Any COB builders around? Best guides?

GreenLeafKief

GreenLeafKief

Member
1. Should an amateur with no wiring experience be building an LED grow light?

(former cell phone/laptop/PC tech, so not a dummy, just not experienced with this)

2. Are there people here willing to buy, build, and sell to me? (legal grow)

3. Are there pre-made systems right now that are dependable and high-quality, for decent $$$?
 
T

THE KONASSURE

Well-Known Member
really all you need to do is glue or screw the cob led chips to a correct size heat sink

then glue, solder, use a bracket or what ever to wire up the drivers

then if its an aircooled unit you`ll have to sort out a fan

for $120 to $200usd they even sell a 1000w led chip, you use 4 drivers, its got screw terminals all you need is drivers and a large heatsink

they said running them @ 800 to 850w is fine I think the guy said 45v @ 5A

but I just made a 600/700w unit that uses 3 cobs to side light a bloom room with when it gets a bit cooler as I`ve already got 1400/1600w of led on in that one

still been tempted to make a 1000w 3000k or red led unit with one chip just to see how well it does
 
researching

researching

Well-Known Member
If you have that tech background then you can easily build your own. Just research, watch some videos and enter the project with confidence. Exit the project with pride.
 
GreenLeafKief

GreenLeafKief

Member
300w kit is 500** (edit), I think the most I would be willing to spend NOW would be 300 or so :(

May double it up in the future/supplement
 
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VenomGrower6990

VenomGrower6990

Well-Known Member
GreenLeafKief said:
BTW limit of power usage is about 400watts guys
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Cobkits.com has light engines that are pre assembled and all you would need to do is buy a driver. Sure he would even help you with some good advice. Northern grow lights has assembled units but looks to be mostly sold out but you can still go look and see when they will have more in stock. Both places sell the Cob led lighting. Just a couple examples you might check out.
 
Uberknot

Uberknot

Well-Known Member
It's a piece of cake and you can get kits that are priced pretty much the same or less as you would pay buying all the pieces. Just make sure you go step by step and read everything you can about how to do it properly and you should be fine.
 
GreenLeafKief

GreenLeafKief

Member
VenomGrower6990 said:
Cobkits.com has light engines that are pre assembled and all you would need to do is buy a driver. Sure he would even help you with some good advice. Northern grow lights has assembled units but looks to be mostly sold out but you can still go look and see when they will have more in stock. Both places sell the Cob led lighting. Just a couple examples you might check out.
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hey I appreciate the concrete tips
 
GreenLeafKief

GreenLeafKief

Member
Given responses here and in my other more-open question thread, I think the only competition for the 300-watt COB setup in a 3x3 tent would be a 315-watt CMH @33000 lumens......thoughts?
 
Uberknot

Uberknot

Well-Known Member
GreenLeafKief said:
Given responses here and in my other more-open question thread, I think the only competition for the 300-watt COB setup in a 3x3 tent would be a 315-watt CMH @33000 lumens......thoughts?
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I don't think that's even close.

300 watts of cobs is a lot of cobs....
 
Budley Doright

Budley Doright

Well-Known Member
I'm thinking of building one as well but I did come across this for $260 and wondering if it would be good to play with image.pngimage.pngI've been reading a bit but to truly understand the power limits and colors I need to do a bit more reading, about a years worth it seems lol
 
T

THE KONASSURE

Well-Known Member
iHearAll said:
nice whats the actual power draw?

nvm i looked. its not posted
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If I had to bet I`d say 70w to 100w per cob

probably just has 5 x 100w drivers or one 600w driver if your lucky 1000w china made lights are normally like 300 to 500w draw max

fitting the cobs to the heatsink is a lot like fitting a cpu to a heatsink

then its just wires to the driver and driver to mains

some need cooling if you can`t afford passive heatsinks sometimes using an old hid aircooled hood is cool, fit up your leds in that and use a turbo fan or your extract line to cool the cobs and drivers
 
iHearAll

iHearAll

Well-Known Member
these are built onto recycled wood and flooring. (and a magnum 357 panel) they're each ballasted with bubblegum and shoelaces. theyre each ballasted where a single AC capacitor is being used as a power resistor that emit no waste into heat. then rectified the AC into DC so the LEDs can be run on 90-100v DC in series. the big light is 6 red in series and 3 blue + 1 white in series. i got the LEDs a few years ago and got around to building it recently. so its balasted on 5$ worth of parts and works like a charm. 20160701_130920.jpg CIMG2334.JPG CIMG2335.JPG CIMG2337.JPG CIMG2455.JPG
 
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