DIY led grow

Kinda agree..I put extreme mycos in everything..never noticed gnats from that. My first experiences with gnats came from bagged coco at the grow shop..must help them sell gnatrol..lol. Gnatrol does seem to be effective at wiping them out. Been slacking this round..I've got so many..starting to affect plant health for sure.

It is the only thing I changed in my soil recipe. I cooked it for almost a year in a plastic trash can too. I think I used too much.

My other batch of soil I tried using composted veggies and it almost killed all of my plants! Curled the leaves on all of the new growth.

Transplanted everything to 100% Promix with vermicompost and now things are much better.

[QUOTE

My other batch of soil I tried using composted veggies and it almost killed all of my plants! Curled the leaves on all of the new growth..[/QUOTE]

Really??.............wonder what the hell are you composting.........rosemary/thyme/cotton seed meals are a no-no i think, but nothing else comes to mind, maybe banana leaves?? weird

I topped off a smart pot with some of the eco scrap stuff and it just got rock hard and wouldn't absorb water. That must be why they recommend that it be put under a layer of soil or mulch.

The two bags I had left I mixed in with a dry mound of old ashes and mesquite charcoal/bio-char. It is a dead area that weeds won't even grow in so we will see what happens.

Little update..

50/50 split of 660 and 630 working well as expected. No more runners off the tops from too much blue. Little less stretch from 660 overload. Probably leave the light as is for now..although there is another color option I'd like to try...but it can wait.

Topping same day as flip to flower worked great. Kept a few different plants the same height, at about the range from light I wanted. One fixture filling a 2 x 4 space with light is perfect for me. The more I think about it...I like the no reflector deal in small tents...the tent is the reflector. In a large tent or space...then definitely reflectors.

Can't wait to see if 3k cobs will be able to outdo this color combo..either way I'll be happy..





Playing with some bokashi..little peyote purple seedling seems to like it

I call it cxa flashlight pro..hehe. Ledil Angelina wide

The fit is nice..quarter turn and tightens right in. Will have to see how the light spread is when done. They were cheap enough and I didn't need many..give it a try. High area..reflector on..low area..reflector off..nice option.

Little progress. Will just show a few things, how I'm getting this done. I'm not an electrician, so I'm not giving any wiring schematics or anything. More like Tim the toolman with my hotrodded light..watch out! Anyone who wants to give that kind of advice is more than welcome..

Drilled and tapped the sink..first time. Only messed up one spot. Broke a screw that didn't thread in far enough. Cut it and sanded it flat after a failed extrication. All in all easy and confident I could do a problem free job next time. Portable drill press that attaches to drill and hand crank tap used. Put a little tapping oil on the rubber feet of press so it would glide freely on the sink to get the holes lined up nicely...worked like a charm. Think I'd rather use this then a full on drill press it went so well.

One note on the ideal reflector adapter. You have to use a low profile pan head screw on the ideal holder for the adapter to fit. Alan head was too tall and interfering.

Build is designed to be quick to put together..and quick to upgrade. Nothing fancy. Would have been a one day job, while learning new things like tapping, but found a few more parts I need.

I 'm amazed !
Stunned ,actually ...
Subbed ..(better late than never ,eh ? )

Positivity ...You've left me speechless ...




Best wishes !
You deserve the best of them !

stardustsailor said:

I 'm amazed !
Stunned ,actually ...
Subbed ..(better late than never ,eh ? )

Positivity ...You've left me speechless ...




Best wishes !
You deserve the best of them !

Click to expand...

Speechless? That'll be the day lol

PetFlora said:

Speechless? That'll be the day lol

Click to expand...

....

Figure if you can setup a grow room...you can build this light. Times a changing...

Very nice work on that light so far Positivity.

I may have missed this but could you give a link for the driver please? What footprint is that massive chunk of heatsink? Also, what lives in the black box next to the driver on the top?
I love it - Fantastic effort with a result to match.

If I may speak to your questions;

The drivers look to be the inventronics 190v 1.05A, which are the same as the meanwell hlg-185h-c1050s I will be using. They are single output high voltage (somewhat more dangerous) but have the best efficiency offered.

If you want a safer voltage and plan to run around 1A, inventronics offers drivers with 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 output rails (EUC series). The 6 rail is interesting because it has 38V ouput and is high wattage (some models in this range from inventronics only offer 36V, which is not quite enough for the cxa 3070 or vero 29). Of course you do lose a bit of efficiency with the lower drive voltage conversion. They are pricey though, at about 140$ for the 250W model.

Inventronics also offers some lower current drivers that would be excellent for running multiple strings of vero 10s without having to match strings. I believe when I was looking through the models I found one that could run 24 - 28 of them in strings of 6 or 7 off 4 rails. With the recent price drops the vero is very compelling given the variety of CCTs available (no additional red or blue required) and the ease of assembly (t slot or pre drilled heatsinks available) and the spread you can achieve (may matter more than the improved efficiency of the cree COBs).

I personally went with the Cree because my hydro is pricey and absolute efficiency matters to me. 3000K cree is still much better than HPS spectrum anyways, so I don't think we are losing much given the ease of assembly.

Hmm, well that was a bit of a ramble.... Back to your other questions.

The heatsink looks to be about 8" wide based on the driver, if I am recalling the size of my meanwells correctly.

I would imagine the black box will serve to house the AC connections as well as the 12V DC PSU for the fans.

Positivity, your light looks great! Can't wait to see it in action! I will be building using the same parts essentially, but will have 5 COBs per driver.

What are your thoughts on the reflectors? What height will you be hanging your light from the canopy? I was planning to go bare (but haven't 100% committing to my design).

Rooster99 said:

I may have missed this but could you give a link for the driver please? What footprint is that massive chunk of heatsink? Also, what lives in the black box next to the driver on the top?
I love it - Fantastic effort with a result to match.

Click to expand...

Thanks guys..


"I may have missed this but could you give a link for the driver please? What footprint is that massive chunk of heatsink? Also, what lives in the black box next to the driver on the top?
I love it - Fantastic effort with a result to match."



http://www.futurelightingsolutions.com/en/Technologies/Semiconductors/Lighting-Solutions/LED-Driver-Modules/Pages/3009877-EUC-200S105ST.aspx?ManufacturerName=INVENTRONICS&isFLS=true&IM=0

Link for driver ^^. Heatsink is 2' x 10". I was going to use my 2' x 8" t slot but the drivers are 10" long so decided to just up the heatsink for a better fit. This heatsink has a better heat dissipation rate so made sense all around.

Black box is for the power inlet..12v dc for fans..fan dimmer...led dimmers...terminal block...and switch for each driver.

Side note..
I was looking at my 120w 700ma driver. It has about 170v output. That makes it just as high voltage as my 200w at 190v. So I've been running what's considered high voltage all this time. All my lights are grounded so far except my 40w flower trigger. Probably explains why I haven't had any problems with high voltage. When I checked high voltage requirements all I found was a ground on the fixture itself. So I'll continue to do that. Probably 14g wire to the terminal block and ground. Then 18g wire everything else...that's what the drivers are running.

Is the contact area on the t-slot heatsink large enough to make uniform contact with a cob like the cxa3070 or vero29?

What are your thoughts on the reflectors? What height will you be hanging your light from the canopy? I was planning to go bare (but haven't 100% committing to my design)

Click to expand...

I kinda like them...light will have to be raised higher though...I'm thinking 2' minimum...won't know till I turn her on. Reflectors twist in and out easily so it will be really adjustable like this. Be nice if they had a few wider options..one day.

I almost went with meanwells. It just came down to the dimmers again. The built in power output for dimming is one less thing I need to hook up. And they fit well in my builds...nice solid box/build that I trust sitting exposed on the heatsink.

tightpockt said:

Is the contact area on the t-slot heatsink large enough to make uniform contact with a cob like the cxa3070 or vero29?

Click to expand...

It wouldn't be perfect. There would be a gap or two under the cob. If I used the t slot I would have used a thermal pad like the coolsilver by AIT. Has thermal transfer rates as high as the best grease supposedly. That's what I'm planning if I decide to convert my t slots to cobs.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/COOL-SILVER-Thermal-Pad-Phase-Change-Thermal-Compound-/230759985996?pt=US_Thermal_Compounds_Supplies&hash=item35ba5df34c

Thanks for the reply. I will go bare with the COBs as an extra foot of vertical would be too much to loose in my application, and cutting down the lenses to a wider angle would be difficult and leave a sharp edge. I may however drill and tap 4 holes per COB in order to be future proof should reduced reflector depths become available.

Is your 10" heatsink from HSUSA?

ledgroupbuy...http://www.ledgroupbuy.com/heatsink-10-inch/

2' x 10" sink $97 and ships free if you spend $200. Just bought a few other things I needed like small drivers, pots, cree leds, violet leds, among other helpful things.

That's a good idea on the future proof a little. I got some 3590 ideal holders in case some good options come around. The two leds in the middle row are drilled out to swap two in...