Will this light do the trick?

AllDayToker · Oct 29, 2014

That is something to think about using that space on top, but with all the cost for lights and materials and extra ventilation I don't think that is even close to low budget, and kind of far off from my goal, which is, for now, getting another plant under my 600. So for now the two level grow for me is on hold.

Three 3' tall by 2' wide plants, in a straight line making it 6' long by 2' wide.

So if I need 25w per sq ft of LED bulbs, I can get ten of the 9w ones, add five to either side of the 600w HPS, and that will give me an extra 2 sq feet of lighting on both ends, and then I could fit a third 2' by 2' plant in there.

Does that sound correct?

az2000 · Oct 29, 2014

AllDayToker said:
So if I need 25w per sq ft of LED bulbs, I can get ten of the 9w ones, add five to either side of the 600w HPS, and that will give me an extra 2 sq feet of lighting on both ends, and then I could fit a third 2' by 2' plant in there.

Five bulbs on one side of your HID should add two square feet of coverage. It gets a little confusing depending on how much the HID illuminates a plant sitting to the side. You might use the LED bulbs to illuminate one side of the plant more than the other (which may get some light from the HID).

bicit · Oct 29, 2014

I'd recommend just using some 3500k bridgelux COBs. Grab 20 arctic alpine 11 GT plus($10/e on ebay or newegg); 20 Bridgelux vero 18's($14/e digikey); 20 molex pico EZ mate connectors ($0.97-1.41/e digikey.); Two Meanwell HLG-185H-C700A drivers($70/e Jameco); A 12v/5amp power supply for the fans ($15/e amazon); and arctic alumina thermal glue ($8/e amazon)

Glue the cob to the heat sink, wire 10 cobs in series to each power supply, wire all the fans in parallel with the 12v power supply, hang with light duty chain. Around the same efficiency(if not a little better than) as an HID but much better distribution. No soldering, drilling, or tapping required.

If you're a little more handy you could replace the 20 vero 18's with 16 CXA 3070's and significantly improve the system efficiency. COB holders and a proper TIM like Prolimatech PK-3 will further improve efficiency.

Check out supraPSL's DIY CXA 3070 thread for lots of DIY info.

AllDayToker · Oct 31, 2014

az2000 said:
Five bulbs on one side of your HID should add two square feet of coverage. It gets a little confusing depending on how much the HID illuminates a plant sitting to the side. You might use the LED bulbs to illuminate one side of the plant more than the other (which may get some light from the HID).

Awesome, thanks for all the help man!

Well I'm going to go ahead and order a couple 6 packs of Crees from Amazon so I can get this third plant rollin'.

churchhaze · Oct 31, 2014

Good design! I think the efficiency with 3500k vero 18 at 700mA is around 38-40% efficient, but I'm going based on one of supra's charts for 3000k vero, which is slightly lower efficiency than 3500k. (3000k vero is still very good! i can assure you!)

With 20 vero 18, i would definitely suggest going the heatsink USA route, especially if planning to use 1 driver for 10 cobs in series.

My vero 18 UFO killer has 4 vero 18 at 700mA (about 80W total electric dissipation), and is adequately cooled with just one 90mm fan. By contrast, an artic 11 has a 90mm fan. The artic 11 might get the junction temperature down 5-10 degrees lower than my setup, but I only need 1/4 the fan power, and the total cost of the heatsink for the 4 cobs was 31 dollars, the cost of 3 artic 11s.

I kind of get the feeling the OP is set on something else anyway.

bicit said:
I'd recommend just using some 3500k bridgelux COBs. Grab 20 arctic alpine 11 GT plus($10/e on ebay or newegg); 20 Bridgelux vero 18's($14/e digikey); 20 molex pico EZ mate connectors ($0.97-1.41/e digikey.); Two Meanwell HLG-185H-C700A drivers($70/e Jameco); A 12v/5amp power supply for the fans ($15/e amazon); and arctic alumina thermal glue ($8/e amazon)

Glue the cob to the heat sink, wire 10 cobs in series to each power supply, wire all the fans in parallel with the 12v power supply, hang with light duty chain. Around the same efficiency(if not a little better than) as an HID but much better distribution. No soldering, drilling, or tapping required.

If you're a little more handy you could replace the 20 vero 18's with 16 CXA 3070's and significantly improve the system efficiency. COB holders and a proper TIM like Prolimatech PK-3 will further improve efficiency.

Check out supraPSL's DIY CXA 3070 thread for lots of DIY info.

AllDayToker · Nov 2, 2014

Well I mean the DIY panels sound amazing, and for the money the way to go.

It's just the fact I'm looking for an easy, inexpensive, and quick way to throw some more light in the closet to get another plant to fit. It'll be somewhat short-term. And with making a panel it'll be a new learning process, already adding on just learning about LEDs period. I read what your guys plan on the builds and I don't understand a damn thing in there hahaha.

It seems like I plan on replacing my HPS fully with LEDs later on after 2 or 3 runs. So from now till then I can do my research, learn what to do for a homemade panel, learn a lot more period, and after a couple more runs I bet I'll have one built.

So for now I'm going with some Cree bulbs, then once the panel is built I'll already have supplementing light for the sides if needed.

Will this light do the trick?

AllDayToker

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az2000

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bicit

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AllDayToker

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churchhaze

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AllDayToker

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