Canada Grows to the 4 Plant Limit

Cobby Came Through

Picked up a parcel from CobKits.com today 20 COBs 15 fur me and 5 fur me buddy. I thought I'd show a picture of what ya get for yer money and how much the border "barrier" costs. Ya can see the landing cost in the pic, so there ain't much point in writing about it. $23US for insured shipping (small stuff, cobs, holders, pads paste). So much for "free trade" don't mind the HST, but the other shit on the bill bugs me, not Cobby's fault though. Using this info you should be able to nail down what things like this would cost in Canada from CobKits.com


These are Citizen CLU048 CRI 90 2700K, he was almost outta 3500K CRI 90 so we looked at the spectral output and figured it would be ok. We both use some supplementation, with me it's the 9 existing 3500K and 4000K strips on the big water cooled rig and 5000k and dual and 4 band monos along with a phosphor burple on the small water cooled rig.

Be careful about what ya wish for cause it might cause ya some trouble and tomorrow I gotta go to work! I'll keep ya updated on the progress, if yer interested.

your duties were roughly same as i paid from Rapidled.

DIY-HP-LED said:

21 socket! ya never told me ya had one of those (and I thought you were an innocent creature! ) at 15 watts each (globe brand dollar store light bulbs) 15 x 21= 315 watts! You've already got a respectable light! And that's the goddamn draw from the wall! Remove the plastic diffuser from the bulbs and yer in business, if yer close to the border they go for $1 US in the state's, same thing at the Canadian version of the same chain $4 CDN. Explain to me why there shouldn't be just 2 bits difference between the two and where all the extra cash is going. Typical Canadian bitch

Imagine a 315 watt actual draw grow light for $21US with yer existing fixture, how much did the gizmo cost and maybe you should post a pic of it for the others here. I'll have a peak on ebay/Amazon for something similar and I'm always looking for low cost alternatives for those of limited means. If the fixture is a reasonable price, this might just be the ticket for some folks. If you or a buddy is going to "merica" pick up $20 worth duty free on a day trip.

Post away on yer great idea, others would be interested, see, I had ya figured for smart!

Click to expand...

Here is a video of a tear down of a 40 watt version of a "Globe" bulb, the 100 watt (15 watt) version is pretty much the same. I can't attest to the diodes, but the driver ( I've had a look at one too) is pretty amazing for this type of cheap bulb. I think this might be a contender for some.

Blow a fan on the fixture to run it cooler if ya want...
I know, I know only nerds watch this shit...

holy shit. that is a shockingly good bulb for a $1 !! .........nice work, going to buy some for the apt, total switch over for all non dimming fixtures, have a couple og cree bulbs before the 4 flow garbage.

PSUAGRO. said:

holy shit. that is a shockingly good bulb for a $1 !! .........nice work, going to buy some for the apt, total switch over for all non dimming fixtures, have a couple og cree bulbs before the 4 flow garbage.

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How ya doing PSUAGRO used to see ya on the regular thread are ya another American refugee or a Canuck? Welcome to Canada, we have free health care on this thread and no Trump either! At a $1 US, makes me wonder why anybody is bothering with COBs down in the USA.

This has got me worried, if this keeps up guys like you and me will be reduced to critiquing fuck'n light bulbs. There won't be anything for us nerds to do!

DIY-HP-LED said:

How ya doing PSUAGRO used to see ya on the regular thread are ya another American refugee or a Canuck? Welcome to Canada, we have free health care on this thread and no Trump either! At a $1 US, makes me wonder why anybody is bothering with COBs down in the USA.

This has got me worried, if this keeps up guys like you and me will be reduced to critiquing fuck'n light bulbs. There won't be anything for us nerds to do!

Click to expand...

Anybody out there think of a reason why an American wouldn't be able to build even a fair sized grow with 30 or 40 bucks worth of these 100 watt versons? Perhaps even get creative about the sockets and other hardware. Even a few of these would equal or exceed the output of a lot of under driven or even spec driven COBs and they got flicker free efficient drivers. I dunno how they sell such a thing so cheap, but a cluster of 3 of them at 45 watts would seem to equal the driven power of many COBs. Yeah the efficiency freaks might howl a bit, but the cost is amazing $3 for the equivalent of a 45 watt driven COB. This is a topic worthy of discussion, pros and cons. Here's something that might be worth arguing over. Anybody got any different angles on this? Id like to hear some thoughts and ideas. Those COBs we bought up the thread were cheap, but there are other costs associated with using them too. Holders, heat sinks, drivers, etc vs sockets for the bulbs and a cheap house fan to blow on em (optional).

I got a new one in front of me it says it uses 16 watts to produce 1500 lumens (WW 3000K) but that counts the driver too I believe. Assuming the driver is say around 88% efficient (I'd put money on it) that = 1.92 call it 2 watts, so roughly 14 watts is going into the light engine 14/1500Lm= 117 lm/watt! Looks like it might be a contender!

DIY-HP-LED said:

How ya doing PSUAGRO used to see ya on the regular thread are ya another American refugee or a Canuck? Welcome to Canada, we have free health care on this thread and no Trump either! At a $1 US, makes me wonder why anybody is bothering with COBs down in the USA.

This has got me worried, if this keeps up guys like you and me will be reduced to critiquing fuck'n light bulbs. There won't be anything for us nerds to do!

Click to expand...

I'm a big fan of our favorite Canadian @GroErr , but yes officially American , in Philly to be exact. Didn't vote last election, first time since becoming a citizen, in hindsight I could have worn a blindfold.... but this isn't the politics section thank god.

nothing in life is truly free , even in the great land of Canada ...................or is it?

you have a good point about this very cheap a19 bulb package vs cobs,boards, strips,etc.........chasing efficiency trumps the common goods over in the led section, sorry for the pun.........these don't cut it, 150lm/w+ standard

DIY-HP-LED said:

Anybody out there think of a reason why an American wouldn't be able to build even a fair sized grow with 30 or 40 bucks worth of these 100 watt versons? Perhaps even get creative about the sockets and other hardware. Even a few of these would equal or exceed the output of a lot of under driven or even spec driven COBs and they got flicker free efficient drivers. I dunno how they sell such a thing so cheap, but a cluster of 3 of them at 45 watts would seem to equal the driven power of many COBs. Yeah the efficiency freaks might howl a bit, but the cost is amazing $3 for the equivalent of a 45 watt driven COB. This is a topic worthy of discussion, pros and cons. Here's something that might be worth arguing over. Anybody got any different angles on this? Id like to hear some thoughts and ideas.

Click to expand...

for a dollar a bulb it has to be subsidized , just adding up the BOM in my head no way around it.............it is a very good topic for the CFL growers, no reason not to switch

PSUAGRO. said:

I'm a big fan of our favorite Canadian @GroErr , but yes officially American , in Philly to be exact. Didn't vote last election, first time since becoming a citizen, in hindsight I could have worn a blindfold.... but this isn't the politics section thank god.

nothing in life is truly free , even in the great land of Canada ...................or is it?

you have a good point about this very cheap a19 bulb package vs cobs,boards, strips,etc.........chasing efficiency trumps the common goods over in the led section, sorry for the pun.........these don't cut it, 150lm/w+ standard

Click to expand...

Health care ain't free, we pay the tax, we just like to tease Americans about it, maybe help them cut the per capita cost by 2/3 with care for all. This thread is devoted to lower drug prices in Canada
I was thinking of something like this as a recommendation for low income folks. Power is cheaper than pot for many. Remember in Canada we can use the extra heat most of the time, so heat isn't really waste.

DIY-HP-LED said:

Health care ain't free, we pay the tax, we just like to tease Americans about it, maybe help them cut the per capita cost by 2/3 with care for all. This thread is devoted to lower drug prices in Canada
I was thinking of something like this as a recommendation for low income folks. Power is cheaper than pot for many. Remember in Canada we can use the extra heat most of the time, so heat isn't really waste.

Click to expand...

I'll be busy for a while, but it might be worth ripping one apart and putting a multimeter on it to get an idea what's going on, I'll stick it on the Kill-o-watt before I do.

Avoiding the politics...for now!

Two things:

1. Costco rocks for bulbs. They carry the Luminus brand which are pretty decent chips from what I can tell. With discounts and rebates, I ended up getting a bunch of floods for just over a buck a piece. 40 degree lenses so you leave the diffusers on. Keep your eyes open for good deals. Not only can you grow with them, but you can redeploy them when you upgrade.

2. Nothing against Cobkits but that is the brutality we pay for buying goods down south. We actually have a worse deal with the US than with china for imported goods. US vendors don't see it because they nail us at the border and with the delivery guy, whether it be canada post, DHL, UPS, etc. Trump re-opening NAFTA might actually improve this for us as our gov needs to be reminded that they shouldn't benefit financially because of the keen Canuck buying sense.

DIY-HP-LED said:

21 socket! ya never told me ya had one of those (and I thought you were an innocent creature! ) at 15 watts each (globe brand dollar store light bulbs) 15 x 21= 315 watts! You've already got a respectable light! And that's the goddamn draw from the wall! Remove the plastic diffuser from the bulbs and yer in business, if yer close to the border they go for $1 US in the state's, same thing at the Canadian version of the same chain $4 CDN. Explain to me why there shouldn't be just 2 bits difference between the two and where all the extra cash is going. Typical Canadian bitch

Imagine, a 315 watt actual draw grow light for $21US with yer existing fixture, how much did the gizmo cost and maybe you should post a pic of it for the others here. I'll have a peak on ebay/Amazon for something similar and I'm always looking for low cost alternatives for those of limited means. If the fixture is a reasonable price, this might just be the ticket for some folks. If you or a buddy is going to "merica" pick up $20 worth duty free on a day trip.

Post away on yer great idea, others would be interested, see, I had ya figured for smart! No wonder you weren't in a rush.

Click to expand...

Here is the light. It actually did a pretty good job! I will post a pic later on today.

I used 21 of these with the diffuser taken off. Got them on sale for a bit cheaper.

https://www.amazon.ca/HyperSelect-14W-LED-A21-Omnidirectional/dp/B01MA29MTJ/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1505824996&sr=8-8&keywords=hyperikon

The sockets are cheap but a pain to wire up. Frame was also cheap to make. Frame and sockets were about $50 plus time. I am still considering making another one, but next time I will probably use less sockets and more of these.

https://www.amazon.ca/Electop-Socket-Adapter-Splitter-Vertical/dp/B073CJVHCY/ref=sr_1_155?ie=UTF8&qid=1505825494&sr=8-155&keywords=socket+splitter

Just need to watch prices as the fluctuate on amazon. Missed out getting these for $5 a few weeks back.

My setup is 6 rows of 4 plants in perpetual style grow. They are all autos so the lights are on 24/0. I live in Winnipeg (hour to border) so I can use the extra heat in the winter time. If I do build a new light with sockets I would also put one of these between the rows. some solid side light.

https://www.amazon.ca/SODIAL-Adapter-Converter-Splitter-Socket/dp/B00HE5EVQ8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1505825754&sr=8-1&keywords=socket+splitter

Photon Flinger said:

Avoiding the politics...for now!

Two things:

1. Costco rocks for bulbs. They carry the Luminus brand which are pretty decent chips from what I can tell. With discounts and rebates, I ended up getting a bunch of floods for just over a buck a piece. 40 degree lenses so you leave the diffusers on. Keep your eyes open for good deals. Not only can you grow with them, but you can redeploy them when you upgrade.

2. Nothing against Cobkits but that is the brutality we pay for buying goods down south. We actually have a worse deal with the US than with china for imported goods. US vendors don't see it because they nail us at the border and with the delivery guy, whether it be canada post, DHL, UPS, etc. Trump re-opening NAFTA might actually improve this for us as our gov needs to be reminded that they shouldn't benefit financially because of the keen Canuck buying sense.

Click to expand...

Always looking for low cost efficient, flicker free bulbs with good drivers, I figure it might be the way to go for some with low incomes. I wanna present as many options to those who come as possible. Besides anything I can do to keep folks away from 240 volt (120v ain't much better) AC COBs the better, those and ignorance can kill. I figure in a few years those COBs will have killed and fried thousands. I wonder about the dielectric breaking down after a thousand or so thermal cycles and ground faults developing. This might steer a few away to a safer and more efficient means of achieving their goal. I can "play" safely with these things because I have a background in such things, many don't. I've already had one guy on my other thread who was using them with 240V, ungrounded, he said, "he wasn't afraid to die". Go to my other thread and read my reply!

Costs in Canada and the sheltered environment for our retailers is a pet peeve with me, let the goddam rats run with the rest, bunch of greedy snowflakes. Trump is try'n to squeeze Trudeau's nuts on NAFTA to up the duty free to $800 from $20, even though I don't like Trump and what he stands for, I none the less think this might put the heat on the retail sector. Also it doesn't matter a whit to me who provides my cell phone or internet, Americans are welcome to my business. When it comes to "spoon feed media" like TV and Radio, I'm all for Canadian content.

When Canada has a COB King who isn't looking to make me feel butt hurt, he'll not only will have my business, but most who come here. But if he wants to keep up with Cobby in addressing customer concerns, he'll have his work cut out fur sure.

Well if you know what you are doing then you don't need much, if any, support from your supplier. Just regular customer service issues common to any business.

The simple fact is you should go with whoever is the cheapest for the same thing. That is total cost all in. If you want it faster, expect to pay more.

As for the household led bulbs, you can grow very well with them. I would recommend a novice first time grower to start with those and then upgrade once they have some more experience and knowledge under their belt. They are a safe investment since they can be re-used.

tombsy said:

Here is the light. It actually did a pretty good job! I will post a pic later on today.

I used 21 of these with the diffuser taken off. Got them on sale for a bit cheaper.

https://www.amazon.ca/HyperSelect-14W-LED-A21-Omnidirectional/dp/B01MA29MTJ/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1505824996&sr=8-8&keywords=hyperikon

The sockets are cheap but a pain to wire up. Frame was also cheap to make. Frame and sockets were about $50 plus time. I am still considering making another one, but next time I will probably use less sockets and more of these.

https://www.amazon.ca/Electop-Socket-Adapter-Splitter-Vertical/dp/B073CJVHCY/ref=sr_1_155?ie=UTF8&qid=1505825494&sr=8-155&keywords=socket+splitter

Just need to watch prices as the fluctuate on amazon. Missed out getting these for $5 a few weeks back.

My setup is 6 rows of 4 plants in perpetual style grow. They are all autos so the lights are on 24/0. I live in Winnipeg (hour to border) so I can use the extra heat in the winter time. If I do build a new light with sockets I would also put one of these between the rows. some solid side light.

https://www.amazon.ca/SODIAL-Adapter-Converter-Splitter-Socket/dp/B00HE5EVQ8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1505825754&sr=8-1&keywords=socket+splitter

Click to expand...

Looks like yer not as mechanically inept as I figured! Good Show! or as I figure ya might put it "brilliant". I'm kinda wondering why yer not continuing along this line...

Photon Flinger said:

Well if you know what you are doing then you don't need much, if any, support from your supplier. Just regular customer service issues common to any business.

The simple fact is you should go with whoever is the cheapest for the same thing. That is total cost all in. If you want it faster, expect to pay more.

As for the household led bulbs, you can grow very well with them. I would recommend a novice first time grower to start with those and then upgrade once they have some more experience and knowledge under their belt. They are a safe investment since they can be re-used.

Click to expand...

I agree with everything yer saying. I've got all my stuff built (rebuilding now), or maybe I should say, over built. I'm trying to help new folks and low income folks to grow and drive down retail costs in Canada for this kind of thing. Also I wanna encourage those with a "burr under their saddle" about these issues to organize and fight like Hell. So the thread has a few purposes. How to stuff and other's parts sources will go into the future how to thread. The thread name I chose doesn't reflect my personal views, but was chosen to attract Canadians, increase our numbers, gather us together and hopefully give us a voice and some control over our destiny as human beings.

Life is so much more interesting and more fun when we have a purpose greater than our own self interests. I come to this, as with many other things, like you, from my own "angle", but my practice allows me to maintain a larger, more objective and compassionate perspective. It's just an exercise and I ain't nothing special, no "magical thinking" involved, very scientific stuff. It's kinda like upgrading the operating system fur yer brain.

DIY-HP-LED said:

Looks like yer not as mechanically inept as I figured! Good Show! or as if figure ya might put it "brilliant". I'm kinda wondering why yer not continuing along this line...

Click to expand...

Been there, done that!

No just kidding. I just figured the other way was "better", I just couldn't justify the cost. The more I think about it, the more I will most likely stick with the LED bulbs. Plus its really easy to mix and match bulbs. I am sure the bulbs will continue to get better, so swapping them out is easy too.

tombsy said:

Been there, done that!

No just kidding. I just figured the other way was "better", I just couldn't justify the cost. The more I think about it, the more I will most likely stick with the LED bulbs. Plus its really easy to mix and match bulbs. I am sure the bulbs will continue to get better, so swapping them out is easy too.

Click to expand...

I like yer line of reasoning. I was just down sweating my nuts off removing old COBs from a water cooled light and I gotta tell ya yer idea seems more apealing in the light and (sweat) of day...

tombsy said:

Been there, done that!

No just kidding. I just figured the other way was "better", I just couldn't justify the cost. The more I think about it, the more I will most likely stick with the LED bulbs. Plus its really easy to mix and match bulbs. I am sure the bulbs will continue to get better, so swapping them out is easy too.

Click to expand...

See I told ya hanging around here would be useful! My recommendation would be to carry on, realize yer dream and go to AMERICA and pick up some "Globes" duty free. Dunno if Cobby would agree, but on this one we could have a "talk". These light bulbs would make me nervous, if I were him, cause it's only gonna get worse (better). Like everbody else, technology is making us nerds redundant too, serves us right though, cause we're it's biggest fans...

DIY-HP-LED said:

See I told ya hanging around here would be useful! My recommendation would be to carry on, realize yer dream and go to AMERICA and pick up some "Globes" duty free. Dunno if Cobby would agree, but on this one we could have a "talk". These light bulbs would make me nervous, if I were him, cause it's only gonna get worse (better). Like everbody else, technology is making us nerds redundant too, serves us right though, cause we're it's biggest fans...

Click to expand...

He's my first ever grow. Using the LED screw in bulbs.