I use TOR for most MJ related stuff, largely to avoid the trackers splashing my web pages with really unsubtle adverts for grow stuff etc. and I find it a bit more relaxing talking openly if I know I'm fairly well hidden.
JB.
DIY Vero 29 x 4 Build
- Thread starter Budget Buds
- Start date
I use TOR for most MJ related stuff, largely to avoid the trackers splashing my web pages with really unsubtle adverts for grow stuff etc. and I find it a bit more relaxing talking openly if I know I'm fairly well hidden.
JB.
What does that mean..? I'm obviously not a commercial-scale user, but the availability is there. They might need to handle high humidity if something else breaks down, but other than that I don't see why they need to have a particularly high IP rating (that's water resistance, right?)
Why sourced from all these places? My shopping cart has the drivers from Mouser and everything else from Future E. What did you get from RS C and ebuyer?
Also: for my first build of a frame (with the passive pin heatsinks) I used aluminum L profiles. In hindsight I would have used simple straight/flat bars. They'd be much simpler to precision drill. The thing that's holding the heatsinks in place are the screws, nothing else. So see how your heatsinks fit, and work according to that. I did the L shape because of Growmau5 suggests those, but I think that gave me unnecessary trouble.
I've heard stories, probably urban legends, about people tracked and arrested through their online usage. (There are such discussions on this forum, but never with any reliable references.) So yes, most probably bullshit, but I'm the sort of geek that uses GPG anyways.
Normally I am like you, conservative and secure... but on this, I was comfortable - for reasons unknown. I guess I figured with me submitting online orders for stuff, there's a trail anyway!
I should probably secure myself a bit.... you guys make good points.
I'm a member over at 420 Magazine and they aren't half as helpful as here!
RE: Drivers. Don't know why, it's just what it says on Mouser website - not checked anywhere else. The L shapes are a lot more rigid (for geometrical reasons) than a flat bar of a similar type and amount of material. I think you're quite right about it being urban legend - I can envisage a situation (if you were a big scale grower) where online evidence was used to supplement a case against you, but not to actually trace growers in the first place - certainly not the likes of us hobby growers anyway. JB.
So it's not a crazy idea saving €54 and buying the ELG rather than HLG?
Well, with my current pin heatsinks the screws are on the side and the L goes under the heatsink. Except that in most parts it doesn't actually touch the heatsink, because I couldn't align and drill the holes right. Even if I could get it right, the tension is mostly at the screws, not under the L.
The Aavid heatsinks have the mounting screws only on top, so four COBs held together would have to be mounted with a metal bar held above them, not on their side, so an L shaped profile wouldn't be fit regardless. (Also: the thickest L-shaped profiles I was able to find at the local hardware store are 1.5mm, whereas a flat piece can reach 2.5mm. That's a noticeable difference in sturdiness.)
Mouser had the drivers i wantex for £65 inc vat each as well as the reflectors and clamps and a good price. Rs also has the clamps/reflectors but had to be bought in packs of 5 (i wanted 6) so I got a 12v psu for the heatsink fans. FE had the cobs I wanted and ebuyer had the cpu heatsinks... not sure if I'm going with a sheet of aluminium or the angle yet.. certainly the angle is cheaper.
Today I am internet shopping for my tent/humidifier etc. I might leave the filter to next month as I wont start for a few weeks anyway...
I use a smaller size ELG (70w) for running single 68v COB which I have no problems with - bought from Mouser, but only the 200 and 250 are listed as OEM only.
JB.
So being in Europe (where we get a standard 220VAC) there's no difference?
If you can get hold of one then it will be just fine. JB.
As I'm humming and hawing about placing my order already (why wait?) I found that Future E have a UV LED. I remember doing some reading that UV light does nice things to THC production. Any chance this might be something worth looking into? (Perhaps on another lighting bar, interspaced with deep-red 650+nm lights, sharing a dedicated light-duty driver?)
Spectrum, especially the far ends of it, is certainly something worth looking into. However, if you haven't already got your grow dialed-in, how are you going to know if it's making a positive contribution or if you're just feeding it electricity for the sake of it.
The internet is full of people telling you what the best stuff since sliced bread is (especially in respect of nutrients and spectrum) however it is noticeable that many (maybe most) very accomplished growers - with grow diaries and photos showing it - use basic nutrients and basic lighting.
I believe the difference between grows is seldom the light spectrum or nutrient additives used, or anything like that, but simply the amount of time and effort that is spent dialing-in the environment and methods used.
Nothing wrong with experimenting but it should be controlled so you can learn from it and that needs a solid baseline to begin with.
JB.
Proper experimentation would require significantly bigger resources. When my total number of plants is 5 (currently) or 10 (next cycle) I doubt any data I'd ever be able to produce is anything more than anecdotal. To be done properly I'd need my sample size to be in the hundreds.
I have no pretension of "growing the best", far from it (I don't even have a decent watering system!). My learning comes mostly from my own mistakes, and then from the excellent advice I'm getting here (once more: thank you!) If your opinion is that UV light isn't beneficial I'd happily concentrate my limited time and resources in other aspects that need attention.
I have no pretension of "growing the best", far from it (I don't even have a decent watering system!). My learning comes mostly from my own mistakes, and then from the excellent advice I'm getting here (once more: thank you!) If your opinion is that UV light isn't beneficial I'd happily concentrate my limited time and resources in other aspects that need attention.
You don't necessarily need too much "proper science" but you do need a known starting point. I've read a great number of posts from folk who swear by a particular product or technique that they always use, but the reality is that they have given themselves no way of knowing if the original improvement they perceived was due to the product/technique or simply that they had improved their responses to their grow in some other way. If you're not already growing the same quantity and quality of plant time after time then there is definitely ways you could improve without adding anything new. When your grow is stable and repeatable then any improvement you see reasonably consistently must be down to whatever change you have made.
Personally, I would stick with a straightforward approach until I was sure I was maxing it out and only then try some of the less tried and tested ideas. Like I said previously, there are many growers who use very simple methods and equipment to grow piles of buds the size of your arm - and until I'm doing that I won't be thinking about complicating things some more.
I say: Save your time and resources, at least for the moment [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
JB.
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If you learn from you mistakes then your grows will definitely get better each time - until you make no more mistakes [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
I think you might find that getting a good knowledge of training techniques and then using them and perfecting them would give you far more bang for your buck (erm... euro), SCROG will be your best friend.
I wish you good fortune however you grow [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
JB.
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My new babies just germinated and are currently under CFLs. While I'm thinking of continuing with building more lamps based on the Vero 29s a post by The LED Gardner got me thinking of filling up the rest of the tent with DIY "Quantum Boards" (basically Samsung LM561C chips), like those sold by the Horticulture Lighting Group.
PRO: 181lpw, no need for heatsink (using up to 60w/fixture), better spread/coverage
CON: no reflector (or, perhaps, just putting them inside a "U" aluminum profile?), more pieces to assemble (hassle to build), having to do the math to figure out how many to connect in series and how many series to connect in parallel and match drivers.
Price, it seems, is more or less in the range with COBs (when counting for those also the heatsinks and shipping costs involved).
I'm not sure this is the right place for the discussion, since the original topic involves Bridgelux Vero 29 series, so I replied in another thread here. I bring this up a second time because I got so much, so much great help here previously.
PRO: 181lpw, no need for heatsink (using up to 60w/fixture), better spread/coverage
CON: no reflector (or, perhaps, just putting them inside a "U" aluminum profile?), more pieces to assemble (hassle to build), having to do the math to figure out how many to connect in series and how many series to connect in parallel and match drivers.
Price, it seems, is more or less in the range with COBs (when counting for those also the heatsinks and shipping costs involved).
I'm not sure this is the right place for the discussion, since the original topic involves Bridgelux Vero 29 series, so I replied in another thread here. I bring this up a second time because I got so much, so much great help here previously.
Budget Buds
New member
How cow how much has changed in the LED light world since 2017..... I still have the light I built and have never had an issue with it, But I did retire it last year for an xs1500 which is an all around better light, that cost less than 1/3 of what I paid to build the cob led light..... Holy shit times have changed lol
Ca++
Well-known member
It's hard to scrap such a nice build. Especially after the fun of tapping the holes. Who wouldn't want reminding of that forever? lol It seems the days of COB have passed though. There energy dense form factor, doesn't fall in line with the need to keep cool. Capping their performance.
I did a build about the same time, and I'm in the middle of changing the fans. When they fail, there will be little reason to repair them though. It's a shame, as IT recycling companies can offer passive coolers for older ~100w cpu's, for just a couple of quid. It's scrap to them, and now to us.
6 years use isn't bad. IIRC the meanwell is rated around 7 years. We both had our money out of them. The replacement light just seems to easy though. Did we really have to do all that work? lol
I did a build about the same time, and I'm in the middle of changing the fans. When they fail, there will be little reason to repair them though. It's a shame, as IT recycling companies can offer passive coolers for older ~100w cpu's, for just a couple of quid. It's scrap to them, and now to us.
6 years use isn't bad. IIRC the meanwell is rated around 7 years. We both had our money out of them. The replacement light just seems to easy though. Did we really have to do all that work? lol
Budget Buds
New member
Amazing how quick time goes by lol, I did change the fans on mine too, wasn't anything wrong with the originals but I wanted to do some wire management and just said hell with it
I still use the led light I built, it's out in the garage and it gets turned on when I'm in need of an indoor sun while working on things.....
