Noob COB questions - Need help!

[Alex77145]

So I have chosen to buy 4 Vero 29 SE 7th gen.

Now for the questions.

Is there any place I can order them that ship from inside Europe. I looked it up on digikey and it would cost me around 30€ for shipping and about 20€ for VAT , that's about 50€ for nothing which is almkst the price I would pay for the LEDs themselves. I'm from Latvia btw.

What driver should I use to power them ? Also where to buy it from?

Can I use any passive 130mm heatsink? If not, what would be my cheapest option and where to order it from?

What would be the best lens?

What would be the most efficient way to layer them out? 2x2 square or 1x4 line, assuming I have unlimited grow space? I will be growing autoflowers. How far apart should the leds be then?

And lastly, should I take the 4000k version?

Thank you so much for the person, who Is going to amswer all of this! I am breaking my head over all of this for the past weeks.

 

[Pistil Kid]

Have a look on youtube for a user named Growmau5 he posts a lot of videos for the beginner about COBs and drivers etc. If you spend one or two hours watching those you will have all the knowledge you require to answer your own questions. You could also visit timber grow lights and have a look at their diy kits they list the parts in each kit so you can see what they are using. For area coverage look at the frame section on the same site he lists the areas 3x3 or 4x4 each shape / light kit will cover. Other sites you could try are cobkits and rapidled Good luck.

 

[BobGreen]

Hi Alex, I'm no expert by any means but just built a cob set up and can answer some of your questions. First, like Pistil Kid said, check out Growmau5 on youtube. He has an excellent 7 series video all about cobs.

I used the Mean Well HLG-240H-C1750B drivers. One of them will run 4 of the Vero 29 se 7th gen 36.6v version. I went with active cooling and used StarTech.com FAN1156PWM 95mm CPU Cooler Fan with Heatsink which I powered using SAWAKE Universal AC DC 12V 2A Power Supply Adapter.

I spaced mine 16 inches apart to center of each cob. I couldn't find the plain white reflectors so went with the silver ones, I don't think it makes much diference either way except the silver ones are expensive. My cobs are 3000k and 90cri, BXRC-30G10K0-D-73-SE. I used a dimmer but you don't have to.

I'm sorry but I can't help with who you should order from, I have zero experience with international ordering. I used amazon.ca, digi-key and mouser. Good luck with your build, I'm really REALLY happy with mine!!

One last thing, watch the Growmau5 videos. I have many times over.

BobG

 

[Mayne]

Man, Growmau5 and his round-table discussions are interesting, even if your not building a lights. So many routes to go, and so many ways depending on money you have to spend.

Im going to give those driver-less COBS a try. Just so dang long to get here. at $14 a pop for 50w, cant pass that up, with fan and heatsink. lenses, and plugs, its a steal if you can wait. Going with 4 (3000k) and my Mars300w modded light in a 2x2,

Good luck with your build,

 

[gbauto]

One of the biggest benefits is the ability to design the layout to best suit your grow space. I run 4 buckets along each wall of my closet so it works better for me to run separate 4 array bars over each row of buckets. I run the same cobs and used two 3k arrays along with two 4K arrays. I also decided to run the 320 watt driver and just dim it when I don't need the photons.