<$150 led or 250w MH

[Dion]

yes ive absolutly gone off the idea of average binning 3590s also i could only find the 77v versions not the 36v ones

i really think the 3070 z2/z4 is the ticket,

ive gone ahead and sent a lead request to mouser for the z4s which they dont have in stock, you live in los angeles right? lol anyway thats the post code i gave them, ill let you know


her is my comparison for the 3 binning of 3070 we found

 

[The Dopest]

The Z4 is definitely where I want to be, price and all, cross your fingers.

 

[The Dopest]

As per PM, I will probably go with cob chip holders and thermal grease and definitely CXA3070's, the bin will depend on if the Z4 becomes available, otherwise it'll be Z2's. I'm waiting on my friend to get back in town to get the heat sinks and fans. He has 12v and 120v computer fans and they'll be free too so if I need them, I'll have them. I have a 6" inline fan that will evacuate the cabinet into a DIY 12"x24" carbon filter so that will help with heat/smell, plus the cabinet is built with 1.5" of foil backed styrofoam insulation all around and 2" up top with an air gap.

 

[Dion]

As per PM, I will probably go with cob chip holders and thermal grease and definitely CXA3070's, the bin will depend on if the Z4 becomes available, otherwise it'll be Z2's. I'm waiting on my friend to get back in town to get the heat sinks and fans. He has 12v and 120v computer fans and they'll be free too so if I need them, I'll have them. I have a 6" inline fan that will evacuate the cabinet into a DIY 12"x24" carbon filter so that will help with heat/smell, plus the cabinet is built with 1.5" of foil backed styrofoam insulation all around and 2" up top with an air gap.

ideally we wont be using fans to cool these cobs, but instead large enough aluminium heatsinks( ofcourse this depends on what your buddy has) and if needed the 12v fans can simpy be plugged into a cell phone charger

so yeah get 4 of the 3070s and probably wait to see about the heatsinks before ordering the drivers, just to be sure u dont generate too much heat for what he has(otherwise we may need to get sinks from china as well)

 

[Dion]

mouser says 6 weeks on the z4 bins
so assuming you will get the drivers from china( 4 weeks delivery average) you could go ahead and order those,

but i think the z2 binning are fine as well, honestly depends on how much electricity costs in your area, ppl say leds are good value because of the 35-50 thousand hours use before lumen depreciation BUT can you imagine using leds from 10 years ago? the tech is moving too fast for this SO he z2 @ 1500mA is where id go especially if id be saving over $10 per chip( as in this case) id reinvest that 10 in the driver, perhaps consider one or more fixrures having a dimmable driver(around 20 bucks each from china- for using in the veg cab when you have a lot to veg out for that guerrilla grow?) or possibly just getting better quality drivers from a reputable brand, as the drivers efficiency will also contribute to your watts per lamp/total efficiency

z2 is where its at brosef

 

[3dDream]

I've been growing with a single cxa3070 in a rough 24"w x 18"l X 20"t space for about year. I just wanted one wire to the light. I got a used amp heatsink on ebay and used thermal adhesive to attach the cob. I purchased the clamp, buy did not want to go through the effort to make the holes. The rest of the setup uses a td100 fan with a 1500 can-filter.

I have the light on a rail and can slide it to one side or the other if need be. I use a dimmer to control it. I used to raise and lower it, but now that I run a perpetual grow it stays in one spot. I don't care about the efficiency of the light, I have it dimmed so it does not give too much light burn.

How much do you hope to grow?

 

[The Dopest]

Thanks 3dDream, I hope to grow about 3lbs per month but seeing as I only have a 2'x2'x6' cabinet, I'll take what I can get.

I like growing perpetually as well, probably how I will grow this time too. If you don't mind me asking, roughly how much do you yield over a 60-90 day period? Do you have a grow thread and if so, link please?

Thanks for posting!

 

[floralheart]

Spend $200, get 600 watts.

You can grow a tree in a 10 gallon bucket with a 300 watt led. But you'll need 600 watts to finish it.

 

[The Dopest]

Thanks floralheart but if you mean 600w HID, you'll have to find another thread to troll. I can't run an ac in this cabinet/location and the ambient temps will be 80*+, not to mention have you ever tried running a 600w HID in a 2'x2'x6 cab? This thread was geared towards a cheap Chinese LED panel or 250w MH in a 1.5x2 cab but evolved into a DIY cob build in a 2x2 so lets just discuss LED grows please.

As per PM with DION, I have settled on (4) CXA3070's with high bins. Now I'm trying to find a cheap solution to run them. If anyone has a link to a driver with specs between 1500ma and 1800ma that can run 50w-70w continuous at 37-39v, please post it for me to review. I linked Dion to this one below and he suggested not buying it because of the plastic housing and costs compared to a meanwell driver. He also mentioned it had the same specs as the one he linked to earlier in this thread but the one he linked was only 50w max, this one is 51-100w but I think I'd rather have the driver turned down, instead of maxed out, not to mention I think I would like to push them in the 55-70w range. Any suggestions appreciated. Thanks!

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/pro...stic-case-power-supply/346689_1403244207.html

 

[Dion]

wattage= volts x amps

so the driver you linked is 18-40v so 40 x 1.8amp= 72w(max) btw i have bought from that store before, cant complain about the quality, pretty good, and they can customize it down to whatever current you want

the driver i linked

is 28-40v so 40 x 1.8amp= 72w and this one is ip66 water proof

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/1-8A...for-LED-strip-3528-5050-power/1932332304.html


looking at the spreadsheets with the ad binning 3070 id prob run it at 1.6 ish rather than 1.8 just to keep heat in check and efficiency up


just look at the volts and amps ill link some in a minute



1.5A
http://www.aliexpress.com/store/pro...gh-Power-LED-Driver-DC/212379_1933707929.html

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/pro...mator-DC-28-40V-1500mA/212379_1480703465.html

http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10001_10001_2101315_-1

 

[The Dopest]

The calculations make sense, I was just going by the specs listed on the drivers. Doing the math, my old 400w HID grow had roughly 7400 lumens per sq ft and my old 1kw HID grow had about 8125, of course that was not measured but simply going by bulb specs, I'm sure it could have been less since the light beamed out 360* instead of directional and my lamps were horizontal with reflectors. The CXA3070's should put out about 7972 lumens at 1500ma, putting it right between the two. That figure alone excites me even more!

Do you think there will any issues with the drivers running at max capacity? I mean, I know they are rated for it but what about real world?

Also, can I put the drivers outside the cab and run about 5-10' of high quality wire to the cobs inside? If so, I can mount them on the outside of the back of the cab and put a small fan on them to help keep them cool.

 

[Dion]

Do you think there will any issues with the drivers running at max capacity? I mean, I know they are rated for it but what about real world?

if you are asking about maxing out the voltage then no worries,
if you are asking about maxing out the ampage then i dont know how else it could be as these are not dimmable( constant current)

Also, can I put the drivers outside the cab and run about 5-10' of high quality wire to the cobs inside? If so, I can mount them on the outside of the back of the cab and put a small fan on them to help keep them cool.

yes but no, my father in law( an electrician for 40 years) didnt want me to do that with my last build, admittedly i wanted to have the drives about 2 meters from the lights( he doesnt speak english so all i got was "not good, bad volts") but i have seen others do that, i guess it depends on the driver/ wire type- you will have to figure that one out on your own mate, i can only advise from my limited knowledge and this i do not know about, however him saying "not good, bad volts was enough for me to design all my lights with the driver as close as possible, although they have about 15cm(6 inches) from the driver to the chips then another 60cm(24 inches) from the first chip to the last in the series.
Id say 5-10 inches is most likely fine, but that is just an assumption.

you are thinking of putting the drivers on top of the cab and running it down to the lights then you should consider how you will adjust the hight of the lights, the cable may end up needing to be 3ft long...

my cobs will have the driver zip tied to the chian just above the cob/heatsink others may have dif imput, always happy to learn

 

[3dDream]

I put my driver on the outside of my space and a 5' wire. My meanwell gets quite hot.

Here is an old grow thread. I grow in coco and bottom feed. I flush from the top every 2-3 weeks to avoid salt buildup.

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=284242

My perpetual is sort of bi-monthly. I run longer flowering plants.

I used to run tiny little 6oz pots, but those are too finicky. In a tiny 6oz pot I can get 10 grams and can cram about 16 in the tub. I now run 4 pots max in the small space and divide it in half for each cycle. I bush the plants while they are in veg. I chop all tops one week before they go into the tub. While in flower I tuck and pinch tops to even the canopy. This is working best for me at the moment. I have not weighed a plant this way. I chop at multiple stages so it is not in the cards.

I am only using one cob on a 100w dimmable driver. I am running around 60-70% on the dimmer screw. You should expect some dense flowers with all the light you will have. You are gonna make lots of heat too. Running 4 cobs seems like overkill in that small of a space.

You gonna mylar the sides?

 

[Dion]

yup, with those ad bins u picked up 1.5 amp seems right.

forty smth % efficiency in the lab so 40% in real life (estimate) means at 1.5 amps

55.5w(each cob) x 4(total cobs)/100 x 60= 133.2 watts of heat...(roughly)

 

[The Dopest]

Thanks 3dDream, I figured it was possible to run a wire to them but wanted to ask before assuming. My walls are panda white on all sides, not quite reflective as the mylar but it worked well enough for my last grows and I had a roll left over so it was also free. If needed, I can add some fluorescent side lighting. I've had good luck with coco/drippers and better luck with hydroton/coco mix and ebb/flow so I'm not totally decided on mediums or methods yet but I'm more swayed towards the latter. I figure I can max out at (16) 5.5" extra deep 2qt square pots perpetually in single cola style grow. I was getting over an ounce per plant like that before so even at half that, I'd still be satisfied for now.

Thanks for the numbers Dion, if it gets too hot with all four burning, I will light two at a time for 6hrs each until fall and then blast their ass. Hopefully I can have a coupe 4x4 tents in the winter on a flip flop running 24hrs like before. If the LEDs prove their worth, I'll buy more of them but if not I still have the old 1k HPS on standby and just rock the LEDs during the warmer months.

 

[Dion]

i cant imagine it will get too hot with proper ventilation, especially seen as most of that heat will be coming off the back of the heatsink, not shining down on the plants.
a few degrees higher than hps recomended is advisable for led grrows anyway

 

[The Dopest]

I'm still waiting on parts to arrive and my buddy to get back in town for the heat sinks, he's on extended work right now so he should be back any day. In other news, only one schwag seed has made it so far, no good genetics or other bagseeds so I'm really concentrating on that at the moment.

 

[Dion]

cant wait to follow your grow, i liked your other threads

 

[The Dopest]

Thanks Dion, I really put my heart and soul in to it back then and plan to do the same this go 'round. See if this gets the juices flowing!

I'm thinking four in flower and one in veg. for my first LED run. Since I really blew the budget on these, I'll have to wait a week for the drivers but it should be worth it in the long run, we'll soon see!

 

[Dion]

Thanks Dion, I really put my heart and soul in to it back then and plan to do the same this go 'round. See if this gets the juices flowing!

I'm thinking four in flower and one in veg. for my first LED run. Since I really blew the budget on these, I'll have to wait a week for the drivers but it should be worth it in the long run, we'll soon see!

:yay::