My DIY LED grow light

vukman · Nov 7, 2012

The small one can be supply 12pcs 3.4V led,or 20pcs 2.4v led----------min
The small one can be supply 18pcs 3.4V led,or 30pcs 2.4v led----------max

The big one can be supply 22pcs 3.4v led,or 32pcs 2.4v led------------min
The big one can be supply 38pcs 3.4v led,or 50pcs 2.4v led------------max

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^This is the information which was sent to me with the drivers but now reading what you wrote there Hempfield, I am starting to have doubts about the information because I had 30-3.4V LEDs on that 'string' and nothing but I wont rule it out until I change out those two chips which seemed to be reversed polarity.

Also, I not no experience or knowledge about diodes so if you could send me a link to a page which contains good information pertaining to the project I/We are working on, it would be very much appreciated.

Tenthirty...thank you as always for your input as well as everyone else's input as well. I used the soldering station DC voltage tester to flash through every chip on the 'board' and they are all in working order but you are right, I should have done so before starting to put it all together..

....thank you.

hempfield · Nov 7, 2012

How to use diodes to "drive" high power LEDs:

As you probably know, every LED have some nominal parameters like forward voltage, minimal, typical and maximum working current, maximum reverse voltage, etc.

To achieve a maximum light efficiency , the LEDs must be run on a current closed to the typical current, which in the case of 3W chips is 650~700mA . They can be driven on a much higher current, but this is shorten it's life.

When running at 650mA, the forward voltage on the LED should be stable ( 3.4V for blue like ones and 2.4 for red like ones).

Having a well stabilized (preferable switching) power supply (like and old PC 12V power supply) , it's easy to calculate how many LEDs can be connected in series :
- 3x3.4V= 10.2V , which means that 12-10.2=1.8V should be dissipated .

Using 2 rectifier diodes (1N4007) in series , they will add a constant voltage drop of 2*0.9=1.8V , exactly what we were looking for. The diodes will became almost hot, but they do not require cooling (much cheaper to replace them if they burn out).

This diodes also have an upper limit for the passing current and they will die off if the current exceed 1000mA for long intervals, and this feature will protect also the LEDs.

But as you can see , some power will be lost in the form of heat ( more precisely 1.8V*0.7A=1.26Watts). It will be more efficient to use this solution when you have PSU with higher voltage (24V or 48V).

The Zenner diodes have different forward voltage and are more expensive.

To lower the wasted power you can combine 3.4V LEDs with 2.4V LEDs to achive a forward voltage closed to the PSU output.

I used this kind of voltage limiter to power LEDs for months and I had no burned LED. It's almost impossible to have over-current rushing into the LEDs, and this can happen only if the PSU voltage goes up or if you bypass a diode or a LED.

Unfortunately I don't have any link related to this subject.

vukman · Nov 7, 2012

BOOYAAAA!!!!!!

BOOYAAAA!!!!!!

WHO THE MAN!!!!!! LMAO :woohoo:

On to the blues now..blue LEDs that is,,,heheh

PetFlora · Nov 7, 2012

Are we there yet? :petting:

Though you can probably early veg/clone 10-12 Dixie cups, how many plants are you expecting to flower under this? One- two?

FWIW, and it may be too late, but, I think if you made 3 panels out of this, you might be able to flower 3 plants

vukman · Nov 8, 2012

PetFlora said:
Are we there yet?

Though you can probably early veg/clone 10-12 Dixie cups, how many plants are you expecting to flower under this? One- two?

FWIW, and it may be too late, but, I think if you made 3 panels out of this, you might be able to flower 3 plants

Heya PerFlora...that is a 12" x 24" sheet there so I should be able to get a few more plants under it but only time will tell....

the blues and reds 630's are now operational as well..

With the blues I had to put in two whites as well because the minimum for the driver is 22-3.4V chips and I only had 20 blues so I put the other 2 NW in...

Bobbles · Nov 8, 2012

Cool shit, well done so far.

rives · Nov 8, 2012

Looking good!

tenthirty · Nov 8, 2012

Excellent, your almost there!

Bueno Time · Nov 8, 2012

Looks good man thats alot of LEDs for a DIY. I wanted to make a smaller wattage like 100 or less watts but havent done it yet. Im a cheapass so Im waiting for prices to drop on leds some more lol

hempfield · Nov 8, 2012

It's alive !!! It's alive !!! Just wait to see the whole light show. Very well done my friend !

I know how you felt when you'v seen those LEDs lightimg for the first time.

:good:

vukman · Nov 8, 2012

hempfield said:
It's alive !!! It's alive !!! Just wait to see the whole light show. Very well done my friend !

I know how you felt when you'v seen those LEDs lightimg for the first time.

hhhehe, you know it my friend... I got so excited...I got wood!!!!!! LOL

vukman · Nov 8, 2012

WHOOOOOOOOO WHEEEEEEEEEE

WHOOOOOOOOO WHEEEEEEEEEE

WELL ALRIGHT!!!!!!!!

Look what I built!@!!!!!!!!! MUhahahahah..I feel like a mad scientist..

IT'S ALIVE!!!!!!!!

Let me bask in all my glory for a bit (ahahahah, I kill me) and then I'll give you all the break down on what's what and if I get around to it, I'll do the Kill-A-Watt testing as well..

Thank you all so very very much for your encouragement and well wishes and just plain ol' looking in, lurking, whatever.....just thank you....

Oh yeah... don't you know I feel like strutting... :peacock:

<add edit>...all the pictures are in my albums which are open to public viewing if you want to see all the 'phases'...er....well, at least more than what is shown here...

Socrates · Nov 8, 2012

very nice!

rives · Nov 8, 2012

Looks great, Vuk! Glad things came together for you. Better keep an eye on your temps - that thing looks like it's pretty powerful!

hempfield · Nov 8, 2012

Well done ! Now let see what it is capable of ... just throw some clones under that pinkish light and whatch them transforming into some dank flavoured tasty rock solid buds !

L.E. Man , I just realised that all of my DIY projects never failed after I finished them and I belive your HML (wow, we already have slang for this kind of lights) will fit in the same category. And the best part is you don't need to concern about warranty - in fact you can consider you get a life warranty after the work is done. And you always can course the morron that build that shit if something goes wrong or you can give free advertising if this device exceed your expectations :biggrin:

Arthritis_sucks · Nov 8, 2012

all in all what was the final cost of this build?

vukman · Nov 8, 2012

LED's..............100..........have some left
Drivers............ 60..........1 left over not used
thermal tape.... 50.......tons left
Aluminium........ 45
wire............... 10
fans............... 20
switches......... 8
misc.............~25....threaded rod, nuts, terminal block..approx. 25 but probably much less

so what's that....around 300....320 or so....now for this build I spent more but I did not include tool cost in there.........also, the LED cost included shipping cost as well. The drivers I did not include shipping so I guess you could add another 50 to that.
Damn shipping costs are what hurts.

I still didn't hook up the top piece or test the wattage either...taking some time... have a friend in ICU...fucking yo-yo...his liver gave out on him..

Canada · Nov 8, 2012

thats awesom dude. I like it

Arthritis_sucks · Nov 8, 2012

vukman said:
LED's..............100..........have some left
Drivers............ 60..........1 left over not used
thermal tape.... 50.......tons left
Aluminium........ 45
wire............... 10
fans............... 20
switches......... 8
misc.............~25....threaded rod, nuts, terminal block..approx. 25 but probably much less

so what's that....around 300....320 or so....now for this build I spent more but I did not include tool cost in there.........also, the LED cost included shipping cost as well. The drivers I did not include shipping so I guess you could add another 50 to that.
Damn shipping costs are what hurts.

I still didn't hook up the top piece or test the wattage either...taking some time... have a friend in ICU...fucking yo-yo...his liver gave out on him..

sorry to hear about your friend, sendin well wishes his/her way. Not too bad on costs there. What kind of leds are they? Brand? Wattage?

Keep goin · Nov 9, 2012

Wow...

Impressive, inspirational, incredible... Nice work!!

Update when you get a kill a watt on that beast...love to see what you're drawing.

That's some glow you've got happening...can't wait to see some girls basking under it!!

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