Can i ask something here ?? really intrigued with Cob's but something is on my mind i see everyone is mixing spectrum's to there Diy units
As a 1215 watt Nanolux growers running 4 of them i am looking to add 3 full spectrum lights in-between them which do you honestly think would be better COB or CMH
I been looking at both spectrums it appears CMH has a more rounded spectrum in the lower end as well in the upper end or am stoned lol ..
Either way could someone please be kind of enough to give me your imput ?
been looking at nano CMH plug and play,, Please note i am not looking for efficiency as i do own a gas Guzzling SUV.. but i want a honest opinion what route should i go as in cost and Overall performance how much would it cost to make same units in cob COB present prices
Nano 315 CMH 323 bucks
Nano 630 CMH 550 bucks
I understand what you mean when you say you are not prioritizing efficiency. The direct electrical savings of LED vs HID is only a small portion of the profit from growing Canna, but there is another important consideration which is heat. COBs can get the same job done with 1/3 the heat of HPS and 1/2 the electrical cost. If that is something that interests you then believe me COBs are for you and up front cost be damned because it is a small portion relative to the profit. In other words, if reducing heat can increase your productivity and reduce your overhead at the same time, then COBs are where its at.
As far as spectrum goes, it has proven to be almost irrelevant compared to efficiency, uniformity and intensity. CMH is 92 CRi, COB is 80 CRi, no worries either way you will get super dank bud if you can keep the canopy temps under control and grow dank varieties. You can get 90-97 CRi COBs, but the photon count really suffers leading to a much lower yield and a huge increase in non productive heat. They are great for photography though.
CMH is a great tech for growing cannabis, but not when compared to COB for these reasons, which are common to all HIDs:
low efficiency (upper 30% range for CMH)
significant reflector losses
bulb and reflector depreciation
poor uniformity
825nm infrared heat radiated into the canopy
Using COBs you can bring your canopy PPFD up, canopy temps down, improve bud quality, improve uniformity, reduce reflector losses, reduce non productive heat load by 66%, reduce electrical cost by ~ 50%, reduce/eliminate AC electrical costs, reduce ventilation air flow, improve stealth/security.
You could build a 200W COB test unit and then scale it up if you like the results. If you are not into DIY you could order commercial COBs or have one custom designed/built for your space.