6040-F2525 A1 COB: Legit or cheap knockoff?

JGibs420

New Member
I've been growing with CFL bulbs up until my second grow now, but I really want to move onto COB Lights soon.

My location doesn't have a market for LED grow Lights so purchasing a Mars Hydro (which I'd really like) is out of the question. eBay and Amazon also don't deliver here, so no luck with that.

Places I can order from however, shipping is extremely high cost.

I found these COB chips online on promotion, so the price is cut down a lot, but I don't know if they're all that legit. I don't have a big budget for this hobby, so don't want to risk buying junk.

Any feedback welcomed.

Below are the specs as advertised on the site.

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Description:
This grow lamp is made of high quality metal aluminum shell which can always keep the temperature at the appropriate level, effective for plant growth and protection. It's also adopted with high-grade COB led light source, super brightness and high luminous efficiency, perfectly used for gardening, family balcony seedling/breeding, greenhouse planting etc, which could make your plants thrive in the night or under the condition without sunshine. Besides, it has many advantages, such as long lifespan up to 50000 hours, lower power consumption etc. Nice product at a good price, worth buying.
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Features:
1. Made of high quality metal aluminum shell which can always keep the temperature at the appropriate level, effective for plant growth and protection.
2. Adopted high grade COB led light source, super brightness and high luminous efficiency, perfectly used for gardening, family balcony seedling/breeding, greenhouse planting etc.
3.- It is full spectrum led light, which can provide the most efficient wavelengths of light to enhance photosynthesis performance and improve plants' healthy growth.
4.- Lower power consumption, energy-saving is more than 80% than general one.
5.- Long lifespan up to 50000hrs, durable to use.

Specification:
Shell Material: Aluminum
Power: 50W
Voltage: 220V
Lifespan: Up to 50000H
Lamp Size: 53mm*39mm/63mm*43mm/63mm*39mm
Beam Angle: 120 degree
Wavelength: 380-840nm
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Package Included:
5-x-COB Led Grow Light
 
I watched the video. That's pretty slick! If you can get 30-ish watts for $1.10 like he did and just plug it into the mains, you could have a lot of light for cheap. Cool. Seems worth a try. (Do be careful with how you wire it up of course.)
 
Just to follow up, having done a lot of electronic work and having been interested in LEDs since back when they were invented, this really caught my interest. So I typed "6040-F2525 (A1) COB 110 volts AC" in to Google to see if there was a 110 volt version, and not only is there, on EBay there are all kinds of different units available cheap!

It looks to me that for the price of some aluminum heat sink and a little wiring, you could make a powerful white light LED grow light for about $15. Very cool.

(I do realize that like usual I'm probably the last one to arrive at the party...)
 
Just to follow up, having done a lot of electronic work and having been interested in LEDs since back when they were invented, this really caught my interest. So I typed "6040-F2525 (A1) COB 110 volts AC" in to Google to see if there was a 110 volt version, and not only is there, on EBay there are all kinds of different units available cheap!

It looks to me that for the price of some aluminum heat sink and a little wiring, you could make a powerful white light LED grow light for about $15. Very cool.

(I do realize that like usual I'm probably the last one to arrive at the party...)

Thanks that's exactly what I was thinking!

The company Offering this product has really good ratings (not using eBay/Amazon as they don't deliver here) and product ratings, they are slightly more expensive than eBay listings, 1 chip being about $4-5 but still much cheaper than Cree and other alternatives in my location.

I'm planning on buying 6 x 50w full spectrum driverless chips, this should be sufficient for a 2x2 grow area right? Or overkill?

Cooling fans I've got, heatsink I get from same place as chips, which have wire already soldered to them, then the only other expense would probably be the lenses (if needed?) And other bits n pieces.
 
I'm planning on buying 6 x 50w full spectrum driverless chips, this should be sufficient for a 2x2 grow area right? Or overkill?

Cooling fans I've got, heatsink I get from same place as chips, which have wire already soldered to them, then the only other expense would probably be the lenses (if needed?) And other bits n pieces.

6x50w= 300 actual watts, which I would think would be good for 2x2.

I think for a small space I'd skip lenses to start and see how they do.

If you have a reference for heat sinks could you please post?

I looked to see if I could find similar driverless COB LEDs for red and blue for higher efficiency, but couldn't find them.

One thought comes to mind is that the LED switching on and off with lots of power with no filter is probably going to generate a huge RF noise signature. Not nice to the neighbors and could attract attention. Might want to prototype first to check that out. If you do, please post results.
 
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This is the recommended heatsink from the same place, but I don't think that will disperse the heat efficiently,

Will toy around when I do actually order the chips, will leave the lenses out for now then.

Think I'll order 2 chips and a 300mm heatsink attach a fan and see how it goes
 
One more question, would it be better to have each chip on a square heatsink or can I put 2x chips on a longer heatsink with the same effect?

I would guess that you can double up chips on a longer sink with good results. Do you know about silicone heatsink grease? You apply it between the heat emitter and the sink for better heat transfer. I would highly recommend that for this application.
 
I would guess that you can double up chips on a longer sink with good results. Do you know about silicone heatsink grease? You apply it between the heat emitter and the sink for better heat transfer. I would highly recommend that for this application.
I'm actually considering getting some of these instead.

I know about the thermal paste yeah, will definitely be getting that as well.

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I'm thinking this one will probably work the best, it has a 70w rating, not sure about the other two.

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Ranging from 5-8 USD a piece.

Delivery still seems to be the most expensive part of this project
 
I'm actually considering getting some of these instead.

Just a note, in my experience, cheap fans have cheap bearings that wear out fast. But if you get a year of good service out of it before its bearing start sounding like a cement mixer and it costs only 1/4 as much, that can pencil out... ;)
 
One thought comes to mind is that the LED switching on and off with lots of power with no filter is probably going to generate a huge RF noise signature. Not nice to the neighbors and could attract attention. Might want to prototype first to check that out. If you do, please post results.

Just to clarify the electronic techno jargon, because these driverless LEDs will be running on AC and not DC, the LEDs will be snapping on and off 50 or 60 times a second (see the end of the video). When electricity turns on and off very quickly, it creates radio waves in a very broad range of frequencies (in fact, that is how the very first radio transmitters worked). That "RF noise"--radio frequency buzzing and humming and static--can radiate for miles, interfering with all kinds of equipment, but most notably any kind of radio receiver.

Because of this problem, the FCC certifies equipment for use in the US. I would be willing to bet that they would not certify these driverless LEDs because they generate too much RF noise.

Worst case, a bunch of RF racket could call attention to your grow... but be kind to your neighbors anyway.

A simple test for RF noise is to tune an AM radio across its range of frequencies and listen for interference. You will definitely find some. You just want to make sure that it doesn't spread beyond your house.

Installing an RF "choke" by winding the AC cords through ferrite "doughnuts" sold for that purpose can help to keep your power cord from acting like an antenna. And enclosing the lights and surrounding area with grounded metal (even aluminum foil) can reduce RF noise. Note that the metal MUST be attached to a good earth ground. Ungrounded metal will not help.
 
Found another place supplying even cheaper, delivery time is longer though, but it's cool not in a hurry.

Would you rather get the 30 or 50w chips? I'm guessing cooling the 30s will be easier..?
Cool. The electrostatic shielding (grounded metal) could be a big help too.
 
Would you rather get the 30 or 50w chips? I'm guessing cooling the 30s will be easier..?

I was wondering that myself. Bigger seems better as a first guess, but there may be problems with heat management (cooling) or? I think you'd just have to try them and see. Fortunately, they don't cost much.
 
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