please feel free to give other advice.

1st:
3-4 PLL bulbs with variyng color temps, am thinking about 1 3000k, 1 5000k and 2 4000ks.
This will cost me about 120 euros incl ballasts and shipping.

2nd:
Two cree cxa3070s, maybe one 3000k and one 4000k. These will cost about 140 euros incl shipping and two Mean Well LPC-60-1400 ballasts but not including heatsinks/fans.

My main concern is really about the soldering of the crees as I have never soldered anything before in my life and I dont want to end up destroying them.

The cab is 71 cm wide, 40 cm deep and 97 cm high and i might make it NGB style or with small veg/mom chamber on top with shorter flowerinf chamber, or just make a big flower area and have veggies/moms in seperate cab.

Any input is greatly appriciated.
And there we go, 50th post lol.

 

[hestah]

Forgot to mention that the PLLs are 55w philips bulbs and ballasts and the ballast for the LEDs are Mean Well LPC-60-1400s.

Edit
Lol as the thread was my 50th post it didnt give me the option to edit thus why I made a reply

 

[hush]

That's almost the same size as the cabinet I just built... Yours is slightly less deep than mine is. But otherwise similar.

I'd say LEDs are perfect for this sized cabinet, so I recommend those over the PLLs. The PLLs throw some heat. As far as soldering goes, it's not complicated, but it does require some finesse. I suggest soldering other things first so you learn some of the subtle techniques required to get it done right the first time. If you mess up, there is such a thing as desoldering, so don't worry too much. You can undo what you did and start over again. But for your own sanity, I still suggest practicing on cheap diodes first, or just anything solderable for that matter.

 

[hestah]

Thanks for the answer hush. Your setup and some others here inspired me to try out LEDs. Im thinking of buying a soldering kit that comes with some practice boards.
The supplier of the LEDs does not have the high bins however so I might have to go with Z2s but its no big deal really.

 

[Dr.Nonagon]

No need to solder a cxa.

Various types of LED holder are available for the cxa series. The 3050 can use one like this here

Instead drill and tap holes to secure the holder to the heatsink. Thermal adhesive is not used with this holder like in some builds. Thermal paste is used which has better thermal conduction. The LED will not be damaged when removing it so you can change cxa chips just by removing two screws for the phases of growth.

 

[hestah]

Thanks Dr. Really cheap too. But now comes the problem of drilling in a heatsink lol, maybe its not too hard?

 

[Dr.Nonagon]

Well if you have a hand drill then you can just purchase a drill bit and a tap like this.

Also order some #4-40 screws at the same time. If the screw head is too small use a washer.

Most hardware stores carry this stuff too

By putting the LED holder on the heatsink you can mark your holes. Drill on very low speed and make a hole into or through your heatsink.
Then place one drop of oil on the hole and using the drill and tap very slowly begin to cut the threads into the hole. You may need to reverse the drill a bit then finish taping the hole.

Might take 5 mins to drill and tap all your holes.

 

[hestah]

Thanks again for the answer Dr. Nonagon. I will just have to buy the screws and drill bit for drilling in aluminium. I think I have some scrap pieces lying around to practice on. Got taps