Thinking about DIY LED, hmmm.

gwheels

gwheels

Hobby Farmer
Thanks for the input. I grabbed a 2 board kit and i will dial it in with temp and wattage to keep it under 110F.

There will be cobs and boards all around it so it is a gap filler and i will see what flowers the best for me and my room. If i ever swap out lighting i should know what to get by December i will have flowered every tech i have (QB/QS/COB/CMH).
 
hhibrownsbacker

hhibrownsbacker

Super Active Member
Going with the 6 boards and heat sinks for sure but will have to wait till the weekend so I can put this all out on paper and see where I want to lay these out at. I'm not sure if I want 2 long tripple heat sinks, 3 double heat sinks or 6 single till I can get a better idea of exactly where they will be placed. OK on to the driver, I have looked at the 600-54 as suggested and was wondering if there is a advantage between the 54A the 54B versions? Again they also seem so similar I'm not sure it would make any difference.
 
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ChiefRunningPhist

ChiefRunningPhist

Drunk on Knowledge
hhibrownsbacker said:
Going with the 6 boards and heat sinks for sure but will have to wait till the weekend so I can put this all out on paper and see where I want to lay these out at. I'm not sure if I want 2 long tripple heat sinks, 3 double heat sinks or 6 single till I can get a better idea of exactly where they will be placed. OK on to the driver, I have looked at the 600-54 as suggested and was wondering if there is a advantage between the 54A the 54B versions? Again they also seem so similar I'm not sure it would make any difference.
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Get an AB type. They have built in POTs + dimming leads. Then you can use an aftermarket dimmer if you want, or utilize built in POTs for dimming.
Screenshot_2019-05-21-16-23-54~2.png

I'm not sure on the AB types, but on the just "b" types (320h and bigger) you can get current dimming down to 0% whereas with the "a" types (built in POTs) its only ~40-50% current dimming. 240h and under is only down to ~8% current dimming with "b" style, whereas 320h and bigger go to 0% current dimming with "b" style.

A = built in POTs
B = dimmer leads for after market dimmer, NO built in POTs
 
Old ST1R

Old ST1R

Grow Yer Own Stone
ChiefRunningPhist said:
QB LED is most effecient so far, meaning it takes the least amount of wall watts to produce X amount of light. QB's utilize several individual mid power LEDs per light. HLG I believe was the initial trend setter with the mid power arrays, and they called their lights "Quantum Boards" or QB's. It's now a common term referring to any mid power LED array.

COB LED is second most effecient, closer to 90% of mid power LED, but uses less space to create the light that QBs use. Because of this more concentrated power consumption they can produce more light per area than QB or mid power. Because COB have more concentrated power, they need to be hung higher and heatsinked pretty much at all times. They can produce more light per area, but take more watts to produce that light compared to mid power.
View attachment 7027


If you're used to HID I think COB hang heights and light intensity will be more translatable to you, but QB is very good. Both can be managed with a mechanical timer. HID manipulates wall juice with HID ballast then pumps to HID light, LED manipulates wall juice with LED driver then pumps to LED light (figuratively). Generally speaking, it costs about half to DIY your own version of a premade commercial light, but there's always tradeoffs.

HLG
Pre made versions of the QB setups rivaling/surpassing HID

Timber Grow Lights
Pre made versions of the COB setups rivaling/surpassing HID

ARROW, Digi-key, eBay, Alibaba - Places to source DIY from

DIY COB/QB combo
View attachment 7028
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Thank you for this excellent explanation!
 
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