before I start ordering...

SupraSPL said:

Cheapo driver

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Where does the output come out of on these? I am only seeing the wires for input. I am obviously missing something...

The AC wires are not soldered on. In the bottom left of the pic you can see where they go, AC N and AC L

Rahz said:

Those Luxeon Ms would mix well with the 2700K Veros.

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These royal blue's are so powerful that you would only have a few of them to spread around, plus the plants will actively grow towards them, so the lights would have to be put higher I think.

Also, looking over the Cree-vs-Vero conversion charts MrFlux provided, the 4000K Vero is looking good. They might complement the 2700Ks better than the 3000Ks would.

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There is not much point in mixing different whites, so why not choose a single color temp to rule them all. Consider 3500K or 4000K based on the amount of blue light. The amount of red light compared to the 3000K is not that much lower. Good luck chewing things over.

I think the 2700K will produce the most 640nm light, so it makes sense to pair it up with something else as long as the lamps are close enough to mix together... even if it only makes a small difference. Pairing it with either a 5000K or 4000K at 2:1 would probably be plenty of blue for flower. The panel will primarily be a flower panel anyway.

The 5000K has more blue, but it's got a big hump in the near green. The 4000K has a slope similar to the warmer whites but with respectable blue. All other thing being equal 2700K+4000K should have a slightly better profile than 3500K alone.

Adding 5 additional lamps to the space places the emitters 8" apart and I can run them at 31 watts, well below the rating for the heat sinks I have picked out.

This is what makes sense to me. Does the fact that it's a flower lamp change your opinion? If you could choose any color and ratio for your own flowering lamp what would you put together?

^...nail my hand to a wall...

I would go with 4k and 3k with those royal blues on a dimming circuit simulating strength towards noon and then diminishing in the afternoon then a 730nm initiator to simulate sunset....

although I have been eyeballing the CXa3050 3500K diodes -52w@ 1.4A]. I was tempted for a while on a fixture and have been waiting. I was also going to go with the LPC-60-42v from the TRCelectro, 1 each per chip is a good cheap driver but I wonder what the efficiency is versus and little more quality driver?

I get stretch with Phillips 3000k but less with Cree 2700k. Weird.

Rahz said:

Adding 5 additional lamps to the space places the emitters 8" apart and I can run them at 31 watts, well below the rating for the heat sinks I have picked out.

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Yes that will make it a lot easier to keep it cool.

If you could choose any color and ratio for your own flowering lamp what would you put together?

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For me 4000K is the Goldilocks of the Vero family. For CXA it would be 3500K. Both for flowering. I did some simulations with mixing whites and concluded it's simpler to just pick one color temp. Here is one example



Abiqua (the new Stormtoker heh...), about that stretch, it's true that Cree is a lot 'bluer' than luxeon, or bridgelux, or generic asian. That might explain what happened with your plants.

MrFlux said:

Abiqua (the new Stormtoker heh...), about that stretch, it's true that Cree is a lot 'bluer' than luxeon, or bridgelux, or generic asian. That might explain what happened with your plants.

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This is what I thought at first too, but looking at this graph I made from LED Benchmark, not quite so sure at the moment..... [Although, I have SW 2700k's too, and I cannot find a separate graph other than the Xb-e datasheet, but they should be similar to the 2700k WW's]

MrFlux said:

Yes that will make it a lot easier to keep it cool.



For me 4000K is the Goldilocks of the Vero family. For CXA it would be 3500K. Both for flowering. I did some simulations with mixing whites and concluded it's simpler to just pick one color temp. Here is one example

View attachment 2946817

Abiqua (the new Stormtoker heh...), about that stretch, it's true that Cree is a lot 'bluer' than luxeon, or bridgelux, or generic asian. That might explain what happened with your plants.

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Using the term "Goldilocks" for an led spectral distribution reminds me of a brilliant-member on another site...............can it be???

Thanks MrFlux, what you're saying about mixing whites makes sense.

I'm also hoping someone with electrical skills can go over my circuit to make sure I haven't made any errors. I've used several wire gauge calculators and depending on the calculator I get either 16 or 18 gauge. I have a diagram showing the way I've planned the wiring. The 120V input is connected to a terminal strip which branches out to 3 terminal strips each supplying current to 7 or 8 drivers. Each driver will be outputting 1.05A. Total for each 2ndary terminal strip is max of 8.4A. Total being drawn from the primary strip is 24.15A.

So, 4 terminal strips with a 25A rating.
18 gauge for all wiring on the assumption that current past the primary terminal will be 8.4A

If anyone can confirm whether this is correct I would appreciate it. There's an electronics repair shop in town. I can ask for assistance there, but would feel the need to offer some money in exchange for the consult.

I talked to someone and they recommended a 30A rating for the primary terminal strip, 14 gauge wire coming off the primary strip, and 16-18 gauge wire coming off the secondary strips.

Additionally I'll need a 10 gauge cord, a new outlet, and 10 gauge wire running to the breaker box, connected to a 30A breaker.

Seems I have all the info I need to start this thing. Next post will be on the build. I'd like to document it since it may give others the incentive to start their own project.

Let us know if you start a new thread! im down to watch the journey.

Rahz said:

The 120V input is connected to a terminal strip which branches out to 3 terminal strips each supplying current to 7 or 8 drivers. Each driver will be outputting 1.05A. Total for each 2ndary terminal strip is max of 8.4A. Total being drawn from the primary strip is 24.15A.

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Wow that is some serious LED juice! Is there any way you could access two relatively unused circuits? It is pretty cheap to work with heavy duty 15A 120v outlets and timers but once you go bigger than that everything gets ridiculous (LOWES prices).

For cheap spools check these guys out. Depending on your setup you can use 50V wire on the LED side. http://www.elecdirect.com/catalog/b01942ce-879d-40d6-baca-6bb498b2a4c5.aspx

Another thing to keep in mind is that even though a driver might be running at 1.05A on the LED side, the input current on the AC side will be higher due to driver losses. Even more importantly, drivers that are not power factor corrected will require much more current on top of that. You can check this with a cheapo power meter like the Ensupra. I try to make sure not to push any circuit harder than 80% of it rating.

Once the system is built let it run for awhile and check for warm areas where unexpected resistance can crop up (timers, power strips, extension cords, junctions, outlets). Even if you find warm spots its not necessarily a fire hazard but ideally something to avoid wherever possible. I had an aquarium timer that was hotter than its counterpart and eventually it malfunctioned. No harm donel but I should have replaced it when I noticed it was much warmer than its buddy.

double post

Cool, thanks for that. I wouldn't have made the best choice. The driver I had picked out is a 60 watt unit, but no power factor correction. Same company makes a different model up to 40 watts with power factor correction but is a couple bucks more than the other unit.

It also seems the drivers are more efficient when operating closer to their rated max, another reason to go with the 40 watt driver since the cobs will be using 31 watts @ 25 Celsius.

I try to make sure not to push any circuit harder than 80% of its rating.

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Thanks for that too. I know the terminal strips are good but I'll add the extra amps into the figure and check the wire gauges again.