Have any of you DIY COB Growers finished a crop under 1000W DE HPS? - POLL

Have any of you DIY COB Growers have actually finished a crop under 1000W DE HPS?

  • Yes

    Votes: 33 29.5%

  • No

    Votes: 79 70.5%
  • Total voters
    112
jijiandfarmgang said:
I've been rocking Gavitas for a few years now (since before they were cool.) I'm happy with them.

I would like to try a CXB3590 setup. I'm always so friggin busy, plus I have a hard time making up my mind on how large to go, and how to customize.

My personal opinion is that Gavita is geared towards commercial greenhouses. It just so happens that this works pretty well for indoor growers. And it works kind of okay (better than most) for Tent growers.

Homebrew CXB3590 setups aren't going to take over commercial greenhouses by storm. But I have seen some pretty impressive tent grows.

So where does that leave the indoor grower that has moved past the closet/grow tent?

- Jiji
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This is EXACTLY my line of thinking? I run a few gavita 6/750 's for a little over a year now. Now this cob diy comes along and iam considering getting into them. I just know absolutely nothing about them. All these numbers and drivers and shit. Its confusing as hell. I been growing for a very long time....i feel like a rookie with this cob lighting. Is it worth it? How much money and time and tools and shit? I want to grow dope not build space age new lights.
 
jijiandfarmgang said:
I've been rocking Gavitas for a few years now (since before they were cool.) I'm happy with them.

I would like to try a CXB3590 setup. I'm always so friggin busy, plus I have a hard time making up my mind on how large to go, and how to customize.

My personal opinion is that Gavita is geared towards commercial greenhouses. It just so happens that this works pretty well for indoor growers. And it works kind of okay (better than most) for Tent growers.

Homebrew CXB3590 setups aren't going to take over commercial greenhouses by storm. But I have seen some pretty impressive tent grows.

So where does that leave the indoor grower that has moved past the closet/grow tent?

- Jiji
Click to expand...

I invite you to have a look at my thread in order to see a potential answer to your question. I'm building a sizeable array of CXB3590 chips in order to determine their potential for large scale use. Link in my signature line.
 
cdgmoney250 said:
We need par readings comparing the "best" COB setup vs a similar wattage DE at ranging distances to put this debate to rest.



Sure I can. The PAR readings don't lie guys. In a 4x4 area there might be 2-3sq ft of 900-1000 umol( 600W Horti HPS) at a distance where temps are ok(22"). The Par drops off so much, using the reflectors I have in my grow space, towards the outside of the 4x4 space. I'm only getting about 200-300 par on the outer edges of my space 22" below the reflector. There is probably close to 10 sq ft under each of my 600W (4x4) that never receives more than 500 umol. If I'm able to give the entire canopy, every square inch, at least 850-950 umol's then I could see increasing my yield per plant by close to 50% at least 25% minimum.
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not even a fair fight. 1000W of cobs would be spread out and give not only higher average ppfd but also perfect uniform coverage. i could prove you wrong with measurements, but physics is on my side
 
Guys, in all reality, HPS will slowly Improve over the next 5 years. I doubt there will be anything still other than the DE.
LEDs on the other hand, man
.. WHO KNOWS.
But my point is, where that being the case, CXB3590-'s we all love SO much will be OLD news and new Cobs will be available by then. The real test will be if the people wanting to do large scale grows, will remember just how awesome these little chips are, Right Now. Because 5 years from now, cxb3590''s will be super fuckin cheap and will "seem" obsolete to other LEDS cobs available at that time, Making a 20' x30' cob grow not really that expensive if they did use them.
It''s already doable with vero18's, but Cree has a special place in our hearts.
;)
 
BOBBY_G said:
not even a fair fight. 1000W of cobs would be spread out and give not only higher average ppfd but also perfect uniform coverage. i could prove you wrong with measurements, but physics is on my side
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I admit that the 860W CDM lamps are not the most efficient, but I did the straight watt for watt swap and my back of the envelope calculations tell me I'll be getting almost DOUBLE the PAR from my COB LED modules. There's no way that won't make a big impact on my results.
 
BOBBY_G said:
not even a fair fight. 1000W of cobs would be spread out and give not only higher average ppfd but also perfect uniform coverage. i could prove you wrong with measurements, but physics is on my side
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Sorry, but I don't really know what you are referring too.
And that quote was taken out of context.

What am I wrong about again?
 
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cdgmoney250 said:
Sorry, but I don't really know what you are referring too.
And that quote was taken out context.

What am I wrong about again?
Click to expand...

I didn't see it, either.

I liked the point you made about yields with low cost equipment. It's inefficient as fuck, but until something- ANYTHING- comes along that outperforms it, that's what growers will use because maximizing yield is THE name of the game when growing high profit crops.

Efficiency is nice, but yields pay the bills.
 
I've ran all sorts of lighting, I prefer the new COB/LES chips. de will put out alot of light no doubt, but it comes with a ton of unnecessary heat. If i had only 1100w to use i could use a de fixtture over 4x4 or so, but id go with cob/les lighting in 4x8 and cover double the space with the same amount of power, more light and way less heat.
 
ttystikk said:
I admit that the 860W CDM lamps are not the most efficient, but I did the straight watt for watt swap and my back of the envelope calculations tell me I'll be getting almost DOUBLE the PAR from my COB LED modules. There's no way that won't make a big impact on my results.
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Now run those same lamps on hortilux platinum ballasts /
 
I don't understand why people constantly say LED won't translate to large commercial grows. I have yet to see a photo of a commercial grow where it wouldn't work great with the right design. Sure the upfront costs are more but the long term saving are huge.
 
captainmorgan said:
I don't understand why people constantly say LED won't translate to large commercial grows. I have yet to see a photo of a commercial grow where it wouldn't work great with the right design. Sure the upfront costs are more but the long term saving are huge.
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Im pretty sure the cobs would kill it, but having the balls to change over is a real scare. Thats just real talk. Ive tried to calculate the savings in my head. Based on lets say an 800 watt array would replace ones 1000 watter maybe a 600 watt array i don't know being I've never ran one, only have you guys to go by. That alone would save some money. Might even be able to take off 3000 watts the way I'm thinking. And then theres the cooling. Still going to need cooling, cuz burners run pretty warm, but you'd might not use as much cooling. These are all the thoughts that go through my head.
 
dbkick said:
soon to find out, the low freq is the important part, square wave a bonus to light quality.
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I'm going to pick this lil nit; without the square wave part, the whole thing isn't worth doing in the first place. But I'll fuckin bring popcorn to watch a grow with one of those things slammin' an 860W CDM lamp, especially now that I know the fuckers here are really getting 1000W from my mags anyway!
 
a mongo frog said:
Im pretty sure the cobs would kill it, but having the balls to change over is a real scare. Thats just real talk. Ive tried to calculate the savings in my head. Based on lets say an 800 watt array would replace ones 1000 watter maybe a 600 watt array i don't know being I've never ran one, only have you guys to go by. That alone would save some money. Might even be able to take off 3000 watts the way I'm thinking. And then theres the cooling. Still going to need cooling, cuz burners run pretty warm, but you'd might not use as much cooling. These are all the thoughts that go through my head.
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These plus better spectrum and more points of light sold me. I gotta finish getting mine set up and then we'll see what happens.
 
i have some 600w hortilux ballasts even with my og hood it wont compare to my CX-9. I'm selling/sold my hids on craiglist and going with the new stuff. I expect to hit very near 2gpw in the next few grows without running co2 or hydroponics. pic of CX-9 day 54 JohnsonGrowLights.com I couldn't be happier with this light.

IMG_0861.JPG

edit= same day pic light off
IMG_0873.JPG
 
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cdgmoney250 said:
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nice nugs bizcolorado , but for me the way to tell is what it looks like in a jar after dry / cure, I have seen gigantic buds shrink to nothing after drying. Not saying yours did!! but since I have experienced it myself, the fresh look, or simply the look for that matter, doesnt mean much compared to actual weight on the scale per square ft of canopy. Still, very nice nugs man!
 
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