Lighting LED only thread (the manual)

[pop22]

has anyone here upgraded chips and drivers in a growlight? i have a cheap light with a decent housing. i want to put in 5 watt chips. i believe it holds 150 3 watt chips. i'll upgrade the heatsink too, may do a custom cooler. i want good chips and drivers.

 

[Xagor]

maybe it would just be easier to put in a driver with less current output and in doing that increasing the leds efficiency.

 

[pop22]

i considered that. the problem is the spectrum is too heavy in red. i figure i'd have a damn fine light with CREE or OSRAM leds! expensive maybe, but half the cost of a commercial lights with cree chips.

maybe it would just be easier to put in a driver with less current output and in doing that increasing the leds efficiency.

 

[Xagor]

Cree and Osram sounds great, but most often these leds require reflow soldering to attach (because +- is on the backside of the led), or are you planning to get pcbs with leds already attached? You can find something like that on ebay for cree also with red and blue mixes and other stuff. e.g. http://www.ebay.com/itm/60W-Plant-G...ht-Lamp-DIY-/221336041402?hash=item3388a7f7ba But I dont think its like the newest stuff, but still much much better then 3w diodes.
Or white cobs could be an option -easy for DIY e.g. Vero29 V2 at about 50W per chip.

 

[pop22]

thanks for the info! i'm just starting research and will take my time before deciding and it will take some time to acquire the parts

Cree and Osram sounds great, but most often these leds require reflow soldering to attach (because +- is on the backside of the led), or are you planning to get pcbs with leds already attached? You can find something like that on ebay for cree also with red and blue mixes and other stuff. e.g. http://www.ebay.com/itm/60W-Plant-G...ht-Lamp-DIY-/221336041402?hash=item3388a7f7ba But I dont think its like the newest stuff, but still much much better then 3w diodes.
Or white cobs could be an option -easy for DIY e.g. Vero29 V2 at about 50W per chip.

 

[GoeRilla]

Cob leds is the new and maybe better thing. Look at your driver and chose cob acording to it´s output.
Warm white cobs seemes to be the best for flowering. More info can be found at ICmag

Rilla.

 

[pop22]

as long as you buy 1st bin or quality chips yes. just saw a youtube vid testing several samples or ebay bought Chinese COBs. ALL were junk! people hook them up and see lots of light, they must be good right? WRONG! by testing with minimum voltage applied then slowly raised, he showed that 30% or more of the chips didn't even light up! it was so bad,
( and i believe from more than one seller ), that i personally won't buy a chip or a light from china with COBs! they are all garbage on ebay! maybe from an online business that only sells leds i'd consider it.

i'll find the vid again and post it, its an eye opener, yet not surprising.

also, for this project, it would be simplest to just upgrade chips and drivers. upgrading just the drivers might gain a bit but i want a light with a high PAR output. we all know that the chips are way under driven in Chinese lights because they want no warranty returns...... but will the ones in my light run at 55-65% of rating? i may try that before i upgrade. if between running say 20/4 then 12/12 you average 16hrs a day you'll run your light for 5840hrs/yr. if 50,000hr life is reasonably accurate, i light should be good for almost 10 years! hell, i'll be lucky to last another 10 years......
Contrary to what the Chinese light sellers are telling you, the chip are NOT being driven to the peak of efficiency.

so if i shorten the life by 1/2, i don't care, the light owes me nothing at this point!

Cob leds is the new and maybe better thing. Look at your driver and chose cob acording to it´s output.
Warm white cobs seemes to be the best for flowering. More info can be found at ICmag

Rilla.

 

[Xagor]

we all know that the chips are way under driven in Chinese lights because they want no warranty returns......

First hit ebay for "3W led red":
Forward Voltage(V): Typ 2,4
If = 750mA
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1W-3W-High-...93407586?var=410225960376&hash=item19e3a4c062
So 2,4V x 0,75A = 1,8W ->max.

Running at max situation would be like: If you have a panel with 150x 3W led only red, the power draw of the panel will be about: 270W.
Blue and white have a higher Vf, so in a mix the power draw with all leds at max will be about 300-330W.

What did your panel pull from plug?
Have you looked inside, maybe you dont have to change the driver(s) when you upgrade.

as long as you buy 1st bin or quality chips yes. just saw a youtube vid testing several samples or ebay bought Chinese COBs

There is no need to buy chinese junk cobs at all. You can find plenty of brand quality stuff, thats not even much more expensive but lightyears ahead.
For inspiration you could ask google for "vero grow" or "cxa grow" or "cxb grow". You can find pleeenty of grows, diy and reports.
Also nichia has some nice stuff, but is not that much used.

 

[pop22]

as long as you buy 1st bin or quality chips yes. just saw a youtube vid testing several samples or ebay bought chinese COBs. ALL were junk! people hook them up and see lots of light, they must be good right? WRONG! by testing with minimum voltage applied then slowly raised, he showed that 30% or more of the chips didn't even light up! it was so bad,
( and i believe from more than one seller ), that i personally won't buy a chip or a light from china with COBs! they are all garbage on ebay! maybe from an online business that only sells leds i'd consider it.

also, for this project, it would be simplest to just upgrade chips and drivers. upgrading just the drivers might gain a bit but i want a light with a high PAR output. we all know that the chips are way under driven in chinese lights because they want no warranty returns...... but will the ones in my light run at 55-65% of rating? i may try that before i upgrade

Cob leds is the new and maybe better thing. Look at your driver and chose cob acording to it´s output.
Warm white cobs seemes to be the best for flowering. More info can be found at ICmag

Rilla.

thanks, good info!

And the history of this light:

** BEWARE**!! this brand is still being sold!

the light: King "900" watt grow light
claimed to have 150, "6"watt chips.... i checked, NO ONE makes 6 watt chips. anyway i got it on auction. got it and hooked it up to my watt/hr meter ( similar to the Kilawatt model ). the draw is 247 watts. so 150 chips must be three watt chips.

i reported this to ebay as fraud, after the seller refused to answer emails regarding the chips and power useage. i got a full refund and the seller got booted. i also got the light......

chips: unknown no id
drivers: unknown, bogus model numbers on them, no info found online about these drivers.
the heat sink is just a flat plate of aluminum. so i have a nice housing with junk parts. if i rebuild it as i'd like it, it may cost a bit, but at least i'd know what i have!

First hit ebay for "3W led red":
Forward Voltage(V): Typ 2,4
If = 750mA
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1W-3W-High-...93407586?var=410225960376&hash=item19e3a4c062
So 2,4V x 0,75A = 1,8W ->max.

Running at max situation would be like: If you have a panel with 150x 3W led only red, the power draw of the panel will be about: 270W.
Blue and white have a higher Vf, so in a mix the power draw with all leds at max will be about 300-330W.

What did your panel pull from plug?
Have you looked inside, maybe you dont have to change the driver(s) when you upgrade.


There is no need to buy chinese junk cobs at all. You can find plenty of brand quality stuff, thats not even much more expensive but lightyears ahead.
For inspiration you could ask google for "vero grow" or "cxa grow" or "cxb grow". You can find pleeenty of grows, diy and reports.
Also nichia has some nice stuff, but is not that much used.

 

[GoeRilla]

Yoy could buy a cheap multimeter and measure the data about the drivere to se if they can be of use.
Then use then with some Nichia 108 which has a good price compared to Vero and Cree.
I have bought some Artic 64 and Artic 11 processor coolers that is quite inexpensieve and just fit one cob each.
I now believe that that solution will be better and cheaper than any other chinese red and blue lamp of the same watt´s.

Rilla.