Lighting Need LED expert's help.

[Timbo]

I'm like you timbo as far as a tight budget. If it was cheaper to build I would

My thinking is...by the time I order 2 Mars panels (or something similar)
I will be around $350-$400

My DIY build should be within $100 of that..
The quality of DIY cob should be worth the hassle..

being in Canada I would have to ship a anything back for warranty... So Warranty would be nice but I am guessing I would pay to ship it back and wait for repairs? So the warranty I guess isn't as important.

 

[flynfish]

My thinking is...by the time I order 2 Mars panels (or something similar)
I will be around $350-$400

My DIY build should be within $100 of that..
The quality of DIY cob should be worth the hassle..

being in Canada I would have to ship a anything back for warranty... So Warranty would be nice but I am guessing I would pay to ship it back and wait for repairs? So the warranty I guess isn't as important.

Cool. I see what you're saying. If it was me I would do it however is cheapest. Just me tho

 

[Timbo]

Cool. I see what you're saying. If it was me I would do it however is cheapest. Just me tho

This is my early guess on costs....
We will see in the end.
I could be underestimating DIY costs???

I might be back to looking for a decent manufactured led panel... Haha

 

[Timbo]

Well after hours and hours of reading and pricing I am no closer to picking out an LED light.

Here are my options so far.

1. 4 - Cree CXB3070 - 3000K cobs paired with a MeanWell HLG-185H-C1400 driver. $450 range

2. Apollo 6 -$350 range

3. Mars Reflector 96 - $300 range

4. MarsII - $350 range

Fire any options in this price range (these are Canadian prices)
Thanks guys

 

[Atulip]

DIY cob can be pretty pricey. I'm looking into it myself right now. For your space and keeping initial costs down, you could run a couple Cree cxb3590 72v cobs at 1A on a meanwell HLG 120h c1050, not as efficient as running them softer but it still blows any other LEDs efficiency away. 6sq ft of space, ~20k lumens, ~540ppfd, ~150watts. With a driver, 2 cobs, heatsink, fans, you could Probably keep it in the 250-300usd range.

I'm planning to attempt something similar for the same amount of space, 6 sq ft, converting a cheap mars led. The 300w eBay models are $65, has 2 drivers 55-100v out @700mA. With two 72v cxb3590 they should run at 52% effeciency still, and 16000 lumens, 415ppfd, ~110w. A little below optimal lighting, but should be really effecient. I'm concerned with the cheap heatsink in it, so something from heatsinkusa should keep the cobs from burning up. Total costs is looking like 250usd for everything, but I'm converting an old mars 300w I have already, so it keeps me under $200.


If you're interested in DIY Cob leds, I highly recommend watching growmau5 on YouTube. I probably wouldn't have considered diy but his videos help simplify things. Just gotta talk the misses into loosening the grow budget lol.

 

[Timbo]

I have requested some CXB3070 prices!!
Waiting for response....

Still leaning towards DIY

Can I do passive cooling with 4 CXB3070's
On a 35" x 5.8" USA heat sink? I really want to avoid fans if possible?

 

[Timbo]

DIY cob can be pretty pricey. I'm looking into it myself right now. For your space and keeping initial costs down, you could run a couple Cree cxb3590 72v cobs at 1A on a meanwell HLG 120h c1050, not as efficient as running them softer but it still blows any other LEDs efficiency away. 6sq ft of space, ~20k lumens, ~540ppfd, ~150watts. With a driver, 2 cobs, heatsink, fans, you could Probably keep it in the 250-300usd range.

I'm planning to attempt something similar for the same amount of space, 6 sq ft, converting a cheap mars led. The 300w eBay models are $65, has 2 drivers 55-100v out @700mA. With two 72v cxb3590 they should run at 52% effeciency still, and 16000 lumens, 415ppfd, ~110w. A little below optimal lighting, but should be really effecient. I'm concerned with the cheap heatsink in it, so something from heatsinkusa should keep the cobs from burning up. Total costs is looking like 250usd for everything, but I'm converting an old mars 300w I have already, so it keeps me under $200.


If you're interested in DIY Cob leds, I highly recommend watching growmau5 on YouTube. I probably wouldn't have considered diy but his videos help simplify things. Just gotta talk the misses into loosening the grow budget lol.

Atulip...your comments about blowing a prefab panel away really sold me... I gotta squeeze this build into my budget lol!!!!

 

[Atulip]

Yeah I got the same idea from growmau5. He has a video where he converts a Mars 2 400 to a 6 Cree panel. So I took apart one of my cheapo eBay lights. 4 cxb3590 36vs can run on it, but the 72vs are the same price, you just lose about 1k lumens total and only need 2 cobs instead of 4.

The heatsink inside here looks like garbage. I've gotta measure it still, but a 10" profile from heatsinkusa will fit, cut to ~8.5inches. An extra $30 keeps our expensive ass cobs safe.

I mainly wanted to try the fixture conversion because I have 5 of these LEDs. Everntually I'd like to convert them all, replace all my lighting with Cobs. Then I'd probably aim to upgrade the drivers and fans in each. Oh and according to the specs for the eBay light, it's barely 4k lumens, 2 cxb3590s at 50w each is 16k lumens. I know lumens =/= par, but I think it's safe to say the cobs are way better lol.

You end up needing a giant heatsink to run passive cooled. I'd say individual CPU coolers for each for simplicity. That also allows you to place them wherever you want. Or go for a wider heatsink. It really adds a lot of surface area. The 10" would be 21" long to run 4 cobs 36v at 1400mA passive. Or run 2 of the 5" profiles beside each other at half the length. You also have to account for the spread of these things. With 115° beam angle, that means at 1 foot high, 19" from the center of the led is at 50% light. In a 2x3 if you place them 6 inches apart and 12 inches apart long ways, you should have a really nice even coverage.

 

[jaymu104]

Yeah I got the same idea from growmau5. He has a video where he converts a Mars 2 400 to a 6 Cree panel. So I took apart one of my cheapo eBay lights. 4 cxb3590 36vs can run on it, but the 72vs are the same price, you just lose about 1k lumens total and only need 2 cobs instead of 4.

The heatsink inside here looks like garbage. I've gotta measure it still, but a 10" profile from heatsinkusa will fit, cut to ~8.5inches. An extra $30 keeps our expensive ass cobs safe.

I mainly wanted to try the fixture conversion because I have 5 of these LEDs. Everntually I'd like to convert them all, replace all my lighting with Cobs. Then I'd probably aim to upgrade the drivers and fans in each. Oh and according to the specs for the eBay light, it's barely 4k lumens, 2 cxb3590s at 50w each is 16k lumens. I know lumens =/= par, but I think it's safe to say the cobs are way better lol.

You end up needing a giant heatsink to run passive cooled. I'd say individual CPU coolers for each for simplicity. That also allows you to place them wherever you want. Or go for a wider heatsink. It really adds a lot of surface area. The 10" would be 21" long to run 4 cobs 36v at 1400mA passive. Or run 2 of the 5" profiles beside each other at half the length. You also have to account for the spread of these things. With 115° beam angle, that means at 1 foot high, 19" from the center of the led is at 50% light. In a 2x3 if you place them 6 inches apart and 12 inches apart long ways, you should have a really nice even coverage.

Got me thinking bout them cxb3070 got a price from Jerry

 

[Atulip]

I was gonna check with Jerry but since I'm just looking for 2 cobs the shipping is too much. Not a fan of Alibaba either, I like eBay for my cheap Chinese junk.

Just purchased a couple 4.85" x 7" heatsinks from heatsinkusa. If I remove the glass inside the Mars 300w, I can fit 2 of these heatsinks in here without having to remove the drivers. Then mount one 72v cxb3590 3000k on each, 2 in total, and the cheap($65) Mars 300w(140w) gets upgraded to 4x the light output at 30w less from the wall, all for around $175. Well that's the plan at least.