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My DIY LED grow light

medmaker420

The Aardvarks LED Grow Show
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DrFever

Active member
Veteran
probably have a golden eagle nest on very top lol no need to worry about other birds then :)) they don't spin that fast lol
 

hempfield

Organic LED Grower
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Did you keep the voltage drop for the different colors in mind?

3.2v for white & blue. (xpe)

2.1v for red. (xpe)

Not quite ... this values are just theoretical. I worked with hundreds of high power LEDs in the last 2-3 years and I never saw 2 LEDs having the same voltage drop when running at the same current ( connected in series). We can talk about average values, which, for cheap Chinese chips, can be between 3.2 to 3.5V on blue and white leds and 2.2 to 2.4V for red and yellow chips.
The voltage drop is also influenced by the running current and temperature, and the variation is not linear.


I'm really sorry that the cheap leds turned out to be crap.
Thanks for the education.
They are cheap and this makes them perfect for testing purposes, especially on the hand of non-experienced craftsman. :biggrin:



Got it now :woohoo:
You have to go easy and explain step by step to newbees :)
LED are diodes, and the main function of a diode is to act as a one-way current valve. You can easily use LEDs as rectifiers diodes as long as you don't exceed the reverse voltage and current (of course , there will be a huge power loss - turned into light - but this can be a very cool rectifier circuit).
You can even use LEDs (especially high power ones) to generate electricity if you put them under intense light ( but this will be a very expensive solar panel).
 
Not quite ... this values are just theoretical. I worked with hundreds of high power LEDs in the last 2-3 years and I never saw 2 LEDs having the same voltage drop when running at the same current ( connected in series). We can talk about average values, which, for cheap Chinese chips, can be between 3.2 to 3.5V on blue and white leds and 2.2 to 2.4V for red and yellow chips.
The voltage drop is also influenced by the running current and temperature, and the variation is not linear.

Which is why I specified XPE's. Those numbers are from their spec sheet.
 

vukman

Active member
Veteran
lol well once the vuk in ater gets these lights down pact and working without issues were working on 3 true 1000 watt panels
Fo meeee lol powered by wind energy

http://engineeredwindsystems.com/twenty-kw-wind-turbine.html

always the wiseguy!!!!!! ROFL...man...nothing homo about this next comment but...I love you guys!!!!

You really crack me up at times when I need it..:D..
Thank you all:thank you:

Oh well..let's get to this panel and fixing the 630's now....*sigh*.........and yes...that is exactly why the cheapo Chinese LEDs are great for this type of work.... I've always said I'm a construction worker which means I'm a wood butcher, not a wood craftsman.........<<<<<<<<<different field but same rules apply.......my usual saying was..."If you can't fix it..get a bigger hammer!!"....doesn't apply in LEDs...ahahhaha
 

vukman

Active member
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Been Here Before!!!!! LOL

Been Here Before!!!!! LOL

OKAY!!!!!

Got them going again and before I go any further, I have to admit that I may have been a little premature in condemning the red LEDs.

I was getting sick and tired of changing out chips just to have them dim and blow so now when I did the 630's...they are on a string of 30. I changed out the driver. The one I was using was the 630mA rated for 30 chips and I was having problems. I took the 700mA driver which is rated for 25 chips and I put that in... The fuckers lit up nice and bright and are holding great!!!! Actually so great that in the picture of the 630s and 660s lit up, you can barely see the 660s lit up at all soooo......let me take back my previous slam down of the reds and do some more testing with drivers before I can openly and honestly condemn them permanently!!!!!!!!

OKay......that out of the way....Been here before and I really need some honest advice here guys.......

I am posting a few pictures of what the girls look like today and it's flower day 10. Now, that is with the 2-Bysen 420 lights in there...(think they're 420's..the ones with 6 modules each)

Now, looking at the pictures and seeing how they're doing, would you, in my position, change out the Bysens for the DIY or wait for around a month or so until we get another place up and running where I'll have lots of room to experiment with??? No wiseguy cracks.......doc!!!!! LOL....

See....can barely see the 660's lit next to the 630s..

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The whole thing lit now

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The girls and how they look today...

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Purple Kush

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Blue Satellite

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I could really want to know what you would do....thank you in advance.....
 

PetFlora

Well-known member
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Keep in mind each spectral change means the plants have to adjust (reboot) to how they will manage it. And if your seeds weren't from led plants then there is that initial adjustment, so...

Be happy that your grow is doing so well

FYI, I am in 4th week of flower. Since taking out my 660 (1/8) ~ 2 weeks ago, the sat dom, whose secondary leaves look like crab claws, the new leaves look normal. The other 2 plants (different pheno) under the same light (same nutes) did not claw.

Since 90- 95%+ of the red that mmj wants is < 640, I am not convinced that 660 is useful, though it might have a limited use during early veg for root development, or so I have read
 

vukman

Active member
Veteran
Keep in mind each spectral change means the plants have to adjust (reboot) to how they will manage it. And if your seeds weren't from led plants then there is that initial adjustment, so...

Be happy that your grow is doing so well

FYI, I am in 4th week of flower. Since taking out my 660 (1/8) ~ 2 weeks ago, the sat dom, whose secondary leaves look like crab claws, the new leaves look normal. The other 2 plants (different pheno) under the same light (same nutes) did not claw.

Since 90- 95%+ of the red that mmj wants is < 640, I am not convinced that 660 is useful, though it might have a limited use during early veg for root development, or so I have read

Hiya PetFlora:

You know I'm not onboard all that stuff going on over there on that other site. There just way too much data to indicate that the optimal wave length intake for Chlorophyll A intake is around the 670-680nm. I appreciate and respect everyone's opinion and take everything to heart but just like everyone else, I have to see it with my own eyes to believe it.

All I know for a fact is that my last grow was prominently 630 and my yield was around 0.3gr/w.....I wasn't very happy with that especially since I had around 600W going in there.

Yes, I know there is more and more of a belief going around that mj is a 'shade' plant..etc..etc... Once again...why has it always been the case of more light, more yield??

Too much conflict..too much information...too much thought going into something which nature has simplified to a very basic state..
Soil, water, sunlight....=...goodies....I think I'll try to keep it simple too...:)

Getting to the issue at hand.. I was thinking the same thing. I'm going to let the plants go with the lights they have now and when we get the new place up and running, I'll have a lot of room to play around with anything and everything I want to..or.....at least that's what I'm being told now.. I think I'll take after Missouri there...you know...The "Show Me State"..

Thank you and sorry to hear about your claw problems my friend.. I hope you can resolve that quickly before it becomes too much of an issue and starts to stunt stuff...
 

tenthirty

Member
All I know for a fact is that my last grow was prominently 630 and my yield was around 0.3gr/w.....I wasn't very happy with that especially since I had around 600W going in there.
I see we both can screw up a run. ;-)

Yes, I know there is more and more of a belief going around that mj is a 'shade' plant..etc..etc... Once again...why has it always been the case of more light, more yield??

Too much conflict..too much information...too much thought going into something which nature has simplified to a very basic state..
Soil, water, sunlight....=...goodies....I think I'll try to keep it simple too...:)

Now this is not necessarily true.
MMJ can be shade adapted or not. Think sativa vs indica.
This can be classified as photomorphology. This is where my interests lie.
With leds, what we are looking for is the most miles per gallon, so to speak.
There is going to be a sweet spot for each plant, but miles per gallon.
Time vs yield vs power consumption!

From experience, sativas can be made to look like an indica and vise versa, all done with intensity and quality of light.

The plant will adapt!!

Readers digest version.

A properly grown plant under the sun at my location produces budsicles top to bottom, say 4 or 5 feet tall.

For our indoor garden, what would it cost to produce that intensity of light. (a lot!!)

Thus, we are relegated to shade adapted plants at this time.

So there seems to be a few basic rules as far as light is concerned in a led grow.

1) Broad band white is the way to go for the base lighting. The last run produced > 30% over the previous 4 runs for me. If this is true, the next run should produce another > 10% over the last run, due to the implementation of the second HML.

2) Photomorphology:
More blue= shortened internodes and more bushy.
This goes for the roots too!!
Probably smaller flower???

More red=stretch and less branching.
This also goes for the roots. ( Really dont think that we want deep long singular type roots.
Bigger fatter flowers.

So, to quote Andrew Brightbart. (stupid joke)

Mommies=centered in the visible band.
Clones=shifted red.
Veg=centered
Stretch=shifted blue
Bud bulking=shifted red

How you pull this off..........
Rives is pretty much dong this and his results are very good!!

I've proofed about 20% of this, but all the data is pointing in this direction.
 

vukman

Active member
Veteran
I see we both can screw up a run. ;-)

With leds, what we are looking for is the most miles per gallon, so to speak.
There is going to be a sweet spot for each plant, but miles per gallon.
Time vs yield vs power consumption!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
THANK YOU !!!!!!!!!!

Someone who simplified it...:bow:....this is exactly why I have stopped with the techno babble and kept my mouth shut...

I know this is the end run result of everything we are working towards. I am involved with some people who are looking to save as much on electricity costs and keep as much yield as possible. I've been asked to make a panel or two/three..which will equal out to a 1000w HID (within the same amount of room as well) and then we'll do side by side testing to see what's what.

I'm rather confident that the 1K LED will kick the 1K HID into the ground, that remains to be seen. The end result is that the power savings plus water and nutrient savings will go a long long way to prove to my 'partners' that LED is the way to go.

On a personal note, I am very interested in plant morphology and actually anything which can expand my knowledge about anything to be honest but.........will knowing reams and reams of information help me find the 'magic bullet'?? I don't think so because I really do not believe there is a 'magic bullet'. I will be happy to yield on par with the HID... That is all I need to show/prove. Anything over that is a bonus. Hell, even if there is a difference of a 10% loss, the savings on the not purchasing new bulbs every 3-4 cycles would be worth it!

What am I getting at in all this verbal diarrhoea I'm spewing out here..........? Things do not need to be as complicated as some people are making them to be.

I possess more than enough knowledge and information to do what I have to do... That may be a very egotistical statement but I believe it to be true.

The only thing which is missing is the trial and errors which each one of us must go through on their own

In closing..................Yes, brother.. you are not alone in the 'messing up a grow' department..:D

Sorry about the novel but I just had a few puffs...
 

PetFlora

Well-known member
ICMag Donor
Veteran
If you have been following my IC thread you will see 2 different tents

1. 432w HOT5 using aquarium bulbs which simulate actinic leds, though I moved away from them to more inclusive bulbs

2. UFO 90 R:B ~8:1. I added a crude low watt bar and supplement with low watt 3-7watt screw bulb leds (~ 90w total) in an attempt to test the multi-low watt panel theory. I rotate the tote 180*s each day, so each side gets similar benefits. The supplemental light bar uses Y adapters, positioning those bulbs on an angle, at the point where the ufo no longer penetrates.

I am @ ~ 4 weeks of flower. I see no clear winner between the two, and yet the led tent is using < 25% of the watts!

Come take a look. New pics each Friday
 

vukman

Active member
Veteran
If you have been following my IC thread you will see 2 different tents

1. 432w HOT5 using aquarium bulbs which simulate actinic leds, though I moved away from them to more inclusive bulbs

2. UFO 90 R:B ~8:1. I added a crude low watt bar and supplement with low watt 3-7watt screw bulb leds (~ 90w total) in an attempt to test the multi-low watt panel theory. I rotate the tote 180*s each day, so each side gets similar benefits. The supplemental light bar uses Y adapters, positioning those bulbs on an angle, at the point where the ufo no longer penetrates.

I am @ ~ 4 weeks of flower. I see no clear winner between the two, and yet the led tent is using < 25% of the watts!

Come take a look. New pics each Friday

Heya,,sorry brother, I haven't really been following a lot recently and that's my bad because I used to follow your thread all the time...I'll check it out but I fully believe you my friend,,, I truly and honestly do and cost savings is what the ultimate goal is...Well, that and damn good quality meds.

Thanks again..:)
 

tenthirty

Member
I know this is the end run result of everything we are working towards. I am involved with some people who are looking to save as much on electricity costs and keep as much yield as possible. I've been asked to make a panel or two/three..which will equal out to a 1000w HID (within the same amount of room as well) and then we'll do side by side testing to see what's what.

Don't jump the gun just yet by brother. There is still some testing to do.
It is obvious to me, that different spectrum's for different phases of development apply.
How that is best accomplished?????
I move the plants, you put switches on the lights.

What am I getting at in all this verbal diarrhoea I'm spewing out here..........? Things do not need to be as complicated as some people are making them to be.

It really is not that complicated. The problem for me is the terminology that is used and all the minutia that is explained in painful detail.
What really pisses me off, after I absorb all of the information
none of these scientific types talk about the holes in their experiments and theories. They only want to talk about what they know, not what they don't know. Nor do they question the accuracy or applicability of the testing methodology.
And, most of the studies are concerned with max transpiration rates.
Maximum power does not equate well with best mileage! (efficiency)
On top of that, as an amateur chemist, not all chemical reactions will cause transpiration.
I'm done with my rant.

I'm rather confident that the 1K LED will kick the 1K HID into the ground, that remains to be seen. The end result is that the power savings plus water and nutrient savings will go a long long way to prove to my 'partners' that LED is the way to go.

I think, with existing technology, we (average growers) should be able to = HPS with 1/3 the light power. (Mr.X) This does not count fans and AC.
But don't try this at home, just yet.
 

vukman

Active member
Veteran
It really is not that complicated. The problem for me is the terminology that is used and all the minutia that is explained in painful detail.
What really pisses me off, after I absorb all of the information
none of these scientific types talk about the holes in their experiments and theories. They only want to talk about what they know, not what they don't know. Nor do they question the accuracy or applicability of the testing methodology.
And, most of the studies are concerned with max transpiration rates.




I think, with existing technology, we (average growers) should be able to = HPS with 1/3 the light power. (Mr.X) This does not count fans and AC.
But don't try this at home, just yet.

To the first point, I couldn't agree more which once again I have to come to my point of me saying once before that I would no longer get into the 'techno-babble' or 'terminology' as you called it here. I never have again as it is just not fair nor, might I add, is it saying anything about my knowledge of things.... Anyone can just copy and paste what they read and think is important and relevant but yet, I wonder how it would turn out if they had to place what they read into their own words...hmmmm......

and second point...

I think that it would be more like 1/2 of the light power, if configured properly but.......that is where the fun and adventure lays.

No matter...the best is still yet to come...

:bow:
 

tenthirty

Member
I wonder how it would turn out if they had to place what they read into their own words...hmmmm......

Now that is my goal, If I can't put it in my own words, obviously I don't understand it.
And if I don't understand it, how can I build a model in my head of how it all works.
Obsessive compulsive thirst for knowledge!
I just can't leave shit alone!!
Personality disorder.

I think that it would be more like 1/2 of the light power, if configured properly but.......that is where the fun and adventure lays.

Ya, lets just call it wishful thinking on my part.
 

hempfield

Organic LED Grower
Veteran
.
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Mommies=centered in the visible band.
Clones=shifted red.
Veg=centered
Stretch=shifted blue
Bud bulking=shifted red
.
.
.

Do you think is better to keep clones under predominant red light ? I always thought that cool white (blue predominant) light is better for them. Or it depends on the initial size of the cuts ?
 
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repuk

Altruistic Hazeist
Veteran
damn! how is it I missed this thread!!!!

Kudos for your hard work vukman!!! impressive luminaire!

I'm subbed for sure!

Doesn't clones tend to stretch much more than plants from seed?? I'm with hempfield, always thought clones benefit from blue dominant light (less stretch)

I'd reserve your HML for the next run, or start a new one if you have the space, plants will grow adapted to them and you'll have a more controlled scenario for the test just in case odd things happen.
 

exploziv

pure dynamite
Administrator
Veteran
The clones and seedlings I have under 80% reds led panels are feeling great so it may be something to this!
 
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