The DIY COB Addiction

Check cobkits bro.. Good prices.. The citi leds are a very good cost to photon exchange.. Rapidled is great for veros, but only 80cri.. Future electronics is great for other vero options. The vero se's have poke in's.. No soldering. The holders for the citi's and luminus chips have quick connects as well.. No soldering.. For your space i would look at 12 chips.. 2 panels of 6.. Each panel having 2 rows of 3 chips.. This will get the rectangular shape you need for your space.. Cobkits has great prices for citi and holder combos.. I would look at 1818's. 50v chips or the 1212's which are 36v. If he has the 1216's, that would be a great option as well. I would recommend 133mm pinfin heatsinks if running above 50w a chip, not that its absolutely needed, but the cooler the chips, the better the efficiency.. You could run a 320w driver per fixture for a 600-640w draw from the wall.. Or do 2x 240w driver per fixture for 800-960w total draw at the wall.. All depends on what u want to spend buddy.. If u have a budget in mind, i can help u further..
Cheers
 
Radogast said:
Hi there. I read the thread.

Great thread.


I'm looking to replace 2x600W HPS in a flower only area. Walls are 4x6'. Plants grow in 40x60" area (1x1.25m) or (3.3x5')

I would prefer to have 2 fixtures that light side by side 20x60" (0.5x1.25m) zones.
My second choice is one fixture where light can be individually turned off for each 20" (0.5m) square zone.

I am in the USA.

My main motivation is to reduce my electrical usage (save $$) spending the minimum money that will yield a solution that lasts for 5+ years.

If the technology or price will be a better in 3 months, I can wait 3 months. If shipping takes 2 months, I can wait 2 months. I might have to wait 2-3 months for money anyway.


I understand basic 110V wiring, but not much about electronics. My soldering experience is pretty much limited to attaching several dozen resistors to socket pins with a solder gun. I had a 90% success rate. The soldering Iron I have now is next of kin to a woodburning tool. Gluing and screwing is not a problem. I have a cheap analog multimeter and probes that I have used for decades.

In the COB world, it sounds like the 1750 is the recommended fit.
If the 3500 is easier on the eyes, I'd prefer a white light and spending a few watts on wasted heat.
I'm not the kind of guy who plays with dials and will be comparing 40% to 50% of total wattage. I prefer to set the trim pot, hit dip switches, or wire in a resistor and forget about it. I'm more into raising and lowering a light to increase/decrease PAR.

so ....

What's my 'best' parts list and where do I shop? (PM me if that works better.)
Click to expand...

Future electronics. For COBs and driver's, reflectors and clamps.
Northern Grow lights for your heatsinks.
Vero 29 D series is the cheapest. 1400mA is best bang for your buck.
Many are toting the 3500k 90CRI as the all purpose chip with amazing flowering potential. The 1750k can only be bought in two places. One of them is Australia.
But if you liked the results with HPS you'll love the results with 1750k.
Personally I'd go with the 3500k to start and add your deep reds later.
This is my Grow under 1750k.
420-magazine-mobile1828582239.jpg
 
I was looking at drivers again i spoke with my cousin yesterday and it happen that he hask lrs-200-36 on another project and i could borrow it to make some test (eventually he won't need them so i could get them for free he has 4)but first i want to know if it is usable or not (1h30 by car) since it output 36v constant voltage but 5.9 amp

Vero 29 se 3500 draw 1.4 amps at 36.2v so 4 x 1.4 = 5.6 amps

Will this type of driver blow my chips sending 5.9 amps to them or will the chips simply draw the power they need ? Like if i knly put 1 chips on the driver will my chips draw 1.4a or 5.9a
420-magazine-mobile1195222879.jpg


If it works, would i be able to dim my chips and would it be better to dim them on the ac side or dc side

Thanks
 
Peachapoil said:
I was looking at drivers again i spoke with my cousin yesterday and it happen that he hask lrs-200-36 on another project and i could borrow it to make some test (eventually he won't need them so i could get them for free he has 4)but first i want to know if it is usable or not (1h30 by car) since it output 36v constant voltage but 5.9 amp

Vero 29 se 3500 draw 1.4 amps at 36.2v so 4 x 1.4 = 5.6 amps

Will this type of driver blow my chips sending 5.9 amps to them or will the chips simply draw the power they need ? Like if i knly put 1 chips on the driver will my chips draw 1.4a or 5.9a
420-magazine-mobile1195222879.jpg


If it works, would i be able to dim my chips and would it be better to dim them on the ac side or dc side

Thanks
Click to expand...
That will run your chips just fine.. Remember PARALLEL WIRING.. NOT SERIES.. i dont know if u can dim with those drivers.. Dimmable drivers will ether be dimmable by dimming wires, or a dimming screw in the front of the driver..
Cheers, good luck
 
JimmyJames905 said:
Future electronics. For COBs and driver's, reflectors and clamps.
Northern Grow lights for your heatsinks.
Vero 29 D series is the cheapest. 1400mA is best bang for your buck.
Many are toting the 3500k 90CRI as the all purpose chip with amazing flowering potential. The 1750k can only be bought in two places. One of them is Australia.
But if you liked the results with HPS you'll love the results with 1750k.
Personally I'd go with the 3500k to start and add your deep reds later.
This is my Grow under 1750k.
420-magazine-mobile1828582239.jpg
Click to expand...
Lookin good jj
 
Yeah I'm just worried if it's to much one way or the other it won't come out right, like you see some of these grows and they come out looking all fuzzy and smell like shit, I think it's from the spectrum being off or something I don't know, honestly any of the chips will grow good weed all the way through I just don't wanna use 2 different spectrum bulbs to keep stress to a minimum
 
Justwannagrow said:
Yeah I'm just worried if it's to much one way or the other it won't come out right, like you see some of these grows and they come out looking all fuzzy and smell like shit, I think it's from the spectrum being off or something I don't know, honestly any of the chips will grow good weed all the way through I just don't wanna use 2 different spectrum bulbs to keep stress to a minimum
Click to expand...

That doesn't make any sense.
The 4000k has reds in the 620nm range. The 1750 peaks at 650nm and tapers off past 750nm. If you want the complete spectrum of reds in flower you need to use two chips. It's not absolutely necessary but a huge advantage. The other option is to use 90 CRI if you want a wider spectrum in one chip. But either way providing your plants with full spectrum reds won't stress your plants.
 
JimmyJames905 said:
Future electronics. For COBs and driver's, reflectors and clamps.
Northern Grow lights for your heatsinks.
Vero 29 D series is the cheapest. 1400mA is best bang for your buck.
Many are toting the 3500k 90CRI as the all purpose chip with amazing flowering potential. The 1750k can only be bought in two places. One of them is Australia.
But if you liked the results with HPS you'll love the results with 1750k.
Personally I'd go with the 3500k to start and add your deep reds later.
This is my Grow under 1750k.
420-magazine-mobile1828582239.jpg
Click to expand...

Maybe it's the color but those look fried...
 
Question for you guys. Y'all are awesome by the way. The diy cob systems are so impressive. I'd eventually like to build one myself. What's the estimated cost of one of these guys for just a small closet grow? I'm on a tight budget but if these beat an hps then I'm down. Thanks y'all. Keep up the great grows :)
 
lukebro said:
Question for you guys. Y'all are awesome by the way. The diy cob systems are so impressive. I'd eventually like to build one myself. What's the estimated cost of one of these guys for just a small closet grow? I'm on a tight budget but if these beat an hps then I'm down. Thanks y'all. Keep up the great grows :)
Click to expand...

DIY Closet killer 150w (400w HPS equivalent)

2x Bxrc-35G10K0-B-73 $40
1x HLG-120h-c1400b. $50
2x SST133 heatsinks $36
1x 100k (B100k) linear potentiometer $4

$130 USD total
PLUS SHIPPING/taxes.
 
Great thread, thank you. Did you mention that there a guy on here or in Canada that builds / sells these? I need to outfit a 3' x 3' x 5' veg tent and a 4' x 4' x 6.5' flower tent, and I am not confident I can do the buying of components/building/wiring. I have costed the vero29 V7 out on Timber Grow but was starting to dig around for a Canadian supplier as the CDN dollar, shipping, and import duties / sales taxes from the US is significant. (and I think we are about to have a trade war-'in super secret whispering homer simpson voice')

Messing with electricity hasnt been a pleasant experience in my youth lol ⚡️⚡️⚡️

Also...a big thank you for helping me avoid blurple.
 
So speaking of today, i bought all the parts i need to buils my light !
I chose finaly
2 x Hlg-240h-c1750b
8 x Bxrc-35g10k0-d-73-se
8 x Clamp
8 x Reflector
2 x watt meter
8 x cpu heatsink (i'll post picture on the build)
1 x thermal paste
2 x linear potentiometer 10k

I might be missing few connection part and wire but nothing i can't buy at a near electronic shop !

I'll do a post on the build as soon as i receive all of my parts

@jimmyclone
What type of screw you use to fix chips to heat sink (i'll have to pierce and tap mine) i was thinking of m2 screw
 
Shaggn said:
Oh, I was hoping it was just the light.. How low did the ph go to cause damage like that?? I've nute burned some badly back in the day. Peace!!
Click to expand...

It wasn't nute burn and it definitely wasn't the light. In fact if you check my journal you'll see that after adding the light the buds really started to fatten up. After two weeks they started to grow again so I had to stop the Grow as it was almost week 14 of flower. The CKS strain I used was purple Kush and was advertised as 10 weeks. The "dying" you see is from bad pH. My tap water spiked to pH 9 over the winter and then dropped to 5.5 without me noticing. Winter water is like that. We got a lot of rain then snow then rain.
I locked my PK out during bloom so the plant had no way to take up Phosphorus and potassium to produce glucose. If the plant can't make glucose it will take it from the glucose stored in the leaves.
That is why they yellowed like that. Bud was still really spectacular although it was a very problematic Grow. Genetics are from Crop king. I'll never buy there again. Problems from beginning to end.
 

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