Opinions on diy cob lights!

Leelandgrow3 said:

Any have any experience with building there own cob board. How did u go about it

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yes, read a lot in forums to learn the how, what, and why. you'll need to determine what you're building (veg/flower/full spectrum), using cobs or quantum boards, 36v or 48v (most products are 36v), size of layout and number of cobs will determine your driver needs. the how is pretty easy if you can handle basic electronics. also recommend looking at what current manufacturers are doing to give you an idea. i bought all my stuff from cobkits.com

Built three lights from Rapid led kits, great lights, as far as what to do, figure out what wattage you want to run at. Noting that there’s a bit of a sweet spot where just pouring more amperage into the cobs, the light produced starts getting eclipsed by the amount of heat also. I’ve chosen 50 watts per cob for that reason, tents don’t get over heated, and with twelve cobs per light plenty of coverage for a 4x4 tent. 600 watts at the wall measured.

Was looking at full spectrum rn I run a 3 by 3 by 6ft tent want to switch to a 4 by 4 by 6 tent

Leelandgrow3 said:

Was looking at full spectrum rn I run a 3 by 3 by 6ft tent want to switch to a 4 by 4 by 6 tent

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Dan789 said:

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I think he means he wants a full spectrum qb setup for a 4x4

Dan789 said:

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Yes 4 by 4 I was looking at completely diy but confused as to what to buy was looking at a 10 pack of cobs some ir diodes uv diodes and some blue diodes and some red diodes maybe mounted on a peice of aluminum

Leelandgrow3 said:

Yes 4 by 4 I was looking at completely diy but confused as to what to buy was looking at a 10 pack of cobs some ir diodes uv diodes and some blue diodes and some red diodes maybe mounted on a peice of aluminum

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If I were you, I'd mix it up a little with LED strips for some sidelighting. Indiviual panels you can add as needed, where needed. With the COBs, I would try to use more at lower watts (instead of fewer at higher watts). That would let you distribute the light more. And then, if you make the frame have hinged "wings" around all 4 sides, you could angle the lights to where they're needed. Not just rigid straight down. Maybe even mount them on short poles that you could lower/extend from the main "frame." Like those "leveling" legs for trailers, where you can go up/down (depending on which hole you insert the locking bolt). If you had some angle-adjustment, and granular height adjustment, you could tailor the lights to the canopy surface. (Like I said, then it turns into having more cobs at lower watts, for more aim'ability -- spreading the watts around better.).

Just try to make it as flexible as possible. If it's just wings around all four sides, that would be a start. You could put white posterboard on that and *reflect* light. Later, leverage that with some active sidelighting (lower-watt cobs). The more you can spread it around that way, I think you'll get phenomenal results. It doesn't matter if it's Miss Yee's 1000w "Happy Ending" grow-light, or super-efficient/expensive diodes. If you can place the watts closer to the plant... (more distribution of the watts), I don't think any LED technology advancement can beat that. It takes some labor. It's definitely easier to just throw a light above the plants. But, if you can tailor the light around the plants, it makes a big difference. (In larger spaces, you have to lean more toward the efficiency of caring for all the plants. You can't tailor the light in a large room with many plants. But, in a 4x4, it's not that challenging.