HydroRed's Horticultural Whorehouse

Im killing it in my momma room (roughly 40"x40") with only 200W.
The fixture measures 20" x 20" . Looking at about $200 for the complete build if you are starting from scratch. Cant say I'd flower in a 4x4 with it, but it sure vegges 4 plants very well in my similar sized area.
DSC_0197 - Copy.JPG

You can see it is well lit in there with only the 200W.
veg.jpg

Gorilla Glue momma is seeing good light from top to bottom and shes no small thin plant. Even the underbush is green and healthy.
veg 2.jpg
 
HydroRed said:
Im killing it in my momma room (roughly 40"x40") with only 200W.
The fixture measures 20" x 20" . Looking at about $200 for the complete build if you are starting from scratch. Cant say I'd flower in a 4x4 with it, but it sure vegges 4 plants very well in my similar sized area.
View attachment 4121142

You can see it is well lit in there with only the 200W.
View attachment 4121146

Gorilla Glue momma is seeing good light from top to bottom and shes no small thin plant. Even the underbush is green and healthy.
View attachment 4121147
Click to expand...
Hell yeah, thatd be perfect 1 cob per plant lol. The light I had in mind (viparspectra 900w, 418 or something actual draw) is like $250 but I'd gladly diy to save 50 bucks and get that better power draw. All honesty to get a quote I would've had to learn how to build a cob research the best price:quality components and if it wasn't cheaper it would've been wasted effort, but it looks like I now have a project to start on. If you wouldn't mind sharing your setup build just a few tweaks to get those extra square feet and it'd be perfect. I'm not gonna say that I'm an electric engineer but I'm quite comfortable with electronics, my father is an electrician and I grew up playing with circuit boards so at least I'm in the frying pan, not the fire lol.
 
Randomestguy said:
Hell yeah, thatd be perfect 1 cob per plant lol. The light I had in mind (viparspectra 900w, 418 or something actual draw) is like $250 but I'd gladly diy to save 50 bucks and get that better power draw. All honesty to get a quote I would've had to learn how to build a cob research the best price:quality components and if it wasn't cheaper it would've been wasted effort, but it looks like I now have a project to start on. If you wouldn't mind sharing your setup build just a few tweaks to get those extra square feet and it'd be perfect. I'm not gonna say that I'm an electric engineer but I'm quite comfortable with electronics, my father is an electrician and I grew up playing with circuit boards so at least I'm in the frying pan, not the fire lol.
Click to expand...

Please do show us your build ;) I'm another noob who would love to see another quality led build (just getting started on learning about how to build them myself) :eyesmoke:
 
MidWestMayhem said:
Please do show us your build ;) I'm another noob who would love to see another quality led build (just getting started on learning about how to build them myself) :eyesmoke:
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I'm right where you're at, but I'll gladly show it whenever I do start building, probably make a thread for it. Today's to-do list is probably going to be study cob builds until my eyes bleed (being a perfectionist has its pros and cons lol)
 
Randomestguy said:
I'm right where you're at, but I'll gladly show it whenever I do start building, probably make a thread for it. Today's to-do list is probably going to be study cob builds until my eyes bleed (being a perfectionist has its pros and cons lol)
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Agreed, seems we may be on the same level here haha. Been reading all the diy guides on ledgardener to start - those seem pretty intuitive. Found a 6 part (pretty long - like 6 20 min videos or something) on growmau5's youtube channel... Have watched the 1st, seems to be pretty well done as well.
 
MidWestMayhem said:
Agreed, seems we may be on the same level here haha. Been reading all the diy guides on ledgardener to start - those seem pretty intuitive. Found a 6 part (pretty long - like 6 20 min videos or something) on growmau5's youtube channel... Have watched the 1st, seems to be pretty well done as well.
Click to expand...
Yeah same, woking through the guides and stuff, the real challenge is the calculations on voltage/amperage and how it covers the area. While physically building it I wouldn't say it's easy, but rather straightforward.
 
HydroRed said:
Im killing it in my momma room (roughly 40"x40") with only 200W.
The fixture measures 20" x 20" . Looking at about $200 for the complete build if you are starting from scratch. Cant say I'd flower in a 4x4 with it, but it sure vegges 4 plants very well in my similar sized area.
View attachment 4121142

You can see it is well lit in there with only the 200W.
View attachment 4121146

Gorilla Glue momma is seeing good light from top to bottom and shes no small thin plant. Even the underbush is green and healthy.
View attachment 4121147
Click to expand...
Hey... just...curious...

Have you taken any cuts off a mom that was vegged solely under COB?
And, if so, have you noticed and differences in how long it takes them to root up?
Or any differences at all?
 
I also gotta ask how everything was 200, looked up that stuff and I was hitting over 200 not counting frame and micro management stuff
 
Randomestguy said:
I also gotta ask how everything was 200, looked up that stuff and I was hitting over 200 not counting frame and micro management stuff
Click to expand...

I had stuff from previous builds like thermal paste, wire, potentiometers and some hardware/nuts/bolts. I also bought waterproof junction boxes.

Citizen CLU048 1212 80cri 3000K-4000K if used for flower & veg:
https://cobkits.com/product/citizen-clu048-1212-80cri-gen5/

Meanwell HLG-185h-c1400B driver:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HKJOHBC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

120mm pin fin heatsinks:
https://horticulturelightinggroup.com/collections/diy/products/sst120-passive-heatsink-kit

BJB Solderless Holders:
https://cobkits.com/product/bjb-holder-for-clu048/

Thermal Pads
https://cobkits.com/product/arctic-thermal-pads-for-citizen-clu048-series/

18-20ga solid wire rated 300V can be found on ebay for under $4, 100K potentiometer from ebay $1 (bag of 10 was $11 from china), aluminum angle (12' @ $1.09 per foot, hardware/nuts/bolts etc about $10.
If you didnt have not a single piece of anything, and started the build from scratch your looking at about $210 total for a true 200W COB led light thats dimmable.
 
HydroRed said:
I had stuff from previous builds like thermal paste, wire, potentiometers and some hardware/nuts/bolts. I also bought waterproof junction boxes.

Citizen CLU048 1212 80cri 3000K-4000K if used for flower & veg:
https://cobkits.com/product/citizen-clu048-1212-80cri-gen5/

Meanwell HLG-185h-c1400B driver:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HKJOHBC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

120mm pin fin heatsinks:
https://horticulturelightinggroup.com/collections/diy/products/sst120-passive-heatsink-kit

BJB Solderless Holders:
https://cobkits.com/product/bjb-holder-for-clu048/

Thermal Pads
https://cobkits.com/product/arctic-thermal-pads-for-citizen-clu048-series/

18-20ga solid wire rated 300V can be found on ebay for under $4, 100K potentiometer from ebay $1 (bag of 10 was $11 from china), aluminum angle (12' @ $1.09 per foot, hardware/nuts/bolts etc about $10.
If you didnt have not a single piece of anything, and started the build from scratch your looking at about $210 total for a true 200W COB led light thats dimmable.
Click to expand...
Ok that makes more sense I looked at those cob chips but they were out of the 5k so I kept looking.
ones I looked at were 15 bucks and I counted it for 5 of them cuz I feel a dice pattern would be a smidgen better and cobkits was out of the 185 driver so I went for the next size up in the calculations.

Both of which would make the price balloon lol, thanks man.

Ima go run the math on what driver would do 5 of those hopefully the same one, I also should've looked more at different sites for better pricing lol. (Edit: unless they changed price recently or something that link to the heatsinks like 55 bucks 4 of em would be more than the whole setup lmao)edit: the sequel, does 'a' and 'b' style make any difference? Having a built in potentiometer seems better than buying a separate one and soldering it in, not that I'm opposed just less work, unless the a b is cc and cv specific
 
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Randomestguy said:
Ok that makes more sense I looked at those cob chips but they were out of the 5k so I kept looking.
ones I looked at were 15 bucks and I counted it for 5 of them cuz I feel a dice pattern would be a smidgen better and cobkits was out of the 185 driver so I went for the next size up in the calculations.

Both of which would make the price balloon lol, thanks man.

Ima go run the math on what driver would do 5 of those hopefully the same one, I also should've looked more at different sites for better pricing lol. (Edit: unless they changed price recently or something that link to the heatsinks like 55 bucks 4 of em would be more than the whole setup lmao)edit: the sequel, does 'a' and 'b' style make any difference? Having a built in potentiometer seems better than buying a separate one and soldering it in, not that I'm opposed just less work, unless the a b is cc and cv specific
Click to expand...
The built in dimmers on A drivers arent for constant use for dimming like an external pot is on a B driver. Thats why most folks get B driver if you need dimming.
The $200 example is for the light I built specifically. If you have 5 heatsinks, 5 cobs, 5 thermal pads,larger frame for 5 cobs etc instead of 4, and a different higher powered driver the price is obviously going to be more than I said. 4000K is working great in my veg so far.
The 1212's are 36V cobs so you will need a higher output voltage driver to run 5 cobs since the HLG185H-C1400B is only 143V output. Im pretty sure they are all CC. You would need something like the HLG240 to add additional cobs. The prices I put links up for are gonna be the cheapest you will find in the US. You will likely need to order from Alibaba in bulk to get anything cheaper.
 
HydroRed said:
The built in dimmers on A drivers arent for constant use for dimming like an external pot is on a B driver. Thats why most folks get B driver if you need dimming.
The $200 example is for the light I built specifically. If you have 5 heatsinks, 5 cobs, 5 thermal pads,larger frame for 5 cobs etc instead of 4, and a different higher powered driver the price is obviously going to be more than I said. 4000K is working great in my veg so far.
The 1212's are 36V cobs so you will need a higher output voltage driver to run 5 cobs since the HLG185H-C1400B is only 143V output. Im pretty sure they are all CC. You would need something like the HLG240 to add additional cobs. The prices I put links up for are gonna be the cheapest you will find in the US. You will likely need to order from Alibaba in bulk to get anything cheaper.
Click to expand...
yeah I realised after the fact, 5 collectively raises the price I really just picked a random cob that looked like it fit the specs at first lol, i figured it wouldn't make a huge difference but wrong choices was 300+ before i knew what i do now. Alls I meant on the heatsink is its 20 bucks on cobkit, figured there might be some error just wanted to point it out. Also yeah the 240 driver is what I'll be going for been researching all day, eyes bleeding, I think I'm finally comfortable with the parts and lingo, I'll still need to price check some of the stuff but my shopping list is looking almost complete. Pretty much just get the heatsinks from cobkits as well (unless that's why shipping would be so much) and then the rest like yours was.
 
Randomestguy said:
yeah I realised after the fact, 5 collectively raises the price I really just picked a random cob that looked like it fit the specs at first lol, i figured it wouldn't make a huge difference but wrong choices was 300+ before i knew what i do now. Alls I meant on the heatsink is its 20 bucks on cobkit, figured there might be some error just wanted to point it out. Also yeah the 240 driver is what I'll be going for been researching all day, eyes bleeding, I think I'm finally comfortable with the parts and lingo, I'll still need to price check some of the stuff but my shopping list is looking almost complete. Pretty much just get the heatsinks from cobkits as well (unless that's why shipping would be so much) and then the rest like yours was.
Click to expand...
Cobkits heatsinks cost more (all he stocks are 130-140mm). HLG was the cheapest I found for 120mm heatsinks. I had 4 shipped to my door for like $67 total I believe? I dont think cobkits even does 120mm anymore. If he does, its just for prebuilt engines.
 
HydroRed said:
Cobkits heatsinks cost more (all he stocks are 130-140mm). HLG was the cheapest I found for 120mm heatsinks. I had 4 shipped to my door for like $67 total I believe? I dont think cobkits even does 120mm anymore. If he does, its just for prebuilt engines.
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Yeah 120 out of stock but it's like 19 per 133mm, that link says 55 apiece
 
Gquebed said:
Hey... just...curious...

Have you taken any cuts off a mom that was vegged solely under COB?
And, if so, have you noticed and differences in how long it takes them to root up?
Or any differences at all?
Click to expand...
Sorry, I cant say I have a momma thats been brought up solely on led lighting.


Randomestguy said:
Yeah 120 out of stock but it's like 19 per 133mm, that link says 55 apiece
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Its $55 for (4) 120mm pieces and like $11 for shipping them all. Send em an email. Chances are they just havent updated the site.
 
horticulturelightinggroup@gmail.com
You'll hear a lot of folks tell you "just add another $100 and do this...."
or "it wont be that good, you gotta buy this new thing called..." etc. My build is cheap and it works. Like I said, we aint flowering with it, just vegging. Do with it what you will.
Look at some of the $400 200W prefab lights for sale......they are the exact same thing I built for under $200 all parts shipped to my door.
 
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HydroRed said:
Sorry, I cant say I have a momma thats been brought up solely on led lighting.



Its $55 for (4) 120mm pieces and like $11 for shipping them all. Send em an email. Chances are they just havent updated the site.
Click to expand...
Ah gotcha lol guess I just saw 55 and went NOPE, I'm also considering led strips cuz in another thread was told they get way better coverage and are in the same price range, this is total speculation as I don't really know the penetration and spread of the respective lights but the better spread in the strips makes me think it it could be kind of a t5 situation where it won't penetrate the canopy as well, any insight on that?
 
HydroRed said:
horticulturelightinggroup@gmail.com
You'll hear a lot of folks tell you "just add another $100 and do this...."
or "it wont be that good, you gotta buy this new thing called..." etc. My build is cheap and it works. Like I said, we aint flowering with it, just vegging. Do with it what you will.
Look at some of the $400 200W prefab lights for sale......they are the exact same thing I built for under $200 all parts shipped to my door.
Click to expand...
I'm running 200 watts of citizen cobs in my flower cab. 2x4. I have a 2x2 veg. Some are 12/12 from seed and some get a few weeks veg.

I have around 10 of these in my flower cab. This is the smallest one. So 10 this big or bigger. Pretty much 12/12 from seed except a few bigger ones.

Bubba kush.
0412182340b.jpg
Hard as a rock. I'm surprised at what a couple hundred watts can do.

Not trying to hijack. I haven't been keeping up with my threads. Just thought I would show you what I was up to.
 
@HydroRed Hi Bud curious as to what PPM (700 scale?) you are running in veg for your mega crop? I moved up to full strength on my first run and they still seem to light green, I am hesitant to change because I am not familiar with the strains I am running for this batch but I do like a darker green leave then I am getting on all of them. So I figured I would see where you are to compare. Thanks for any input.
 
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