Lighting Big sm0's - helpful DIY cob grow light build.

[BigSm0]

Let me start by saying thank you to Afn and the wonderful community here. My grow career has been much more fun being around such great and knowledgable folks.

So as a sort of guide and helpful idea thread I decided to go balls deep in a DIY veg light build. Not that I need any more light but for the money invested hopefully others can really understand DIY lighting a little more. My current cmh and top of the line rebuilt cob light will come down to make room for this new monster. I still have a lot of details to figure out but the basics are the basics.

PLEASE PLEASE feel free to jump in and ask any questions you may have or post what ever photos you all may have too. This build is for the community that I love so much. I promise not to let anyone down and hopefully the activity won't let me down. More info put forward the more people can learn and the safer everyone's experience can be.​

 

[BigSm0]

Unfortunately my time is very limited and I spend the free parts of it here anyways. The build may be a little slow and I know I have some parts to order. Yikes I have around 100 cobs and I'm still missing things. Luckily my wife doesn't have a clue.

This build I am aiming for the most ideal veg light possible. It's for a small space so remember I'm limited but that won't stop me from doing the classiest light I can imagine.

I picked up as many of the components from our local vendor northern grow light as possible big unfortunately they don't stock much I'm the 6500k area.


3 8foot lengths of 80/20 aluminum extrusion. Hidden fasteners, corner brackets ext.
6 recently cnc'd heat sink brackets from a friend
6 citizen clu048 1212 6500k cobs
Maybe even some jazzy Samsung hard strips for seedlings.
Mean well driver
105mm pin fin heat sinks


Sorry for the crappy photo but this is my work space. Equipped with a fire extinguisher and a gfci protected outlet for testing. Nice neat and clean.

 

[KonopCh]

I just want to know what you do with 100 COBs... You don't have all at home, do you? And with your journal, that's a lot of buds...:drool:

Btw, you are my hero here on AFN!! Thanks for being here and doing these lights (and sharing knowledge) with passion!

 

[BigSm0]

I just want to know what you do with 100 COBs... You don't have all at home, do you? And with your journal, that's a lot of buds...:drool:

Btw, you are my hero here on AFN!! Thanks for being here and doing these lights (and sharing knowledge) with passion!

Thank you konop but I'm far from a hero. Trying to get this section going is all. There are thousands of people interested in DIY but most forums really lack the guides and the arrogant-less replies. My room has 44 cobs in it lol. The rest are future projects.

 

[Jupiter]

Thank you konop but I'm far from a hero. Trying to get this section going is all. There are thousands of people interested in DIY but most forums really lack the guides and the arrogant-less replies. My room has 44 cobs in it lol. The rest are future projects.

I heard 45 cobs Is the most efficient.

 

[Jupiter]

Any idea on a driver or what shape you're going with @BigSm0 ?

 

[Jupiter]

I have the craziest idea on a build that is totally impractical but hopefully looks wild @Bigsmo

 

[BigSm0]

I have the craziest idea on a build that is totally impractical but hopefully looks wild @Bigsmo

Let's hear it. Thinking of 2 different options.

X----X
---0---
X----X
---0---
X----X

Thinking of doing the x cobs on 6500k and 0 cobs in 5000k with the center 4 and outer 4 on separate drivers with separate plugs. When they are young I'll just use the middle cobs and as they grow and pots spread out have the option to flip on the outer cobs

 

[BigSm0]

Or I also thought since this light will be for seedlings up to day 30-40 I was considering on doing 4 of the samsung hard strips for the babies but attach them to the 4 bars that make up the frame. Then just do 6 cob mix of 5000k and 6500k

 

[Jupiter]

Let's hear it. Thinking of 2 different options.

X----X
---0---
X----X
---0---
X----X

Thinking of doing the x cobs on 6500k and 0 cobs in 5000k with the center 4 and outer 4 on separate drivers with separate plugs. When they are young I'll just use the middle cobs and as they grow and pots spread out have the option to flip on the outer cobs

Sounds like a good idea