LED's for custom grow box

flaiks

flaiks

Well-Known Member
So, you may remember me, i have 4 a-51 led's going in a 5x5 tent off-site, so i built a small stealth grow cabinet, it is built out of 3/4inch plywood and 2x3's for the frame. The cabinet measures 24"Dx42"Wx56"H, currently running a 400w HPS and an AC hood. I am looking to upgrade the box to LED and I figured the DIY Cob's would be the best and most cost effective choice, I was wondering how many cxa3070's I would need to properly cover this space, and pull the most yield/quality. I was thinking of doing 6 cxa3070's at 1.4A Each, should be ~300W total draw, would this be sufficient, and how much heat would it generate compared to a 400w hps ?
 
flaiks

flaiks

Well-Known Member
captainmorgan said:
4 CXA 3070 Z4 3000k at 1500 ma would give you about 30 watts a sq/ft and would way out perform anything you've grown with.
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Where would i get z4 bins, and the 1500ma drivers? I could only find the Z2 bin @ digikey. You think 4 of them would well outperform a 400w hps ? And can they properly cover my sq footage ? It is a weird shape so its tricky to cover.
 
captainmorgan

captainmorgan

Well-Known Member
The tough part now is finding the high bin CXA 3070's,top bin AB then Z4. I have 6 of them in a 2.5x4.5 space which is 30 watts sq/ft and yielded 1.4 grams a watt with them,that's over 18 oz's off two plants in that space with a short veg. I have 3 over each plant in a triangle pattern,you could use 6 and drive them at 1050 ma for a more even coverage and a little more power.
 
flaiks

flaiks

Well-Known Member
I will be running 8 plants in this space, in 2gal container running a 70/30 coco perlite mix, will be flowering once they are around 4-6 nodes most likely, as vertical space is quite limited. For money conservation i would prefer to run 4 of them, just need to find the top bin ones, and the 1500ma drivers. Im not too saavy with this kind of thing, but I AM a software engineer so i can figure it out. Would it be a bad idea to run 6 @ 1400ma each? Would give me ~42w/sqft.
 
S

Skaumannen

Well-Known Member
Actually assembling the COB's is not that hard, especially if you have changed the cpu on an older computer (where you had to actually screw the cooler to the motherboard). I am running 4 CXA3070 @ 1400ma for 75x75x160cm, and i think i might have overdone it. But the units produce very little heat, so much so that i had to put the drivers inside the tent to keep the temperature up. Running 6 @ 1050 will give you better efficiency (more of the power goes towards producing light, and not heat), and help spread the light more, because you can spread the lightsources more. I ended up buying two square plastic tubes that i mounted the lights inside. This gives me two lights with two emitters in each, i got the idea from SomeGuy here at the led forum (Vero Economy light i think was the name of the thread). This makes it easier to adjust the lights.
 
flaiks

flaiks

Well-Known Member
Skaumannen said:
Actually assembling the COB's is not that hard, especially if you have changed the cpu on an older computer (where you had to actually screw the cooler to the motherboard). I am running 4 CXA3070 @ 1400ma for 75x75x160cm, and i think i might have overdone it. But the units produce very little heat, so much so that i had to put the drivers inside the tent to keep the temperature up. Running 6 @ 1050 will give you better efficiency (more of the power goes towards producing light, and not heat), and help spread the light more, because you can spread the lightsources more. I ended up buying two square plastic tubes that i mounted the lights inside. This gives me two lights with two emitters in each, i got the idea from SomeGuy here at the led forum (Vero Economy light i think was the name of the thread). This makes it easier to adjust the lights.
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Well, I was thinking i could perhaps run 5 of them @ 1400mA, in a W formation in my box, should allow for even light distribution, I find already in the box a 400w hps is a little hot, so the LED's should help with the heat hopefully, and will be a better light anyways, 250W sounds better than 400W if I can get the same, or better results.
 
S

Skaumannen

Well-Known Member
Running five will probably give you amazing results, and it should provide a good lightspread. And if you feel the need you can always buy more leds and add later. Also if you need a driver for the CXA3070 i use the meanwell LPC-60-1400 from meanwell, which you can get at a decent price. This might not be the best driver, but i am happy with them atleast. But i am not an experienced grower, i am currently on day 3 of flower on my first grow, so take any information from me with a grain of salt.
 
flaiks

flaiks

Well-Known Member
Skaumannen said:
Running five will probably give you amazing results, and it should provide a good lightspread. And if you feel the need you can always buy more leds and add later. Also if you need a driver for the CXA3070 i use the meanwell LPC-60-1400 from meanwell, which you can get at a decent price. This might not be the best driver, but i am happy with them atleast. But i am not an experienced grower, i am currently on day 3 of flower on my first grow, so take any information from me with a grain of salt.
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Thanks for the info, I will definitely look into that driver, there was also another one on eBay that SupraSPL recommended, they're only about $13. My only major concern is how to actually hook the drivers up to a power source, I cant seem to find any guides on that.
 
S

Skaumannen

Well-Known Member
the drivers are the powersource, you need to hook them up to 110/220v. What i did was cut an old lead of an old computer, and use wago 222 connectors to connect the wires from the driver to the wires from the computer plug. And then i can plug that into a wall socket. The wire from my drivers and from the old computer were all colored blue and brown, so it was just to match up the colors.
 
flaiks

flaiks

Well-Known Member
Skaumannen said:
the drivers are the powersource, you need to hook them up to 110/220v. What i did was cut an old lead of an old computer, and use wago 222 connectors to connect the wires from the driver to the wires from the computer plug. And then i can plug that into a wall socket. The wire from my drivers and from the old computer were all colored blue and brown, so it was just to match up the colors.
Click to expand...
When you said lead, do you mean power cord ?
 
wirat

wirat

Well-Known Member
What heatsinks are you guys using with these? Do you have any pics of the completed COB unit? Thanks
 
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