Starting My LED PC Build!!!

hey guys ...so ive got this project ive been wanting to do for quite some time now. My goal is to build an epic LED PC grow box! i know Im not going to be saving any money by building this style of grow box its just a project ive wanted to do for a while. I want to build a custom micro LED panel with top of the line parts. Ive been doing a little research on DIY led panels but still feel a bit lost...so im sure ill be posting up some questions for you guys. Ive also been designing my own micro carbon filter that i plan on getting 3D printed. This project will probably be stretched out over the next few months.

Here is the PC tower i will be using - http://www.corsair.com/en-us/graphite-series-730t-full-tower-case
The case measures at 22.2" x 9.7" x 22.4". Pretty sure these are the outside dimensions. ill be purchasing the case within the next week or 2 and ill post up some better measurments.

So my first couple questions are:
- What would be the ABSOLUTE best lighting situation in this size PC tower?
- how many watts should my panel be?

A few things i plan to do:
- Design a 3D printed Micro carbon filter /fan
- Use a touchscreen fan speed controller
- build a SCROG screen
- a few other things i cant think of right now haha

If anyone has any good articles on LEDs or a step by step building guide feel free to post them up!

feel free to post any input. Ill try and update as much as possible. thanks

will this work for a DIY LED panel or am i going to be bleaching the hell out my plant? still doing research and trying to understand everything i need. gonna be getting everything through Rapid LED they have been pretty helpful.

- Drilled/tapped 6" x 20" Black Anodized Aluminum Heat Sink w/ fan $65
- (3x) Mean Well LPC-35-700 constant current driver ($15ea) $45
- (18x) Solderless philips Rebel ES 660nm Deep Red LED $63
- (12x) Solderless CREE XP-E Red 620-630nm LED $45
- (3x) Solderless CREE XT-E Royal Blue 450-465nm LED $9.75
- (3x) Solderless CREE XP-G Warm White 2600-3700k LED $12.75
- Solderless LED Plug $0.75
- (3x) Driver Jumper wire $3

Any help on spectrum's or anything at all would be very appreciated.

I am growing just fine with a single 3000k cree cob around 80w in a larger space (tubs). Much less soldering than your plan. Just saying.

Cree has a tool to compare lumens per watt on cobs and other leds:

http://pct.cree.com/dt/index.html

would i be able to use that type of light in a space so small?

would i be able to use that type of light in a space so small?

Click to expand...

No. A weaker driver would probably be best.

I am still in love with having a dimmable setup so I can tune the light burn and heat issues. Then again, now that I have it in nice spot I rarely touch it.

I would highly recommend you checkout Bueno Time's thread in the micro section. He is running a few cobs around 50W. If you go to the rollitup forum they have many people playing with the cobs (google "DiY LED - Cree CXA3070"). You can run it at what you need. Figure out how many lumens max you want in the space and use the calculator above to figure out what driver to get. I would bet a 10-30w driver would work.

The space is so tiny, how much weed do you expect? 10-20 grams? Why not just stick a cfl in there and call it a day?

iwantchipz said:

will this work for a DIY LED panel or am i going to be bleaching the hell out my plant? still doing research and trying to understand everything i need. gonna be getting everything through Rapid LED they have been pretty helpful.

- Drilled/tapped 6" x 20" Black Anodized Aluminum Heat Sink w/ fan $65
- (3x) Mean Well LPC-35-700 constant current driver ($15ea) $45
- (18x) Solderless philips Rebel ES 660nm Deep Red LED $63
- (12x) Solderless CREE XP-E Red 620-630nm LED $45
- (3x) Solderless CREE XT-E Royal Blue 450-465nm LED $9.75
- (3x) Solderless CREE XP-G Warm White 2600-3700k LED $12.75
- Solderless LED Plug $0.75
- (3x) Driver Jumper wire $3

Any help on spectrum's or anything at all would be very appreciated.

Click to expand...

Not a bad parts list but I think that is way too much red, I would go with some more WW and less red. With a PC case build I would agree with your idea of using a larger heatsink with multi-chips. That will help spread your light much better over your canopy with a short height restriction where you cant simply raise the light to get better coverage/light spread.

Dimmable drivers might be good for dialing in light intensity (dont worry about bleaching tops turn the intensity down a bit) or dial in your temperature as well if its running a little hot you could turn it down a hair or vice versa. They are a bit more expensive though.

Your on the right track IMO. Sounds like a cool build.

3dDream said:

I am growing just fine with a single 3000k cree cob around 80w in a larger space (tubs). Much less soldering than your plan. Just saying.

Cree has a tool to compare lumens per watt on cobs and other leds:

http://pct.cree.com/dt/index.html

Click to expand...

3dDream said:

No. A weaker driver would probably be best.

I am still in love with having a dimmable setup so I can tune the light burn and heat issues. Then again, now that I have it in nice spot I rarely touch it.

I would highly recommend you checkout Bueno Time's thread in the micro section. He is running a few cobs around 50W. If you go to the rollitup forum they have many people playing with the cobs (google "DiY LED - Cree CXA3070"). You can run it at what you need. Figure out how many lumens max you want in the space and use the calculator above to figure out what driver to get. I would bet a 10-30w driver would work.

The space is so tiny, how much weed do you expect? 10-20 grams? Why not just stick a cfl in there and call it a day?

Click to expand...

I didnt read through the thread before posting above.

I agree a couple 2-3 smaller COBs would be slick in a 9.5" x 22" space. IMO though super simple to build, a single COB would give a bad light spread on the far sides of his PC case since it is a ~2:1 rectangle basically and COBs output light in a conical shape the light would be great in the center and probably not so much the farther out to the sides from the center. At least thats how I am picturing it in my head. Having 2 or 3 COBs spaced evenly apart would work excellent I think.

Seems like his build might be easier for him though I dont know what his skill level is but I noticed drilled/tapped heatsink and solderless stars so it seems like hes trying to keep ease of build up (even though a ton of 3w stars there should be no soldering necessary with his setup). And no drilling/tapping heatsinks for COB holders.

Either way should work good, a couple COBs or a bunch of 3w monochromes and warm whites.