Cheap and Cheerful DIY using Citizen cobs

BobCajun

Well-Known Member
How I avoid burning is to grow with LED the entire growth, from seed or cutting. When in veg I let them grow right up close to 100w LED replacement bulbs, you know, the ones that look like light bulbs. Then the COBs used for flowering don't even bother them in the slightest. But when I was using CFLs for early growth, got burnt the fuck up on moving to the COBs.
 

The Dawg

Well-Known Member
36.5V at 1.4A gives 51.1W
Brother rocho Have You Ran Any Test On The On The 1212?? Well I Have And Below Is The Results On A 4 Cob 1212 Ran On An HLG-185-1400. Below Is Pics Well Shit The Bed Fred. The Pics I Was Going To Post Shows the 1212 Running At 190 Watts At 1.56mA bongsmilie
Ok Guy's I Stand Corrected. After Some Research I Found Out Not All Potentiometer Are The Same. I Have Since Switch To A Different Pot And I Gained 12 Watts I.E. 202 Watts Not the Original 190 With A Radio Shack 100 ohm Pot
 

frica

Well-Known Member
How I avoid burning is to grow with LED the entire growth, from seed or cutting. When in veg I let them grow right up close to 100w LED replacement bulbs, you know, the ones that look like light bulbs. Then the COBs used for flowering don't even bother them in the slightest. But when I was using CFLs for early growth, got burnt the fuck up on moving to the COBs.
Because CFLs are omnidirectional in nature and emit their light pretty much equally in every direction.

A LED bulb even with the diffuser plastic is quasi-omnidirectional at most and will still put much more light directly downwards than sidewards.

The LED bulbs are simply much more intense as it puts out much more light in a single direction.
 

BuddyColas

Well-Known Member
Ok Guy's I Stand Corrected. After Some Research I Found Out Not All Potentiometer Are The Same. I Have Since Switch To A Different Pot And I Gained 12 Watts I.E. 202 Watts Not the Original 190 With A Radio Shack 100 ohm Pot
This section is all about finding and using the best pot!:mrgreen:

Love following your 80 vs 90 CRI battle royal. I think all would agree we have a new heavy weight champ. The harvest weights will be the KO. Good on ya.
 

rocho

Well-Known Member
if you have a way of applying lower adjsutable voltage and current you can look at the dies ans see if any strings are burnet out.

needs to be like 10-50 mA for you to look at them
Thanx so much for your answer!! I m going to do this test!
What voltage/amperes amount would you raccomand me for this test on 5 cobs?
 

rocho

Well-Known Member
I stumbled on an easy method if you have a LOW VOLTAGE driver..... Connect one driver wire to the COB, hold the other driver wire in your hand and touch the other COB terminal. Your body will conduct a few mA to slightly light the COB. Not a good idea over 50 volts or so. If you don't have a low voltage driver a few 9v batteries can be snapped together in series.
Hi, thanx you too.
I'm little afraid touchig wire by end even if at a low voltage.
Hoe many battery should i used in series in your opinion?
Maybe I've a low voltage charger for old mobile phones ...but as i asket to Bobby i do not know the right value of that.
 

rocho

Well-Known Member
Ok Guy's I Stand Corrected. After Some Research I Found Out Not All Potentiometer Are The Same. I Have Since Switch To A Different Pot And I Gained 12 Watts I.E. 202 Watts Not the Original 190 With A Radio Shack 100 ohm Pot
Thats really strange, first time i read pot could influence the actual driver output.
Maybe Metacanna has the same your problems..I d realy like to understand why that happen...do you have any idea?
....
Are you actually measuring the draw from wall? I have exactly the same gear but I'm reading 240W from the wall when full blast.
 

nevergoodenuf

Well-Known Member
Most of the $2 pot that are being used are horribly inconsistent and can fail. If you look at the pot that is more expensive ($9-20) you will find it very consistent from one dimmer to the next and will give you full power. If you still feel like buying the cheap dimmers, then add a switch into the circuit to give you 108% (atleast with Mean Well).
 

RandomHero8913

Well-Known Member
PWM is a lot more precise than a pot, at least using an arduino where you can program it in. Doesn't increase efficiency but maybe that's not everyone's prime concern.
Bridgelux actually recommends that you use PWM:

Note for Figures 3 & 4: 1.
Bridgelux does not recommend driving high power LEDs at low currents. Doing so may produce unpredictable results. Pulse width modulation (PWM) is recommended for dimming effects.

This is from the Gen7 V22 Datasheet
 

BobCajun

Well-Known Member
Bridgelux actually recommends that you use PWM:

Note for Figures 3 & 4: 1.
Bridgelux does not recommend driving high power LEDs at low currents. Doing so may produce unpredictable results. Pulse width modulation (PWM) is recommended for dimming effects.

This is from the Gen7 V22 Datasheet
That would be regarding variation in color as the current is reduced. Not a major concern in plant growth. I just like PWM because I can try various pulsed light experiments.
 

1212ham

Well-Known Member
Hi, thanx you too.
I'm little afraid touchig wire by end even if at a low voltage.
Hoe many battery should i used in series in your opinion?
Maybe I've a low voltage charger for old mobile phones ...but as i asket to Bobby i do not know the right value of that.
LED volts/9=number of battery. Four batteries would be good for 36 volt COB, five or six for 50 volt COB....
 

rocho

Well-Known Member
Most of the $2 pot that are being used are horribly inconsistent and can fail. If you look at the pot that is more expensive ($9-20) you will find it very consistent from one dimmer to the next and will give you full power. If you still feel like buying the cheap dimmers, then add a switch into the circuit to give you 108% (atleast with Mean Well).
I choose a pot with switch included.
I did not find any different between 100% pot and the open circuit ..was a 4 dollars pot from mouser...Iwas lucky, isn t it?
 
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