Earl Dean Smooter
Well-Known Member
been reading through this and other lighting posts... what is the difference between 13.5 watt" cool white "par38" screw-in led and cree led lights ?
CFL Budget, LED alternerative!
- Thread starter FrozenChozen
- Start date
FrozenChozen
Well-Known Member
PAR-Photosynthetic Active Radiation-number denotes "How much"
Wattage- A way to measure how much electricity something uses over a given period of time (voltage/amperage=wattage)
Cool white- Description of color temperature, the cooler the color the higher on the kelvin scale (3000k= red/orange/yellow , 6500k= blue/white/daylight)
Cree-(a specific brand, like PEPSI or COCO-COLA) A company that makes very high quality LEDs
Hope I helped...
Earl Dean Smooter
Well-Known Member
Thanks Frozen that info helped a lot ! I'm new to this indoor growing...haven't grown outdoors for years either 
I'm learning thanks to the good people here at rui
I'm learning thanks to the good people here at rui
epicfail
Well-Known Member
That is a meaning of "PAR" yes but in this case it means Parabolic aluminized reflector light, 38 being its size. PAR 64 is, nominally, 64 eighths of an inch in diameter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parabolic_aluminized_reflector_light
FrozenChozen
Well-Known Member
I threw a few more babies in there, and another single soft white Feit cob....
I'm really not impressed with the cool white "multi-cob"...
My widow is definitely growing nicely under the soft white, IMO better than with cfl's.... I think I should quit breaking for a week or two and let her recover, its been a daily thing for the last week.
I'm really not impressed with the cool white "multi-cob"...
My widow is definitely growing nicely under the soft white, IMO better than with cfl's.... I think I should quit breaking for a week or two and let her recover, its been a daily thing for the last week.
FrozenChozen
Well-Known Member
thank you epic! That's something that I did not know!
FrozenChozen
Well-Known Member
I'm definitely seeing more growth than with cfl! These screw in cobs are doing great... I have read that they're driven at 140ma.... seems like they could handle a bit more if they had active cooling.... A question to the LED gurus: not having a multimeter may make this difficult, but what voltage are these likely being driven? I have a cheap Chinese panel that has TONS of dead diodes.... would it be "worth it" to rip open that Chinese job, gut the drivers, and fans from that, and take cobs from the screw-ins attach those to heat sinks and run 'em that way?
I'm mulling it all over, and I don't even know what Vf of the cobs are, for that matter I don't know what the drivers put out either, and they have no writing on them... Maybe I answered my own question... I'll probably end up ripping the drivers out and re-using them for something else anyway... more pictures soon
I'm mulling it all over, and I don't even know what Vf of the cobs are, for that matter I don't know what the drivers put out either, and they have no writing on them... Maybe I answered my own question... I'll probably end up ripping the drivers out and re-using them for something else anyway... more pictures soon
FrozenChozen
Well-Known Member
I have 2 3000k cobs, each driven 140ma at most likely ~ 2.5-3.0Vf, (right?)..... I have a wall wart that provides 7.5 V DC @150ma... Is it a bad idea if I run them in a series off that wall wart versus the E27 socket, it seems "more efficient"? Should I throw in one more cob in the series (to be @2.5 v DC 150ma each)? Should I run just one cob with that wall wart? Can anyone provide insight on this? I know I'm being a bit "ghetto", and that's fine by me... CFL budget, remember? Anyway, any and all advice would be appreciated....
FrozenChozen
Well-Known Member
$17, one cob with broken solder pads, a solder burn on my leg, and a ruined pair of pants say that 7.5 v is not enough, shit even 12 v is not enough.... Back to the drawing board....
FrozenChozen
Well-Known Member
These Feit Electric cobs are killing it! I wish I could drive 'em just a bit harder than 140ma though.....
twelve days under a couple of these screw-in cobs:
twelve days under a couple of these screw-in cobs:
FrozenChozen
Well-Known Member
so for any one who's checking in on this, I decided to gut an old generic panel with 300 one watt diodes. It has 6 unlabeled unmarked drivers and 2 banks of 4 each 12V pc fans along with the two 120V AC to 12V DC power converters... The panel
is probably from 2005 and has only 2 strings of leds that work. I deduced it down to a "300 watt" Chinese panel that runs a bit lower than 300.... so each driver has to be around 50 watts right?
I found an old automotive multimeter and hit a screwed in cob with it while it was live: 36.1V....
Well fuck it I said, I decided to tap into one of the drivers that I knew worked and hit the cob I removed from the screw in the other day
It lit up instantly.... After a second or two I decided that it was good, off she went.... Fans blasting right on the factory heat sink I figure why not "test it" for an hour... Its already brighter than the screw in, what's the worst that could happen? After all I had it plugged into a true surge protector..... 90 minutes of test and it ran cooler and brighter than the one I screwed in at the same time (obviously it ran cooler it was being actively cooled!)
My multi meter wasn't getting a reading on the driver.. don't know why though....
So I ripped a driver out and soon a fan bank, power supply, and possibly a different heat sink... How long does anyone think this safe to run? Is it safe? Is it all just a waste of time and effort? Does anyone pay attention to this thread? Anyway, I'll put some more work in tomorrow, with hopes of still retaining my "cfl budget" goal
is probably from 2005 and has only 2 strings of leds that work. I deduced it down to a "300 watt" Chinese panel that runs a bit lower than 300.... so each driver has to be around 50 watts right?I found an old automotive multimeter and hit a screwed in cob with it while it was live: 36.1V....
Well fuck it I said, I decided to tap into one of the drivers that I knew worked and hit the cob I removed from the screw in the other day
It lit up instantly.... After a second or two I decided that it was good, off she went.... Fans blasting right on the factory heat sink I figure why not "test it" for an hour... Its already brighter than the screw in, what's the worst that could happen? After all I had it plugged into a true surge protector..... 90 minutes of test and it ran cooler and brighter than the one I screwed in at the same time (obviously it ran cooler it was being actively cooled!)
My multi meter wasn't getting a reading on the driver.. don't know why though....
So I ripped a driver out and soon a fan bank, power supply, and possibly a different heat sink... How long does anyone think this safe to run? Is it safe? Is it all just a waste of time and effort? Does anyone pay attention to this thread? Anyway, I'll put some more work in tomorrow, with hopes of still retaining my "cfl budget" goal
Last edited:
FrozenChozen
Well-Known Member
Happiness ensues!
After some careful detective work, I found out the panel was only 90 watts
.... With 6 drivers that's about 15 watts a piece! That's right where I wanted, and a bit more work led me to the discovery that they run nearly exactly where I want them to 400ma (417ma) and 36 volts, reasonably that means two cobs per driver and they still put out at nearly double what they do out of the box! Since I have 6 working drivers, and only 4 cobs at the present time I think 1 each is in order, plus my fan banks are in 2 sets of 4, a single bank will make cooling this mess a breeze!.... Tomorrows quest is a few heat sinks some thermal epoxy and some way to case it all up..... This is turning out GREAT!
After some careful detective work, I found out the panel was only 90 watts
.... With 6 drivers that's about 15 watts a piece! That's right where I wanted, and a bit more work led me to the discovery that they run nearly exactly where I want them to 400ma (417ma) and 36 volts, reasonably that means two cobs per driver and they still put out at nearly double what they do out of the box! Since I have 6 working drivers, and only 4 cobs at the present time I think 1 each is in order, plus my fan banks are in 2 sets of 4, a single bank will make cooling this mess a breeze!.... Tomorrows quest is a few heat sinks some thermal epoxy and some way to case it all up..... This is turning out GREAT!
FrozenChozen
Well-Known Member
So.... there is no thermal epoxy in alaska thats under $75... time to get ghetto fabulous! Here is one in test phase... 4 hours so far and i'm lookin at about 95F on the heat sink.... Easily its twice as bright as out of the box!
FrozenChozen
Well-Known Member
thermal epoxy is on the way, along with some other vitals (more flux, heat shrink tube, iron tips)..... Think I'm gonna go find some 4X4 rain gutters and mount 2 cobs along with the drivers in 18" of it, then make another exactly the same and rig 'em up together with my fan psu that'll power 4 of 'em....
Update on the Widow:
She is loving life under two of theses cobs! I almost have her mainlined.... Not sure if that's the route I want to take though, I think I may just go for it though!
She definitely is growing much faster under these than CFLs....
Update on the Widow:
She is loving life under two of theses cobs! I almost have her mainlined.... Not sure if that's the route I want to take though, I think I may just go for it though!
She definitely is growing much faster under these than CFLs....
FrozenChozen
Well-Known Member
Its been a week, might as well check in.
Did a little upgrade in the mini fridge so I could fit a few more cuttings and a few seedlings.... Added 1 more Feit screw in LED.... That's 3 @ 9.5 watts each now, and the only bad thing I have seen is the uptake of extra calcium/magnesium.... Still feeding with MG liquid cactus feed....
DEFINATELY better than CFL!
the first column in the first picture (3 furthest to the left) are Trainwreck X Sour diesel.... The other 2 in the same container are Critical Mass
Container 2 has 3 1996 white widow clones
You can see the HST really taking hold! I had to wrap her in some "Coban" medical tape to get her back together, I almost feel like I should mainline her....
Did a little upgrade in the mini fridge so I could fit a few more cuttings and a few seedlings.... Added 1 more Feit screw in LED.... That's 3 @ 9.5 watts each now, and the only bad thing I have seen is the uptake of extra calcium/magnesium.... Still feeding with MG liquid cactus feed....
DEFINATELY better than CFL!
the first column in the first picture (3 furthest to the left) are Trainwreck X Sour diesel.... The other 2 in the same container are Critical Mass
Container 2 has 3 1996 white widow clones
You can see the HST really taking hold! I had to wrap her in some "Coban" medical tape to get her back together, I almost feel like I should mainline her....
FrozenChozen
Well-Known Member
I have been mixing training techniques, hst, lst, and a bit of mainline madness, along with a bit of super cropping.... This bitch is a stout short beauty!
I redesigned one cob to sit on an actively cooled heat sink, its running warmed up at 415 ma...
quadruple out of the box! I got the heatsink running COOL to the touch (room is 80F heatsink is 70F)
Flower time is nearing.... I'd like to see what 2 of these babies can yield in a cab like this!
I redesigned one cob to sit on an actively cooled heat sink, its running warmed up at 415 ma...
quadruple out of the box! I got the heatsink running COOL to the touch (room is 80F heatsink is 70F)Flower time is nearing.... I'd like to see what 2 of these babies can yield in a cab like this!
FrozenChozen
Well-Known Member
I have no clue but my infrared thermometer hasn't been wrong yet! I only have a 12v pc fan running at 200ma, its hard even for me to believe.... The cobs are only running about 415ma so I'd imagine any amount of active cooling helps! Next I plan on adding in a few Chinese 3watt 450nm (blue) chips, I'll run 'em off of a cell phone charger wall wart....
FrozenChozen
Well-Known Member
I've seen a HUGE uptake in calcium and magnesium this week, I have upped to 450ppm with 75ppm as cal-mag, adding these red and blue ebay chips has done something! Training continues as she continues to fatten, these cobs are keeping awesome internode space, leaves are already glistening in the light.
slowly and surely building some "ghetto panels" fyi that one with the cob on the right is mounted in to an xbox 360 case piece.... I hate all the cords....
slowly and surely building some "ghetto panels" fyi that one with the cob on the right is mounted in to an xbox 360 case piece.... I hate all the cords....