Cob Lighting For A 4x8 Flowering Tent

[Rootbound]

Hey @sixstring , What about two of the plc600 's. Would be ideal for a 4x8 area and waterproof.

 

[sixstring]

Yup,toss a plc 225/250 down the middle of 2x plc 600 and that 4 x 8 would be on fyah!!!! :)

 

[h4ppyf4rmer]

Yup,toss a plc 225/250 down the middle of 2x plc 600 and that 4 x 8 would be on fyah!!!! :)

Poor Gene, he looks seriously stressed on a couple of live instagrams he shot of him in the factory keeping PLC 6 orders going... I'd love to help him but he's on the other side of the country, lol

 

[ahemait]

I enjoyed the building of my lights, but, you don't save a ton of money over buying from a light company. I think I may have saved 20% ... maybe? if you have the time and enjoy doing DIY projects, it's a lot of fun... I'm already looking into how to enhance my system. };-) it's a sickness I tell you!!!

20% of $1000 matters to me >.<

I need to figure out how to efficiently light 5 x 5. Despite all my reading I don't have an electrical background. I know some electricians for assembly but the engineering stuff is lost on me.

 

[Phillyblunt]

Are 18 cxm-22 cobs going to fill a 4x8 with light? I asked Cobkit to sell me an array for $1000-$1500, and thats what hr sold me, using 6 hlg-148-48a drivers, for $1100.
The full array runs at 1680w if the cobs are pushed to the drivers full ability

 

[h4ppyf4rmer]

Are 18 cxm-22 cobs going to fill a 4x8 with light?

I don't know about the cxm-22, but , my 18 vero29se cobs each running at 50 watts seems to do the trick for my 4x8

 

[sixstring]

Are 18 cxm-22 cobs going to fill a 4x8 with light? I asked Cobkit to sell me an array for $1000-$1500, and thats what hr sold me, using 6 hlg-148-48a drivers, for $1100.
The full array runs at 1680w if the cobs are pushed to the drivers full ability

well i hate to go against cobkits advice here because he def knows his stuff when it comes to led but imo thats not nearly enough cobs for the space if you use those cxm 22,plus its overdriving them to like 90w per cob and the vero is the clear winner at those higher currents.that cob is tiny compared to the vero 29 or cree 3590 so you would want at least 10 more cobs for that same space,you could def do it with 18 vero @ 50 to 75 w each.with the cxm 22 i would run around 50w and use at least 24 cobs for a 4 x 8.you want to hit around 1400w for a 4 x 8 imo so really ya need 28 cobs at 50w each.can you do it with less,sure.can you do it with 18 x 90w cobs,sure.but that aint how i would run em.might as well use cmh/lec in there at that efficacy.

 

[Phillyblunt]

well i hate to go against cobkits advice here because he def knows his stuff when it comes to led but imo thats not nearly enough cobs for the space if you use those cxm 22,plus its overdriving them to like 90w per cob and the vero is the clear winner at those higher currents.that cob is tiny compared to the vero 29 or cree 3590 so you would want at least 10 more cobs for that same space,you could def do it with 18 vero @ 50 to 75 w each.with the cxm 22 i would run around 50w and use at least 24 cobs for a 4 x 8.you want to hit around 1400w for a 4 x 8 imo so really ya need 28 cobs at 50w each.can you do it with less,sure.can you do it with 18 x 90w cobs,sure.but that aint how i would run em.might as well use cmh/lec in there at that efficacy.

I could add a 4th cob to each driver to achieve that

 

[sixstring]

I could add a 4th cob to each driver to achieve that

It would be a wise move.so if you plan to wire in parallel and your doing 50w per cob and 1 burns out you are still pretty safe when the rest of the string bumps up in power.but if you max your cobs and 1 burns its game over for the rest of the string.and why i build with series wiring.

 

[Phillyblunt]

It would be a wise move.so if you plan to wire in parallel and your doing 50w per cob and 1 burns out you are still pretty safe when the rest of the string bumps up in power.but if you max your cobs and 1 burns its game over for the rest of the string.and why i build with series wiring.

This problem can be solved with inline fuses on every cob if in parallel

 

[Phillyblunt]

It's actually very simple, you divide the total amperage (current) of the entire setup by exactly the number of cobs you are running and whala you put a fuse on the negative wire of ever individual cob for the equivalent amperage you got after dividing. If one cob does burn out, the other fuses will blow, saving the cobs. Alternatively, you can wire a resister to a relay and when the cob burns out it can reroute the unsused power through the resistor and perhaps an indicator light, allowing your other cobs to continue running even when one is fried, something you can't do with the above mentioned fuse setup, nor in series

 

[EventHorizan]

as far as your last question,all of the above .better eff/ppfd per watt used last forever,less heat . but the 630cmh is a very good alt to the cob setups. you can get away with 8 cobs driven at 100w each but if your looking to cut costs i would prob go with like 15 cobs @ 75w each spaced evenly over the 4 x 8,would give you 1125 w. the best way will always be 1 cob per sq ft ran at lower wattage/current for better efficacy and coverage.but doing half the tent now and half later is also an option,your going to need multiple drivers anyhow.you could build or buy a 10 cob setup now and add another 10 later or 8 and 8.but yeah if it was me i would have a min of prob 25 cobs in there.my prefered setups for cobs are still 35w cree driven with a meanwell hlg-185h-c1050b because you can put 5 cree on a single driver of this type and efficacy is close to 60%

so here is a couple of layouts that I drew up if I go with 35w COBs ... does this make any sense?

one would require 19 COBs and the other would require 16 COBs. The 5x5 would give a little more space within the tent but the 4x8 would give two more plants for the added 3 COBs.

View attachment 695253
View attachment 695254

yeah man i have been buying alot of my stuff there.if you do make an order be sure to use "growmau5" at checkout in the coupon code area for 5% off your total.

i like them both.cree is good for under 50w and the vero are good above 50w.i like that the vero doesnt need cob holders and really they have a built in reflector the way they shape their cob frame.3500k is a good all around color for both flower and veg,alot of guys prefer the 3500k for flower.if you want more red get the 90 cri if you can find them.i guess my fav is the cree 36v in 2700k and 3000k.i built some 5 cob bars with 3 x 2700k and 2 x 3000k cree and those grow some dank buds.but i cant complain about the 3500k setups i have either lol
shot a decent but smaller buck early on and a nice fat doe last day of the season.

Well im not at 35w per sq ft,its closer to 20w per sq ft with my layout maybe 25w psf if you count the uv lamps and 660 that run 4 hours a day lol.
Anyhow lots of guys run at 35 to 40w psf and do great, at 50w psf you really should be using co2 to get the full benefits of the extra light.i ran 50w psf with my old hid setup but i have my environment dialed exactly how i want it. I would say the sweet spot for most guys is 35 to 40w psf with no co2 added.

Ive read this thread again simply because Ive learned a little more terminology..
Anyway out the door for work..
Im building a war chest of questions too so if you wouldnt mind taking this weekend off to answer them...
Lmao!!!
Kidding but this informative thread!
Nobody has your six,
Like sixstring!

 

[h4ppyf4rmer]

Ive read this thread again simply because Ive learned a little more terminology..
Anyway out the door for work..
Im building a war chest of questions too so if you wouldnt mind taking this weekend off to answer them...
Lmao!!!
Kidding but this informative thread!
Nobody has your six,
Like sixstring!

ask as many questions as you want, doesn't mean I'm going to answer them coherently... especially after I've hit my vape late at night };-)

and yes, @sixstring is the man ... between him, Growmau5 vids, and reading a lot of COB/power supply specs is where I gained most of my knowledge.

 

[h4ppyf4rmer]

@sixstring or anyone else that's knowledgeable about spectrum to use for my flower tent:
I want to enhance my current lighting. so you don't have to scroll back to know what I'm currently using, I've got 18 vero29se 3000K CRI90 36v COBs (6 rows of three cobs) running on 1400ma. I was thinking of adding another 6 COBs (one per row) and was trying to decide which ones to get.

My current setup has a lot of red in the spectrum and it seems that all the newest LED panels like ChilLED and Quantum Canopy (Growmau5) amoungst others are using some blue, Deep red, and UV spectrum mixed with their 3000K leds.

Enhancement #1:
I was thinking of adding four 5000K cri80 and two 4000K cobs down the middle of the tent to add some blue spectrum to enhance the photosynthesis during lights on and to reduce (hopefully) stretch. Rough cost $400

Enhancement #2:
adding some 3up UV pucks. I'll have to design these as they are not available. Again, the more popular led boards are starting to use them and there is a UV component to the HPS spectrum. Very rough cost $150

Enhancement #3:
Added Far red initiator pucks(RapidLED), this is supposed to help put the plants to bed quicker once the lights go off. Supposed to let the run 15 minutes after lights out and could save in overall flower time. Rough cost for six initiator pucks and power supply $200

I would love to add all three enhancements but I'm trying to figure out what would give the biggest bang for the buck. The idea would be to run the 3000K, 4000K/5000K, far red and UV on separate power supplies so I can control them separately.

Thoughts?

 

[sixstring]

3 of these

and 3 of these

along with 2 of these down both sides of the wide part of your tent at 3 to 4 hours per day https://www.amazon.com/Eye-Hortilux...7779426&sr=8-9&keywords=eye+hortilux+powerveg

run the new cobs i listed at least 10 hours a day .veros 4000k is plenty blue green spec to slow down stretch.5000k is too much veg light for a flowering tent imo

 

[h4ppyf4rmer]

3 of these

and 3 of these

along with 2 of these down both sides of the wide part of your tent at 3 to 4 hours per day https://www.amazon.com/Eye-Hortilux...7779426&sr=8-9&keywords=eye+hortilux+powerveg

run the new cobs i listed at least 10 hours a day .veros 4000k is plenty blue green spec to slow down stretch.5000k is too much veg light for a flowering tent imo

4000K:
are my eyes deceiving me?? are you recommending a shitizen COB ?? I'll look into that. };-)

UV:
I was hoping to stay away from anything that is "bulb"... I just don't want to keep replacing them and you never know when they have lost their effectiveness... I'm actually not sure how I would mount the 4' fixture, My current Rapid COB frames are all touching both sides of my tent, there is no room to hang them from the ceiling at the same height as the COBs in the long direction unless I run the hangers between the frames a little lower then the COB frames. If I run them vertically I would have to attach them to my center tent pole.

Thanks for the advice

 

[h4ppyf4rmer]

along with 2 of these down both sides of the wide part of your tent at 3 to 4 hours per day https://www.amazon.com/Eye-Hortilux...7779426&sr=8-9&keywords=eye+hortilux+powerveg

I might design a UVa LED puck that ranges from 365nm to 410nm

 

[sixstring]

You want uvb.floros would last much llonger only running 3 to 4 hours a day.with that said my highest thc test score came from under the quantum/cob fixture 2700k and 3500k.im not convinced uv does a thing other than injure the plants and our skin haha.

 

[h4ppyf4rmer]

3 of these

I took a look at these, looks like I can just throw these in series with three 4000K veros on an HLG320 1400 driver. Looks like the max you can drive these is 2165ma, you think it will be a problem running them at 1400ma, I'm thinking not an issue.

would you control the 4000K cobs separate from the royal blue cobs? I'm thinking of just controlling both together on one driver.

Thanks

 

[h4ppyf4rmer]

im not convinced uv does a thing other than injure the plants and our skin haha.

from what I've read, UVb is much more damaging than UVa which is why I was considering not including any UVb in my puck design. I'll probably make the UV enhancement my least priority.

The reason I'm considering it was because the ChilLED boards use them(385nm) and there is some UV in the HPS bulb spectrum.