First DIY GrowLed and Help needed

My first idea was to buy a ready made mars led grow light but then i stumble into DIY LED's and RIU
Well, i'm just finished shoping and i'm waiting for all the parts to arrive so i thought about creating a thread in which to document my build and get help on the points that are not so clear to me.
the RIU community made this possible so thank u guys
i planned to spend around 350 $ and went on to spend a lot more...
i just hope it repays in time and really believe it will.

shopping list as follows :
4 CXB3070 AD bin 3000k
2 CXB3590 CB bin 3000k
2 CXB3590 CB bin 5000k
3 MW drivers HLG-185H-C1400
8 Arctic Alpine 64 Plus ( ) i choosed them because they have a flat bottom.
this should make easier to use holders for the cobs...
i'm contemplating on the frame right now because i don't have the parts to build and i wanted to create an idea of the size of the frame...
will keep you up to date with this.

so... i have an idea about the frame... this is it.

you can notice where i intend placing the fans with the cobs( the 8 small parallel L profiles)
4 are on the sides of the main frame and 4 are on the inside of the main frame.
my intention is to place 4 cxb3070 (3000k) on the outside and 4 cxb35090 on the inside
of the 4 cxb3590 2 will be 3000k and th other 2 will be 5000k which i plan to use for vegging.
(i've recieved almost everything except the cobs which kingbrite is unfortunately delaying)
i've placed the frame inside a 3'x3' or 36''x36'' which is the size of my tent to create an idea of the size and footprint of the light...
do you think the size of the frame is to big for my tent? the main frame is 19.7''x19.7'' with the cobs as in the picture.
every advice is welcome.
Thanks.

I had a space issue trying to cram my 5 LED units on a baking sheet to mount them. I was trying to figure out the best light spread for my area, which is roughly the size of yours. I had a lot of light shooting away from the area, since the outside LED units were at the edge of the sheet, which lined up to the outside of my tub. I chose to use reflectors to focus this light and tighten the spread (also allowed me to hang lights a little higher), so 4"past the outside edge of my canopy is significantly darker. Just a thought, might as well try to keep all of those lumens shining where you want.

But you did say you are growing in a tent so the light spread might not be as big of an issue for you. So your light is 19.7"x19.7" and your tent is 36"x36", so 8" around all edges of the light until the tent wall. I think that will fit quite nicely in your tent, should cover the entire area rather well and still allow for adequate vent. Better get your shades out when you are working in that tent

You are building a pretty sweet light and I am excited to see how it turns out!

apoulin said:

I had a space issue trying to cram my 5 LED units on a baking sheet to mount them. I was trying to figure out the best light spread for my area, which is roughly the size of yours. I had a lot of light shooting away from the area, since the outside LED units were at the edge of the sheet, which lined up to the outside of my tub. I chose to use reflectors to focus this light and tighten the spread (also allowed me to hang lights a little higher), so 4"past the outside edge of my canopy is significantly darker. Just a thought, might as well try to keep all of those lumens shining where you want.

But you did say you are growing in a tent so the light spread might not be as big of an issue for you. So your light is 19.7"x19.7" and your tent is 36"x36", so 8" around all edges of the light until the tent wall. I think that will fit quite nicely in your tent, should cover the entire area rather well and still allow for adequate vent. Better get your shades out when you are working in that tent

You are building a pretty sweet light and I am excited to see how it turns out!

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thanks Apoulin, appreciate your help and positive feedback.
i think i'm going with this design and most probably, like you suggest. i will implement reflectors in a second moment.
talked with kingbrite and unfortunately i'll have to wait much more than i thought at first to have the cobs...which is a shame .
i'll keep you up to date anyway...
by the way ... i forgot to mention that the cxb 3070 will run @ 1400ma (maybe dimmed a little) and the cxb 3590 will run in couples @ around 1000ma , obviously dimmed from the 1400 that the driver delivers in full.

Sounds like you have a plan, a pretty good plan. Good luck and have fun.

Hello to everyone...i've been busy these last days and had nothing new to report until yesterday when
Jerry from kingbrite e-mailed with somegood news about the cobs... he said that probably he would ship this weekend and i hope so but anyway it should not be to long before i have all them 8 cobs.
meanwhile i finished my frame and put 4 of the coolers on it to give you a better idea of what i am doing... this is it:

i ordered today the other 4 coolers and all the cables together with a 12V DC driver for the Arctic coolers...
i wanted to know if anyone has used the pre applied thermal paste of the arctic gt 64 plus or if it is better to buy a prolimatech pk3 or anything else?
i was also inclined on buying the ideal cob holders from arrow since Cellardweller pointed this a few days back:
''Ideal Cob Holders are very easy to obtain in the EU mate......from Arrow USA.....free shipping to the EU!!! And available in single units at around $2 per unit.''
but unfortunately the cxa35 ae not available anymore and i did not want to have the cxb 3070 cobs on ideal holders and
the cxb 3590 on something else... any advice on this matter is appreciated...
that is that for now... i'll post updates soon...
cheers.

I've been wondering about the pre applied paste myself bud, I've already purchased prolimatek pk3 and figured it's better, just wondering what the best way to remove stock paste was. Maybe I'll get it answered here. Good luck on your build!

Cali weed said:

I've been wondering about the pre applied paste myself bud, I've already purchased prolimatek pk3 and figured it's better, just wondering what the best way to remove stock paste was. Maybe I'll get it answered here. Good luck on your build!

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Rubbing alcohol, or acitone.

Q-tip? Or not that big a deal?

A clean rag or paper towel.

medicinehuman said:

A clean rag or paper towel.

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Thx buddy

I finally recieved my four cxb3070 AD bin and two of the cxb3590 CB bin...
°kingbrite had a little surprise for me which made me like this...
but i will comment on this later ... when i receive my two other cobs the 5000k ones.
i was trying to find some holders because i did not want to use paste und kapton tape even though i may go this option temporarily
so... anyone with information on holders for these cobs is really welcome...
i have almost everything i need except
-a molex adapter for the fans which is on its way
-kapton tape (i ordered today)
-paste...(maybe i'll try the pre applied paste since its o good one the mx-4 but i am yet to decide so once i do i'll let you know my choice and we will see how either choice performs)
i'll post an update soon on the light because i will mostly need some help.

http://www.newark.com/ideal/50-2234c/led-holder-cxa30-array-series/dp/90W0065?MER=PPSO_N_P_EverywhereElse_None http://www.newark.com/ideal/50-2303cr/led-holder-cree-cxa35-cob-array/dp/39X0077 here ya go

beppe75 said:

I finally recieved my four cxb3070 AD bin and two of the cxb3590 CB bin...
°kingbrite had a little surprise for me which made me like this...
but i will comment on this later ... when i receive my two other cobs the 5000k ones.
i was trying to find some holders because i did not want to use paste und kapton tape even though i may go this option temporarily
so... anyone with information on holders for these cobs is really welcome...
i have almost everything i need except
-a molex adapter for the fans which is on its way
-kapton tape (i ordered today)
-paste...(maybe i'll try the pre applied paste since its o good one the mx-4 but i am yet to decide so once i do i'll let you know my choice and we will see how either choice performs)
i'll post an update soon on the light because i will mostly need some help.

Click to expand...

Hi beppe!
Simple and clean look so far and certainly much more light than necessary for a 3x3 area. If you running all 8 cobs @1A you will get ø430w or 48w per sft., that's maybe a bit to much in terms of diminishing returns. 2 Meanwell HLG-185H-C700 are better IMO, because it would give you 48% efficiency and 33,6w(16,15PAR w) per sft, which is nearly perfect for your 3x3! But if you plan to increase your grow area in the future to a 4x4' or 5x5', than the C1400 is okay. Just my 2¢!

Randomblame said:

Hi beppe!
Simple and clean look so far and certainly much more light than necessary for a 3x3 area. If you running all 8 cobs @1A you will get ø430w or 48w per sft., that's maybe a bit to much in terms of diminishing returns. 2 Meanwell HLG-185H-C700 are better IMO, because it would give you 48% efficiency and 33,6w(16,15PAR w) per sft, which is nearly perfect for your 3x3! But if you plan to increase your grow area in the future to a 4x4' or 5x5', than the C1400 is okay. Just my 2¢!

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Hi Randomblame, Thank u for your input in the first place.
my idea was to run the 2 cxb3590 5000k in veg @ 700ma for 100W and driving them a little bit harder in case i need more light or just add two Cxb 3590 3000k for a total of 200W ...(this would be around 11 w/sqf in case of two cobs and 22 w/sqf in case of four cobs in veg)
the drivers are dimmable so i can adjust as needed...
Also i wanted to run the four cxb 3070 @ 1.4 A with two Cxb3590 @ 1A (all 3000k in flower) this would be about 340W total for Flower and around 38 w/sqf so i think its about right but hey i'm open to ideas from more knowledgeable people.
i have already bought everything so the plan goes on like this for now. i'll put everything in place this week and start some young ladies in coco hempys...

medicinehuman said:

http://www.newark.com/ideal/50-2234c/led-holder-cxa30-array-series/dp/90W0065?MER=PPSO_N_P_EverywhereElse_None http://www.newark.com/ideal/50-2303cr/led-holder-cree-cxa35-cob-array/dp/39X0077 here ya go

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just tried to order ... its a lot of tax and shiping cost for europe but thanks anyeay MedicineHuman.

That's to bad man.

Oh!!
My bad!
So it seems to be pretty much perfect for a 3'x 3'!
Build something similar using U-profiles but will go the Vero way, but they arrive to digikey earliest at 2nd May. This is the ship date that they called in order confirmation!

Randomblame said:

Oh!!
My bad!
So it seems to be pretty much perfect for a 3'x 3'!
Build something similar using U-profiles but will go the Vero way, but they arrive to digikey earliest at 2nd May. This is the ship date that they called in order confirmation!

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Looks good! Where did you find the aluminum U pieces?