Lighting where to start?? led how to work out cobs for drivers??

[BlueDream]

id like to start my own led build and have been browsing about but still havnt figured out how to work out what driver i will need or what i am looking for.. ideally id like to go with cob led so this is the style im after

then ideally id lke to know how id choose a driver for a 30w chip...? what are you lookin for when selecting your chip?? lumens, watts

so lets say i pick a 15w iwant 10 of them on a board so that is 150w led... or 4 100w chips that ive seen what is that equiv to..? hid wise? can i run all of them off one driver?? do i need multiple drivers?

then after selcting them you only need a board to mount the leds on to.? how do you mount them? super glue, drill fix?? and is that the basics... you can add heat sinks to the board they sit on correct?? and also computer fans onto the same board or close to and just taking heat away from the board?.. power supply is that direct to the led driver or do you take it to a switch and then transformer then driver to led..? or just power supply to driver to led..?

 

[BigSm0]

welcome aboard bluedream.

I would say 95% of DIY cob building is all layed out for us to work with. When interest in a build comes up there are only 2 main things you need to know. Square footage your trying to cover and budget. With those 2 things the rest is fairly simple. A good figure is roughly.

The goal is 20-30 par watts per square foot. Cree and citizen cobs are very efficient when driven properly and produce more par watts then less expensive cobs. Therefor less cobs are needed to meet those needs. As you can probably tell DIY isn't a quick overnight thing after this reply but it well worth the effort.

If you could answer those 2 questions above it would make it a lot easier for myself or other diy'ers to help. Also be sure to check out the DIY safety thread stickied above. No glue or tape please.

 

[BlueDream]

wicked @BigSm0

well id like to have a standard... for a 1.2m2 because all tents ive got are in that square ratio...
and budget... welll pay a cheap price.. pay for it twice.. so im not saying im a millionaire but in a few months i wont hesitate on what to buy for the ideal light... even if i get the bits bit by bit...
ive looked at spectrum king but thought id rather have a go myself after seing some peoples designs/conversions...
the main factor for me wanting to do my own is to have the diferrent colours seperately and one mixed one... so ideally i want a veg a flower and a full spectrum.. ill start with the veg colour first.. anything above 6000k??

 

[KonopCh]

Btw, these COBs on your picture are not worth money.
Look for higher quallity chips like CREE, Citizen, Vero and forget cheap ebay chips.

But this silver driver on picture is okay to run 1 COB. I've got two with 1,8A, I think efficiency is 88 or 89% and power factor 95%. For 10€ it's good choice.

 

[BigSm0]

This is an excellent place to start.

Most people stick to 3500k veg and flower. Even though it does benefit both there is also a little sacrifice. But that sacrifice is on paper as far as I'm concerned. Plenty of 1.5gpw grows with 3500k. I mainly use white cobs 3500k but my lights have supplemental LEDs surrounding the cobs which are perfect veg and continue to add in flower too.

8-12 Cree 3590's in that area would give you exactly what you would need. The cost is around $100 per cob including the driver and heatsink.

2 options that I really like are either timbergrowlights.com for basically premade kits or
Northern grow lights for great prices on individual parts

 

[BlueDream]

This is an excellent place to start.

Most people stick to 3500k veg and flower. Even though it does benefit both there is also a little sacrifice. But that sacrifice is on paper as far as I'm concerned. Plenty of 1.5gpw grows with 3500k. I mainly use white cobs 3500k but my lights have supplemental LEDs surrounding the cobs which are perfect veg and continue to add in flower too.

8-12 Cree 3590's in that area would give you exactly what you would need. The cost is around $100 per cob including the driver and heatsink.

2 options that I really like are either timbergrowlights.com for basically premade kits or
Northern grow lights for great prices on individual parts

what a video will defo reference back to this when the time comes...

so do i want the 36v or 72v?? and then isit a single driver per led or is there one big driver or can i interlink them?
many thanks

 

[BlueDream]

well ive just come across the solarstorm 880.. liking the uvb button.. and the solarsystem 550.. programmable with different modes.. and presaved settings.. very pricey tho but if i could make something a lil smililer to the 880 that would be good... so can i just put normal uv tubes in the room ??

 

[BigSm0]

I'm not a fan of blurple led companies.

The photo below is one of my flower rooms using Amare technologies
Cree 3070 cobs top bin
Cree xp-e2 and g2 leds surrounding the cobs
And built in uv tube.
5 year warranty, best customer service in the industry and a spectrum that really works. 3 switches and 2 power cords. Perfect for a 4x4 space with the perfect amount of light and intensity without any hot spots.

Best part is afn members get 20% off. DIY for me is more for building what manufacturers don't. They can't create hundreds of lights to fit everyone's needs. I have built tons of lights and working on 3 more right now too. 2,4 & 7 foot bars and another square frame. The Amares are my primary light though.

 

[Dion]

what a video will defo reference back to this when the time comes...

so do i want the 36v or 72v?? and then isit a single driver per led or is there one big driver or can i interlink them?
many thanks

dude....

1st you don't want cxa even cxb is now outdated

2nd it doesn't matter which variant you take, it only effects ur driver choice

3 if u use chinese drivers they r only around 88% efficient so for every 100w you use only 88 are making to the LED. Mean well HLG are 94% much better

4 as @BigSm0 has tried to explain you should choose your cobs 1st then match your drivers, then match your heatsink

because how much light you need dictates how many cobs u need, how many cobs dictates what/how many drivers, the drive current/total wattage will dictate how big of a heatsink you need


google my name and DIY LED and you will see a 4 page write up covering all your questions.


here are some popular drivers

http://eu.mouser.com/Search/Product...irtualkey63430000virtualkey709-HLG185H-C1400B

http://eu.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Mean-Well/HLG-240H-C1400B/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMtWuggIubTlf7UNAwy5pg3QfE4QBKU6p7Q=

 

[BlueDream]

dude....

1st you don't want cxa even cxb is now outdated

2nd it doesn't matter which variant you take, it only effects ur driver choice

3 if u use chinese drivers they r only around 88% efficient so for every 100w you use only 88 are making to the LED. Mean well HGL are 94% much better

4 as @BigSm0 has tried to explain you should choose your cobs 1st then match your drivers, then match your heatsink

because how much light you need dictates how many cobs u need, how many cobs dictates what/how many drivers, the drive current/total wattage will dictate how big of a heatsink you need


google my name and DIY LED and you will see a 4 page write up covering all your questions.


here are some popular drivers

http://eu.mouser.com/Search/Product...irtualkey63430000virtualkey709-HLG185H-C1400B

http://eu.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Mean-Well/HLG-240H-C1400B/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMtWuggIubTlf7UNAwy5pg3QfE4QBKU6p7Q=

wicked got it...