Sixstrings Led Cob Builds

  • Thread starter sixstring
  • Start date
  • Tagged users None
h4ppyf4rmer

h4ppyf4rmer

863
143
What are you veging under at the moment? You've built lights to grow from seed to harvest so I really don't see where the problem is.

yeah, I actually could put them under these lights with a 18/6 cycle this time because I'm currently not using it, but my plan is to overlap my vegging(veg tent) with my blooming(bloom tent) so basically I'm eliminating the whole serial operation of vegging then blooming.

old way one tent:
|...veg...|..........Bloom..........|...Veg...|..........Bloom........|...

two tents:
|...veg...|.................|...Veg...|...............|...veg...|..............

|...........|..........Bloom..........|..........Bloom........|.........Bloom........|

I hope that makes sense };-)

and because Mass only allows 12 plants, I was planning on only six in veg and 6 in bloom at any one time.
 
sixstring

sixstring

7,079
313
yeah, I actually could put them under these lights with a 18/6 cycle this time because I'm currently not using it, but my plan is to overlap my vegging(veg tent) with my blooming(bloom tent) so basically I'm eliminating the whole serial operation of vegging then blooming.

old way one tent:
|...veg...|..........Bloom..........|...Veg...|..........Bloom........|...

two tents:
|...veg...|.................|...Veg...|...............|...veg...|..............

|...........|..........Bloom..........|..........Bloom........|.........Bloom........|

I hope that makes sense };-)

and because Mass only allows 12 plants, I was planning on only six in veg and 6 in bloom at any one time.

Im with @Toaster79 on using the new lights asap
 
h4ppyf4rmer

h4ppyf4rmer

863
143
Im with @Toaster79 on using the new lights asap
I'm figuring I'm probably a couple weeks away from the bloom tent being operational, I need to complete the U-RDWC system(just need to hook up the res to the buckets), need to test for water leaks, need to get a couple of fans, need to get the exhaust in. I'm thinking a 6" but I'm not sure I want to spend the $150 on a vortex fan
 
sixstring

sixstring

7,079
313
I'm figuring I'm probably a couple weeks away from the bloom tent being operational, I need to complete the U-RDWC system(just need to hook up the res to the buckets), need to test for water leaks, need to get a couple of fans, need to get the exhaust in. I'm thinking a 6" but I'm not sure I want to spend the $150 on a vortex fan

Imo the vortex is worth the extra cost for the quality of it.they are also more quiet than any of the cheaper knockoff fans by alot ime.over the years i have tried alot of dif brand inline fans and vortex and eclipse are the top 2
 
H

HugzAndNuggz

33
18
@sixstring Hey.. i had a question for you about some issues i am having with LEd's i got recently... care if i pm you
 
D

Digger

493
143
All hail the Les Claypool of LED's!! Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge. I read through entire thread over the past couple of days and for every question I had, I pretty much found an answer. If you have a minute, I'd like you to check out some of my questions (written before or while reading) and let me know if my thinking is on track or derailed.

1. What kind of penetration do LED's get?
Fantastic penetration! Just like with HID don't expect a 400w to penetrate further than a 600, and a 600 deeper than 1000w. With a large enough fixture running the correct wattage, 5' tall plants are not an issue.

2. How far away should the fixture be from canopy?
That depends on how much coverage area is needed, how strong the light is and how sensitive the plants are to lighting.

3. Is it generally 1 COB per ft^2?
Yes and No! (Don't you hate that bullshit cockamamie, indecisive reply. LOL) Generally it's 1 COB per ft^2, but this also depends on how much coverage area is needed and how hard you push the lights. Technically 1 COB running at 50% will light a 4'x4' area, but the intensity would be so weak, the plant would get no benefit. If 1 COB provided 1/10th the PAR needed to cover a 4'x4' area, then you need 9 more COB's to properly light the area and that may or may not equal 1 COB per ft^2. That would depend on how big the fixture is.

4. I think I just answered this question, but one of the questions I had was "what dictates how many COB's per ft2? If it was a static 1 COB/ft^2, is that why a 400w, 8 COB CBX3590 in a 4'x4' needed supplementation? I would assume per answer above, yes that's why the 400w needed supplementation, but that same set up running at 500w (just a number I'm throwing out there) as long as that didnt exceed wattage of COB may not have needed supplementation.

5. This isn't really a question, more an observation. Wattage is not where you start with your light, it's where you end up. You don't set out to build a 600w LED to replace a 1000w HID. You set out to build a light with a configuration that's matching or exceeding the output of the 1000w regarding coverage and PAR and it just so happens you built a 600w light. Does that make sense?

These are the questions I couldn't answer:

6. How much did your feed schedule change since the plants received a higher quality of light?

7. On one of the pages you stated 450w of COB driven at 1050 or 1400mA is going to be as good as maybe better than a 600w HPS, 500w COB will spank a 600. Does that also apply to DE HPS fixtures also? Sadly, I've had a Gavita 6/750 for about a year and pulled my best harvest yet with it, but after reading this thread and a few others, I'm looking to replace it because the heat is a big issue for me.

8. Speaking of Gavita, can the LEP's be recreated with LED technology? In my ignorance, I'd have to say I dont see the benefit of trying to recreate an LEP if you already have one because the LEP's dont produce a lot of heat nor pull a lot of wattage anyway. My old 300 air cooled LEP aint the problem, its that motherfuckin 6/750 thats a bitch! A beautiful, aggravating bitch that give phenomenal head. LOL

9. Overall, is the 3500K COB driven at 50w the best best for a start to finish grow?

10. Go with CREE CXB3590's if affordable, everything else is second place?

11. Can umols be calculated on paper or do I need a meter?

12. Whats the minimum PPFD needed for our favorite plants?

Thanks again for your time and knowledge. I think thats it for now. Please let me know something I should have asked but didnt. Once I'm closer to actually building a light I might come back for references on where to source parts. How are you liking those quantum boards? See any benefit over a COB?
 
sixstring

sixstring

7,079
313
All hail the Les Claypool of LED's!! Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge. I read through entire thread over the past couple of days and for every question I had, I pretty much found an answer. If you have a minute, I'd like you to check out some of my questions (written before or while reading) and let me know if my thinking is on track or derailed.

1. What kind of penetration do LED's get?
Fantastic penetration! Just like with HID don't expect a 400w to penetrate further than a 600, and a 600 deeper than 1000w. With a large enough fixture running the correct wattage, 5' tall plants are not an issue.

they penetrate like john holmes in his early days of bangin hookerz :cool: if you build for a certain par @ a certain distance like 1000ppfd @ 18 inches from the fixture the light will be plenty bright to grow trees like a 1000w hps.i dont know how else to answer penetration questions other than par is par.led makes it very well with less heat per watt at the wall.

2. How far away should the fixture be from canopy?
That depends on how much coverage area is needed, how strong the light is and how sensitive the plants are to lighting.

yes

3. Is it generally 1 COB per ft^2?
Yes and No! (Don't you hate that bullshit cockamamie, indecisive reply. LOL) Generally it's 1 COB per ft^2, but this also depends on how much coverage area is needed and how hard you push the lights. Technically 1 COB running at 50% will light a 4'x4' area, but the intensity would be so weak, the plant would get no benefit. If 1 COB provided 1/10th the PAR needed to cover a 4'x4' area, then you need 9 more COB's to properly light the area and that may or may not equal 1 COB per ft^2. That would depend on how big the fixture is.

i think 30 to 40 watts per sq foot is a better build rule than just saying 1 cob per sq ft.

4. I think I just answered this question, but one of the questions I had was "what dictates how many COB's per ft2? If it was a static 1 COB/ft^2, is that why a 400w, 8 COB CBX3590 in a 4'x4' needed supplementation? I would assume per answer above, yes that's why the 400w needed supplementation, but that same set up running at 500w (just a number I'm throwing out there) as long as that didnt exceed wattage of COB may not have needed supplementation.
see last answer lmao
5. This isn't really a question, more an observation. Wattage is not where you start with your light, it's where you end up. You don't set out to build a 600w LED to replace a 1000w HID. You set out to build a light with a configuration that's matching or exceeding the output of the 1000w regarding coverage and PAR and it just so happens you built a 600w light. Does that make sense?
i pretty much planned all my builds on wattage for a given area.having used mars led and seeing how much better cobs worked i just decided i was going to lower my light bill by 1/3 or more.the first section i reworked i took down 1800w of hps and put up 1200w of led & uv t5.this has been a good # for my style of growing.

These are the questions I couldn't answer:

6. How much did your feed schedule change since the plants received a higher quality of light?

my plants need a bit more nutes but also more attention to the amount of water they are drinking now.im having to use a bit more water mid flower.so i have been doing strong feeds in the morning and just water late day on bigger stuff

7. On one of the pages you stated 450w of COB driven at 1050 or 1400mA is going to be as good as maybe better than a 600w HPS, 500w COB will spank a 600. Does that also apply to DE HPS fixtures also? Sadly, I've had a Gavita 6/750 for about a year and pulled my best harvest yet with it, but after reading this thread and a few others, I'm looking to replace it because the heat is a big issue for me.

i ran 2 clones against each other.one under 750 gavita and one under 550w cobs and uv bulb.the cob plant had better grams per watt,better smoke,easier to trim..but yes i feel 500w of good led spanks any 600hps

8. Speaking of Gavita, can the LEP's be recreated with LED technology? In my ignorance, I'd have to say I dont see the benefit of trying to recreate an LEP if you already have one because the LEP's dont produce a lot of heat nor pull a lot of wattage anyway. My old 300 air cooled LEP aint the problem, its that motherfuckin 6/750 thats a bitch! A beautiful, aggravating bitch that give phenomenal head. LOL

led lacks uv,thats about the only downside of spectrum.but easy enough to supliment if your into that kinda shizzle.

9. Overall, is the 3500K COB driven at 50w the best best for a start to finish grow?

i prefer 3000k start to finish and 2700k flower only.but lots of guys kill it with the 3500k.i have some,and those plants are fine.too short for me personally so i end up keeping them away from the lights for weeks 1 and 2 to get my stretch on then bring them closer for the rest of flower.2700k is perfect for me,set it and forget it.


10. Go with CREE CXB3590's if affordable, everything else is second place?

cree vero citizen luminous,we are splitting hairs now on quality.if price is your thing get the vero or lumi.im a fan of cree but i have vero and shitizen.i like the vero lol

11. Can umols be calculated on paper or do I need a meter?

par/ppf/ppfd can be calc'd on paper but dont ask me how,i like using my meter to find weak spots in the layout.no second guessing my math lol.there are online calc's for vero,cree ect.none of them have worked for me though,i do see lots of guys using them.

12. Whats the minimum PPFD needed for our favorite plants?
im doing fine at 600ppfd in some areas.but i have spots that are at 1000ppdf that grow awesomer :)

Thanks again for your time and knowledge. I think thats it for now. Please let me know something I should have asked but didnt. Once I'm closer to actually building a light I might come back for references on where to source parts. How are you liking those quantum boards? See any benefit over a COB?

love the quantums.easy as hell to build and wire. being square and having built in wire connects,plus thin heatsinking makes them sweet to work with.suoper bright and efficient.

tried my best to answer up there^^^ within the quote,but alas im pretty fuckin high right now.peace
 
D

Digger

493
143
Thank you! I tried to do a quote but couldnt capture your answers. So here goes:

if you build for a certain par @ a certain distance like 1000ppfd @ 18 inches from the fixture the light will be plenty bright to grow trees like a 1000w hps.i dont know how else to answer penetration questions other than par is par.led makes it very well with less heat per watt at the wall.

Going to try and figure out how to build for the PPFD at a certain distance. I think I can figure it out from some info on fixtures found at timbergrowlights.com. I did find a formula to calculate for area, I'll post it below after the replies. Also, I think I misused the term PAR in that question. Sorry, I've been growing for a little while but just starting to learn about light.

i think 30 to 40 watts per sq foot is a better build rule than just saying 1 cob per sq ft.

Thanks for that info! I know that came from experience.

i pretty much planned all my builds on wattage for a given area.having used mars led and seeing how much better cobs worked i just decided i was going to lower my light bill by 1/3 or more.the first section i reworked i took down 1800w of hps and put up 1200w of led & uv t5.this has been a good # for my style of growing.

I'm seeing style of growing plays an important part. My area is no where near what you use, so I would think we would end up building different fixtures based on needs.

my plants need a bit more nutes but also more attention to the amount of water they are drinking now.im having to use a bit more water mid flower.so i have been doing strong feeds in the morning and just water late day on bigger stuff

Ok cool! So nothing that cant be figured out in a few runs if you grow a plant more than once.

i ran 2 clones against each other.one under 750 gavita and one under 550w cobs and uv bulb.the cob plant had better grams per watt,better smoke,easier to trim..but yes i feel 500w of good led spanks any 600hps

So with that being said, assuming the 750 was run at 750, it did yield more, but the 550 produced a higher quality medicine. An equal wattage COB set up would have been no contest, assuming the plants could handle the light. Is that a safe assumption?

led lacks uv,thats about the only downside of spectrum.but easy enough to supliment if your into that kinda shizzle.

Yes it is! My best came from those two Gavita's. Love the quality, dont like the heat. But I will say I was probably trying to do too much in the tent. Tents 5x5x7, had the 750 on the left, 300 lep in the middle and adjustawing 600 on the right. If it wouldnt have been middle of winter and pulling fresh outside air, i never could have done that. But I'd like to try to get those results in the summer also, thats why LED is looking better and better. It also helps since I'm seeing it done with "white" lighting. Those early red and blue UFO looking things didnt appeal to me.

i prefer 3000k start to finish and 2700k flower only.but lots of guys kill it with the 3500k.i have some,and those plants are fine.too short for me personally so i end up keeping them away from the lights for weeks 1 and 2 to get my stretch on then bring them closer for the rest of flower.2700k is perfect for me,set it and forget it.

Correct me if I'm wrong, you also prefer the 80 CRI COB to the 90's? Would you say with 3000K, 80 CRI COB's I could possibly replicate a Spectrum King Closet Case or with 3500K at 90 CRI replicate the Mother's Little Helper fixtures?

cree vero citizen luminous,we are splitting hairs now on quality.if price is your thing get the vero or lumi.im a fan of cree but i have vero and shitizen.i like the vero lol

Good to hear there's not a big difference in quality.

par/ppf/ppfd can be calc'd on paper but dont ask me how,i like using my meter to find weak spots in the layout.no second guessing my math lol.there are online calc's for vero,cree ect.none of them have worked for me though,i do see lots of guys using them.

I may have found a good formula, maybe you've seen it and know otherwise. It's in the article I'm going to post below. It's by this company called Inda-Grow, the name of the article is Measuring Light: The Important Differences Between PPF and PPFD. Towards the end, it mentions using the PPFD to calculate CO2 requirements, but didnt mention CO2 anywhere else in the article. It would be cool, although a pain in the ass, if someone like you could use your meter to test if the formula is credible. Also I'd take your word over the online calculators, theory usually doesnt match real world data. You might like this formula because it takes into account, everyones environment isnt perfect and includes that discretion in the formula.

im doing fine at 600ppfd in some areas.but i have spots that are at 1000ppdf that grow awesomer :)

Awesomer!!

love the quantums.easy as hell to build and wire. being square and having built in wire connects,plus thin heatsinking makes them sweet to work with.suoper bright and efficient.

Cool!!

Thanks again! I found this Lumen to Lux calculator while searching the web. If its accurate, gives a good idea on how far light will spread also:

http://led.bannerengineering.com/plan-your-project/lux-lumen-calculator/
 
h4ppyf4rmer

h4ppyf4rmer

863
143
Speaking of seeds,got some baby pics
Empire dreams-blue dream x onycd
View attachment 693842 View attachment 693843

Some grape dosi
View attachment 693847 View attachment 693848

Gelato x tk
View attachment 693850 View attachment 693851


just showing my wife how you support the heavy buds with tomato/bamboo sticks and noticed the first picture with a Gibson ES 335 ... or at least that's what it looks like. I bought a Fender Strat a million years ago it seems, don't play it anymore but every once in a while I'll pick it up and make really horrible noises from it };-) BTW, I really wanted a 335 but couldn't afford it at the time.
 
sixstring

sixstring

7,079
313
just showing my wife how you support the heavy buds with tomato/bamboo sticks and noticed the first picture with a Gibson ES 335 ... or at least that's what it looks like. I bought a Fender Strat a million years ago it seems, don't play it anymore but every once in a while I'll pick it up and make really horrible noises from it };-) BTW, I really wanted a 335 but couldn't afford it at the time.
good eye,i wish it was a gibson.thats a knockoff i picked up from my neighbor about 15 years ago.before they moved they had a garage sale and i took that and a decent peavey amp for 200 bones. it plays ok but i hardly touch the thing.i have a real nice les paul and SG plus 4 nice acoustic axes.i mostly play a seagul electric acoustic or my beater fender.
 
PhatNuggz

PhatNuggz

2,121
163
I start 6 seeds, typically 2 are male, last time 4 were, which set me back. Out of 4 girls 2 typically win out and get moved to the flower tents
 
sixstring

sixstring

7,079
313
Grape dosi parked under the 50w cree setups :)
20170707 191254
20170708 183226
 
sixstring

sixstring

7,079
313
As i read this im sittin her listening to my 12" canfan screaming in the basement haha.
Well lets not be crazy here,aint no 12in inline thats gunna run quiet lol.i have a 10in vortex i just mounted to the ceiling in my new shop and im kinda disappointed i went with that instead of a 8in.seems a big difference in noise just going up 1 size.plus this 10in gets louder the more you slow/dim it.
 
G gnome

G gnome

20,448
638
Well lets not be crazy here,aint no 12in inline thats gunna run quiet lol.i have a 10in vortex i just mounted to the ceiling in my new shop and im kinda disappointed i went with that instead of a 8in.seems a big difference in noise just going up 1 size.plus this 10in gets louder the more you slow/dim it.
Thats what she sed haha.....


Yeah ive tried fan speed controllers they scream less but seem to rattle more. Ive found they run a lil quieter if u run em into a carbon filter as opposed to pulling thru the filter. Ive wrapped em in insulation b4 too...seemed to help a lil. The other thing ive done is mount em to something w some give....for instance instead of hanging em w chain directly to a ceiling hook, use o rings....kinda sketchy w a can 150 tho haha wudnt do that lol
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom