Fanleaf's Huge 42 COB Array Build Plus Other Builds

Man'O'Green said:
My original plan when I built my DIY was to replace the Citi 1212s with Cree 3590s when the price fell due to newer cobs or when I could afford them. Now I see a lot of talk about Vero 29s 4000k in this thread so I was looking at them when I discovered my 185h - c1400bs do not have the voltage to drive 4 of them so am I locked into my original plan with the crees or is there something else I could look at for upgrading just the cobs?
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In your case I would go 3500k CD bin for sure. Your drivers are ready to go for 4 chips each. Yes, there has been a ton of people pushing the Vero 7 gen 4000k chips. Here's my opinion on that. The 7 gen Vero is a great chip no doubt. The thing is that for so long and to a point still today the Cree chip has been too expensive for many people to consider. This has overtime led people to be on the hunt for the CXB killer.

When your on top your the one everyone is gunning for. This is great yes, it has led to a whole bunch of recent improvements in chips such as the Citi, Bridgelux and others to become the "holy grail" CXB killer. I have seen claims from Citi 1212's being as efficient as 3590's to even beating them. This is laughable.

The problem is that so many people want their chips to "be the best" and cost next to nothing. While the competition has tightened up by quite a margin in the last few years I find the Cree is still (at lower currents) the most efficient chip on the market. Now, if driven hard there are a few others that take the efficiency edge. We don't drive chips hard to make efficient lights though, or I sure don't at least.

If I were to build an array for a 4x4 room and only wanted 1 or 2 chips in it I would not go with the Cree to be efficient because driven hard enough for a 4x4 the efficiency is beat by 1 or 2 others.

For now at least, at low driven currents 3590's are still on top for efficiency. Led binning is a great thing they do to guarantee if you buy 12 chips they will all put out the same, other makers don't do that. The human component that goes into making the Crees must be a large advantage for them as well. Others such as the Vero's are more automated from what I'm led to believe and has led to cheaper prices. Does anyone think Cree couldn't automate their process if they wanted to? They certainly have the money right? That would sure bring their prices down. There must be a reason they keep their process in place.
 
Buckshot317 said:
I'm thinking about doing a build like growmau5's canopy for a 4x4 using the 3590's and single diodes. I'll have access to a cnc machine over next few months.
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Cool man. Hell, you already have the chips right? Whatcha waitin for lol
 
Buckshot317 said:
Time mostly been covered up lately. I'm still researching on the single diodes. Or I could build an exact replica of his canopy. I need to order some more heatsinks. Don't know if I want to use the ss 133's or just get the 140's from cutter
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I hear ya. And the cooler you can get them the more efficient they run. On the last small light I built I used the 120's ans used the 4 mount locations on the fins for a perfect fit with 50mm fans. I think they were 50mm but I would have to look to be sure. What I will say though is those 120's with the tiny fan stay cooler then room temp to the touch.
 
Yea, from what I've seen active works really well. I thought about that for my 3x3 that I use to veg. I got a 4x4 flood table and pan, this summer I will do away with 1 5x5 and hang lights from ceiling. Tired of zippers and bending over lol. I'm still reading, but I probably only need to add some 660nm reds, I don't think I'll need to add any blues. If my company gets this big renovation job I just bidded, I should get some more good freebies. It's funny that all major lighting distributors will give away a lot of perks to buy their stuff. Just shows how much markup there is. I'll show you a pic of the plant that had deficiency looks 4 days later. Even the mite spots are looking better.
 
Buckshot317 said:
Yea, from what I've seen active works really well. I thought about that for my 3x3 that I use to veg. I got a 4x4 flood table and pan, this summer I will do away with 1 5x5 and hang lights from ceiling. Tired of zippers and bending over lol. I'm still reading, but I probably only need to add some 660nm reds, I don't think I'll need to add any blues. If my company gets this big renovation job I just bidded, I should get some more good freebies. It's funny that all major lighting distributors will give away a lot of perks to buy their stuff. Just shows how much markup there is. I'll show you a pic of the plant that had deficiency looks 4 days later. Even the mite spots are looking better.
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Yeah, you can add some 660nm diodes or just mix in a few 3000k 90CRI too. They are very rich in 660nm. Either way I guess. Myself on a few of the smaller panels I made I use the 90CRI because they provide all the way past 730nm.
Did you happen to see the blue only Citi 1212's cobkits has? Look at the spectrum chart on those....its crazy. Wish they werent. 1212's though lol.
 
Buckshot317 said:
I haven't checked his site in a while. Might be better to use 90cri instead of single diodes. If used the 90cri I would do another 5x5 build. I think I'm kinda hooked on building stuff. Going to try to put together a simple drip system one weekend. Eventually I want 1 control panel, to lighting, temps, and water.
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I hear ya about hooked on building. I wanna grow a plant or 2 in just perlite. I dont know why, I just feel the need.
 
Buckshot317 said:
Have to water it 5 times a day. That could be a little tricky.
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Only for the first 10 days or until roots hit the bottom of the bucket. Once that happens you can go every 5-7 days as I understand it.
 
Cannabeard said:
I'm running a few of those, I wanted to experiment with a few hydroponic methods. So far so good, just using the dutch/bato/hempy method.
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Where can I see that method?
 
fanleaf said:
Where can I see that method?
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Best thing is just to look it up on YouTube, I came to the conclusion that Dutch Buckets seem to be the exact same things as Bato Buckets and Hempy Buckets. Some have top drip recycling and some are drain to waste like mine but mine is completely manual and I plan to upscale it and possibly automate to do a side by side with a 5 gal DWC just because I'm curious. You can check out my signature, I'll be updating it tonight and I'll show a bit more of what I'm dabbling with lol
 
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