Fanleaf's Huge 42 COB Array Build Plus Other Builds

I know running more COBs at lower watts would give me a better coverage and efficiency.

However, where I am (in SA) there is really little choice, unless I import but then incur shipping costs as well as at least 30% import taxes.

I can for now get hold of a 3 Vera 29s COB setup at 80w each (240w total) with one driver. If I got two side by side for a total of 480w (6 COBs) for my flower box, would this system give me good results in a 2.5ft x 5ft grow cabinet?

I'd have a separate box for vegging so I'd probably run 3000k or 3500k COBs in my flower box.

What do you guys think? This is what my option is if I source locally and it would cost me around 800 dollars for the whole set up. I also don't need to get over 1gpw to be honest, although after a few grows under my belt I'd like to increase that (currently in my first grow)

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SeymoreNugget said:
Sounds good with the 480W. Depending on height of the light even dimmed to 400 should be good and more efficient too. If flowering only i would go 3000K only.
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Awesome I was also thinking 3000k only, the spectrum graph looks like it hits a bit of the blue light too. How much heat do you think this kind of set up might give off? Comparable to an hps - 400w, 600w? More or less?

Thanks for the advice :)
 
skoondawg said:
Awesome I was also thinking 3000k only, the spectrum graph looks like it hits a bit of the blue light too. How much heat do you think this kind of set up might give off? Comparable to an hps - 400w, 600w? More or less?

Thanks for the advice :)
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It has the least blue in it of any others. Blue light is good in flower to but in flower you want much more red than blue. Thats exactly what the 3000k does.
 
fanleaf said:
It has the least blue in it of any others. Blue light is good in flower to but in flower you want much more red than blue. Thats exactly what the 3000k does.

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Boom! Shot for the advice Fanleaf, this set up is getting me excited now :D
 
Fanleafs Huge 42 Cree CXB3590 COB Array Build Plus Other Builds

skoondawg said:
I know running more COBs at lower watts would give me a better coverage and efficiency.

However, where I am (in SA) there is really little choice, unless I import but then incur shipping costs as well as at least 30% import taxes.

I can for now get hold of a 3 Vera 29s COB setup at 80w each (240w total) with one driver. If I got two side by side for a total of 480w (6 COBs) for my flower box, would this system give me good results in a 2.5ft x 5ft grow cabinet?

I'd have a separate box for vegging so I'd probably run 3000k or 3500k COBs in my flower box.

What do you guys think? This is what my option is if I source locally and it would cost me around 800 dollars for the whole set up. I also don't need to get over 1gpw to be honest, although after a few grows under my belt I'd like to increase that (currently in my first grow)

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Click to expand...

Sorry I didn't get back to you earlier.

My recommendation for a 3 chip setup is three Vero 29 BXRC30E10K0-C-73. This is Vero's Highest power 3000K chip at 68.1fV producing a whopping 17,000 lumens per chip. You can drive exactly 3 of them with a HLG-320h-C1400.
The 3 chips and driver will cost you $250.00 CDN. Heatsinks will be $25 US each and you're gonna need to run fans!!! It's a 1.7A chip (TC) but even running at 1.4A it will still pull nearly 90w per chip. Probably $400 for all 3 chips, heatsinks, fans and the HLG plus a 12vdc power supply for the fans putting out 50,000 lumens over 3 COBs.


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JimmyJames905 said:
Also. Both digikey (chips) and Mouser (drivers) have South African offices in Johannesburg. You probably won't pay import charges if you use the South African outlets.


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Wow wow that is great news, I was wondering if I could not go through that guy locally, good to know there are local chips and drivers here, will look into it!

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JuanCarlos said:
So for flowering only on the CXB you are recommending 3000k only instead of 3500k? Or did I miss something?
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Yes, for flowering only it has the best red to blue ratio.

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JimmyJames905 said:
Fan have you tried the HLG adjustable I/O drivers?


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Can you give me a part number as an example?

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Product Description

Constant voltage/ constant current "A" version of 48V driver is voltage and current adjustable for maximum utility with CLU048-1818 and CLU058-1825.

HLG-185H-SPEC

Also works with 36V COBs like CLU048-1212 or CXB3590 at reduced total power output (approximately 150W) while allowing an upgrade path to 50V cobs later on.

Constant voltage/ constant current "A" version drivers offer the following advantages:

lower maximum voltage for safer operation
maximum flexibility for expansion — any number of COBs can be added later on. Every COB added increase efficiency of entire array


Note that dimming for "A" versions are via the potentiometer fixed to the unit- they do not offer remote dimming. Drivers are dimmable to approximately 20% of total load

Also please note all COBS must be same series of similar voltage profile, you cant mix 1212 and 1818 as the lower voltage cob will not light



Max current: 4.25A can power the following combination of COBs:

Citizen:

3 1212@ 52.3W each (157W max), 4@38W ea (152W max) , 5@ 29.8W ea (149W), or 6@ 24.6W ea (148W), etc.
3 1818@ 75.3W each (226W max) or 4@ 55W ea (220W max), 5@ 43.4W ea (217W), or 6@ 35.9W ea (215W), etc.
3 1825@ 73.3W each (220W max) or 4@ 54W ea (216W max)

Cree:

2 3590@ 76W each (152W max) or 3@49.5W ea (149W max) or 4@ 36W (144W)
2 3070@ 79W each (158W max) or 3@ 50.5W ea (152W max) or 4@ 37W (148W)




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I haven't and wont for a few very specific reasons. The sentence "lower voltage for safer operation" is a selling point but comes with a few downfalls. Yes, 10th of the voltage but 10 times more amperage equates to much more line loss #1. This is the very reason that high voltage power lines from our power companies are high voltage. If our power companies transmitted 120V ac power from the power plant by the time their 120v ac that leaves the plant hits our house it would be like 2 volts due to line loss and their power wires would need to be as big around as a beachball to carry the current.In otherwords they would lose 95% power in transmission. Instead they use sometimes up to 30,000 volts ac at very low amperage from the power plant to our house and them before it enters the house it goes into a transformer where it transforms the power from 30,000 volts to 120/240V with more amperage available. That way they lose less than 1%. Does that make sense?

So running all of our cobs in parallel means we have to use much bigger wire for the chips. No more 20 gauge that we can use now and have less then 0.5% loss. Now we have to go much bigger to keep losses down. The second issue is also running parallel we have to build the system to really watch out for our chips.
I prefer series wiring for any kind of LED, because circuit elements wired in series share the same current. Thus every device in a series string is guaranteed to have the exact same current running through it, and I only need one current limiting device per series string of LEDs.
The fear I have concerning LEDs wired in parallel (recall circuit elements wired in parallel share the same voltage), is thermal runaway. That is to say, one of the LEDs is going to get warmer than the others, then get less resistive, then start hogging most of the current. Basically burning up one after another.
 
Couple plants I have going right now under the small array. They are only in thier 3rd week of flower. 3.5 to be closer. Just had to cut nutes down to 1/2 strength for a few feeds then Ill inch back up a bit to 2/3 strength. They are digging the lights though.

Incredible Bulk
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And then a White Widdow X Big Bud.
They both loving the switch to 12/12.
420-magazine-mobile2080037897.jpg
420-magazine-mobile1795933717.jpg


Here in a week and a half Ill be kicking on the UVB light to kick trichome production into overtime! Dont look like Im gonna have a trichome production problem from the looks of them already though.

I didnt let them veg for very long. Only 4 weeks but I dont think Ill have an issue getting at least a pound out of these 2 togethher. Prolly a bit more.

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JimmyJames905 said:
Fan have you tried the HLG adjustable I/O drivers?


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Click to expand...

I wanted to elaborate on this one more time and give another great example on what I'm talking about Jimmy.

Let's say we have 2 grow rooms, each running 6 cobs. Each running 324 Watts ok? 1 Room is running series (low amperage higher voltage) and the other is running all parallel (higher amperage and low voltage. They are both running the same wire too ok?

Here we go.

Room 1
6 3590's in series at 324 Watts.
216Volts at 1.5 amps=324W
Wire size 20awg. All wire length =10 feet.
Heres what the whole circuit does.
seies.JPG

As you can see we only lose 0.14% of our voltage. So 215.7 of our 216 volts reach the chips!!!


Now, heres the second room running in parallel. The wires are only carrying 36V at 9 amps now. 36v X 9 amps = 324 Watts. Lets see how much power our wires are causing us to lose.
parallel1.JPG



As you can see, our driver is putting out 36v just the way it should but now our chips at the end of the wire only get 34.17V!
Room 1 has a loss of 0.3V which is 0.14% and room 2 is losing 1.83 volts or 5%.

So same size wire to same size wire the chips in room to are only running at 307.53 Watts even though the driver is pushing 324W.

Room 1 is running 323.55W and the driver is pushing 324W

Now, what size wire would we need to run in room 2 to make it as good as room 1?? Not 20, not 18, not 16, not 14 but 12 gauge!

12 gauge!!!
12 Would get us back to 35.7V per chip.

12awg.JPG


 
SeymoreNugget said:
So more yield for less light? Yay. I only grew autos one time, the very first grow. 20/4.

BTW. Flipped my first flower today under the new light. I am at 380W at 24 inches at the moment. Hopefully the dont stretch too much :-)

I have 3x Atomical Haze and 2x Nebula. Both say 9 to 10 weeks flower
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Hey Seymore, do you have a journal going for that 380w? Thinking of going for 10 chip, 2 drivers running 380w as well. Would be nice to follow :)

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Thanks fanleaf for that lesson

Skoondawg, na i have no journal in the common way.

But i have the

'My very first DIY COB fixture' thread.

Its from the very beginning 'i have no clue what i am doing but i want some COBs now' phase to the 405W (420 with Fans, 420, yay) built that enligthens 5 plants in a way my first plug and play LED growlight couldnt

I show my plants here and there, talk about random stuff because i am lazy and someone might not like this, but hey, check it out.

Youre welcome to post questions, your plans for the future, pictures the lights you built yourself and more

'staff' like good ol Fanleaf and others will look out to help as much as they can. :-)
 
SeymoreNugget said:
Thanks fanleaf for that lesson

Skoondawg, na i have no journal in the common way.

But i have the

'My very first DIY COB fixture' thread.

Its from the very beginning 'i have no clue what i am doing but i want some COBs now' phase to the 405W (420 with Fans, 420, yay) built that enligthens 5 plants in a way my first plug and play LED growlight couldnt

I show my plants here and there, talk about random stuff because i am lazy and someone might not like this, but hey, check it out.

Youre welcome to post questions, your plans for the future, pictures the lights you built yourself and more

'staff' like good ol Fanleaf and others will look out to help as much as they can. :-)
Click to expand...
Okay sweet :) I am subbed there already - will be entering the DIY COB world once I'm back home from holiday. JimmyJames enlightened me to the fact that I can source all the parts necessary for a DIY COB fixture in South Africa (yay :D). Therefore I will be following the random talk closely, will chime in with thoughts and/or queries as they come to me and as I build my set up!

You've all been really helpful already!

Love and light to you all :)

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