300w LED + Alien Blackberry Grow

[Blue Garden]

What up. Been lurking around the led threads and finally decided to do a grow thread with my new LED. I’ve been on the fence for a while and decided to take the leap after seeing some success with other peoples grow. After doing much research, I decided to get some quality parts instead of ordering the ones made in china. The Chinese fixtures are cheaper initially but who knows what is under the hood? Could be a sweet ferrari body with a kia engine lol. Anywho, on with the show. I decided to go with a shorter strain and chose the Alien Blackberry for that purpose. It finishes anywhere between 2.5-4’. Soil will be the grow medium. I’m curious how much yield will result from this light.

-This is a legal prop 215 grow-

This is what I will be working with
• 1” thick foam walls with reflective material
Shop 1-in x 4-ft x 8-ft Expanded Polystyrene Insulated Sheathing at Lowes.com
(originally was going with a tent but concerns with heat retention made me reconsider)
• 15 Alien Blackberry clones
• Soil
• 1 or 2 gallon pots
• 300w custom LED
*Carbon scrubber & fan will be added before the flip*

 

[Blue Garden]

Let’s start with the ladies. Some are already much taller than others and that might play into shading so I’m going to set the taller ones on the edges.

Here is the LED fixture. I forgot to put on some shades when I turned it on – super bright. It fluctuates between 309w and 311w

 

[Blue Garden]

Building this was a true learning experience. Thankfully ledsupply had some great techs that helped me through the build. I took some photos and made instructions.

I went with a 3' makersled heatsink

Here are the parts & materials I used to make the fixture.

• (1) MakersLED Heatsink Kit w/ Hanger – for $49.92/Ft
• (36) Deep-Red Luxeon Rebel LEDs – for $6.94ea
• (9) Red Luxeon Rebel LEDs – for $5.28ea
• (9) Red-Orange Luxeon Rebel LEDs – for $5.28ea
• (18) Royal-Blue Luxeon Rebel LEDs – for $4.60ea
• (18) Warm-White Cree XM-L LEDs – for $7.94ea
• (6) 700mA FlexBlock LUXdrive Drivers – for $17.99ea
• (3) 1000mA BuckBlock LUXdrive Drivers – for $17.99ea
• (3) 1400mA BuckBlock LUXdrive Drivers – for $17.99ea
• (3) 24VDC 4.5AMP Power-Supplies – for $34.99ea
• (1) 12VDC 1.0AMP Power-Supply – for $9.99ea
• (3) Arctic Silver Thermal Epoxy – for $15.99ea
• (75') Red 24AWG Stranded Wire – for $0.25/ft
• (50') Black 24 AWG Stranded Wire – for $0.25/ft
• (30') White 24 AWG Stranded Wire – for $0.25/ft
• (20') Blue 24 AWG Stranded Wire – for $0.25/ft
• (30') Orange 24 AWG Stranded Wire – for $0.25/ft
• (12') 2 Conductor Shield Wire
• Heat-Shrinking Material

Tools, Equipment and resources needed to get the job done

• Solder Iron & Solder
• Wire Strippers
• Tweezers
• Hand-held Drill
• Latex Gloves
• Philips Screw Driver
• 10mm Wrench
• Wiring Schematic
• FlexBlock Data Sheet (Boost-Only Mode Wiring Diagram)
• Red, Black & Blue Sharpie Markers

 

[Blue Garden]

Here are some general step by step of what I did to build it. I might have missed a step but pretty sure I covered everything.

• Organize Materials

– Double-check all part#'s & quantities
• Add Solder to ALL solder pads on EVERY LED
• DOT LED location on heatsink w/ appropriate color sharpie markers

1. See LED Schematic
2. Measure, Mark & Divide the heatsink into equal 3rds (DOT 1-foot at a time)
3. “Approximately” (start 1” in from end and space DOTs 2-inches apart)

 

[Blue Garden]

• Apply Epoxy & Place LEDs

1. Set-up correct pattern of LEDs before applying epoxy
2. Mix appropriate amount of Epoxy (5-minute cure time) – Shoot for 8-LEDs every 5-minutes
3. Hold LED in left hand between index finger and thumb

4. Apply Epoxy down center

,
Rotate 25-degrees in fingers and Epoxy down Center

, Rotate opposite direction 50-degrees and Epoxy down center
5. Place LED over appropriate DOT on heatsink
6. PUSH down with Right hand

 

[Blue Garden]

• Solder 1st Circuit (1st Foot) – Repeat Steps for 2nd & 3rd Circuit (2nd & 3rd Foot)
1. Check LED/WIRING Schematic
2. Wire Royal-Blue LEDs:

3. Wire Deep-Red LEDs:

4. Wire Reds & Red-Orange:

5. Wire Warm-White LEDs:

 

[Blue Garden]

• Complete EACH circuit with Positive & Negative Wires
1. For the Positive Wire use the appropriate COLOR WIRE for the color of the LED (Red Wire for Deep-Red Circuit, Orange Wire for Red & Red-Orange Circuit, White Wire for Warm-White Circuit and Blue Wire for Royal-Blue Circuit)
2. Use Black for ALL Negative connections
3. Cut ALL these wires long enough to run to the side (where drill holes will evenutally be) and be run up through the heatsink with enough wire to work with

• Drill Holes for Wire (See above pic for reference)
1. There will be six holes per side
2. Run Positive & Negative wires neatly and in the straightest path to the side of heat-sink and determine where all the holes need to be drilled. Mark & Drill.

 

[Blue Garden]

• Run Wires through Drill-Holes & Tape to the side of the heat-sink
• Solder Positive & Negative wires to Positive & Negative Output Wires of APPROPRIATE LED Driver:
1. (700mA FlexBock for Deep-Red in Boost-Only Mode)(700mA FlexBock for Red & Red-Orange)(1000mA BuckBlock for Royal-Blue)(1400mA BuckBlock for Warm-White)
2. Connections are made by stripping back both wires, adding heat-shrink tubing to wires

, Solder wires together and cover connection with heat-shrink
3. Cut away excess wire before stripping to save space

4. Cut away dimming wires and tape over end of wire

5. Special Connection must be make for Deep-Red Circuit (see FlexBock Datasheet for Boost-Only mode connection diagram)
6.

 

[Blue Garden]

Locate ALL Red & Black INPUT wires on the LED Drivers and TAPE them to the side of the heat-sink

One-Foot at a time: Solder RED wire to RED Wire on LED Drivers, long enough to stretch the length of the heat-sink

One-Foot at a time: Solder Black wire to Black Wire on LED Drivers, long enough to stretch the length of the heat-sink

Connect ALL Red wires to each other (see pic above)
Connect ALL Black wires to each other

 

[Blue Garden]

• Connect ALL Red wires to the Red wire on the 2 Conductor cable

• Connect ALL Black wires to the Black wire on the 2 Conductor Cable

• Heat-Shrink Red & Black Connections to the 2 Conductor Cable

• Connector 2 Conductor Red & Black wires to appropriate Power-Supply Output

• Connect Power-Supply CORD to Power-Supply, Wire with writing goes to “L” on Power-Supply (see pic above)

 

[Blue Garden]

• Plug in the Power-Supply to TEST that the 1st Foot Lights-Up!
• Repeat for the next two-feet

• Epoxy Drivers to side of heat-sink

while the Epoxy is drying the drivers may need something to hold them against the heat-sink
• Position fans, writing up

• Run Fan wiring to central location

 

[Blue Garden]

• Cut excess wire
• Don't use yellow
• Attach ALL REDs, Attach ALL Blacks
• Strip off barrel plug on 12VDC 1.0AMP fan power-supply and expose wires, wire with writing is Positive
• Attach and heat-shrink RED wires to positive wire on power-supply
• Attach and heat-shrink BLACK wires to Negative wire on power-supply
• Hide excess cords and wires along edge of heat-sink and run plug out with the other wires
• Attach rubber end plugs (use soap and water)
• Attach end caps
• Attach Hangers

 

[Blue Garden]

alright, update time.

some things i noticed about this led fixture... it keeps the room warm. i don't need to exhaust the heat out. also, the leaves stretch very nicely from the light.

 

[Blue Garden]

I have a blackberry kush and super lemon haze clone in the herd also

2876 is blackberry kush

2875 is super lemon haze

the last one is alien blackberry

 

[Blue Garden]

i removed the blackberry kush/super lemon haze from this light. they were too tall compared to the alien blackberry. they weren't getting the love being on the edge.

 

[Blue Garden]

gave the girls a hair cut after some good growth. they were getting too bushy for my taste.

also reduced total # of plants to 12 for this light. may be even less when the plants start to spread out.

 

[Blue Garden]

removed the super lemon haze and blackberry kush because they were getting too tall

 

[Blue Garden]

update as soon as i can find my damn camera!

 

[hank123]

wow man freaken great! love the lights.

What was the total cost of the light with the power supply?

 

[Blue Garden]

transplanted to 5 gall pots today. ladies are looking lovely. will post pic tonight or tomorrow.