I have built some crazy leds

[cleanreid]

Been checking the reflectors and the bulbs etc today and thinking about Migro video,(led bulb 1.78 umols per watt without the reflector) going to be well over 2.2 with the reflector.

I removed a resister from each of the 8 bulbs and spaced out the bulb holder
View attachment 2001796View attachment 2001797

And this would make a good veg light, total Watts, (including the fan)51 watt
12" above the meter(Centre) 24,500lux and 16,500 lux sides
Works out 250umols (side) 381umols(centre)
Not the most powerful veg light but I think this will be fine
Max bulb temperature 41c(room temperature 25c), so this is running cool
This will last forever, really amazing results imo, so I have brought over 100 bulbs.

Incredible!

 

[BudgetGrower]

Not used to giving my plants this much light, the bud growth is great at this stage(1 month in flower, flipped on 3rd

June) few yellow leaves, I have top dressed them a few time.

 

[cleanreid]

Not used to giving my plants this much light, the bud growth is great at this stage(1 month in flower, flipped on 3rd
View attachment 2002656
June) few yellow leaves, I have top dressed them a few time.

That’s fucking awesome you got it going on hopefully my LEDs will do the trick

 

[cleanreid]

Not used to giving my plants this much light, the bud growth is great at this stage(1 month in flower, flipped on 3rd
View attachment 2002656
June) few yellow leaves, I have top dressed them a few time.

How tall are those things

 

[BudgetGrower]

How tall are those things

The longest colas are about 2ft

 

[Captspaulding]

Not used to giving my plants this much light, the bud growth is great at this stage(1 month in flower, flipped on 3rd
View attachment 2002656
June) few yellow leaves, I have top dressed them a few time.

Hungry ladies. No worries, I’m chasing the same issue a bit, although self inflicted.

 

[BudgetGrower]

Thanks @flodiy, so glade I removed a resister from the bulbs, I ended up reusing the bulb holders in the veg room, removing a resistor took the wattage down from 13.3 to 6.1 watt, but 8 bulbs gave me a max of 16,000 lux and went down to about 10,000 (center) guessing about 12" below the canopy( bulbs are on a 43cm square)
So I added 2 more bulbs, one each side of the fan, now most the room is hitting between 22,000 - 30,000 lux

The room has dropped nearly 10c so the rooms 22c and the bulbs are hitting around 35c

So the total wattage is about 62w and the bulbs are putting out less heat , more light, the bulbs are going to last forever this is amazing.

 

[BudgetGrower]

Well I have played around with 40 diffusers, painted, filed and cut in every way I could think of to get a little more light out of them, over the last week or two, it was worth the effort because in the long run I will save lots of money on electricity and I have to use less bulbs.

So this is the best I can get, maybe I would gain a little more if I sprayed them with with a silver paint but I think the foil tape will last longer.

The results are amazing,
A resister is removed from each bulb so they both are running at 6.1w and the meter us 12" below the led

if my calculations are right
100 / 46 = 2.17
2.17 x 82 = 1.78
So the bulbs are 78% more efficient.

Without the reflectors their 1.78
So 1.78+ 78% = 3.16umols

Sounds too good but I like it

 

[Rusty74]

These lights can be adequate, I have made something similar, the maps I recorded we're also quite impressive

 

[BudgetGrower]

These lights can be adequate, I have made something similar, the maps I recorded we're also quite impressive

Very nice result, could you share some more details, like the wattage of the bulbs, number of bulbs and area they cover. A setup like is is very underrated.

Using the bulb diffuse as reflectors and sticking foil to them is not the safest thing to do.
So I have to double check every reflector and use a lowest amp fuse(0.5) i can get away with, I have checked my main fuse box and its all up to date.

The reflectors help the bulbs to penetrate the canopy(could be 60% more) so its not just the amount of light spread at 12"
Going to add side lights to get the light deep in the canopy, I think my leds could match some of the large leds on the market.
time will tell.

 

[Rusty74]

Very nice result, could you share some more details, like the wattage of the bulbs, number of bulbs and area they cover. A setup like is is very underrated.

Using the bulb diffuse as reflectors and sticking foil to them is not the safest thing to do.
So I have to double check every reflector and use a lowest amp fuse(0.5) i can get away with, I have checked my main fuse box and its all up to date.

The reflectors help the bulbs to penetrate the canopy(could be 60% more) so its not just the amount of light spread at 12"
Going to add side lights to get the light deep in the canopy, I think my leds could match some of the large leds on the market.
time will tell.

Hi and thanks, I,m currently growing in a 70cmx70cmx160cm tent and my light fitting is made from fibre board 60cm x 40cm which has a foil coating on one side (they use them for the back of radiators) to reflect the heat, I have only wired in 8 light fittings as this was enough for the space. I change the bulbs over as the grow progresses, so for instance the first couple of weeks I may only have 60watts of light mainly 2700k with a 4000k chucked in too just to broaden the spectrum a little and when the Plants start flowering i change them towards the 4000k spectrum slowly increasing the wattage until harvest.
I have an assortment of bulbs ranging from 13watt 1500lm right up to 23watt 2450lm in spectrum range of 2700k-4000k (I'm an electrical engineer so getting my hands on them isn't to difficult .
So at the end I'm usually hitting about 250watt and that seems enough for 2 plants in that space (40-50watt per square foot).
I mapped the tent out as you can see from the grids on the floor and the ppfd that I could hit at 12" was into the 900s with fading to 500ish at the edges, so more than enough.
Our wall sockets over here are 230vac on a 32amp ring main protected by a rcd, so my lamp at max only draws 1 amp.
Power divided by voltage gives amps
250 watt divided by 230 volt = 1.08 Amps
I live in the EU and our plugs are not fused, so the first protection device is in the consumer/mc board... (I hate it)... I use a protected extension socket. I've attached some pics, I'm also controlling my temps and Rh using inkbird controllers which turn on and off my dehumidifier, humidifier and heater... Seems to work for me.

 

[BudgetGrower]

That's amazing, I wish we had more content like this, make sense your a electrical engineer because your using your skills and available parts to build very effective led grow lights, the bulbs I buy in the UK do run hot, but with the airflow in grow room this tends to knock it down from 85 to 65c.
would you say its worth removing a parallel resistor(knocks the temps down another 25-30c) is it likely to last 2-3 times longer or is this wishful thinking? as I don't know loads about electrics but I do a lot of research, last Christmas I built Christmas lights on a breadboard and showed my son how to adjust the speed(delay) color, brightness etc in code(so the program loops), good fun.

 

[Captspaulding]

That's amazing, I wish we had more content like this, make sense your a electrical engineer because your using your skills and available parts to build very effective led grow lights, the bulbs I buy in the UK do run hot, but with the airflow in grow room this tends to knock it down from 85 to 65c.
would you say its worth removing a parallel resistor(knocks the temps down another 25-30c) is it likely to last 2-3 times longer or is this wishful thinking? as I don't know loads about electrics but I do a lot of research, last Christmas I built Christmas lights on a breadboard and showed my son how to adjust the speed(delay) color, brightness etc in code(so the program loops), good fun.

Pulls up chair, listens intently.

 

[BudgetGrower]

Pulls up chair, listens intently.

I hope its worth removing the parallel resistor, last count, I have 120 new bulbs in boxes, and another 30 laying around, I just hope its not flagged up if I have brought over 200 bulbs in the last 2 months.

 

[Captspaulding]

I hope its worth removing the parallel resistor, last count, I have 120 new bulbs in boxes, and another 30 laying around, I just hope its not flagged up if I have brought over 200 bulbs in the last 2 months.

Nah, there are handy men out there who have truck loads. I think you’ll be totally off the radar.

 

[Rusty74]

That's amazing, I wish we had more content like this, make sense your a electrical engineer because your using your skills and available parts to build very effective led grow lights, the bulbs I buy in the UK do run hot, but with the airflow in grow room this tends to knock it down from 85 to 65c.
would you say its worth removing a parallel resistor(knocks the temps down another 25-30c) is it likely to last 2-3 times longer or is this wishful thinking? as I don't know loads about electrics but I do a lot of research, last Christmas I built Christmas lights on a breadboard and showed my son how to adjust the speed(delay) color, brightness etc in code(so the program loops), good fun.

Wow bread boards not used one of them since tech, astable, monastable and bistables are the foundation to all electronics, pretty much what you would have done with the Xmas lights. UK... I've only just moved from the UK last year, I'm 50 and lived there all my life (midlands) only moved here as I've retired early and my wife is from here... Resistors? Removing a parallel resistor will increase the current as the resistance drops (ohm's law) so two 100 ohm resistors in parallel make a series circuit of 50 ohms, a diode usually takes approx 0.2 amps or 20 milli amps and the resistors will be calculated against voltage to give you that comfortable window.. I suppose you could play around with them to get a healthy supply and hopefully leading to a longer life but myself Im happy with there performance as they stand, you can mess around and gain let's say 5% but what's that (an extra bulb installed would have the same performance) hope i got your question lol..
I'm back in the UK next month to visit family, shutting myself as I'm leaving my missus to tend to my plants and she hates them lol...

 

[Rusty74]

Nah, there are handy men out there who have truck loads. I think you’ll be totally off the radar.

It wasn't me

 

[BudgetGrower]

Wow bread boards not used one of them since tech, astable, monastable and bistables are the foundation to all electronics, pretty much what you would have done with the Xmas lights. UK... I've only just moved from the UK last year, I'm 50 and lived there all my life (midlands) only moved here as I've retired early and my wife is from here... Resistors? Removing a parallel resistor will increase the current as the resistance drops (ohm's law) so two 100 ohm resistors in parallel make a series circuit of 50 ohms, a diode usually takes approx 0.2 amps or 20 milli amps and the resistors will be calculated against voltage to give you that comfortable window.. I suppose you could play around with them to get a healthy supply and hopefully leading to a longer life but myself Im happy with there performance as they stand, you can mess around and gain let's say 5% but what's that (an extra bulb installed would have the same performance) hope i got your question lol..
I'm back in the UK next month to visit family, shutting myself as I'm leaving my missus to tend to my plants and she hates them lol...

That's great to know about the breadboard, Sometimes I would like to leave the UK, things are falling apart.
Could have been caught up on this click bait video and this website.
If the bulbs not going to last any longer its not worth using double the amount, thanks for help.

 

[BudgetGrower]

I guess it’s just controlling any extra heat brought on by the reflector? Or is it pretty much mitigated as is?

The reflector didn't have a big impact on the temps(6.1w), would effect the 13.3w led, I guess it could increase the temps a little.
still runs a lot cooler than not removing/cutting the diffuse(because its a sealed unit and plastic is not a good heat sink)

 

[BudgetGrower]

Day 39 in flower and it's looking good