My DIY LEDs

[Terp]

Led light building has become very easy these days so I thought I would share mine with you guys to inspire you to tackle it yourself. You can have a rock solid light that can dominate anything you can buy prebuilt.

I have built 4 so far and working on #5

Here they are:

10x cxb3070 AD 3000k ~ 2x HLG-185-1050C Designed for a 2x4 space

365 (dissipation W) * .5128 (COB efficiency) = 187 PAR W
187 PAR W/8 ft² = 23.4 PAR W/ft²
23.4 * 10.7 (ft² in 1 m²) = 250 PAR W/m²
250 * 4.88 (umol/PAR W for CXA 3000K) = 1220 PPFD.

I have 2 of these lights. (heatsink config diff thou)

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8x Cree CXB3590 CB 3000k ~ 2x HLG-185-1400C Drivers


390 (dissipation W) * .5167 (COB efficiency) = 202 PAR W
202 PAR W/8 ft² = 25 PAR W/ft²
25 * 10.7 (ft² in 1 m²) = 267.5 PAR W/m²
267.5 * 4.88 (umol/PAR W for CXA 3000K) = 1305 PPFD

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Veg Light :8x Vero 18 5000K - 1 HLG-185-700c

197 (dissipation W) * .4723 =
93 Par W/8FT² = 11.62 PAR W/ft²
11.62 x 10.7 = 124.38
124 * 4.49 = 558 PPFD

All these lights are dimmable, The flower lights here puts out more than 1000 PAR any place on the canopy (even the edge because Cobs are equally spaced). Heat sinks are cool to the touch when running.If you dont have a light hitting at least 900 - 1000 PAR in every spot, your not growing to your full potential. Here is a government study done on cannabis showing the photosynthetic response to the amount of PPFD.

Always know what your lights PPFD is and if you dont know what that is, google it and find out. Its very important.

The pics are in my gallery for those interested.

Feel free to ask me questions about my lights or post pics of your own builds and specs here

 

[Terp]

 

[EmeraldForest]

Nice job dude!

 

[Icemud]

Very nice build!

 

[Terp]

Thanks guys.

I forgot to mention. The PC fans are fluid dynamic bearings that come off a fan hub so I can swap them in the future if I need to without cutting fan plugs off and splicing. But the heatsinks are designed to cool passively with a min of 75cm² in case of fan failure so they wont burn up.

The power that runs the fans are a 12v 5A adjustable switching power box that taps into the same power that runs the light. (120 / 240) It also enables me to add 12 volt accessories (like air moving fans or ventilation in tents) Not all the lights have the box on them yet but will.

Working on a 8x CXB3590 3500k running at 1.4A that will be 56.34 % efficient right now. Ill get some pics of the building process when I have all my parts for you guys.

 

[Heirloom]

Huh, nice!

I was searching out efficient DIY LED solutions and found this. This seems to be the direction my research was leading me. Thanks for saving me the excel chart work, lol.

Very interested in your build info and all the other stats and metrics you can provide. Actual power consumption, costs to build etc.



Have to light one and pass it around

 

[valverguy]

I'm desperately trying to source UK based cob chips of anyone can throw me in the right direction?

 

[Terp]

I cant remember exactly what the at the wall draw is. Its just a little over 400 watts for the cxb3590 and close to 400 watts with the 3070.
The chart shows how much watts your pulling at what current you want to run them.
The HLG Series meanwell drivers run about 94 - 96 % efficient. Most blurples use cheap ones that run about 87 %.
The better you match your cobs to the driver the better your efficiency is. Mine are about 97% You want to max the driver out.

Here is the Meanwell HGL 185 driver datasheet (b type)

There are other meanwell drivers but I like using this one. Depends on the size of your light.

The COBs I get from Jerry Mang at Kingbright throuh a chiness chip wholesaler on Alibaba

He also sells lens and holders. Asking to ship China post will save a lot on shipping.
They can be bought at Mouser and digikey too but the prices are high.

Cree CXB us the best but The veros are a little less efficiency but are way cheaper and dont need a holder. Plus the Veros do well running at higher amps. All LED efficiency goes up the softer you run them.

The Heatsinks come from Heatsink USA:
Extruded Aluminum Heatsinks from HeatSinkUSA
You want a thick base and fins spaced apart so they dont trap heat. I use the 5.88 and the 7.28 at 75 cm² per watt
But some guys use cpu coolers from Newegg. I dont believe Heatsink USA ships out of country thou.

Fans. Get the ones with hydrodynamic Bearings. Sleeves suck, Ball is better and dont freeze all of a sudden like the sleevs do. HD is the best. Make them as wide as your heatsink so you can hit every groove.
I use Newegg.

Use 18g solid wire and get a 4-40 drill and tap to make screw holes for your cobs. PK13 is a great thermal paste. Or you could just skip the screws and get thermal adhesive but then they are stuck permanently. I like using the wago lever wire connecters.

Get what ever Pot ( Radioshack or wherever) the meanwell datasheet says for you dimming config you choose. 100 for dimming one driver or 50k to dim 2.

Each of my lights cost around 800 - 900 to build but I dont cut any corners. I get the best of everything and use tons of heatsink.

 

[Terp]

Heatsink USA Profile spreadsheets
25 cm² for active fan cooling, 50 for semi active and, 75 for passive cooling:

 

[Terp]

Some info on the Veros:

 

[Terp]

More Cree Data:

 

[Terp]

Matching Drivers info (The number is how many COBs will fit on the driver) :

 

[Terp]

And oh.. High CRi options on the COBS are not better. Cri is how well color is rendered under them to humans. High cree is great if your making videos and pictures under them. The low CRI chips put out more for the plants.

 

[Terp]

 

[Heirloom]

Awesome info Terp. Great work. Thanks a bunch!

 

[Dr Fish]

Why don't you start taking pics as a unit is built... A parts list and pics of the finished unit is fine, but if you really want converts to cob white do a pictorial build... You've come far with comparative analysis of others products, now's the time to lure us away from the "dark side" and into the light... Lets see that journal...

 

[Terp]

Will do.
Im planning pn a CXB3590 3599k right now. Will be ordering things very soon.

 

[valverguy]

Thanks for the great info. Going to look at the veros thanks bro

 

[tintin12]

hi can you tell me the pest drivers to run 12 cxa 3070 cree leds how many will this this drive do HLG-185H-C700B thanks dave

 

[Stay green]

Looks awesome, hats off too you sir thanks for sharing, can't wait to see what comes next.