Bridgelux Vero 29 LED Test

First special blend of nutrition, I will explain later on...

Just wanted to do a pic update in the mean time.

Yesterday I realized they will be getting to tall for the space, I do have a few little tricks left and I decided to take the bottom pan out of the chamber giving me about 8-10 more inches for height. They also got there second dose of nutrition in the water, Humic Acid and some beneficial bacteria, the products are Photosynthesis Plus and Nourish-L by MICROBE Life, very small once a day feedings.

Anyway some more flower development.

Some pictures from tonight, I think a few Timmy hairs got into the buds!

I also put a 23 watt "soft white" CFL to help stop some stretch, I think its also over now but the 1600 extra lumen cant hurt. There are to many buds in the canopy I don't want to get rid of.

Seeming to be growing well, buds are getting bigger, I pinched the top of the tallest, to try and get it to bend over, it was at 45 degrees last night but straightened out again. might have to sting it down.



I haven't been saying as much as before because most of my thoughts are going into the next set up and taking care of these babys. I am going to have a much much more, I guess intense set up, lighting, heat, humidity all under fine control

Looking great PICO - looks like it's about to snow in there. Quick question about mounting the VERO29 to a heatsink. My plan is to purchase a hefty CPU heatsink/fan cooler type deal (CM Hyper212) and use some Arctic thermal adhesive to mount the LED. Really don't want to mess around with drilling/tapping, even if it is only 4 holes. I looked through some of the documentation and couldn't find an answer. Would love to hear your opinion on the matter, thanks.

Staxxx said:

Looking great PICO - looks like it's about to snow in there. Quick question about mounting the VERO29 to a heatsink. My plan is to purchase a hefty CPU heatsink/fan cooler type deal (CM Hyper212) and use some Arctic thermal adhesive to mount the LED. Really don't want to mess around with drilling/tapping, even if it is only 4 holes. I looked through some of the documentation and couldn't find an answer. Would love to hear your opinion on the matter, thanks.

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Yes, that would work very well. It might actually be overkill, I'm dissipating 100W on a slightly more economical CPU cooler.

All I have to say is wow, good job man. Looking good

Staxxx said:

Looking great PICO - looks like it's about to snow in there. Quick question about mounting the VERO29 to a heatsink. My plan is to purchase a hefty CPU heatsink/fan cooler type deal (CM Hyper212) and use some Arctic thermal adhesive to mount the LED. Really don't want to mess around with drilling/tapping, even if it is only 4 holes. I looked through some of the documentation and couldn't find an answer. Would love to hear your opinion on the matter, thanks.

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Thanks Staxxx, I would try not to use just the Arctic thermal adhesive, that's mostly for low heat, low power applications. The problems you will have is the heat in the gab between the LED back plate and the heatsink is going to get to hot. One of the reasons there is four mounting holes on the Vero 29 is because of the amount of heat being produced. The gap between the heat sink and LED back plate needs to be very very thin. You need direct presser on the LED to maintain that gap. Bridglux them selfs might so its OK, but personally I think it wont. Read some of this:

http://www.bridgelux.com/assets/products_portfolio/AN30 Thermal Management of Vero LED Modules.pdf

You wont have to dill any holes with one of these:

http://www.newark.com/wakefield-solutions/19754-m-ab/heat-sink-rs-rectangle-extrusion/dp/23T0729?in_merch=Popular Heat Sinks&in_merch=Popular Products&MER=PPSO_N_P_EverywhereElse_None

Some shots of the babys outside, they don't get to see much of the outside world but Timmy always welcomes them.

Did some taping to the main stem on the tallest, used Waterproof tape for bandages.

are you doing any heavy trimming of the leaf?? or? looks good..

Green in The Garden said:

are you doing any heavy trimming of the leaf?? or? looks good..

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No, I have only pitched off a few lower leaves on each. I only removed leaves I though where deficient or new branches, this was in the 2nd week of flower. I read that if you have flowers in the early stages of development on the plant it slows the over all flower development.

PICOGRAV said:

Thanks Staxxx, I would try not to use just the Arctic thermal adhesive, that's mostly for low heat, low power applications. The problems you will have is the heat in the gab between the LED back plate and the heatsink is going to get to hot. One of the reasons there is four mounting holes on the Vero 29 is because of the amount of heat being produced. The gap between the heat sink and LED back plate needs to be very very thin. You need direct presser on the LED to maintain that gap. Bridglux them selfs might so its OK, but personally I think it wont. Read some of this:

http://www.bridgelux.com/assets/products_portfolio/AN30 Thermal Management of Vero LED Modules.pdf

You wont have to dill any holes with one of these:

http://www.newark.com/wakefield-solutions/19754-m-ab/heat-sink-rs-rectangle-extrusion/dp/23T0729?in_merch=Popular Heat Sinks&in_merch=Popular Products&MER=PPSO_N_P_EverywhereElse_None

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Thanks for the tip PICO, that heatsink looks beefy. The price isn't so bad, considering I don't have to go out and buy drill bits/taps (and probably some more taps after I break a few inside the heatsink). You think I should add a 80mm fan on top of that for some additional cooling or will passive dissipation suffice? Also, was thinking about going with a Meanwell CEN-100-42 or 48 as my driver. Would love some feedback on this. Sorry for the never-ending string of questions, I'm quite the noob when it comes to LEDs and DIY in general. Again, thanks for your guidance and good luck with the rest of your grow.

Specs on the drivers mentioned above:
http://www.meanwell.com/search/cen-100/CEN-100-spec.pdf

Staxxx said:

Thanks for the tip PICO, that heatsink looks beefy. The price isn't so bad, considering I don't have to go out and buy drill bits/taps (and probably some more taps after I break a few inside the heatsink). You think I should add a 80mm fan on top of that for some additional cooling or will passive dissipation suffice? Also, was thinking about going with a Meanwell CEN-100-42 or 48 as my driver. Would love some feedback on this. Sorry for the never-ending string of questions, I'm quite the noob when it comes to LEDs and DIY in general. Again, thanks for your guidance and good luck with the rest of your grow.

Specs on the drivers mentioned above:
http://www.meanwell.com/search/cen-100/CEN-100-spec.pdf

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Its up to you with the fan, I would place a fan on the top if you could and you could exhaust the hot air out of the room that way, if you wanted. Those drivers will work, just enough amps to get them going pretty strong but if you do go with those heat sinks I suggested with a fan as well I think you would have no problem going up to 3 amps on each LED if you wanted.

How many LEDs are you going to run, just one? If you are going for more then one I can show you a way to drive them with much much better control. The Vero 29 is a tricky load to power, you need about 40 volts and decent current 2-3 amps. LED drivers like the one you showed me are really stretching the design theory of the "LED Driver" as you say. When you are talking about 50 3 watt chips, yes the "LED Driver" makes sense but dealing with a few high power loads I think a more controlled power source needs to be implemented.

What is your budget for the Drivers? and how many LEDs do you want to use?1 All the same color?

I really think one Vero 29 is more than enough for my tiny tiny space - 1x1 lol. Driven at 2.1A I'm getting about 9-10k lm/sq.ft. which is probably overkill, but I can live with that. As far as spectrum, the 4k 80CRI looks ideal, would like to hear your thoughts on this. Budget for driver is 40-50, I found the Meanwell in the link I posted for about 40-45. The fan suggestion sounds good, I think the circulation in the box should be enough to cool the heatsink at 2.1A, maybe a fan blowing across the heatsink to play it safe.

Staxxx said:

I really think one Vero 29 is more than enough for my tiny tiny space - 1x1 lol. Driven at 2.1A I'm getting about 9-10k lm/sq.ft. which is probably overkill, but I can live with that. As far as spectrum, the 4k 80CRI looks ideal, would like to hear your thoughts on this. Budget for driver is 40-50, I found the Meanwell in the link I posted for about 40-45. The fan suggestion sounds good, I think the circulation in the box should be enough to cool the heatsink at 2.1A, maybe a fan blowing across the heatsink to play it safe.

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I think you should go for it, for one LED that driver will be ok for your budget, the other option is to get a cheap Regulated power supply:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/60V-5A-5AMP-605D-Pro-Digital-DC-Power-Supply-Precision-Variable-Adjustable-/350882966468?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item51b2412bc4

With that one you could power two LEDs later on. As long as there is some air flow around the heatsink you should be OK. They are designed to dissipate heat vertically. Also the 4K chip is what I would go with as well, if you are doing only one LED, even in my setup I could have went with the 4K instead of the 5K.

Also make your life easier and get one of these for the connecting:

http://www.newark.com/molex/68801-4085/pico-ezmate-harness-305mm-4pos/dp/63W2994?in_merch=Featured Molex Products

Sounds like a plan. Thanks for your help man, it's much appreciated.

Got some more shots today, the flowers are getting bigger with a lot of little white hairs shooting out. I wonder how much bigger these get? Is this near the end or is there more to come?

Staxxx
Sounds like a plan. Thanks for your help man, it's much appreciated.

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No problem

PICO, those buds are barely forming. As the weeks go by they'll fill in and start swelling nicely for ya. They look like they're right on track for 3 weeks. Man, that last pic of the cab looks crazy, those LEDs sure do pack-a-punch.

So I finally went to the shop and got some Tiger Bloom, I mixes about 1/2 a teaspoon in with about 3/4 a liter of water. I think I will do this every other day for a few weeks.


And some more bud shots today, some of the small fan leaves are really starting to frost up ;D



Don't forget this little one

Some close ups: