Anyone using COB/Cree LEDs in micro?

[Nick1450]

Just like the title says, I'm wondering if anyone can share some experience with using cob or cree bulbs in a cabinet grow. My box deminsions are 13"x24"x30" so I'm cramped for space but it's the most I can work with at the moment. The specs on all the different lighting options are giving me a headache.

So basically is there anyone around my size running those types of lights? Which ones? What watts? How much heat? Any better ideas? I almost went cfl but started getting interested in the smaller led setups.

Btw, I'm not very good with diy or electricity so try and keep it idiot friendly for me if we start talking about building cob lights or something.

 

[heckler73]

I have a 10W neutral-white cheapo chinese vegging my baby bagseed, right now.

 

[Nick1450]

I have a 10W neutral-white cheapo chinese vegging my baby bagseed, right now.
View attachment 3561818

Only 10w? Are COBs effective at flowering or only veg?
I love the little hydro buckets btw

 

[heckler73]

Only 10w? Are COBs effective at flowering or only veg?
I love the little hydro buckets btw

Yah, only 10W for the moment.
I'm going to be adding a special combo to it next week, so it will have 20-40W on it for the full grow.
The rule of thumb seems to be ~40W/sq.ft. but in these tight spaces, I think one can get away with less.

Not a bad recycling of tobacco cans, eh?
I've got more of them, too, with proper grommets for the tubing so I don't need to screw around with silicone.

Maybe I should sell them to the locals. Player's fine-cut Mini-DWC systems
I knew those cans would come in handy for something other than storing nuts and bolts.

EDIT: and YES, you can most certainly flower with them. Go look at the LED section for samples of what the "big boys" do with their damn 1500W rigs. They shimmer more than a jewellery shop! I've grown tomatoes, orchids, tobacco, basil, parsley...uhhh some other shit... all under LEDs. They are the future.

 

[Positivity]

Well you need something low profile..

Hans panel is good but hard to recommend knowing how well cobs work. Still its plug and play and would work well I'm sure
http://www.bonsaihero.com/index.php/ledgrow-led-panel-85-w

or..of course...just build two cpu cooler cob setups. Should cover the area more than well enough and is a good way to get your feet wet building these things. Little fancier would be maybe two passive heatsinks instead of the cpu cooler. Circulation fan blowing at it if need be. one driver, one cob, one heatsink...make 2. Low voltage, safe, and pretty darn easy.

 

[heckler73]

Well you need something low profile..

Hans panel is good but hard to recommend knowing how well cobs work. Still its plug and play and would work well I'm sure
http://www.bonsaihero.com/index.php/ledgrow-led-panel-85-w

or..of course...just build two cpu cooler cob setups. Should cover the area more than well enough and is a good way to get your feet wet building these things. Little fancier would be maybe two passive heatsinks instead of the cpu cooler. Circulation fan blowing at it if need be. one driver, one cob, one heatsink...make 2. Low voltage, safe, and pretty darn easy.

VGA coolers are great for the 10W chips. I've got mine running off the same rail from the ATX power supply.

 

[Nick1450]

Hmm so would 30w/sq ft be a good balance in heat and light for a 12x24x30" box?

Well you need something low profile..

Hans panel is good but hard to recommend knowing how well cobs work. Still its plug and play and would work well I'm sure
http://www.bonsaihero.com/index.php/ledgrow-led-panel-85-w

Yeah that's pretty nice but I couldn't find a price on it. If it's not too much more expensive id really consider going that route. But from what I've heard it's way cheaper to DIY a COB light. Does the same 40w/sq ft rule apply for those leds?

 

[Nick1450]

Yah, only 10W for the moment.
I'm going to be adding a special combo to it next week, so it will have 20-40W on it for the full grow.
The rule of thumb seems to be ~40W/sq.ft. but in these tight spaces, I think one can get away with less.

Not a bad recycling of tobacco cans, eh?
I've got more of them, too, with proper grommets for the tubing so I don't need to screw around with silicone.

Maybe I should sell them to the locals. Player's fine-cut Mini-DWC systems
I knew those cans would come in handy for something other than storing nuts and bolts.

EDIT: and YES, you can most certainly flower with them. Go look at the LED section for samples of what the "big boys" do with their damn 1500W rigs. They shimmer more than a jewellery shop! I've grown tomatoes, orchids, tobacco, basil, parsley...uhhh some other shit... all under LEDs. They are the future.

Okay so if I was to run a cob setup would it be better to run 1 60w-80w or 2 30w-40w? Maybe some smd5050 side lighting down the road? I'm finally starting to pull all my pieces together. The future for Nick1450 is looking up!!!

 

[Positivity]

It was $240 with shipping when I looked. Thats some coin but it does have separate channels so you could possibly control the growth a bit better.
Tasty led, one of the advertisers here might have a good light for your space. Not sure of the dimensions, it may eat up a lot of headroom.

40w a sq/ft is a safe bet with something like the hans. With the diy cobs you'd have a hard time going over 40w total in that area.

heres a example of a similar sized space as yours running at 40w. It can't take much more light than that without ill effects.







You can check this thread out too..it shows some of the things done to put it together.
https://www.rollitup.org/t/cob-spectral-research-microcab.838578/

I wouldn't copy the setup though, its a old thread and the cobs were pushed too hard for the area. Just good for cob mounting, joining wire with wagos, adding a plug, a fan, etc...

 

[Nick1450]

It was $240 with shipping when I looked. Thats some coin but it does have separate channels so you could possibly control the growth a bit better.
Tasty led, one of the advertisers here might have a good light for your space. Not sure of the dimensions, it may eat up a lot of headroom.

40w a sq/ft is a safe bet with something like the hans. With the diy cobs you'd have a hard time going over 40w total in that area.

40w total? And that could get me all the the way to harvest with 2 plants scrog'ed? Okay I read through a good bit and seen how things got a little crispy with 40w. Great work btw. I loved the thread. So maybe do 4 10w cob?

 

[Positivity]

yeah...these are one of the highest binned led out, cree cxb 3590 5000k db bin. Over 200 l/w supposedly at the current they are running. About 350ma and 12.5w each in the picture....3 at 500ma and 18w each with a dimmer would be about the perfect light for the space. Could passive cool it relatively easy too.
But...that light goes up to 115w..so you can over build it at 36w each and use a dimmer if anticipating a bigger space in the future. Options...thats why I said just get your feet wet..haha

the room used to have about 80w of t5 which grew nice stuff in the area. The cobs cut the power in half and growth is better on top of that. Might be able to go up to 50w at peak flower...60w at the most. So if thinking of these new cobs aim at 60w being the highest needing a dimmer for smaller plants, less foliage. Or 40w max without dimmer from seed

 

[Abiqua]

Hmm so would 30w/sq ft be a good balance in heat and light for a 12x24x30" box?



Yeah that's pretty nice but I couldn't find a price on it. If it's not too much more expensive id really consider going that route. But from what I've heard it's way cheaper to DIY a COB light. Does the same 40w/sq ft rule apply for those leds?

2x Vero 29 4k $27 each [Digikey]
Meanwell LPC 1050 $27 [Jameco, TRC electronic]

Cpu Coolers work well, but need a 5v power supply for 1050ma, imho....Passive like @Positivity suggested is possible, especially thru HeatsinkUsa.com

Some kind of case or "frame" to mount all your goodies into a light....most people are using L angle aluminum from Home Depot for example.

1050 mA current
That would give you about 37 watts a cob @44-46% efficiency.... and your space 2.16 sq. ft, should give you about 16-17 PAR watts/sq ft....

I run a tad over 15 PAR watts /sq ft in a 3.5 sq. ft cab....32" height....3x Cobs 123 watts...I run past the lights at times, I laugh at cannabis

I blog about my builds and have a few put together with concise photos...check em out

 

[heckler73]

Okay so if I was to run a cob setup would it be better to run 1 60w-80w or 2 30w-40w? Maybe some smd5050 side lighting down the road? I'm finally starting to pull all my pieces together. The future for Nick1450 is looking up!!!

In small spaces, less will probably be more. Go for the duals if you don't want to spread the power with 10W chips.
But as Positivity noted, you will probably be pushing the limits of tolerance if you run that much light in such a tight space. LEDs are not wimpy; they will scare your plants with their intensity, especially if you go with the CREEs (as opposed to Zhong Guo Cheapos).

 

[Positivity]

Just like the title says, I'm wondering if anyone can share some experience with using cob or cree bulbs in a cabinet grow. My box deminsions are 13"x24"x30" so I'm cramped for space but it's the most I can work with at the moment. The specs on all the different lighting options are giving me a headache.

So basically is there anyone around my size running those types of lights? Which ones? What watts? How much heat? Any better ideas? I almost went cfl but started getting interested in the smaller led setups.

Btw, I'm not very good with diy or electricity so try and keep it idiot friendly for me if we start talking about building cob lights or something.

heres something i posted elsewhere for a similar/same question...might help you or others..

16" x 24" area...

3 cobs run really soft. This would be like something I recently built but a little more fine tuned for the space.

here is a high end build 203 l/w


3 cree cxb 4000k 3070 bin bd. You could use 3000k, 3500k and others but the 4000k should be a letter better for a short space.

'CUTANDROLL' discount code for cutter.

http://www.cutter.com.au/proddetail.php?prod=cut2814

or jl@kingbrite.cn. Email jerry at kingbrite and tell him you want a 36v 4000k cxb 3070 or whatever you prefer. Vero 18 and 29s are more affordable with a similar power draw. Also ask him to be put on a email list for a full list of cob offerings and prices.

or pacific light concepts. They have the bjb holders in stock also. Only 3500k option but still a great spectrum

http://www.pacificlightconcepts.com/product/cxb-3070-3500k/

1 HLG-60H-36b. $38

60w driver to run 3 leds in parallel. 1.7a current will split into 3 leds. 566ma per led giving 20w per cxb 3070

https://octopart.com/search?q=npf-60d-36&start=0


1 18" heatsink. 5.375" profile $45

http://www.heatsinkusa.com/8-460-wide-extruded-aluminum-heatsink-with-t-slots/

ideal 3070 cob holder $2
https://octopart.com/search?q=ideal 50-2234&start=0

thermal grease. $8
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000OGX5AM?keywords=thermal paste&qid=1449883893&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

Splice a power cord onto driver. Drill holes and tap or self tapping screws for holders. Run pos and neg wires in parallel. You can use a standard 18g lamp cord for a nice driver led out extension for a remote driver to save space. You can drill through heatsink and install eyebolts with nuts to hang the light. Plug in.

Also the HLG is a dimmable driver so you can attach a $5 100k potentiometer from amazon or eBay. If one COB fails the others will be able to handle the current without being damaged. You'll probably need to dim it even at just 30w a sq/ft depending on plants size and such. This light could hit the max and min lighting requirements.

it should run cool enough to not need more than a circulation fan aimed at it.

Just one possible way. You can build it cheaper but this is my particular way of going about it.

One other thing...

Do 3 3070s and run them at 1050ma in series on a HLG-120h-C-1050. You would get about 115w draw and would double the output of the light. Thats how the light in the pic is setup. Way too much light for a small area but could be dimmed down to whatever you need. Double the light for your money and one less COB

https://octopart.com/search?q=hlg%20...1050&start=0#_

Cree cxb 3590, 3070, and 2540 are all good options that would work with these drivers. 3070 and 3590 have the most availability in high performing bins.

Veros 18 and 29 are also good more affordable options that would work but the data sheets don't show as high a efficiency number when driven softly. Some are showing that may not be the case.



edited to 3 leds and a better driver. options are wide..

 

[Waiks]

After seeing Bueno Time hit 1gpw with vero 10's I decided it was the way to go in my 16" x 36" x 30" cab.
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=284309
He's on this forum also, but more active over there from what I've gathered lurking lol.
I liked the use of multiple smaller wattage cobs spread nicely across the canopy. It's also more forgiving if you have a stretchy girl go nuts on you when you're away and she gets real close to the cobs.
I use 12 cobs and 12 monochromes, which equals 142 watts over 3.9 sq/ft. So 36w/sqft
People who have flowered with v10's say they can get the girls as close as 4 inches to the light without ill effects.
I've had em at 5-6" since day 1 flower and nothing wrong so far 2 weeks in.
I have cxb3070s running at 1.4a in another setup also, but can't have the cobs closer than 10 inches. Obviously could get em closer if you ran em softer.
Here's the light. I forget the exact cost but it was under $200 for sure.

vero 10's are 9 watts each at typ. vf 350ma, which is where I run them. If I were to do it again I'd get fatter heatsinks so I don't have to have 4 fans on top lol. I haven't measured the heatsink temp to see if it's really necessary but I don't mind em too much as they provide a nice breeze for the canopy.

Everything everyone else posted is golden as well!! This is just my experience. Like you said, there are a lot of options But once you decide on a configuration and make it and grow some fat dank buds under it you won't even remember that headache!

 

[Nick1450]

heres something i posted elsewhere for a similar/same question...might help you or others..

16" x 24" area...

3 cobs run really soft. This would be like something I recently built but a little more fine tuned for the space.

here is a high end build 203 l/w


3 cree cxb 4000k 3070 bin bd. You could use 3000k, 3500k and others but the 4000k should be a letter better for a short space.

'CUTANDROLL' discount code for cutter.

http://www.cutter.com.au/proddetail.php?prod=cut2814

or jl@kingbrite.cn. Email jerry at kingbrite and tell him you want a 36v 4000k cxb 3070 or whatever you prefer. Vero 18 and 29s are more affordable with a similar power draw. Also ask him to be put on a email list for a full list of cob offerings and prices.

or pacific light concepts. They have the bjb holders in stock also. Only 3500k option but still a great spectrum

http://www.pacificlightconcepts.com/product/cxb-3070-3500k/

1 HLG-60H-36b. $38

60w driver to run 3 leds in parallel. 1.7a current will split into 3 leds. 566ma per led giving 20w per cxb 3070

https://octopart.com/search?q=npf-60d-36&start=0


1 18" heatsink. 5.375" profile $45

http://www.heatsinkusa.com/8-460-wide-extruded-aluminum-heatsink-with-t-slots/

ideal 3070 cob holder $2
https://octopart.com/search?q=ideal 50-2234&start=0

thermal grease. $8
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000OGX5AM?keywords=thermal paste&qid=1449883893&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

Splice a power cord onto driver. Drill holes and tap or self tapping screws for holders. Run pos and neg wires in parallel. You can use a standard 18g lamp cord for a nice driver led out extension for a remote driver to save space. You can drill through heatsink and install eyebolts with nuts to hang the light. Plug in.

Also the HLG is a dimmable driver so you can attach a $5 100k potentiometer from amazon or eBay. If one COB fails the others will be able to handle the current without being damaged. You'll probably need to dim it even at just 30w a sq/ft depending on plants size and such. This light could hit the max and min lighting requirements.

it should run cool enough to not need more than a circulation fan aimed at it.

Just one possible way. You can build it cheaper but this is my particular way of going about it.

One other thing...

Do 3 3070s and run them at 1050ma in series on a HLG-120h-C-1050. You would get about 115w draw and would double the output of the light. Thats how the light in the pic is setup. Way too much light for a small area but could be dimmed down to whatever you need. Double the light for your money and one less COB

https://octopart.com/search?q=hlg%20...1050&start=0#_

Cree cxb 3590, 3070, and 2540 are all good options that would work with these drivers. 3070 and 3590 have the most availability in high performing bins.

Veros 18 and 29 are also good more affordable options that would work but the data sheets don't show as high a efficiency number when driven softly. Some are showing that may not be the case.



edited to 3 leds and a better driver. options are wide..

I REALLY like the second idea, with the dimmer setup then I could upgrade in the future without to much hassle. (As I do plan on upgrading once I get some grows under the belt.) if I did the 3070 at 1050ma would I be able to get the plants pretty close with them dimmed down?

 

[Positivity]

I REALLY like the second idea, with the dimmer setup then I could upgrade in the future without to much hassle. (As I do plan on upgrading once I get some grows under the belt.) if I did the 3070 at 1050ma would I be able to get the plants pretty close with them dimmed down?

Yep...the dimmer will put the light level where it needs to be if the light has more photons than the space can take.

Using more of the leds capacity is a good idea usually. Less cost for more available light. Up to a point...before your making a high powered flashlight/highbay and not a normal grow light.

either 3070 or 3590..whichever has a better bin/performance. Since the 3590 came out with a 36v version they can be used same as a 3070.

The difference in ideas is that the low powered, parallel one, will be a low voltage setup and good practice with just enough light for the space.

Second setup with 3 in series and higher current will be high voltage. You will need to more careful and thoughtful with your building.

either one...I'd go second and be careful...

@Waiks
good call on the vero 10s and buenos builds....I always forget about the smaller cobs.

 

[heckler73]

 

[heckler73]

She's filling in, nicely.

 

[Nick1450]

View attachment 3568517

She's filling in, nicely.

Looking good! Is that still under 10w?