DIY led grow

Originally was posting on another site. Been preferring the led conversation here though so I thought I'd contribute a little.

Made a DIY light with cree, Philips, ledengin, and exotic leds. So far been running well. Wish I had read all the DIY threads here first, probably would have set things up a little differently

anyways here's some pics of day 1 and day 8 after a week of vegging at 240w. One more week of vegging at 330w then ill flip to flower.

What are the specs on the light? Pics? Drivers?

Very clean! like it was meant for that space!

The bulk of light at 240w is a warm neutral mix. The other 120w is dedicated to playing with the spectrum and up for debate.

3 ledengin 735nm. 10w leds running at 700ma, so about 6.5w each. 2 405nm near uv, 2.5w each. 47 luxeon es 660nm, 1.6w each.

just thought I noticed the warm-neutral white Crees could use some help in those areas. Will be changing out leds with time, seeing how different combos work.

suggestions are more than welcome!

2 2100ma inventronics dimmable drivers for xmls. 1 700ma inventronics dimmable driver for the rest.

With everything on..



Veg light is much simpler with just one driver and a warm, cool, and neutral xml mix with no reflectors. As you can see I just decided to modify my old lights instead of buying new ones.

those r lenses on those leds, right? which Kind? Im still struggeling wether i should get lenses for my DIY Panel or not. Better Penetration (i guess) on the one Hand, light loss on the other...

I built the veg light first so I noticed a few things about the light spread. Kinda led dependent I'm sure...some leds have tighter angles built in. With the xmls I noticed a lot of light being thrown off to the side. Also noticed the light wasn't penetrating as deeply as I thought they would. Works well for veg at that angle as it covers a large area. But for flower I wanted all the light focused more intensely.

decided on the Carlos reflectors for now. Seemed a good compromise between the collimator (tir?) type that focuses the light well but puts another layer of glass in between the plants and not having anything.

As you can see they are a very tight fit. Won't work on most builds. The t slot sink gave me the ability to back the screws off just enough and cut the plastic washers straight. Gives about a 80 degree angle. Haven't measured it but a quick test lifting the fixture shows minimal footprint at 6" and rapidly gets larger after that distance.

ledil looks like they have a similar reflector with a smaller base that would be a lot easier to install

Reflectors would be perfect imo. Last time i looked those carclo reflectors were like almost the Price of a ok led, 4$ per Piece, atleast in my country. Could not find anything cheap on ebay or else where otherwise id buy it instantanously. As its my first grow i want it all to be really cheap. Do you know or anyone know where to get cheap ripoff reflectors for those 3W leds?

nice setup.nicely built,got pics of any weed under that grow lite

Mouser had them for about $.89 each at the 50 at a time level. Take a close look at the fit though. I ordered one each of a few different types to check the fit.

led supply has a few optic choices, ledil has smaller bases at a similar price but you would need to contact them direct. Optics were the hardest part to source..

Joob> not yet. They've done a good a job as anything else vegging though

lax123 said:

Reflectors would be perfect imo. Last time i looked those carclo reflectors were like almost the Price of a ok led, 4$ per Piece, atleast in my country. Could not find anything cheap on ebay or else where otherwise id buy it instantanously. As its my first grow i want it all to be really cheap. Do you know or anyone know where to get cheap ripoff reflectors for those 3W leds?

Click to expand...

Not to hijack, but how about here?
http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/search/browse.jsp?N=2031+203595&Ntk=gensearch&Ntt=leds+relfector&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&No=0&getResults=true&appliedparametrics=true&locale=en_UK&divisionLocale=en_UK&catalogId=&skipManufacturer=false&skipParametricAttributeId=&prevNValues=2031+203595&filtersHidden=false&appliedHidden=false&autoApply=false&originalQueryURL=/jsp/search/browse.jsp?N=2031+203595&Ntk=gensearch&Ntt=leds+relfector&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&No=0&getResults=true&appliedparametrics=true&locale=en_UK&divisionLocale=en_UK&catalogId=&skipManufacturer=false&skipParametricAttributeId=&prevNValues=2031+203595

No worries about hijacking..more info the better.

looked at all of those. Have to make sure when reflector shopping you pay close attention to the size. The carclo I mentioned are 20mm and have beam spreads for most popular leds

Those listed have a range of sizes from 100mm (flashlight size) to 10mm. With all sorts of different beam angles, mostly narrow. But some may work. What is a tight beam angle on a large led might be a wide angle on a small led.

Heres a link to a nice ledil that works with luxeon 3w and probably anything a similar size. 93% efficient

http://www.ledil.com/node/2/p/7348

thx a lot for the links.Besides the angle of those has anyone ever tried These:http://www.ebay.com/itm/QQU-20-x-LED-Lens-60-Degree-Reflector-For-1W-3W-Spotlight-Lamp-White-Holder-/360689661623?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item53fac776b7 type of cheapo lense/reflector thats sold like 1000times on ebay with different angles. I could get 60x with 60° angle and White chassis fairly cheap in the next couple of days. Would you do it? How about removing the lense then and just using the White housing as a reflector?

Those optics look good for the price. Wouldn't run them without the insert though, doesn't look like they are designed to run well like that.

are sure you need optics? If your noticing a lot of stray light then it's probably a good idea. Either way, you can always remove them if you don't like the results.

Heres a link to a silicone adhesive I used. Not sure if the optics your looking at need it but this worked well for me

http://www.ledgroupbuy.com/silicon-lens-optic-adhesive-high-temperature-45g/

are sure you need optics?

Click to expand...

well idk. I have a small space of 50x55cm with White sidewalls. 140 real W of 3W 120° diodes. I have 4x 30W cobs coming. I thought they will have a much higher Penetration, combining them with my 3W diodes i thought i should "extend" the Penetration for the 3W to Keep it line, but actually i dont know whats best. The biggest pain in the ass will be attaching those optics -when i soldered my DIY Panel i didnt think about them. I think the wires/Connection on those pcb stars have be on specific Locations (+- in a straight line) to fit with the optics. There r those People here that say you really should get optics and those who say dont get them because of the loss of light. Since im a first timer i have nothing to compare too.

Such a small area don't bother. The only reason I put optics on is so I can grow a plant three or four feet tall. And it's still just an experiment, nothing's been proven.

Having to fix all your solder joints would be a huge pain. Just run the light as is and enjoy it is my advice. If after a run you notice you needed better penetration then maybe reconsider.

I still look at my light sometimes and wonder if I should have left the optics off....lol. If I run out of headroom i'll be wishing they weren't there!

thx for the Input. I guess ill get them anyways, 80pcs for 15€ and within next 3 days ill have them. I will do some experimenting and try to compare lense vs no lense with photos on single leds or something like that. Maybe ill attach them or try them next time or get a larger grow space. I only have 50x55cm but possible heigth is like 120cm. Currently i have 4bagseed and 1 fem in there.Whats your growspace?

The second pic in 'Attached Thumbs" you have the positions of each engine perfectly parallel. If you stagger one row by half the distance between you will significantly increase uniform light coverage

Positivity said:

With everything on..

View attachment 2856434

Veg light is much simpler with just one driver and a warm, cool, and neutral xml mix with no reflectors. As you can see I just decided to modify my old lights instead of buying new ones.

Click to expand...

i got the lenses today and made a quick test.Led ceiling distance is about 1,7meters. Im really impressed of what that simple construction can do. 18cents per Piece. I think im going to try to attach them even though that will be quite difficult. I calculated with Point source in the middle and 60° on a distance of 47cm from the bottom i would have no light hitting the wall, with the 120° Standard id have the distance at 15!cm to avoid wall bouncing, of course this is pretty much simplified. Thats just the middle, as the Panel is about 25x25cm with leds equally spread it gets much much worse near the sides.