Lighting is there a substitute for soft/warm(red) cfl bulbs for the flowering stage?

[Dr Fluff]

In recent years I have had great results running two E-shine Diamond series (11 band inc IR & UV) @ 180W actual draw and one Vipar B2X3 @ 150W actual draw a total of 510W actual draw.

Which was a little more than I needed for my space but had great results so no complaints.

For this reason as well as a few other reasons, I fell a little behind the curve with what was going on in the LED world especially where DIY was concerned.

Thankfully Dazed and I have been having a good chat about DIY and seeing as I have to go micro/stealth for security reasons he introduced me to a few you tube channels as well as the types of cob being used.

He is making his own from scratch but I opted for a kit as I needed one asap and didn't have time to research, so I am also coming up to speed with the whole DIY thing as well but I'll be sure to let you know what I find as I find it.

I know the chip he is using and that are on the youtube channels are for the most part 3500K Cree cobs but I was speaking to another guy is Using Bridgelux chips.

This important to know because Cree & Bridgelux are top quality LED's and not just some knock off crap, always use the best chips or you'll be most likely throwing your money away.

I'll try and find the exact chip model for the 3500K but It will be mention in the youtube channels too

Growmau5's channel -https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPSwmwj8ZLXObtBJmz-76rw

Greengenes channel - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkuwpcjAkAGLLqNJi6MOEOw

These two youtube channel are what you need to be watching, seriously cool stuff and awesome info.

as I mentioned before in one of the earlier posts a simple cob grow light is only a CPU heat sink plus fan with a cob (with or with out focusing lens) stuck on to it with thermal paste, the cob is conected to a LED driver which in turn plugs in to the wall, a dimmer can also be attached to control the out put of the light intensity.

Here is a pic of a DIY LED cob kit

Left top - Fan. Middle top - Heatsink with cob chip. Right - LED Driver (A type of power supply, which is very accurate and gives you the correct amount of watts and milliamps for the cob)

A little note about LED ratings in advertisements.

Some times when a LED is advertised the Wattage may be stated as 300W but the actual draw is 180W.
Why is there a difference? Well the seller wants you to think you are getting a powerful lamp and does this by giving the total wattage of the maximum rating of each diode so 100 x 3W diodes equals 300W right? Well actually no, LED's if run constantly at their maximum (in this case 3W per Diode) would burn out and die in no time.So they are often run at about 2/3's of their max capacity or less.

 

[Dr Fluff]

Just getting back to you about the Cob chips that come recommended they are the Cree cxb 3590 3500k

 

[orrganic]

Cheers arty, i have made a start on growmau5 channel, good stuff just takes time to understand.
i also had a look at the growmau5 diy complete kit from www.cutters.com.au and at 600 bucks i think i'll need to stick to bare basics. Is this the average price of a diy kit or is that just for all top quality parts?
thanks again mate
peace

 

[Dr Fluff]

A pleaseure mate

It is a very interesting channel.It takes a bit of time to get to grips with the info but worth it's weight in gold if you take the time to get to grips with it..

Prices will come down in time they usually do.

I need a small form factor light for my server tower which most commercial lights don't fit into.

Warm white chips should come down in price fairly quickly in the scheme of things as they have many application in every day life in which they can be used .

All the parts are listed for the kit & a bit of research and some spare time to do it and you'll be able to see how much you can save.

Growmau is planning to do videos showing how to put it together and wire it on you tube.

Having said that Growmau himself said that the most difficult/expensive is having the heatsink made.

A the popularity of DIY cobs builds increase hope fully premade heatsinks designed specifically for cobs will start getting cheaper too.

If there are few of us that are interested, in making DIY Cob LED, then we could pull our resources/research together and even maybe have a DIY LED makers thread.

I still have a lot to learn and research where to get the best prices for components etc

cheers Arty