My new grow space

[TheMadDabber]

For sure, I meant more so do you think that it's something that an everyday person could do? I have looked into the cob lighting, the diffusers, the heat sinks all that sort of thing..... And although I'm not electrical, with a tutorial I feel like I could really build an amazing light for my flower space.

Holler if you need some help. I did my build for the qb120. Pretty straight forward. And lots of people around that are far more knowledgeable than I. But I'm happy to help Or connect you with them!


Scrog link is a great place to start. Rider is a light wiz. Also buckshot. Led guy took the time to walk me through the build and was a life saver.

 

[Guy Cavallero]

Holler if you need some help. I did my build for the qb120. Pretty straight forward. And lots of people around that are far more knowledgeable than I. But I'm happy to help Or connect you with them!


Scrog link is a great place to start. Rider is a light wiz. Also buckshot. Led guy took the time to walk me through the build and was a life saver.

That's what I'm talking about, my final space for flower is going to be in the neighborhood of 6.5 by 5.5 so plenty of room. I am totally interested in all the aspects of the cob light, but I will definitely look into the light strips as well.

What kind of coverage do you have and what kind of cost were you looking at to build your light from scratch?

 

[Guy Cavallero]

The grow is looking really good. What will be the inside dimensions of it when your done?

If your looking into lighting, check out Rider509's journal. He's currently comparing a set of DIY COB's vs a set of DIY Samsung LED strips. I think the strips are going to win out in the end.

Rider's first foray into LED strip lighting - Samsung H Series GEN3

Thanks Scrog. Final inside dimensions now that the 2 by 6 walls are up is going to be about 5.5' by 6.5' for flower, I would like to use my 3 by 3 for veg on the wall opposite the door as you enter if it works..... I'm also thinking about building that as well. Then on the right hand side I will have my seedlings/cloning station, hopefully be picking up a EZ cloner within the next couple of weeks.

 

[Rider509]

Build that wall on the ground and then tip it up into place! Dang kids always doin' things the hard way. LOL

 

[JuanCarlos]

You don't need to be able to solder, if you use COB holders they have push in terminals where you just stick in the wire. Easy peasy! I would be willing to bet you can throw a COB light together no problem. I would also check out the quantum boards as well, seems they are another new technology that is working pretty well. Looks like Rider dabbled a bit in that.

 

[TheMadDabber]

Well rider is here. Your set ! Check out his lighting thread it's an info goldmine! And that is correct no soldering required. It's optional on the boards but it's just pushing in wires and connecting ends.

If you can build a growspace you can build a light!

 

[Guy Cavallero]

Build that wall on the ground and then tip it up into place! Dang kids always doin' things the hard way. LOL

Rider it was kind of like picking the capital of Canada.... Throw a dart at the map and call it a day lol. That's what I did with the top plate on my wall, kinda screwed it in place and built everything underneath it, that's how I ended up with more grow room and less workshop lmao... The things we do I tell you lol.

Again, not sure how unintentional that was lol.

 

[Guy Cavallero]

Build that wall on the ground and then tip it up into place! Dang kids always doin' things the hard way. LOL

I have to admit, on my lunch time I got into page 4-5 of your Journal that Scrog shared earlier. So what are your Cole's notes version of the comparison? Strips or Cobs, and how do they compare cost wise versus one another?

 

[Rider509]

I have to admit, on my lunch time I got into page 4-5 of your Journal that Scrog shared earlier. So what are your Cole's notes version of the comparison? Strips or Cobs, and how do they compare cost wise versus one another?

Much easier to assemble a strip system, better and more uniform coverage, no hot spots like directly under a COB, similar efficacy on the order of about 170lm/W, and less expensive. I'm replacing my Cree 3590 systems with the Samsung F Series Gen3 double row led strips.
It doesn't take a rocket surgeon to look at the plants and see that the COBs throw shadows on the lower leaves whereas the strips have excellent penetration due to the more diffuse array of light point sources. They are a win/win.

edit: The strips will never be as cool looking as COBs with their pinned heatsinks. LOL

 

[Rider509]

A veg spectrum COB directly over each plant when they are small, and then bring out the flower spectrum strips when they outgrow the COB footprint would be pretty cool. Or mixing spectrums in the strip fixtures so you could veg and flower to best effect. Kinda like switching from MH to HPS.

 

[Guy Cavallero]

Much easier to assemble a strip system, better and more uniform coverage, no hot spots like directly under a COB, similar efficacy on the order of about 170lm/W, and less expensive. I'm replacing my Cree 3590 systems with the Samsung F Series Gen3 double row led strips.
It doesn't take a rocket surgeon to look at the plants and see that the COBs throw shadows on the lower leaves whereas the strips have excellent penetration due to the more diffuse array of light point sources. They are a win/win.

edit: The strips will never be as cool looking as COBs with their pinned heatsinks. LOL

Perfect information, that's exactly what I'm looking for. How do they compare as far as cost is concerned?

 

[Guy Cavallero]

Which ones are you using? Are you using a range of K, flower only? I guess ultimately you're creating a custom version of some of the available custom lights?

 

[Rider509]

I think I already broke the costs down in one thread or another. I'm using all 3500K strips and COBs. Not ideal for veg but I chose to bias it towards the flowering spectrum. They're effectively all FB24B 44" strips. Two F564B 22" strips equal one FB24B. Even though the tent is 4x8 I'm really only using 4x6 so I only have three 2x4 systems covering that space. I'll post up a pic tonight of what I'm using now.

 

[hedzenmedz]

CTC (Canadian Trash Can) that's what everyone called it when we were kids. I was born in the early '50's'.

 

[Rider509]

As promised, a pic of what I'm running at the moment, Guy. There are 4xFB24B, 8x3590, and 4x FB24B. So easy a cave dude can do it. In fact, it's just a bit TOO easy cuz I seem to be acquiring lights at an alarming rate.

 

[TheMadDabber]

No so easy a toothless abomninal snowman can do it

 

[Guy Cavallero]

CTC (Canadian Trash Can) that's what everyone called it when we were kids. I was born in the early '50's'.

Welcome brother, just trying to get my head around a new lighting choice. You don't have to admit how old you are here.....once you're in.....no I'D required .

 

[Guy Cavallero]

As promised, a pic of what I'm running at the moment, Guy. There are 4xFB24B, 8x3590, and 4x FB24B. So easy a cave dude can do it. In fact, it's just a bit TOO easy cuz I seem to be acquiring lights at an alarming rate.

Yeah that lighting is off the chain!!! Thanks a tonne for hanging around Rider, this info is invaluable to me. Pity you're not closer, I could help you test lights lmao.

"Two F564B 22" strips equal one FB24B" .

Does that mean that I'll be able to hook a F564B in series with the FB24B to get a coverage of 66" in length? To have that sort of coverage would be incredible! So from your picture, I don't see the drivers but it's not what I expected. It's very clean up top, no wires everywhere. I have 80' of 1.5"x1.5" aluminum angle outside that I can bolt together for my frame. How do your strips attach to each of the pcs of aluminum channel (I assume they're aluminum)? The channel stays cool with air circulation? How many drivers are you using to drive one of your arrays consisting of the double rows of FB24B's? So 8 rows requires what size driver? Would it still be able to handle an additional 8 rows of the 564Bs if I hooked them in series ( if it's even possible)? Sorry, just woke up dreaming of my new light. My wife's still snoring away in the background lol.

 

[Guy Cavallero]

Dodged a bullet with my PH. This middle girl is just starting to show signs that my pH was too high. I have adjusted it and everything is back down to 6.5..... that's one of the main things that I am concerned about if I decide to go with a dwc system in the future, one little mishap could cause disaster from what I understand.

otherwise the girls are looking fantastic, flowers are coming along nicely.

also switched my light for my other with a bit more juice.

 

[Scrogdawg]

Dodged a bullet with my PH. This middle girl is just starting to show signs that my pH was too high. I have adjusted it and everything is back down to 6.5..... that's one of the main things that I am concerned about if I decide to go with a dwc system in the future, one little mishap could cause disaster from what I understand.

If you build a good RDWC system you'll never look back. Get a GrowBoss or Blue Labs digital PH/PPM/Temp monitor and you can tell at a glance how your plants are doing always.