After lurking for awhile, I decided that it's time to post what I've done.
This is my first grow and I'm doing it with a DIY Vero 29.
Started off with using the cheapest LED A19 light bulbs you could buy from the Home Despot. Had (20) 5000k A19 LEDs. You can pop off the diffuser globes pretty easily.
Then I built a 500w 4000k 80CRI Vero 29 for vegging. I used some Meanwell power supplies and totally splurged and went overkill on cooling and got some Coolermaster TX3 heatsinks. The heat spreader on the COB is pretty much perfectly sized for the TX3. The way I figure is that the cooler you keep the LEDs, the more light it'll produce and the longer the LEDs will last. Furthermore, if the fan or the fan's power supply failed, the heatsink would probably still keep the COB cool enough to not combust in flames.
Sure, you could save a little money and go with cheaper heatsinks, but why? I'm already saving tons of money and my all-in cost is only about $1/watt. Plus, they look really cool.
Initially, I made the 12/12 switch with only 500 watts of the 4000k COBs, but a few days later I was able to add 640 watts from (
Vero 29's @2700k and 80CRI. I supplemented an additional 40 deep red Luxeon 3W LEDs, but plan on adding more.
As expected, the plants receiving the bulk of their light from the 2700k are exploding with bud sites. The 4000k plants look healthy, but have much less budding. As of Sunday 6/28, I added an almost identical additional 640w bar light.
I'm currently in Day 16 of flowering. There's a terrific canopy that's developed. I will be adding an additional 16 Vero 29 2700k LEDs running at 80w apiece. The current grow space is about 5.5x10.5 with 14 plants consisting of Afghan, Holy Grail, Pineapple Chunk, and Kosher Tangie. So I'll have 2560w in COB LEDs, and 258w worth of Deep Red (655nm) Luxeon ES LEDs. This will get me to the magic number of 50 LED watts per square foot.
As you can see in the picture, I'm going to need some additional strip lamps on the sides. I'll add more pictures later.
This is my first grow and I'm doing it with a DIY Vero 29.
Started off with using the cheapest LED A19 light bulbs you could buy from the Home Despot. Had (20) 5000k A19 LEDs. You can pop off the diffuser globes pretty easily.
Then I built a 500w 4000k 80CRI Vero 29 for vegging. I used some Meanwell power supplies and totally splurged and went overkill on cooling and got some Coolermaster TX3 heatsinks. The heat spreader on the COB is pretty much perfectly sized for the TX3. The way I figure is that the cooler you keep the LEDs, the more light it'll produce and the longer the LEDs will last. Furthermore, if the fan or the fan's power supply failed, the heatsink would probably still keep the COB cool enough to not combust in flames.
Sure, you could save a little money and go with cheaper heatsinks, but why? I'm already saving tons of money and my all-in cost is only about $1/watt. Plus, they look really cool.
Initially, I made the 12/12 switch with only 500 watts of the 4000k COBs, but a few days later I was able to add 640 watts from (
Vero 29's @2700k and 80CRI. I supplemented an additional 40 deep red Luxeon 3W LEDs, but plan on adding more.As expected, the plants receiving the bulk of their light from the 2700k are exploding with bud sites. The 4000k plants look healthy, but have much less budding. As of Sunday 6/28, I added an almost identical additional 640w bar light.
I'm currently in Day 16 of flowering. There's a terrific canopy that's developed. I will be adding an additional 16 Vero 29 2700k LEDs running at 80w apiece. The current grow space is about 5.5x10.5 with 14 plants consisting of Afghan, Holy Grail, Pineapple Chunk, and Kosher Tangie. So I'll have 2560w in COB LEDs, and 258w worth of Deep Red (655nm) Luxeon ES LEDs. This will get me to the magic number of 50 LED watts per square foot.
As you can see in the picture, I'm going to need some additional strip lamps on the sides. I'll add more pictures later.
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........healthy looking kids
