My First Cree cxa3070

Not judging, here is some of my solder work from 7 years ago Some of the joints held and some did not.


Here is a good cheap iron. @churchhaze uses a fancier one that I wouldnt mind trying, maybe he can link it

Where's the unlike button!! lol..

here's a like for showing what a bad job can look like!

SupraSPL said:

Not judging, here is some of my solder work from 7 years ago Some of the joints held and some did not.
View attachment 3348553

Here is a good cheap iron. @churchhaze uses a fancier one that I wouldnt mind trying, maybe he can link it

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Yes we have come a long way . Those sloppy cold joints probably took a long time as well, possibly to the point that the heat could have damaged the LED.

To be fair, soldering metal pcbs is VERY hard, even with a good iron.

I have a 60W temperature regulated iron and a cheap aligator 3rd hand to get the star up in the air, and it still takes forever the star to heat up. Then, once the star is finally hot enough, the solder will grab the pads and form a nice layer of tin.

The instructions for installing the vero 10 shows that it should only take 5 seconds at 350-375 (i forget the exact temp, but it doesn't matter).

If you hold the tip against the pad on the vero 10, it will take up tin in only 5 seconds. If it takes longer, you're probably doing something wrong.

Also, to the OP, you could get away with much thinner wires. That's why it's so hard to get them to take a tin.

SupraSPL said:

Yes we have come a long way . Those sloppy cold joints probably took a long time as well, possibly to the point that the heat could have damaged the LED.

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These days I use the same approach I mentioned earlier. Put a tiny dab of flux gel on the pad, add the solder to the iron tip, touch the iron quickly to the pad and it will tin it smoothly and instantly, even with a 26W iron. The LED, star and heatsink will never know what hit it.

SUCCESS!!!!!

I flipped my male adapter around and bought a 90 degree elbow adapter which the water level hose slides on to. I bought some super glue and got the adapter adhered and then went back over the entire thing generously with the silicon. I filled it up and placed it in the bathtub and went to work, 7 hours later the tissues I placed under the valve and water level indicator were bone dry
I decided to go with a screw on adapter so I can relieve the pressure of the tube (w/90 degree elbow) and still have a drain (once it is unscrewed). So far it is a success I think, if there is a problem I will fix it then. The tubing I bought was rolled up, I am finding it very hard to keep the tubing straight. I have tried letting it sit for hours on a rod while running it under hot water, bending it or holding it in place and it still wants to curl. I will keep putting the tube on a rod until it straightens out enough, right now the end of the water level indicator still curls which is annoying and creates an inaccurate reading, not to mention added stress on the valve.

I will get my General Hydroponics Organic Kit in tomorrow, along with the net pots and hydroton. I cannot wait to get the babies in some net pots and with some nutes flowing.

Still waiting for the driver from China, still no updates other than the "Processed on the 7th in China through a sort facility"

Alright, I have made a lot of progress since my last post. I completed the 12 gallon DWC tub, I had to go to a local pet supplies store to get a larger air pump. I spent $20 on it and it has two outputs and a control knob, I hooked it up to the air stones and they both came to life. I was unsure if they were producing adequate bubbles and aeration so I let the hydroton pots sit in there for an hour to verify the pots were getting the water.

I tested the PH and it was neutral for the most part, I will be getting more accurate meters for the nute solution shortly. I added my first round of nutes and started at 1/4 strength. The bucket is 12 gallons, I don't have it filled all the way so I am assuming 10 gallons.

I didn't want to put all of my eggs in one basket and transplant all of the babies at the same time and them all die lol So I transplanted two healthy looking ones last night and let them drink in the 1/4 solution and see how they were in the morning before transplanting the other ladies. Everything seems to be going good at the moment, I have been checking every couple of hours and I can already see them perking up.

1. New air pump, going into the side of the bucket. You can see the water level line as well. STILL NO LEAKS I also have a humidifier back there because the room was really dry.
2. The first plant I transplanted, this is the next morning after drinking nutes all night. I see some roots coming out!!!
3. A shot just to show you the top of the bucket, with 4 babies in net pots. One about to be transplanted and my seedling dome.
4. An overhead shot, the temps are right around 70 as well as humidity. Everything felt a little cold, so I moved the lights a little closer to keep them warm.


Still no update on that fucking driver from China


Guess we still wait........

apoulin said:

Alright, I have made a lot of progress since my last post. I completed the 12 gallon DWC tub, I had to go to a local pet supplies store to get a larger air pump. I spent $20 on it and it has two outputs and a control knob, I hooked it up to the air stones and they both came to life. I was unsure if they were producing adequate bubbles and aeration so I let the hydroton pots sit in there for an hour to verify the pots were getting the water.

I tested the PH and it was neutral for the most part, I will be getting more accurate meters for the nute solution shortly. I added my first round of nutes and started at 1/4 strength. The bucket is 12 gallons, I don't have it filled all the way so I am assuming 10 gallons.

I didn't want to put all of my eggs in one basket and transplant all of the babies at the same time and them all die lol So I transplanted two healthy looking ones last night and let them drink in the 1/4 solution and see how they were in the morning before transplanting the other ladies. Everything seems to be going good at the moment, I have been checking every couple of hours and I can already see them perking up.

1. New air pump, going into the side of the bucket. You can see the water level line as well. STILL NO LEAKS I also have a humidifier back there because the room was really dry.
2. The first plant I transplanted, this is the next morning after drinking nutes all night. I see some roots coming out!!!
3. A shot just to show you the top of the bucket, with 4 babies in net pots. One about to be transplanted and my seedling dome.
4. An overhead shot, the temps are right around 70 as well as humidity. Everything felt a little cold, so I moved the lights a little closer to keep them warm.


Still no update on that fucking driver from China


Guess we still wait........

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Any updates on your grow so far?

I have a bunch of updates, sorry just been busy lately lol

To start with, I have been keeping a log of all of the activity I have been seeing/doing. I have been thinking of starting a grow journal in the proper section once I get all of my LEDs set up and built, which was the original reason for this thread.

With all of that said, I figured out what the deal is with my driver from Fasttech. I shipped it via "USPS ePacket 8-12 days Via China Post". Which means China Post ships it to the U.S. where the USPS takes control and it is guaranteed for 8-12 days at that point. The package was sorted through a facility on Feb 7th in China and I have not received any more updates, I am assuming it is still in transit which means I STILL have 8-12 days AFTER it gets to the U.S. So far I have already been waiting about 18 days for this driver, this is a lesson learned when shipping. The driver is for my 5000k leds, my plants are already about to start their 3rd week......

I also obtained a Mudder TDS meter for $10 via Prime. I have been recording water temp and PPM count multiple times a day and my res stays at about 68-69 degrees and my nutes have been increasing every other day and are currently at 380 PPM. The plants all look green and look healthy, at least to me Some are a little smaller but they were all sprouted within a few days of each other. I started them in Peat moss pellets and a few of them I removed from the pellet when I placed it in the net pot, and some I left them in the pellets thinking that if they became a problem later I could remove them. I ripped some roots out of the ones that I removed the pellets. All of the root growth that poked through the netting was severed, I can see the stunting and consider this a lesson learned

I plan on doing on more week of Veg while upping the PPMs, then doing a res change and starting the transition week followed by flower 1. I planned on changing the res a total of 3 times for the grow, once after the veg cycle, once after the flower 1 and finally for flushing. Any input here would be much appreciated.

NOW back to the LEDs lol
I was wanting a little more LED lighting So I was thinking of adding two more LEDS and was considering what spectrum to get. So far total I have (3) 100w CFL 5000k bulbs, (2) Vero 10 5000k LEDs (not yet hooked up), (1) CXA3070 3000k LED. I was thinking of getting one more Vero 29 or CXA3070 maybe CXA3050 in the 2700K and one in the 5000K just to fill out the spectrum a little while adding a significant bump in power. On second thought since I am only using one DWC tub, maybe instead of adding another 5000K light that maybe I should get another 3000K and get a 2700K to use only when flowering. Once again any input much appreciated!

1. Overall shot of the babies, I am wondering if the two larger ones are not the same strain. The leaves look different, however they may be to do stunting or just because they are so young. All sprouted around the same time, just going to have them all follow the same schedule and see what they can do.
2. Root growth from a few days ago, I think they look healthy and they are definitely growing a lot each day!
3. This is a close up of the bigger one on the left in picture 1.
4. This is close up of the bigger one on the bottom right in picture 1.

Mo! said:

Looks off center. Just kidding!

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looks great so far, love the DWC

So I have some more updates. Still no update on the driver from china

I have since covered the top of the bucket with aluminum foil to deflect the light/heat from the reservoir. This has kept the res about 4 degrees cooler on average. My air temps stay between 66-70, with humidity fluctuating between 55%-65%. I also screwed a few small screws in the outside lip of the tub, I am starting to train the plants to the outside edges of the tub.

I have been steadily increasing the nutes every day or every other day. I now have them at a little under 500 PPM, I topped one plant and it seemed to bounce back the next day. I will be topping the rest in the next day or so, and my plan is to switch to 12/12 and flower nutes at the end of the week.

1. Overall shot of the plants before I got the screws in the outside edge
2. The plant that I topped, the bigger one on the bottom right in the picture 1
3. I took a picture of the roots in one of the pots

HELP!!! - I see that they are slightly brown (Which I am assuming is the water w/dark colored nutes), but I was reading about root rot and it seems to be brown frail looking mushy roots and bad plant growth. The plant growth is looking good to me, all new growth is green. The roots have a brown color to them, I squeezed them and they didn't mush apart and felt healthy. Does this look normal?! Also even though I add all liquid nutes, I have noticed small clumps that build up in the roots, it smells like the nutes and is easily dissolved. Does all of this sound ok?!

hope this helps, go see FishDeaths thread , he is using a hydro set up with baskets like yours, and his roots look the same, he says its because of the color of the nutes, he has good photos of his roots and talks about the colors, great guy too , here is his thread
https://www.rollitup.org/t/fridge-grow-clone-box-part-deux.855823/page-8#post-11337779

I've ran a top fed dwc aka bubbleponic and mine got that way too from the nutes I used GH flora trio I freaked out and bought Aquashield to be safe but nothing happened, as long as your water in the res isn't to warm you should be fine, if your worried about it get some Aquashield it'll clear up anything in the water that shouldn't be there and that might cause root rot.

apoulin said:

HELP!!! - I see that they are slightly brown (Which I am assuming is the water w/dark colored nutes), but I was reading about root rot and it seems to be brown frail looking mushy roots and bad plant growth. The plant growth is looking good to me, all new growth is green. The roots have a brown color to them, I squeezed them and they didn't mush apart and felt healthy. Does this look normal?! Also even though I add all liquid nutes, I have noticed small clumps that build up in the roots, it smells like the nutes and is easily dissolved. Does all of this sound ok?!

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This was my advice when you said you were going to use general organics.

churchhaze said:

organics in DWC.. ugh... Hook line and sinker!! Worst of both worlds imo.

.. stick to soil or potting mixes if you're going to use organics, or use inorganic nitrate salts in DWC.

.. you will likely get calcium deficiency, and root rot, etc

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Tim Fox said:

hope this helps, go see FishDeaths thread , he is using a hydro set up with baskets like yours, and his roots look the same, he says its because of the color of the nutes, he has good photos of his roots and talks about the colors, great guy too , here is his thread
https://www.rollitup.org/t/fridge-grow-clone-box-part-deux.855823/page-8#post-11337779

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I'd get rid of the foil on top of your res and get some chrome duct tape it's a lot better I used it a lot on my bubbleponic and it worked awesome to help keep temps down in the res.

churchhaze said:

This was my advice when you said you were going to use general organics.

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Yea I know you said that lol But I already bought the kit at that point. I have been adding CaMg+ for calcium, but I will probably try a round of inorganic nutes next time anyways. Live and learn I guess

Tim Fox said:

hope this helps, go see FishDeaths thread , he is using a hydro set up with baskets like yours, and his roots look the same, he says its because of the color of the nutes, he has good photos of his roots and talks about the colors, great guy too , here is his thread
https://www.rollitup.org/t/fridge-grow-clone-box-part-deux.855823/page-8#post-11337779

Click to expand...

Thank you! I was looking for something like that, puts my mind at ease now lol

nvhak49 said:

I'd get rid of the foil on top of your res and get some chrome duct tape it's a lot better I used it a lot on my bubbleponic and it worked awesome to help keep temps down in the res.

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I planned on getting that foil duct tape a while ago and kept forgetting it when I would go to the store I noticed how warm the black lid was and the res temps were rising, I wanted to do something right now. This is a band-aid and will soon be replaced with the aluminum foil duct tape!


Thanks for the posts guys, still no updates on that driver either

So I have been thinking, what about this......

I currently have (1) CXA3070 3000K with a Meanwell LPC-60-1400: [email protected]

I was thinking of purchasing (2) CXA3070's to add, (1)CXA3070 3000k and (1)CXA3070 5000k, along with a Meanwell LPV-100-36 driver. I was thinking of swapping the LPC-60-1400 for the 5000k and running both 3000k's off of the LPV-100-36. Run the 5000k a little more efficient because it will be supplemented with (4)Vero 10's @ about 35w, and run the 3000k's a little harder by themselves for flowering.

Digikey:
CXA3070 5000K - $38.00
CXA3070 3000K - $40.00

Total - $78.00

Jameco:
Meanwell LPV-100-36 - $36.95

Total - $114.95 + S&H

5000k @ 45w
(2)3000K's @ 85w(total)
(4)Vero 10's 5000k @ 35w(total)

Total 165w LED (roughly) right?

So I have been doing a lot more reading on Dissolved Oxygen in the water. Last night I checked the roots again and was looking at the amount of surface turbulence caused by the air stones. It got me wondering that with the added nutes I wonder if I needed more air so that there was more movement in the water. I added a smaller single output air pump with two small cylinder air stones, when I got up this morning the roots looked to have less of a slime coating and appeared more white. I am now thinking of getting another double output air pump and swapping it with single output one I just hooked up.

Any thoughts? Or am I just being paranoid lol

I use 2 nozzles of these things per DWC tote, which I put 4 gallons of water in each. Full blast.

Ok yea, I think that I need more for sure then. I have a 12 gallon tote filled with about 10 gallons, So I am going to get a bigger one today. They continue to look healthier after adding the supplemental pump.