COB Build with Extruded Aluminum Heatsink idea?

[Randomblame]

If I lose a fan, I'm assuming I'll lose the COB not long after? If a COB drops out wIll the driver adjust current or would you recommend an inline fuse?
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Could you just sandwich a strip of aluminium plating in between the COB & Heatsink unit (thermal paste in between) so you could have 4 on a strip?
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How could you connect them for ease of lowering or raising ect? So you only had to use one set of rachet pulleys?
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Thanks for the help.

(8x $4.60)COB's + (8x $3.49)heatsinks + ($110)driver
=
~$175 ($174.72)

Not bad for a 4'x2' 165-170lm/w build.. Thinking about it..

If you run the COB's at ~40w and a fan fails Tcase would increase to around 70° maybe 80 but thats still within the limits and COBs would'nt be damaged. I've use Vero29gen5 at 1050mA on Arctic Alpines without fans and temps stabilized around 65°C. With gen.7 temps would stay below 60°C.

Build a frame to mount the heatsinks and get a few rope-ratchets as hanging kit(5,60$ e3ay). You could do it like wiete has done it and use alli channels. You can add the fans on the backside of the alli channels.
But you can also use bigger channels and cool them passively. To keep 4 COBs @1050mA cool enough you could use 50x 40x 50mm c-channels in 4ft length. Such a aluminum channel would have ~3100cm² cooling surface and you could make a frame with 4 such alli bars. To keep them cooler and reuse the heat you could add a small fan to the ceiling and let him blow downwards acoss the whole fixture. Such a set-up would be fail safe because it can work completely without fans.

You could use two HLG-320H-C2100B's and use 8 COB's connected in 4s2p(4 in series 2 times in parallel). Would be 300w net., 37,5w per COB and 630-660w at the wall.

 

[ChiefRunningPhist]

If you run the COB's at ~40w and a fan fails Tcase would increase to around 70° maybe 80 but thats still within the limits and COBs would'nt be damaged. I've use Vero29gen5 at 1050mA on Arctic Alpines without fans and temps stabilized around 65°C. With gen.7 temps would stay below 60°C.

Build a frame to mount the heatsinks and get a few rope-ratchets as hanging kit(5,60$ e3ay). You could do it like wiete has done it and use alli channels. You can add the fans on the backside of the alli channels.
But you can also use bigger channels and cool them passively. To keep 4 COBs @1050mA cool enough you could use 50x 40x 50mm c-channels in 4ft length. Such a aluminum channel would have ~3100cm² cooling surface and you could make a frame with 4 such alli bars. To keep them cooler and reuse the heat you could add a small fan to the ceiling and let him blow downwards acoss the whole fixture. Such a set-up would be fail safe because it can work completely without fans.

You could use two HLG-320H-C2100B's and use 8 COB's connected in 4s2p(4 in series 2 times in parallel). Would be 300w net., 37,5w per COB and 630-660w at the wall.

I like the ceiling fan idea. Thanks for info I didn't know how well heat would conduct to the heat sink through the aluminium frame (was the aluminium frame the real heat sink and the cooling fans were just superfluous, ie didn't need to buy), sounds like its no problem and worth the spend.

As for the (2) 320h drivers? Why 2? Am I missing something? I was thinking of (1) 320h 36a and running them all in parallel? @ 37.5w/COB to maximize efficacy, around 170 lm/w? How would u run 8 COB's @ 37.5w/ (300w) but have the wall draw be twice that (630-660)? Thanks for reply.

 

[ChiefRunningPhist]

I mounted 6 COBs to an extruded aluminum strip and mounted 2 CPU coolers on top. Works great.

Even with the fans off they are fine. Although temperature goes up somewhat then (ie slightly lower efficiency). Plus I like the airflow from the fans (@9V) to spread the warm air from the leds over the canopy.

In my case I was reusing old CXB3070 COBs and mixing them at 3 different wattages, which made for much more complex wiring than when you simply use the same COBs at the same amps.

View attachment 4244597

Still, simply buying high efficiency led strips and adding an extruded aluminium profile on top is a lot less work and gives better uniformity.

nice

 

[Randomblame]

I like the ceiling fan idea. Thanks for info I didn't know how well heat would conduct to the heat sink through the aluminium frame (was the aluminium frame the real heat sink and the cooling fans were just superfluous, ie didn't need to buy), sounds like its no problem and worth the spend.

As for the (2) 320h drivers? Why 2? Am I missing something? I was thinking of (1) 320h 36a and running them all in parallel? @ 37.5w/COB to maximize efficacy, around 170 lm/w? How would u run 8 COB's @ 37.5w/ (300w) but have the wall draw be twice that (630-660)? Thanks for reply.

I only mentioned them because the HLG-600 is only available in CV/CC but if you plan parallel wiring you could use the HLG-600H-36 and use just one bigger driver. 3 HLG-240s or two HLG-320s are probably a little cheaper and you could use only half the COB's in veg or make two independent fixtures. This can be useful if you have more strains in your tent and need different hanging heights.

 

[Rocket Soul]

One obvious build i havent seen around is mounting led chips (strips or cobs) on a long square/rectangular alu channel, so that you could push air thru the alu channel and then extract the outside of the grow room. A bit extra work but then you have more control over your temps and youd have a supply of hot air to direct sonewhere in your op.

 

[Randomblame]

Yeah, I have seen such fixtures using connected rectangular aluminum tubes and a blower fan blowing air in one end of the tubes. The hot air coming out on the other side could be ducted to outside just like with a cooltube or an air cooled hood. You can also reuse the heat to heat up the root zone in winter or to heat up the room where your tent is.

400w is enough to keep my 16m² room at ~23°C at night(I do night runs), doors and windows are closed, heater off and temps outside the house are around 0° currently.
When I visit the room in the morning its warmer in there like the rest of my apartment, lol! Humidity can go up to 85% with windows closed and I need such a high room RH because inside my cab the RH is only between 65 and 70% at canopy level.
I need the dehumidifier only in the last few weeks to keep the humidity ~50% when the lights are off; the rest can be controlled by opening/closing windows. I'm using CO2 to compensate for the closed windows and doing it this way safes me a lot energy for AC and dehumidification. I could use a small humidifier to increase the humidity inside the cab but in this case I would need open windows otherwise I would have 90+% RH in the morning. In summer I don't need closed windows cuz warm air can hold more water and its a lot easier to keep the humidity in a healthy range.

 

[Rocket Soul]

What does youre CO2 solution look like? Do you have any good ideas on a low cost system?

Yeah, I have seen such fixtures using connected rectangular aluminum tubes and a blower fan blowing air in one end of the tubes. The hot air coming out on the other side could be ducted to outside just like with a cooltube or an air cooled hood. You can also reuse the heat to heat up the root zone in winter or to heat up the room where your tent is.

400w is enough to keep my 16m² room at ~23°C at night(I do night runs), doors and windows are closed, heater off and temps outside the house are around 0° currently.
When I visit the room in the morning its warmer in there like the rest of my apartment, lol! Humidity can go up to 85% with windows closed and I need such a high room RH because inside my cab the RH is only between 65 and 70% at canopy level.
I need the dehumidifier only in the last few weeks to keep the humidity ~50% when the lights are off; the rest can be controlled by opening/closing windows. I'm using CO2 to compensate for the closed windows and doing it this way safes me a lot energy for AC and dehumidification. I could use a small humidifier to increase the humidity inside the cab but in this case I would need open windows otherwise I would have 90+% RH in the morning. In summer I don't need closed windows cuz warm air can hold more water and its a lot easier to keep the humidity in a healthy range.

 

[Randomblame]

What does youre CO2 solution look like? Do you have any good ideas on a low cost system?

Yepp, I simply use old 2,5l demi water bottles and fill them with 400g sugar and 2l hand warm water(30-35°C) and shake them until all sugar is dissolved. Then I add one tee spoon turbo yeast to each bottle and shake them again.

Such a sugar/yeast bottle lasts around a week and I've two of them in my groom. Every 4 days I add new bottles and let the old bottles further inside the lung room untill they are empty which takes another 4 days. They produce more CO2 in the first few days and then the process slows down and untill 8 days all the sugar is converted into alcohol. But it depends on the ambient temps, higher temps means it goes faster! Such a sugar/turbo yeast mix can reach up to 20% alc.

I already consider getting a moonshiner, lol! 8 liters of 20% mash each week ... Man, that's enough for at least 2-3l good moonshine, lol! With a 8 week cycle ~5gal. of additional moonshine with each run. I don't know how much you guys pay for moonshine but I can imagine around 100bucks per galone maybe?
If mash cooking just would not stink like that... Not that at the end the tax authorities grab me as they did with moonshiner in the good old 20's..

Ah, and before I forget..
I've drilled a hole in each bottles lid and put a 4mm hose in the lid. The other end of the hose is mounted behind one of my box fans using calbe ties. This way the CO2 is directly mixed with the sourrounding air and the fan blows it across the canopy so that all plants can use it. Because CO2 is heavier than air it drops just down on the floor without mixing fan and would behave almost like water.
When the level reach ~800ppm you can even smell the CO2. Its smells like dry ice... Somehow like in a 80s disco when they used a fog maschine for their laser shows. Next thing is to buy a cheap CO2 meter.
I've seen a few cheaper ones for around 70-150$ on e3ay.

 

[ChiefRunningPhist]

Yepp, I simply use old 2,5l demi water bottles and fill them with 400g sugar and 2l hand warm water(30-35°C) and shake them until all sugar is dissolved. Then I add one tee spoon turbo yeast to each bottle and shake them again.

Such a sugar/yeast bottle lasts around a week and I've two of them in my groom. Every 4 days I add new bottles and let the old bottles further inside the lung room untill they are empty which takes another 4 days. They produce more CO2 in the first few days and then the process slows down and untill 8 days all the sugar is converted into alcohol. But it depends on the ambient temps, higher temps means it goes faster! Such a sugar/turbo yeast mix can reach up to 20% alc.

I already consider getting a moonshiner, lol! 8 liters of 20% mash each week ... Man, that's enough for at least 2-3l good moonshine, lol! With a 8 week cycle ~5gal. of additional moonshine with each run. I don't know how much you guys pay for moonshine but I can imagine around 100bucks per galone maybe?
If mash cooking just would not stink like that... Not that at the end the tax authorities grab me as they did with moonshiner in the good old 20's..

Ah, and before I forget..
I've drilled a hole in each bottles lid and put a 4mm hose in the lid. The other end of the hose is mounted behind one of my box fans using calbe ties. This way the CO2 is directly mixed with the sourrounding air and the fan blows it across the canopy so that all plants can use it. Because CO2 is heavier than air it drops just down on the floor without mixing fan and would behave almost like water.
When the level reach ~800ppm you can even smell the CO2. Its smells like dry ice... Somehow like in a 80s disco when they used a fog maschine for their laser shows. Next thing is to buy a cheap CO2 meter.
I've seen a few cheaper ones for around 70-150$ on e3ay.

Good idea!

 

[Randomblame]

Good idea!

Hehe! Yeah, I hate wasting any form of resources.
Maybe I will build my own 5gal copper boiler or I simply take a cheap ebay kit made from stainless steel. A 5gal. steel boiler with all the required parts costs only around 200 bucks. Very hard to build one yourself with less than that.

I just need to add some wheat and rye meal to the sugar/water mix to tease out the typical corn flavors. Instead of storing it for years in wooden barrels you can flavor it hundred times faster with 10mm wooden cubes. An old wine barrel produces thousands of cubes and the ripening with a few added cubes just takes a few days instead of a few years.

The first 200ml's are usually methyl and needs to be tipped off. But you can store it in bottles and when its enough you can reduce it further and turn it into methanol. So you can continue to use almost everything you put in and make money of it...
You could also use cheap sunfllwer oils and convert it into bio fuel. You make a lot more money with it but if they catch you it gets really expensive. Minimum 5 grand, max probably 5years or so, lol!

 

[GBAUTO]

Hehe! Yeah, I hate wasting any form of resources.
Maybe I will build my own 5gal copper boiler or I simply take a cheap ebay kit made from stainless steel. A 5gal. steel boiler with all the required parts costs only around 200 bucks. Very hard to build one yourself with less than that.

The moonshiners in my area say the copper helps to remove sulfur from the alcohol.

 

[Randomblame]

Yeah, less filtering needed with cooper and it heats up much faster and more evenly compared to steel.
But these guys usually think bigger than me. If I try it then it will only be one with 2-5gal cauldron.

 

[KonopCh]

@Randomblame did you measure CO2 levels? Do you have a meter?

 

[Randomblame]

@Randomblame did you measure CO2 levels? Do you have a meter?

Nope! No meter yet! But I found a pretty cheap one on e3ay(70€). If you want I can give you the part number but as usual when you order directly from china it will take a few weeks and there is a risk the device gets lost.

Art.-No.: 113341918891

 

[E2DX]

Pretty cool this thread is little over a year old and still sparking interest, I left not long after a few post living situation changed and had to bounce. Sold some of my stuff on the craigslist and traded for a moped. So the project was scrapped. So now i see new generation of Veros Crees Quantum boards ect and its starting to spark my interest again, just finding it hard to sort thru post when hijacking, shit posting, slander and off topic.