Help with new light build for 4x4 tent please

DezmondG

DezmondG

Well-Known Member
Hey everyone. I hope I am posting this in the right section. I am newbie as this is my first time growing. I have a 4x4 tent to grow in and I just got my 4 clones on Saturday (Bubba Kush). Only thing I have right now are 2 LED tubes sitting above them which seems to be ok but I need to get myself a light for veg/flower. I would love to build one on a budget that will work for maybe a couple of grows so it will give me more time to build another better one.
I have read a fair bit and watched YouTube videos. It is still a bit confusing. I can solder and build a frame for the lights no problem there but I need help with a shopping list for lights, drivers, etc.
I don’t need to get the best of the best. If you guys could recommend the items I would need that would be a great help. In return I would like to document the build and post it on here for all the other newbies. Again this is my first grow. I’m not looking for high yields (yet) but would like something that will do a decent job.
Thanks all,
Dezi
 
Perfect, makes what I am going to tell you much easier lol

These COBs are cheap as dirt, no driver required and great for a starter light and for veg. I am actually waiting on heat sink paste to finish a 9 COB light for my nursery using these chips.

6C7C48F4-BFE4-4B9F-80D7-4A40F82ECEBF.jpeg

A5895A18-23AC-41A3-A384-D3AA2F5BB4C8.jpeg


You can find them on AliExpress for about $2 each but will take about 2wks or more to get. If you plan to use them for flowering, you will want 1per sqft (16 of them) but they can be made in separate circuits so they don’t all have to be run at the same time.

Capture.JPG

Install them on decent heat sink material, using scavenged heat sink from and old LED light I bought when I first started. If your heat sink has 3/4” tall fins, you will want about 4 square inch of surface per chip.

Then if you make a box to house them, you can buy 120vac fans from Princess Auto that are approximately 140 cfm for under $20 and depending on how you house the COBs, will only need 2 fans at most.

Cheap light that requires no drivers :)
 
The Celt said:
Perfect, makes what I am going to tell you much easier lol

These COBs are cheap as dirt, no driver required and great for a starter light and for veg. I am actually waiting on heat sink paste to finish a 9 COB light for my nursery using these chips.

6C7C48F4-BFE4-4B9F-80D7-4A40F82ECEBF.jpeg

A5895A18-23AC-41A3-A384-D3AA2F5BB4C8.jpeg


You can find them Here for about $2 each but will take about 2wks or more to get. If you plan to use them for flowering, you will want 1per sqft (16 of them) but they can be made in separate circuits so they don’t all have to be run at the same time.

Install them on decent heat sink material, using scavenged heat sink from and old LED light I bought when I first started. If your heat sink has 3/4” tall fins, you will want about 4 square inch of surface per chip.

Then if you make a box to house them, you can buy 120vac fans from Princess Auto that are approximately 140 cfm for under $20 and depending on how you house the COBs, will only need 2 fans at most.

Cheap light that requires no drivers :)
Click to expand...

thanks. I will for sure give it a try. Are you posting your build? Would love to get notes and advice from your build :)
 
The Celt said:
Perfect, makes what I am going to tell you much easier lol

These COBs are cheap as dirt, no driver required and great for a starter light and for veg. I am actually waiting on heat sink paste to finish a 9 COB light for my nursery using these chips.

6C7C48F4-BFE4-4B9F-80D7-4A40F82ECEBF.jpeg

A5895A18-23AC-41A3-A384-D3AA2F5BB4C8.jpeg


You can find them Here for about $2 each but will take about 2wks or more to get. If you plan to use them for flowering, you will want 1per sqft (16 of them) but they can be made in separate circuits so they don’t all have to be run at the same time.

Install them on decent heat sink material, using scavenged heat sink from and old LED light I bought when I first started. If your heat sink has 3/4” tall fins, you will want about 4 square inch of surface per chip.

Then if you make a box to house them, you can buy 120vac fans from Princess Auto that are approximately 140 cfm for under $20 and depending on how you house the COBs, will only need 2 fans at most.

Cheap light that requires no drivers :)
Click to expand...
Do you know what colour temp the warm white and bright white are? I would think I should do a combo of both no?
Plan was to spend around $300 for a light build.
 
Warm white is 3200k and the Bright is 5000k if I remember right.

I am using 4 of the bright and 5 of the warm on 2 circuits for my nursery light.

Circuit #1 has the 4 bright plus 1 warm, and circuit #2 on a switch has 4 warm so I can run either 250w or 450w depending on how much light I want
 
DezmondG said:
Hey everyone. I hope I am posting this in the right section. I am newbie as this is my first time growing. I have a 4x4 tent to grow in and I just got my 4 clones on Saturday (Bubba Kush). Only thing I have right now are 2 LED tubes sitting above them which seems to be ok but I need to get myself a light for veg/flower. I would love to build one on a budget that will work for maybe a couple of grows so it will give me more time to build another better one.
I have read a fair bit and watched YouTube videos. It is still a bit confusing. I can solder and build a frame for the lights no problem there but I need help with a shopping list for lights, drivers, etc.
I don’t need to get the best of the best. If you guys could recommend the items I would need that would be a great help. In return I would like to document the build and post it on here for all the other newbies. Again this is my first grow. I’m not looking for high yields (yet) but would like something that will do a decent job.
Thanks all,
Dezi
Click to expand...
I’m also in ON and bought a 300w marshydro led light on amazon. I can’t say if it’s the best or worst on the market but I can tell you that after 2 grows complete And halfway through the 3rd, im happy with it. I use it in a 2x4 tent so you might need 2 to ensure full coverage if doing a scrog grow. It’s affordable too. Make sure you buy the special sunglasses when working with that light. Good luck!
 
Ok I am going to go the Bridgelux EB Gen 2 route and build my frames out of 1x1 aluminum tubing. I think since being here in Canada, Digikey will be my best bet?

Here is where I am hoping you guys can help me out. I want to build 2 light I think to hang both with separate drivers and dimmable.
I would like to use this setup for both veg and flower so this is where I get confused on what would be best selection of strips to use, drivers, potentiometer, etc. I really don’t like Digikeys website.
Could you guys help with suggestions on what I should order? Again many thanks. :)
 
As far as building LED lights, you need to design around the maximum output you want, determine how many of these chips you will need and if they can be connected in series or parallel only. This will determine the wattage of power supply you need as well as voltage and current requirements.

I had a quick look at the chips but until you have the above info, I can only guess what you intend as there infinite possibilities.

Get that info, and we can help you further.
 
Thanks @The Celt for the help.
I would like to go with (I hope) 2x2 lights. Plan to use 1x1 aluminum tubing for all the frame work as well as heat sinks. I would like to use a combination of 3500k and 5000k within each light. I will make all 4 lights the same which will make things easier for me to order. Plan is to have 30watts / sf with these lights. Would this be doable? I read that it is better to have more strips at lower wattage than it is to have them maxed out right?

I hope this helps with what I want to do, I just don’t know if it will work or not. And what driver to get for each panel?
Thanks again for your help everyone :)
 
See if you can find spec sheets for the panels you want to use, and I would go either 4000k or 3500k with them all, it’s a good all purpose spectrum. I run 3100k on my CMH lights and 3200k on the LED.

Depending on what the requirements of the panels are, you might be able to use a SMPS to run the entire light like I do.

My chips are maxed out at 3A each, going over this can burn them up without severe cooling power. I use a 480w Meanwell 48vdc SMPS that powers a high power buck converter that allows me to set a cap on the amperage and vary the voltage so I can run anywhere from 0 to 400w.

So with a spec sheet for your panels, we can determine the layout of circuits and the size of power supply.
 

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