Mau5Capades: builds & grow journal

Growmau5 said:

youre right! its like this thing is made for 50w cxbs. other than it not spreading them out very much.

I think that I am going to make a dumpster diving video. I saw a ONKYO reciever from the 90s in the dumpster yesterday. I was thinking " the amount of mosfets and transistors that are in those 1990s receivers! this thing has to have a decent heatsink in it. "

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there's fans in there as well 3"& 4"ers , a ton of screws that can self tap AL if drilled correctly
one onk had black cat transistors still got that board

ttystikk said:

Sexy! Happens to actively cool four CXB3590 @50W just about perfectly! So will they all fit on the working face?

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we'll know when my downunder order gets here

Growmau5 said:

awesome idea for a thread. those reclaimed heatsinks look pretty good, esp if they are anodized already.

the bigger heatsink looks like ~ 12'L x 6'w x 1.5" tall fins ( 21 total fins) heres what I see:

SA base plate: 72 in^2
SA base plate top: 72in^2 minus (21 x 0.125") = 69 in^2
SA per fin: 1.5" + 1.5" + 0.125" x 6" = 18.75 in^2 (x21) = 393.75in^2

total SA = 534.75 n^2
31.46 heat watts passive
89.125 heat watts active.

is that consistent with what you calculated.

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still doing the math but that post really makes it easy 4 me
makes a great temple for me to procede from I can just plug in the #'s
I'lll smoke a bomber of Strawberry Cough I grew last summer & get on it

jewbag said:

Hey @Growmau5 (or anybody else that has any input) can you help me figure out why my light won't turn on? I have (6) cxb3590 and an HLG-240-C1050a and as far as I can tell everything is connected correctly. I triple and quadruple checked the +/- alternation and each connection point. Here is a video (I also double as frozenstrawbs on youtube):

Also includes a little shot of my 4x4 scrog under 6 a51 w90's. If you can't see if there is anything wrong with the wiring, any advice on how to troubleshoot each connection? And don't judge me for the awkward cob spacing, it's only because I plan on turning this light into a full 16 cobs in the near future and I can just fit my modular a51's in the gaps for now.
edit: I cleaned up all the exposed wire and still nothing. any tips on how to use the multimeter to check for shorts and opens; what would actually cause either of these to happen? sorry in advance guys if this ends up being something stupid

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It's cuz you've got the LEDs connected to the dimming leads and the potentiometer connected to the LED power leads.

BobCajun said:

It's cuz you've got the LEDs connected to the dimming leads and the potentiometer connected to the LED power leads.

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blue\white are dimmer wires

PurpleBuz said:

blue\white are dimmer wires

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Yeah okay. On Cree drivers blue and white are the power wires. It's probably those connectors. Should just use the normal screw kind. It might be the connectors at the cob terminals too. They look a little weird.

I have a spreadsheet comparing lighting options for a 4 x 4 layout comparing 600W HPS, 1000W HPS and @Growmau5's 10 and 12 COB layouts from his youtube videos. It accounts for electrical cost of running the COBs as well as the cost of the AC for the dissipation of the COBs and drivers. Though, my efficiency info on the HPS lights is poor. It also includes links most of the products I plan to use in my build. Also, a graph.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1FINZnnUMSpaMvGf5U2Oi9od5CUEd1JZ3Qb9GkhPyljM/edit#gid=0

If you are worried about anonymity, the google spreadsheet will show you as an anonymous animal, and not show your name. Currently Anonymous Manatee and Anonymous Axolotl are viewing the sheet.



If you want to customize the sheet (use your kWh costs or add your own build) you can go to File -> Save As and it will give you your own copy.

J Bleezy said:

The wago's? I thought those were for wiring multiple drivers together, not connecting the driver to the cobs. There's a high probability that I am wrong though, I'm still trying to grasp the basics over here.
Hope you get it figured out.

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i have done all twenty of my cxbs with wagos on both sides of the drivers

BobCajun said:

Yeah okay. On Cree drivers blue and white are the power wires. It's probably those connectors. Should just use the normal screw kind. It might be the connectors at the cob terminals too. They look a little weird.

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those wago connectors work great. secure attachment and much better than wire nuts

I got it working . The power cord connector was screwed up which was the problem . Thanks all for the advice, I did verify that the driver is running at the correct voltage. and @hicpic as someone who also has little to no electric AND diy experience I give you the green light that you can do it. we have enough information to do this build even as noobs thanks to this great forum and community. It was frustrating at times because with no experience I get stuck at the littlest things, but everything involved is basic and simple enough to get through if you really want to.

Hi Mau5capades and RUI team, thanks for all your hard work , I have learnt so much on this forum. In fact, I have just purchased 8 x cxb3590 3500k cd (36v) + 1 x cxb3590 5000k (36v) + 1 x hlg 80h 700b + 1 x hlg 120h 700b from our man jerry. This will go in a 2.66' x 2.66' x 6' tent . The plan is for 3 cobs on the 80h in a row with the 5000k in the centre (thus will give me a lower watt veg option) this will have 3 cobs on either side (6 total) connected to the 120h (full flower). Can't wait ! I'm sure I'll be posting a few questions along the way so thanks in advance ! Long Jonh

Mau ,
http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Mean-Well/ELG-100-C700B/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMt5PRBMPTWcaYoJ2bKEch7DHwN9Z9%2byzz6X%2bhiuKlqb9Q==
I can run 2 3590 @ 50% with this model right ?


HLG-240-54 - 240W, 54V single output switching power supply
is this suitable to drive @700 ?


looking for the best efficiency & bang for buck on meanies
I've got 12 3590's in the mail
trying to figure out if my thought process on all this is getting better
Edit: I ended up with these 3 each to do my 12 3590's
http://www.onlinecomponents.com/mean-well-hlg185hc700b.html?p=45051490&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=SKUs+67&utm_term=hlg-185h-c700b&utm_content=5EKDCXwr&ref=GoogleAd:SKUs+67-45051490&gclid=CjwKEAiAk7O0BRD9_Ka2w_PhwSkSJAAmKswxie6otEiLioLV2QNCYISPWBMKGjlK_6noKlGBx8uI6hoCvEbw_wcB&cshift_ck=20CCF0BB-B1EC-40A3-911E-30656F9009BEcs5EKDCXwr

flat rate shipping ,they are just across the bay 58 each shipped today they said
I still would like your opinion on the meanwell HGL-240 -54 how many 3590's that one handle @ 50% & that one I picked by myself after sponge mode

BobCajun said:

I see, so the stretching is flowering related rather than darkness related. BTW, did you notice any reduction in stretch with 24/7?

Speaking of photoperiods, something you could try is unusual light cycles, like the one I'm using for veg now; 3/3. I just put in 4 programs on the timer to come on for 3 hours and the programs are 3 hours apart, making four 3/3 cycles every 24 hours. It works great. Short plants growing at a very nice rate and looking very healthy. The advantage is that photosynthesis is highest in the first few hours of light and then drops off. I also wanted to save on power by only using 12 hours per day total. I figure that with the boost in photosynthesis from the short cycles it should be about the same as 16-18 hours.

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hello bob.
wanted to know more about veg alternative light cycle do you know of a thread where i can read up on options and any vids or pics

any input would be great have been grow for some time and never heard of this before

thanks iceman3000

iceman3000 said:

hello bob.
wanted to know more about veg alternative light cycle do you know of a thread where i can read up on options and any vids or pics

any input would be great have been grow for some time and never heard of this before

thanks iceman3000

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There aren't many such threads or articles around. I'm actually the only person I know of who has used a cycle of less than 6/6. Just Google is my only suggestion. I can tell you that 3/3 works great for me. Someone would have to do experiments with one plant at each cycle length, starting with 1/1 I guess. Which, come to think of it, might not be a bad cycle. Lamps other than LED usually have shorter lives the more times they're started though.

BobCajun said:

There aren't many such threads or articles around. I'm actually the only person I know of who has used a cycle of less than 6/6. Just Google is my only suggestion. I can tell you that 3/3 works great for me. Someone would have to do experiments with one plant at each cycle length, starting with 1/1 I guess. Which, come to think of it, might not be a bad cycle. Lamps other than LED usually have shorter lives the more times they're started though.

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Shortened lamp lifespan is why I'm waiting for now. I'll have an all LED veg soon, however. ..

I've mentioned the 240w CXB high bays before and I should mention that I found that they're better without the aluminum reflector. Also a lot more compact. They're 60 degrees, too much like a heatlight beam. They'd be good if you actually had a high bay, but otherwise nah.

BobCajun said:

I've mentioned the 240w CXB high bays before and I should mention that I found that they're better without the aluminum reflector. Also a lot more compact. They're 60 degrees, too much like a heatlight beam. They'd be good if you actually had a high bay, but otherwise nah.

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so if you don't have a warehouse grow with high ceilings why did yu get one ?

BobCajun said:

I've mentioned the 240w CXB high bays before and I should mention that I found that they're better without the aluminum reflector. Also a lot more compact. They're 60 degrees, too much like a heatlight beam. They'd be good if you actually had a high bay, but otherwise nah.

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arn't they (high bay assy ) designed like that so the beam hits the floor & reflects up so they can reach down into aisles & the like
I worked around them & looked at them alot lol

PurpleBuz said:

so if you don't have a warehouse grow with high ceilings why did yu get one ?

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Because I liked the compact passive heatsink. It came with the reflector so I tried it out. I did originally intend to use it reflectorless but since I had them I thought I might as well use them. Turned out to cause too much bleaching and burning at 18" from reflector or less and the outer areas weren't getting enough. Now it's much more even and cooler.

Whenever light beams cross others some energy is turned into heat, so you want as few reflections as possible. In fact most of the heat produced by LEDs is due to the photon collisions within the LEDs from when they bounce off the reflectorized back. The COBs themselves have internal reflectors with 115 degree beam angles so that's actually a pretty wide spread. Just what you want for short grow spaces. I saw a video from Spectrum King recently (most recent one) and they said people were buying the 120 degree versions with the very short ring type reflector, not the 90 or 60 degree ones. So that's basically no reflector. A cut out pie plate would be similar, though not as smooth.

Bob, you can always go down to your local hydro store and see if they have an old hood that you can have or buy cheap. I got this one and cut it down to fit my needs. I like the square pattern it leaves with sharp light cutoff. Not the prettiest hood but it was free. Also look at Craigslist.