Growmau5's BML Spydr clone: a diy led build

Sylant

Sylant

Member
Ty so much for both of your help, I think I'll go with the 24" x 8.660" design. Feels like the light distribution would be ideal for my single plant setup. I hate to ask again but, do you have any recommendations for a potentiometer/dimming control for that driver? Preferably anything off mouser/digikey/element 14.
 
Reggae1017

Reggae1017

Active Member
Ok so just in time for me to have to go to work, all my light parts have showed up.
IMAG0278.jpg Got to thinking while looking at components. Do I need an actual housing over the fins for my fan to push air thru? just wondering if i can go fan on heatsink and the channels will be fine or if I need a covering/housing for the top. I posted my idea for a housing if needed. Not sure what would be easiest to use as a top sheet material to be sturdy and relatively cheap? Any advice welcome.
Heatsink.png
 
Growmau5

Growmau5

Well-Known Member
@Reggae1017 I love getting all the parts in and having them all lined up, so exciting. Regarding what I call a "fan shroud" positivity did a build similar to this, using a piece of metal to direct air flow along the grooves of his heatsink. I believe it worked quite well, but for your purposes, is probably not necessary for the 4 cobs you are running now. It would be something to consider as you add more down the line. Here is the thread, attached is a picture of his build.
 

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Reggae1017

Reggae1017

Active Member
OK cool , I will go minimal this time then. I will probably work on a new housing and then add my other 2 COBs. It needs to hurry up and be Friday lol.
 
Reggae1017

Reggae1017

Active Member
ok tell me how this works so I dont blow these up. how do I wire the luxeon 3Ws? I have a yellow wire on the input side of that Chinese driver for the lux 3Ws but the cord is 2 prong with blue and brown which match the driver. Is yellow just unused grounding or something else? Also just realized I never got my thermal paste so I can't really mount or wire anything yet so I'm back in my housing plan. Would it be OK to just put the drivers on top of the fins and then build a housing over top? So like my last design post but maybe like 2 inch angle so I can put mean well drivers in there? Or should I be running the drivers on the outside of my tent? Or on the outside/top of my housing?
Advice?
 
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Growmau5

Growmau5

Well-Known Member
brown is hot, blue is neutral, you can just ground the driver to the heatsink. I would get "L" angled aluminum or U channel, from home depot and create brackets or risers for the driver. <OR> you could bend a sheet of aluminum for the fan shroud and mount everything to it. Remote drivers, like HPS setups, are also an option. You probably want to size up the wiring a little if you are going to make a long run from the driver to COBS. 12-14awg should be fine.
 
Reggae1017

Reggae1017

Active Member
I was thinking of doing this angle along the side with drivers underneath( or mounted on top of) the housing. I could put angle on either side of the heatsink then use a roll of 8 inch flashing to go over the top. Then cut a whole in that for the fan. Here is a mockup of what I was thinking IMAG0307.jpg IMAG0308.jpg IMAG0309.jpgIMAG0312[1].jpg


... may not be wise to mount them that tight> may not matter with that much air movement? Do I sand the back of the 3070s? how fine do I sand the heatsink? I am at 220 at the moment. Can I use the 1 part thermal glue on steves LED for the CREEs? says it will stick them but not break them on removal but its talking about the lux es 3w. Gonna try to knock it out next weekend, I ordered more monos and another chinese driver, so I will add those, May make 2 20 inch lights now instead of 1 40, undecided. Sorry to be a pain and ask so many questions, I just wanna do it right. Thanks a bunch.
 
Growmau5

Growmau5

Well-Known Member
This looks great man, and is a clever use of everyday available materials.
-functionally, the galvanized sheet will work. Im too anal/OCD and I personally would call my local metal shop and get a piece of 0.040 or 0.062 thickness aluminum, it will be flatter, prettier and cleaner to cut and work with.
-yes, just glue the monos down with thermal compound/epoxy.
-I used to sand to 1000 grit wet/dry using a $10 harbor freight palm sander and a spray bottle of water. now I just go to 400 wet. and its all good.
- GG posted a nice tip on another thread. if you are tapping for 4-40 screws for your cob holders, dont use the bit it comes with (5/640, use a slightly larger bit, like (3/32) it will have plenty of thread "meat" and be more forgiving
- be sure to tap extra holes for COBS u plan to add later, this way you don't have to disassemble the whole think to add more later.
-DONT SAND THE BACK OF THE COB.
 
Reggae1017

Reggae1017

Active Member
OK. WIll my drivers be ok if they are underneath like in the mock up, or should I just screw them to the top of the housing (and make the houseing only maybe a half inch off the fins)? Know of anywhere that sells the holders in the US so i could have them friday? I was gonna just go the kapton tape route but the way its going I may just go more permanent. I guess I could always just tape until holders come then screw them down. Im in a small town, which is why most of the materials are "everyday" things. I probably will do an aluminum sheet over the top eventually, But it would take me a while to get(tiny town, custom aluminum not available). But i will use the galvanized now because its like 6 bucks for a ten foot roll, I can use it to get everying just the way its gonna be, then either put a sheet of aluminum over the top with small angle trim, or replace the galvanized sheet. As far as power cords go I have a bunc of 400w+ computer power supply cords laying around, was thinking of just cutting these up for the meanwell drivers. Since the cable big enough can I just wire all my driver positives to 1 power cord positive and all driver negatives to one power cord negative so I can just have a singe cord, or should I just run several cords with a power bar?
 
Growmau5

Growmau5

Well-Known Member
IMG_2205.JPG

I would imagine most people are getting their 3070 holders from Newark. like me.

I like to go on amazon and buy various wiring crap just to have around, its 1/5th to 1/10th the cost of radio shack. heres some of the stuff i use, dont ask me what its all called, lol, u just have to follow the amazon bread crumbs.
 

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Reggae1017

Reggae1017

Active Member
Edit: Now that im looking at all those connectors (the green/black quick disconnects) would it be possible to use a normal ac receptacle like you posted, then go to a male connector then add this splitter, then each driver would have its 2 wires going into a male connector? This would make it easy to power off the whole light, but also make the power system branchable/adjustable on a per driver basis. This would be awesome when I expand the light to 6 COBs since that would mean I could just wire the 2 new drivers and could just plug and play that new equipment in the old wiring by using a different splitter combo. This seems great to me but im an electrical noob so I may well be breaking some rule I am not aware of.

Link to splitter ( in product tabs where you normally choose quantity options it lists several splitters, the coupled connectors, as well as slider on off switches all with the same terminal).

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OK9NMP2/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A2O3HJ2SS65BTV


And a rough diagram

option 2 instead of QC right after receptacle just hardwire splitter to receptacle?

Wiring.jpg
 

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Reggae1017

Reggae1017

Active Member
Do you use the lever connectors? I am trying to make it easy to change up, replace drivers etc, so I dont think I want regular wagos. Another solid option though if my modular/QC idea wont work.
 
P

PurpleBuz

Well-Known Member
I use the levers, nice and secure ie won't slip out accidently. While setting up and testing I use wire nuts to save my thumbs.
but really they aren't that hard to open up :) how often are you going to change drivers ?
 
Reggae1017

Reggae1017

Active Member
PurpleBuz said:
I use the levers, nice and secure ie won't slip out accidently. While setting up and testing I use wire nuts to save my thumbs.
but really they aren't that hard to open up :) how often are you going to change drivers ?
Click to expand...
Not often hopefully, but I know I will be adding 2 more COBS/Drivers to this build later on, I overdid my heatsink to have the extra capacity set aside. So putting this much money in the light I would just prefer to make things simple to work on going forward (wither the camera power plugs or lever type wagos) because of planned expansion and eventually maintenance/repairs. I would prefer the camera plugs because they are really easy to work with and I could get the splitter, a switch, and 10 pairs connectos for the same as a pack of lever wagos. I am just waiting to see if anyone objects to my plan or tells me I cant use them that way, otherwise I will order them later. The wagos are my backup for sure.
 
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