Mau5Capades: builds & grow journal

[Growmau5]

I was watching it on the tube, absolutely great brother. That g/w with arguably/pretentiously older tech on a full size run is incredible. The new 3590 side could be sheer record breaking. Just remembered you got co2 now too...get ready indead.
As well as Oscars for the best film and film series. Great productions both in the garden and cinematically.
It was a real pleasure to watch. Thanks for growing and showing it all.

Thanks amigo. i was thinking the same thing, cxa3070 are practically vintage tech at this point. Unfort, co2 is still inoperable due to my Hydrogen Pro being a corroded POS. But I am trying to integrate co2 asap. I worked really hard on the video, trying to document everything in the event that the yield numbers came out this high. So excited to see what the cxb3590s can do.

I don't want to get too sappy here, but the discovery of your YT channel a year ago was a major inspiration to me and many many other people. Hopefully we can blaze one at a Cup some day.

Cheers

 

[Michael Huntherz]

There's a lot of COB bromance going on today. (I'm OK with this.) You guys are all doing great work, you know who you are. I'm in a holding pattern until about January, but my plan is to try running 16x 3590s (CB or CD) at 6500k over 4'x4' through a whole cycle. Supplementing that with a smattering of 730nm monos is something I've considered, as well. I'm just so damn excited about the future of LES grow lights I had to post again, durrr. (great vids @Growmau5)

 

[Growmau5]

There's a lot of COB bromance going on today. (I'm OK with this.) You guys are all doing great work, you know who you are. I'm in a holding pattern until about January, but my plan is to try running 16x 3590s (CB or CD) at 6500k over 4'x4' through a whole cycle. Supplementing that with a smattering of 730nm monos is something I've considered, as well. I'm just so damn excited about the future of LES grow lights I had to post again, durrr. (great vids @Growmau5)

Thanks Michael! I always appreciate your kind words. A full run @ 65ook is something I would be very interested in following. cheers mate

@robincnn Ill check those LES in the next couple days.

 

[rollyouron]

I usually don't say to much I just read, but I got say your lights your video and your grow is just simply AMAZING! Great job!

 

[SupraSPL]

Great data and documentation thank you sir!

 

[CDiablo]

@Growmau5 awesome job, cant wait for season 2.

I really want to thank you again for being an inspiration to the DIY community. In a market(LED) filled with hucksters, tricksters and fast talkers it makes it hard for one to see how good LED can work. If some guy new to the market ends up buying some of the cheap junk out there, they get a shit crop, go back to HPS and tell everyone that LED is shit. You come out here with full transparency, no secrets, no BS, no agenda(unless you work for CREE lol) other than showing everyone how fruitful LED can be. You(among a number of very helpful people around here) show LED can be built at a cost close to the commercial guys, and make a good efficient grow. You show that you can build aesthetically pleasing LED fixtures if one feels the need for that. You are killing it out there.....keep it up!

 

[SaltyNuts]

Many thanks for all the work you've done to thoroughly document your builds, techniques, experiences, and results! it's very helpful and inspiring. Your builds look really good too!

 

[bicit]

Everything in here is top notch. An awesome reference thread.

 

[Hot Diggity Sog]

Thanks Michael! I always appreciate your kind words. A full run @ 65ook is something I would be very interested in following. cheers mate

@robincnn Ill check those LES in the next couple days.

I found some of your posts on here and heard someone say they watch your Youtube videos so I found you and watched them all and my hats off to you. Your scientific approach and attention to detail are inspiring. I am considering getting into LED and am glad to have found you

 

[Growmau5]

@Growmau5 awesome job, cant wait for season 2.

I really want to thank you again for being an inspiration to the DIY community. In a market(LED) filled with hucksters, tricksters and fast talkers it makes it hard for one to see how good LED can work. If some guy new to the market ends up buying some of the cheap junk out there, they get a shit crop, go back to HPS and tell everyone that LED is shit. You come out here with full transparency, no secrets, no BS, no agenda(unless you work for CREE lol) other than showing everyone how fruitful LED can be. You(among a number of very helpful people around here) show LED can be built at a cost close to the commercial guys, and make a good efficient grow. You show that you can build aesthetically pleasing LED fixtures if one feels the need for that. You are killing it out there.....keep it up!

Thanks CDiablo, this is quite possibly the nicest comment I have ever received! And you are right, I have no agenda, and I try to keep ego checked at the door. I'll probably have a poor harvest or a bad crop at some point (everyone does now and again), I'll cover that too & see what can be learned from it.
I am going to try to keep pushing myself, my garden, and the limits of what a hobbyist can build at home. cheers brother.

@bicit @SaltyNuts
@Hot Diggity Sog
Thanks so much for the props and the support guys!

 

[SaltyNuts]

Dude your contributions here and on youtube have been a real lift.

 

[WwW1962]

Excellent job GM, blew it right out of the water.. i was gonna ask how are those glass lenses working out on your new lights ?
im getting ready to build another idea, flowering unit. rounding up the A-Team
wWw

 

[Growmau5]

Excellent job GM, blew it right out of the water.. i was gonna ask how are those glass lenses working out on your new lights ?

Thanks brother. I am not liking the kingbrite 100mm 80 deg lenses.
-firstly, they showed up with scuffs and scratches on over half the lenses. Seeing as how the packaging was undisturbed during shipping, I have to assume rough handling during manufacturing.
- 32 lenses adds a fair amount of weight to the build. my 5.886" x 36" heatsinks already weight 9lbs each (x8 = 72lbs total) . The lens, ring and gasket weigh 279g x 32 units = 19.93 lbs in extra weight to an already heavy build. its taxing the Y shaped wire hangers that I like to use (from rapidLED).
-If you do not seal your wiring drill holes with silicon, bugs (gnats in my case) will find their way into the space between the cob & lens. So now I have to go back and do quality control on 64 holes that potentially were not sealed properly by me.
-additionally, I think it will be necessary for me to remove and clean every lens between runs. To invest what I did into this system and not have max light transmittance through the lens is going to bother me. I can see some dust or residue (possibly from the neoprene seal?) building up after just 4 weeks. The LES seems unaffected by any VOCs associated with the seal at this point @robincnn

In conclusion, I am not giving them a thumbs down or telling you not to buy them. Just offering some initial observations based on very little experience using them.

 

[PerroVerde]

Great video here Growmau5, thank you!!!

 

[PurpleBuz]

-If you do not seal your wiring drill holes with silicon, bugs (gnats in my case) will find their way into the space between the cob & lens. So now I have to go back and do quality control on 64 holes that potentially were not sealed properly by me.

ha ha that's a good point, I just went through a huge fungus gnat bloom.. Dead fungus gnat adults everywhere!

 

[Rahz]

@Growmau5 There's been some discussion recently about the inrush current of the switching PSUs we use. I was curious if it has been an issue, and/or how you have addressed it.

 

[Growmau5]

@Growmau5 There's been some discussion recently about the inrush current of the switching PSUs we use. I was curious if it has been an issue, and/or how you have addressed it.

I was reading a bit of what SDS was saying. Currently, I am running (9) HLG185s + the BML all firing up at the same time on a Titan Controls helious 4 @ 30a 220v . I haven't had a breaker trip or anything since it was installed in May of this year.
-also, I haven't noticed any electric noise in any components around the house.

 

[sanjuan]

Thanks for the feedback about the KB lenses. Mine arrived in good shape but I've been debating whether I'll use them.

Design Guide:
"CX Family LEDs and Silicone
All LED components should be designed into a lighting application that allows the LEDs to ventilate. Silicone is a gas‑permeable polymer material that is commonly used as an encapsulant and primary optic in LED packaging and can absorb volatile organic compounds (VOCs) during operation of the LED. VOCs, in the presence of thermal and photonic energy, may cause charring near the phosphor layer, changes in chromaticity, or a reduction in light quality and intensity of the LED. Silicone optics are often molded into various shapes and sizes utilizing light and/or heat to cure the polymer.

LED sources produce light and heat, so both these characteristics can contribute to further curing of the silicone while the LED device is operating. XLamp CX family LEDs have a much larger LES and therefore utilize more silicone than many other LED types. Outgassing of VOCs and advancement of the polymer cure must be considered during the design stages of an LED luminaire. Ventilation of the LED is recommended for all LED‑based luminaire designs, including those utilizing the XLamp CX family LED series."

For Mean Well drivers, the high inrush current specifications are defined as lasting 700 microseconds. I've had 3000W of Lumigrows controlled by an old-school Intermatic on a 20A, 240VAC circuit with no problems. Switching power supplies are a capacitive load.

 

[Stephenj37826]

Thanks for the feedback about the KB lenses. Mine arrived in good shape but I've been debating whether I'll use them.

Design Guide:
"CX Family LEDs and Silicone
All LED components should be designed into a lighting application that allows the LEDs to ventilate. Silicone is a gas‑permeable polymer material that is commonly used as an encapsulant and primary optic in LED packaging and can absorb volatile organic compounds (VOCs) during operation of the LED. VOCs, in the presence of thermal and photonic energy, may cause charring near the phosphor layer, changes in chromaticity, or a reduction in light quality and intensity of the LED. Silicone optics are often molded into various shapes and sizes utilizing light and/or heat to cure the polymer.

LED sources produce light and heat, so both these characteristics can contribute to further curing of the silicone while the LED device is operating. XLamp CX family LEDs have a much larger LES and therefore utilize more silicone than many other LED types. Outgassing of VOCs and advancement of the polymer cure must be considered during the design stages of an LED luminaire. Ventilation of the LED is recommended for all LED‑based luminaire designs, including those utilizing the XLamp CX family LED series."

For Mean Well drivers, the high inrush current specifications are defined as lasting 700 microseconds. I've had 3000W of Lumigrows controlled by an old-school Intermatic on a 20A, 240VAC circuit with no problems. Switching power supplies are a capacitive load.

Maybe drill "vent" holes in the heatsinks?

 

[Growmau5]

This is somewhat interesting. A viewer on my YT asked for my opinion on this light. I prepared to copy paste my "why Chinese lights blow donkey balls" response. Then I looked at the thing...

30" x 30" nice large form factor panel, featuring 9 x cxa2540 & and a bunch of monos for a decent price point. I think China is reading these forums and starting to catch on to what growers want, namely: large spread out panels with name brand shit. I am going to predict that in 1 year, we see a light like this with cxa3070 or maybe even cxb for a similar price point.

What do you guys think, garbage, or half way decent?