Advice for DIY COB?

[kaivorth]

I want to get into building my own light! I currently own a Mars300, but I want to try to build something myself and use the Mars300 for additional lighting.

So far I keep hearing the CXB3590 COB's from Cree are the ones worth buying.

I want to buy 2, can I just buy a couple 3500k ones and grow for both veg/flower? Or should I buy 2 different ones? Or 4 COB's, 2 of each and swap them out as needed?

Will be powering a small closet.

 

[jaymu86]

I want to get into building my own light! I currently own a Mars300, but I want to try to build something myself and use the Mars300 for additional lighting.

So far I keep hearing the CXB3590 COB's from Cree are the ones worth buying.

I want to buy 2, can I just buy a couple 3500k ones and grow for both veg/flower? Or should I buy 2 different ones? Or 4 COB's, 2 of each and swap them out as needed?

Will be powering a small closet.

Save urself some money grab the cxb3070 they are 4% less efficient then the 3590 but 6
3500k is good

Sent from my HTC Desire Eye using 420

 

[Richard Richardson]

DIY kits are available from one of our sponsors - Timber DIY Cree CXB3590 Kits Available Now but the minimum seems to be 4.

 

[kaivorth]

DIY kits are available from one of our sponsors - Timber DIY Cree CXB3590 Kits Available Now but the minimum seems to be 4.

Save urself some money grab the cxb3070 they are 4% less efficient then the 3590 but 6
3500k is good

Sent from my HTC Desire Eye using 420

The cbx3070 don't see to be much cheaper from what I'm seeing..

The kits are too expensive for me.

 

[415friendly]

You will find that sourcing the parts and assembling your own kit is not much cheaper, either

 

[kaivorth]

You will find that sourcing the parts and assembling your own kit is not much cheaper, either

I'll essentially be spending slightly more, but I'll be getting a lot more light, and I can imagine being more efficient saving money on the old electric bill, even slightly.

 

[415friendly]

No, what I meant was that if you buy a full DIY kit, you will find that the combined price of the components is not that much more than if you bought all the DIY components by yourself, separately

 

[kaivorth]

Ah I misinterpreted what you meant. I'll think about springing on that kit, but I really want to passively cool just 2 COBs right now. Trying to keep cost under $250. Only have a single plant right now. I'll add more COBs if I need to as time goes on

 

[jaymu86]

Ah I misinterpreted what you meant. I'll think about springing on that kit, but I really want to passively cool just 2 COBs right now. Trying to keep cost under $250. Only have a single plant right now. I'll add more COBs if I need to as time goes on

Look up growmau5 kit can buy a 2x cob cxb 3590

Sent from my HTC Desire Eye using 420

 

[Tomula]

Look up growmau5 kit can buy a 2x cob cxb 3590

Sent from my HTC Desire Eye using 420

Look up CLU058 1825 those LEDs are the best on market now.

 

[jaymu86]

Look up CLU058 1825 those LEDs are the best on market now.

I would but I'll just stick to amare technology and pay them for their lites I'm too busy now business is booming

Sent from my Alcatel_6055U using 420

 

[Lost In Nugs]

Good morning
I am planning a DIY Cob Build for a 8,2ft x 3,3ft x 8,2ft flower room and a seperate Veg room with 5ft x 3,3ft x 8,2ft

Thought about minimum 1200W Flower and 500-600W Veg

What COBS would you use? These CLU you mentioned are high in wattage right? I thought about ~ $2600

 

[Tomula]

Good morning
I am planning a DIY Cob Build for a 8,2ft x 3,3ft x 8,2ft flower room and a seperate Veg room with 5ft x 3,3ft x 8,2ft

Thought about minimum 1200W Flower and 500-600W Veg

What COBS would you use? These CLU you mentioned are high in wattage right? I thought about ~ $2600

Hello. The CLU COBs are as efficient at 75W as CREE CXB at 50W. So you can use less chips and get same results. Or use more chips and get even better results.

Are you running CO2? Where are you based? Because you can order from Alibaba and get good price even with clo and tax or you can order from US and get free shipping and warranty and still a decent price. I will put parts list here, but those can wary depending where are you based. I will make the light, so it consists of 9 separate lights, that can be shifted as you need.

[video=youtube;UlM5uvO7sao]

[/video]

Amazing in depth tutorial.

Heatsink 38'' x 5.886'' from heatsinkusa- 67$
3x Citizen CLU 3000K or 4000K 80CRI with holder from cobkits- 150$
Driver HLG-185H-54B from mouser- 62$
Wires- 10?
Fuses?
Dimmers?
Reflectors- not really needed?
Hanging hooks and wires? Lets all those things up at 25$
Solder?
Tape?
Time?

So one unit is 304 dollars so you can build 8.5 of them, which is almost 9, but no shipping. I bet you can get some of those parts cheaper. Also I think 1000W for the flower room will be enough. And the veg room can get away with 400W. Also in the video series I send, there are some layouts for your room, I also suggest to check out the channel to learn more. The Citizen LEDs are hot stuff now as they are better than CXB3590s. Or if driven at 50W CLU048 1812 Search Internet for: /t/top-bin-cob-comparison-2.897765/page-8 Top bin COB comparison 2 -this is thread about light measurements. I suggest you add some uvb tubes for the flower room. There are many forums on RIU about cobs and lights so check those out, too. Far red thread is interesting. I hope this helps, try to source out the parts yourself for real prices. You might find a better deals. Cheers, hope this helped!

 

[Lost In Nugs]

Hey and thanks alot. We are sitting in Eastern Europe.

High wattages are not our top priotity when it comes to lighting, but there is a minimum goal 1000- more towards 2000 grams of dried buds from a single Flowering Cycle, the more the better, of course. If it needs more money do to that, well, then we will spend more money on lights.

Thought about 10 Plants in that 8,2x3,3x8,2 in Soil using huge Air Pots. No CO2. Maybe later.

I was reading about the CLU058 1825 and thought about getting some of them if the price is ok. I just payed ~$180 on 2xVero29D including proper cooling and a dimmable Meanwell with 1750mA (2x33-66Watts) and check out how they perform, but as this BIG project needs the new COBs before i can finish something with the Veros i have to check out if i can buy a lot more Veros and sleep well, or just grab the Clu058 1825.

I thought about getting 12 (@100W) to 16(@75W) warmer whites from 3000k to 4000k for flower, and about 6 for veg from 5000 to 6000k @ 75-100W

What do you think about that when you keep our goals in mind?

I havent found a decent supplier i can trust so i have no clue were to find the newest CLUs i am just looking for the COBs, the rest should be easy to find locally.

 

[Lost In Nugs]

This is what i thought would be a good and even spread. I am open to any opinion that might being us closer to our goals. I would go with Meanwell dimmable Drivers so we can slowly raise the light output to our needs

What about Light Temperatures for each Veg and Flower? Simple 3000K for flower and 5000k for veg, or a mix of 3000, 3500 and 4000 for flower and something between 4500 and 6500 for veg?

 

[Tomula]

Hello I'm in process of making my light too, but I won't have the money sooner as in the end of January. I'm from Czech Republic. I have find some COBs at Alibaba for 36 a piece (they say 1-2 but I wrote them to ask) + tax, but they can put low price on the package. I can then refer them, seems like a decent supplier, but no warranty on that claim or the goods.

You can run the 1825 at 100w no problem but you will need decent heatsink. That is like 50+ Watts of heat. If you go active, which is what I will do, you can put a fan on it. I use Arctic Continuous Operation which is double bearing fan with lifespan of over 5years. With some maintenance it will do great. Also you can make it shining very even because you can hang them separately, adjust coverage then make a frame.

For flower 3000K is good and if you put some 3500K or 4000K you will make the spectrum better. I do recommend the UVB tubes for even better spectrum. You can get them in fish pet store or online.

Sixteen cobs at 75 sounds very good- efficient. You can even get 600W power supply Meanwell. The problem comes when you do parallel or series connection. When using a source with constant voltage (parallel) you need to put fuse in front of every COB to protect them, so if one goes bust the rest will go at 85W and keep shining. If two go bust you are at 100W each and still shining. So if you put fuse to stop the lights shining over 90W you will be safe if one goes away. When using a source with constant current (series) you need not to do that but I think your light will stop shining completely. Or you can use one driver 80W for each COB. Very safe if your driver or COB goes bust you have 15 more left. My brother is an electrician and he says it is the best solution. More expensive.

Or you can do 100W driver each with lower efficiency. I like the Arctic Cooling Alpine 64 Plus. Cheap and good cooler, 50W of heat is no problem. It will blow down on your plants so more air is moving. But it is little noisy. You can use thermal epoxy to secure the chip. Or holder but that takes some work- drilling tapping and screws.

Yes it is doable.

 

[Tomula]

This is what i thought would be a good and even spread. I am open to any opinion that might being us closer to our goals. I would go with Meanwell dimmable Drivers so we can slowly raise the light output to our needs

What about Light Temperatures for each Veg and Flower? Simple 3000K for flower and 5000k for veg, or a mix of 3000, 3500 and 4000 for flower and something between 4500 and 6500 for veg?

Very good. I think this can work great. Put 3500K on the single row in middle and 3000K on the doubles. For veg I think the 8 is very good so you can mix 5000K with 4000K, I like your scheme. I see you have some knowledge, nice! More COBs more penetration.

 

[Lost In Nugs]

I need to talk to an electrician too to run everything nice and secure.

What about this combination of Color Temperatures? Maybe 2 additional 3000K in the middle row to get that 16x75W.

I have no clue what a good price for one Clu058 1825 looks like if you buy 20.

The guy i bought the Veros from just texted me he can get 1 for 51 euros.

CLU058-1825C4-353M2K1

When i look at digikey i see them for about 70euro, so i am sceptical this is legit brand new Technology.

 

[Tomula]

I need to talk to an electrician too to run everything nice and secure.

What about this combination of Color Temperatures? Maybe 2 additional 3000K in the middle row to get that 16x75W.

I have no clue what a good price for one Clu058 1825 looks like if you buy 20.

Datasheet CLU0568 1825

Now I see they do not make 5000K. I need to go man, I will get back here in few hours and think about it. Ask about 5000K and prices even. Cheers!

 

[Lost In Nugs]

KONTAKT //
TME Germany GmbH - Elektronische Bauelemente

They wont send to my country, but czech republic is fine. You can ask them about their prices and tell us if you want

For colour Temperatures, so we have so stick to pure 4K for Veg if we want this Chips. I donr know if we should use them or buy some veros

Not shure how thick the cables should be. I got a formula, but i am not shure anyways as i dont know the lenght i need. I guess these meanwells run cool enough to let them near the COB Fixture, so the cables from the COBS to the driver arent as long need not to be too thick. Maybe someone got some Millimeteres for us