Emmie's 6 Plant, True Living Organic, LED Grow Journal

[Amy Gardner]

dang near blinded myself with how bright the thing was

 

[Slowpuffer]

Thank you Slowpuffer! I did a side by side test with half of my crop a couple of years ago and documented it here. The dark periods going into the flip and at the end were tested, and both were found to be effective in what they were believed to accomplish.
Regarding building the light, it is already done and I have been using it to take some of these awesome pictures here at the end as I finish up with the colored LEDs. If you are interested in building one of these lights it is not hard at all. The hardest part is actually building the frame and attaching the heat sinks to it, but the wiring is a snap and I even added 2 extra power meters just to get fancy. When I get finished with this grow and move the chinese red/blue lights out of the tent, I want to do some experiments with measuring the PAR at various points in the tent and at different heights. I will document those tests and how I intend to use those PAR measurements in the next grow. As far as building and designing it, it took me a while to research out which light spectrum I really wanted to use, and then find the appropriate chips to do it. Then, to get the correct watts/sq foot you have to make decisions on how hard you wish to drive those lights. My chips are capable of 100 watts apiece, but they are the most efficient at 70% or less. The decision was made to use more lights, running less wattage, and better cover the space in the tent. Then after deciding on 6 lights, it was necessary to find the Meanwell driver that handled the desired wattage and number of lights and I decided to split that task up between two power supplies to add flexibility to the light. Then, a good online vendor was found who could source all the parts I would need in an easy to use ordering system so I didn't have to look all the parts up and learn exactly what parts were needed on my own. A couple of youtube videos, and I knew how to attach the cob to the holder and the holder to the heat sink, and then it was just a matter of lining up all the holes and putting it together. Two banks of 3 lights were wired up in series and I hit the test button after triple checking all of my connections, and I dang near blinded myself with how bright the thing was.

1 remember you doing that, but I thought you was playing with just one of the 6 cobs. Holy cow !!

 

[Emilya Green]

1 remember you doing that, but I thought you was playing with just one of the 6 cobs. Holy cow !!

Oh yeah... that was my first test. Saw spots for hours on that one! You would think that I would have learned from that.

 

[Slowpuffer]

Oh yeah... that was my first test. Saw spots for hours on that one! You would think that I would have learned from that.

It wasn't funny to you, back when it happened, but i bet you laugh about it now ? LOL !! I thought I had read your entire thread, but my stoned ass, must have missed the two banks at once effect. can i get the page #, when this came about ?

 

[Emilya Green]

It wasn't funny to you, back when it happened, but i bet you laugh about it now ? LOL !! I thought I had read your entire thread, but my stoned ass, must have missed the two banks at once effect. can i get the page #, when this came about ?

More likely that my stoned butt just now told you about it. Glad you asked! I don't think I have gone into any details until now, because most of this was done in PM between me and @fanleaf as he advised me based on the light he had built and then he ended up designing the frame for me. I would have eventually come up with a frame, but it wouldn't have been this nice. More importantly, without his support I wouldn't have been brave enough to spend $500 of my tax refund on this project, and now I need to pass this forward now that I have done it. It really isn't that hard and once you dig into it, it all makes perfect sense. The online tools to help you pick out the Meanwell driver that you need are easy to use and all the connections are well labeled. Someone like you with a little bit of experience and the ability to follow instructions should have no trouble with assembling one of these.

 

[Slowpuffer]

Thank goodness for folks like you & fanleaf !! When I get $$ for this project, I'll be in touch with you & fanleaf. I believe you'll be happy that you got this technology. I been using a 630 cmh for like two yrs. now, but it create's too much heat, for my situation.

 

[fanleaf]

More likely that my stoned butt just now told you about it. Glad you asked! I don't think I have gone into any details until now, because most of this was done in PM between me and @fanleaf as he advised me based on the light he had built and then he ended up designing the frame for me. I would have eventually come up with a frame, but it wouldn't have been this nice. More importantly, without his support I wouldn't have been brave enough to spend $500 of my tax refund on this project, and now I need to pass this forward now that I have done it. It really isn't that hard and once you dig into it, it all makes perfect sense. The online tools to help you pick out the Meanwell driver that you need are easy to use and all the connections are well labeled. Someone like you with a little bit of experience and the ability to follow instructions should have no trouble with assembling one of these.

You are so right. One of the biggest holdups that I see people have though is figuring out the correct driver because some people are unaware that even though a particular chip maybe a 36 volt chip that does not mean it runs at 36 volts no matter what current is running through it and sometimes in selecting your driver this will make all of the difference between choosing the right driver and the wrong driver. The cxb3590 chip in the 36 volt version is in fact a 36 volt chip but that is at the CREE test current of roughly 2400 milliamps or 2.4 amps. Very rarely does anyone ever drive them at that current level or higher. With that chip for example, some of the common drive levels are 700mA and the chip will run at roughly 30 volts, 1400mA will run about 34.5 volts, 2100mA the chip will run at about 35.7 volts. Heck, at 3600mA drive those 36v chips will run at 38 volts. All of those voltages are also dependent on how cool you can keep the chip running as well. When someone figures out what drive level they would like to run their chips at then they can figure out how many chips they can run per driver and which driver will work at the voltage that all of the chips in series will run at. Sometimes one or two volts miscalculation per chip will cause the wrong driver to be selected. I've seen that many many times where a builder thought 1 particular drivers top output voltage was 5-10 volts too low so they went with too big of a driver or split the array between more drivers because they didnt understand thier chips will not be running at the advertised voltage. Our drivers are constant current.

 

[Emilya Green]

I have been running this new light there in the bedroom 24/7 to see how it burns in, and I noticed right away how little heat it produces. The big heat sinks easily dissipate what is coming out of the lights and they are only warm to the touch. It is amazing to see how little heat is being put out while still producing the equivalent of 1000w HID light. I should have done this long ago.

 

[Slowpuffer]

I have been running this new light there in the bedroom 24/7 to see how it burns in, and I noticed right away how little heat it produces. The big heat sinks easily dissipate what is coming out of the lights and they are only warm to the touch. It is amazing to see how little heat is being put out while still producing the equivalent of 1000w HID light. I should have done this long ago.

I'm so envious !! That lights gonna change the way you grow !!

 

[fanleaf]

I have been running this new light there in the bedroom 24/7 to see how it burns in, and I noticed right away how little heat it produces. The big heat sinks easily dissipate what is coming out of the lights and they are only warm to the touch. It is amazing to see how little heat is being put out while still producing the equivalent of 1000w HID light. I should have done this long ago.

It can be a blessing and a curse. In my smaller room with the 25 chip array all of my drivers are located outside of the grow room and in the winter months I wish I had the drivers in the room for the added heat. It can make it hard to keep the room up in temperature during lights on even if I crank up the array to 1500 watts or more. Even though all of my heat sinks run just barely warm to the touch as yours I always try to keep a very small fan blowing across all of the top of the array just to dissipate the heat throughout the room. The cooler you can keep them the more efficient they run. It's funny because on my 5000k chips at the same wattage as my 3000k chips, the 5000k heatsinks Run roughly 8 degrees cooler but there's trade-offs. Higher lm/w but a much narrower light spectrum and the loss of the powerful photons that are in the more red or a more full spectrum. I think too many people disregard or don't think it's important to have plenty of the whole spectrum including a big amount of green light especially for penetration etc. IMO anyways

 

[fanleaf]

I'm so envious !! That lights gonna change the way you grow !!

Sure will. Much better pictures too

 

[fanleaf]

Honestly, since @Emilya was building her first array I didn't want to push it too hard but I've been waiting to see if you may have had the thought running through your mind as I did with your array. You have just enough room on that panel to add two more chips in 5000k on each so far end of the drivers with a small driver to power those two chips. Then, you would have an absolute monster of a light where you could run the 5000k 70 CRI chips early in veg at 80 Watts a piece or so and turn all of your 3000k's way down. That would put you at 1 chip per square foot. That is the nice thing about building your own array. You can always modify, add or subtract to make it fit your needs. You could run a few Cycles with it just the way it is and spend just a few dollars and throw in a few more chips that will specialize a bit more on the blue side.

Of course that is only if you want to get out of control like I do with all of my arrays

 

[fanleaf]

One last thing.
Even at full power I would encourage 14"-16" above canopy. Plants will stay cool. Keeps par down low on the plants higher. Just watch for light bleaching. 14-16 should be plenty safe. I have ran mine as low as 4-6" but I have more than 1 chip per square foot so I can do that and still get a pretty even spread. At 4-6" I can run my chips so soft crazy.

 

[Emilya Green]

but I've been waiting to see if you may have had the thought running through your mind as I did with your array. You have just enough room on that panel to add two more chips in 5000k on each so far end of the drivers with a small driver to power those two chips. Then, you would have an absolute monster of a light where you could run the 5000k 70 CRI chips early in veg at 80 Watts a piece or so and turn all of your 3000k's way down. That would put you at 1 chip per square foot.

hmmm...
Well no, I hadn't yet had that thought, but there are those things that once heard can not be un-heard. Hmmm. Now you did it.

 

[Amy Gardner]

those things that once heard can not be un-heard. Hmmm. Now you did it.

oh so true! I’m excited for your new grow with the new light Em. I think you are pulling some great nugs out form under those budget models - you’ll get some super dense fire out of this new array i’m Sure.

ANd thanks for the clear wrap about voltages @fanleaf. I built an array with QB boards and really learnt what I needed to, to do the build and I had heaps of guidance from Graytail on the components so I was lucky there, like EM is to have had your guidance. I get a little closer in my understanding every time someone explains it well, so thanks for that one!

I’m just getting my head back towards it actually as my outdoor grow draws to a close and i think about adding something extra to my lighting array... because of course my grow area has expanded a little and, well, once you’ve seen upgrade possibilities, they cannot be unseen - like EM said

 

[Emilya Green]

Tonight we are at day 57. TrainWreck is showing maybe one or two ambers up top where it counts. I am thinking tomorrow or the next day... she is soon to be harvested.

Super Cheese is right in there too... I am guessing 5 days...

 

[Emilya Green]

IceBreaker however is ready tonight! It can be seen a lot easier with the loupe than with my aging camera, but there is about 5% amber at the top now. She is going to the dark tent tonight. She can no longer hold her own weight. This is going to be killer smoke. Click the picture for even better resolution.

 

[Tead]

Thank you Reave!
Oh, I forgot to mention that I have taken Wappa out of the drying tent a little early and moved her to 3 different processes as I promised I was going to do earlier. At this stage there were exactly 3 oz of semi dry buds. I picked out 1 oz of the very best buddage, and that went to my paper sack to dry out a little bit more before going through the traditional dry,burp down to 64 and then sit in the jar for a month to cure. Then I divided the remaining pile into 1 oz in a paper bag going into the crisper for a low and slow down to 65 cure, and the last ounce was rolled into a corn husk, vacuum sealed and placed in a crock pot full of water on warm for 24 hours to start the fermenting cure. Lots of wheels are turning here in Emmy's garden.

Good Gawd you're busy!
You'll dig the cobbing. It's very nice.
I moved on to rosin pressing. Too stoned for words most of the time.

In my smaller room with the 25 chip array all of my drivers are located outside of the grow room

This is like 'the largest' benefit of the panels or COBs in my eyes.
I've got eight of them in a non-AC'd power closet with an external air exchange. No heat at all going into the garden from them.

 

[Archiweedies]

Looking grrrreeeeat I’m trying to get better at viewing trichomes. I have a 60-120x scope with an led but it’s so tough to get a good look with my hands all shaking.

 

[Emilya Green]

It is getting exciting here on my day off! TrainWreck just needed that final drink last night it seems. On the lights on check this morning I found amber at the top in surprising amounts. She has also been moved to the drying/darkness tent for 36 hours of contemplation of her death along with IceBreaker. It looks like there is going to be a trimming party Saturday!
The Wappa triple cure experiment is proceeding much quicker in the burp process than the other two methods. RH is down to 69 or so and I am still working a bit each day to burp it down into the cure range. Since it does stay in that range for periods of time, some curing has already taken place and test buds confirm it. The Cob style cure is tucked away in the warm place and still vacuum sealed, so no progress report there. The low and slow method in the fridge is still only at 74% when placed into a jar to check the RH, so it has gone back into the paper sack in the crisper. Test buds show that the cure has not yet started on this batch, but I can confirm that it certainly is drying out very slowly and this will likely greatly improve the quality at the end.