WTF is COB lighting?
- Thread starter kushkilla
- Start date
dandyrandy
Well-Known Member
I made mine out of corn cobs.... Wait for it.... Well not funny I know. The avatar is Vero 29 cobs. Just a bunch of LEDs stuck together I guess at the die level. Very efficient and not cheap. Long lasting and for small grows seem to work well. I grow for myself and in an area 46" x40" I get 800 g's or better depending on what I am running. The TGA 3d clone I keep in a 5 gal bucket I get 6 zips of bud. 6 buckets. But I grow several strains so it varies. I just chopped some 3d, blue dream and SSH. I have 2 rails 40" long with 4 cobs per rail. They also dim. I use around 100 cfm of air to cool the LEDs. I keep the within a foot.
SupraSPL
Well-Known Member
In a nutshell, COBs are very large LED arrays for a much cheaper cost/PAR W than single diodes. Because they are cheaper we can afford to run them at lower power. When you run LEDs at low power the efficiency increases significantly (current droop). So the idea is run them very efficiently to reduce waste heat in your grow. If you run them hard it will decrease the up front cost of the build and it will still significantly outperform HPS.
You can control the light intensity and spread/uniformity by tailoring your design for your space. What it all comes down to, if you run your COBs very efficiently (56% efficiency) you cut the best performing HPS Watts in half and get the same job done. To make an extreme comparison, a 64% efficient LED setup can cut your Wattage by 66% and get the same job done, if you compare against 250 HPS.
@Growmau5 recently documented just over 2 g/ dissipation W in 63 days, running COBs at 64% efficiency. My best was 1.48 g/ dissipation W in 56 days also running at 64% efficiency, in recycled soil. So that gives you some idea what the lights are capable of. What gpw do you typically get from the HPS setup?
You can control the light intensity and spread/uniformity by tailoring your design for your space. What it all comes down to, if you run your COBs very efficiently (56% efficiency) you cut the best performing HPS Watts in half and get the same job done. To make an extreme comparison, a 64% efficient LED setup can cut your Wattage by 66% and get the same job done, if you compare against 250 HPS.
@Growmau5 recently documented just over 2 g/ dissipation W in 63 days, running COBs at 64% efficiency. My best was 1.48 g/ dissipation W in 56 days also running at 64% efficiency, in recycled soil. So that gives you some idea what the lights are capable of. What gpw do you typically get from the HPS setup?
dandyrandy
Well-Known Member
What he said. I'll catch up a bit with the new cxb3590 build Supraspl. Thanks for all the experimentation.
This is something I want to do for my next cycle. Heat is my #1 problem with 550w in about 20sq ft. I usually pull a bit over a gram per, but its not exact because I harvest in stages. Is there a DIY or link that can explain in detail the process of building a COB light and what components are needed?/Thanks
ttystikk
Well-Known Member
It's pretty corny.
ttystikk
Well-Known Member
Awww shit beat me to it. Ain't that just the cornhole.
ttystikk
Well-Known Member
We might be able to help you start looking in the right direction if you can tell us what your goals are besides heat reduction. Is power very expensive where you are? If so, a very high efficiency approach would pay for itself very quickly, but would confer little comparative advantage wherever kilowatts are cheap.
dandyrandy
Well-Known Member
QUOTE="kushkilla, post: 12163054, member: 30227"]This is something I want to do for my next cycle. Heat is my #1 problem with 550w in about 20sq ft. I usually pull a bit over a gram per, but its not exact because I harvest in stages. Is there a DIY or link that can explain in detail the process of building a COB light and what components are needed?/Thanks[/QUOTE]Tons of diy threads in the led section. Realstyles is one.
PerroVerde
Well-Known Member
churchhaze
Well-Known Member
PSUAGRO.
Well-Known Member
Ha ha..............I was waiting for it.
littlejacob
Well-Known Member
Bonjour
Don't forget led strip light...lol!
You have 550w in 20sq/ft...how can you cover that space with only 22.5w sq/ft!??
And sorry but I don't get how you diy 400 & 600hps?
You mean you made the reflectors yourself to be able to change it often?
Have a great day ★!
Don't forget led strip light...lol!
You have 550w in 20sq/ft...how can you cover that space with only 22.5w sq/ft!??
And sorry but I don't get how you diy 400 & 600hps?
You mean you made the reflectors yourself to be able to change it often?
Have a great day ★!
No. Correction 550w in a closet space. I said I have a DIY 150w and 400w. It's simple as purchasing ballast, bulbs, ceramic sockets,wiring, mounting hardware and building. All locally sourced.
Thank you
littlejacob
Well-Known Member
Bonjour
I didn't know wiring a ballast and plug a bulb was called diy...sorry!
If like me you were using hps...cob will bring you to a brand new level!!!
It is some amazing lights...no shit...nothing like "full spectrum" monos or blurple lights...i like to call the cob "the gpw makers"...give some cxb or vero to a newbie and he will pull more gpw than average grower with his hps...I saw it...1st grow...1.1gpw in organic soil! Crazy!
CU
I didn't know wiring a ballast and plug a bulb was called diy...sorry!
If like me you were using hps...cob will bring you to a brand new level!!!
It is some amazing lights...no shit...nothing like "full spectrum" monos or blurple lights...i like to call the cob "the gpw makers"...give some cxb or vero to a newbie and he will pull more gpw than average grower with his hps...I saw it...1st grow...1.1gpw in organic soil! Crazy!
CU