The DIY COB Addiction

[jimmyclone]

Here was the panel i finished yesterday..
6x 3500k 80cri and
2x 2700k 90cri in the center..
I got reflectors and clips too, but i need longer screws.. I will also pull my other panel down and switch the center two cobs there as well..

 

[JimmyJames905]

Here was the panel i finished yesterday..
6x 3500k 80cri and
2x 2700k 90cri in the center..
I got reflectors and clips too, but i need longer screws.. I will also pull my other panel down and switch the center two cobs there as well..

Those 90cri are sweet.
Lots of mid reds.
Lots!

You want 6mm metric screws.

 

[Obi Wan]

There is a common misconception that you need to mix the chips up to get a full spectrum of color. This is untrue. It probably stems from the long history of people having to use Metal halide for blues for vegetation and high pressure sodium for its reds for flowering.
To put it visually.
MH (Metal halide) with some blues, mostly green/yellow and little red.

HPS with little blues, mostly yellows and some reds.

Now this is where using a semi conductor based lighting source is superior to an iincandescent basedlighting source.
With semiconductors you can have all sorts of colours already combined on one chip. This is known as a chip on board semi conductor or COB.
This allows you to have "full spectrum" LED light. Luckily for us growers it just so happens that LED COBs produce the exact spectrum required for photosynthesis to occur at optimal conditions. These are known as the chlorophyl A and B regions of photosynthesis. There are 2. One A and B group in the blue spectrum and one A and B group in the red spectrum.

Vero 29

Vero overlap with daylight spectrum.

So you could quite literally go right now and order four Vero 29 BXRC-40E10K0-D-73 chips and a HLG 185h-C1400b, one potentiometer from future electronics and be growing weed under led cob by Monday.
Using two colour temperatures with LED Cobbs is beneficial if you want to get more Reds or Deeper (660-730nm) reds during flowering but seeing as you still have to spend at least a month or two to actually grow the weed before you can flower I would strongly recommend investing in a "4000 K all purpose array" to get started. You can veg and bloom under the Vero 29 4000 K lights perfectly on their own.

My understanding is these are not multi-color Chip On Board LEDs. These COB LEDs are Blue. All of them. The colors are created by the yellow phosphor coating. Different amounts (or type?) of phosphor determine the color output. This differing amount also affects the efficiency of the various colored COBs.

/Obi

 

[JimmyJames905]

My understanding is these are not multi-color Chip On Board LEDs. These COB LEDs are Blue. All of them. The colors are created by the yellow phosphor coating. Different amounts (or type?) of phosphor determine the color output. This differing amount also affects the efficiency of the various colored COBs.

/Obi

The Cree, Citi and most other makers are SMD based chips, hand "binned" for color/brightness variations and then mounted on a board according to what color and brightness they want to achieve. There are some chipmakers to actually mix different colours on one Cobb as that is very easy to do with individual SMDs. But this is uncommon. Epistar does it and a few others. But there will always be some variation in colour on SMD based Cobs as it is literally made on many smaller leds. The Vero is entirely different. Bridgelux uses a sapphire wafer created in a gas filled gas deposition chamber on a multi "wafer" jig. They are heated at a very high temperature so that the element they are working with is deposited onto the wafer as a gas. The wafers are then etched to make the circuits and the then go into a second gas vacuum to "print" the circuit.
It's a completely different method of cob making. It's also much cheaper as you don't have to have a human manually inspect each SMD and measure it on a machine for its level of luminescence.

With this technology Bridgelux is able to make chips in any combination of colour at most colour temperatures and rendering indexes at 30-40% less cost.
A Deposition Chamber for LEDs at Bridgelux with GTM TV.mp4 - YouTube

 

[Peachapoil]

I don't want to to ask to many question but if i use hlg-480h-c1400 that has output of 343v (9 x 37.73 = 339.3v) since it's a CC 1400ma it would bring each cobs up to 52.78w x 9 = 475w total power. I don't know if i'm reading data sheet wrong but this could be good if i'm right ?

I really appreciate your help guys you're awesome

 

[JimmyJames905]

HPS with little blues, mostly yellows and some reds.

Now this is where using a semi conductor based lighting source is superior to an iincandescent basedlighting source.
With semiconductors you can have all sorts of colours already combined on one chip. This is known as a chip on board semi conductor or COB.
This allows you to have "full spectrum" LED light. Luckily for us growers it just so happens that LED COBs produce the exact spectrum required for photosynthesis to occur at optimal conditions. These are known as the chlorophyl A and B regions of photosynthesis. There are 2. One A and B group in the blue spectrum and one A and B group in the red spectrum.

Vero 29

So you could quite literally go right now and order four Vero 29 BXRC-40E10K0-D-73 chips and a HLG 185h-C1400b, one potentiometer from future electronics and be growing weed under led cob by Monday.
Using two colour temperatures with LED Cobbs is beneficial if you want to get more Reds or Deeper (660-730nm) reds during flowering but seeing as you still have to spend at least a month or two to actually grow the weed before you can flower I would strongly recommend investing in a "4000 K all purpose array" to get started. You can veg and bloom under the Vero 29 4000 K lights perfectly on their own.

Thanks for all this informations !
It sure does really help, as i said earlier i already have mars reflector 192 with 5w chips !
I'll finish this grow with my mars hydro but i'll start buying piece for my cobs So i'll go with 3 2 3 build with 8 cobs.
I'll keep following this post and still be reading and comparing data sheet to try to better understand

I don't want to to ask to many question but if i use hlg-480h-c1400 that has output of 343v (9 x 37.73 = 339.3v) since it's a CC 1400ma it would bring each cobs up to 52.78w x 9 = 475w total power. I don't know if i'm reading data sheet wrong but this could be good if i'm right ?

I really appreciate your help guys you're awesome[/QUOTE]

Yes but that's a big driver and very expensive plus you will always have to use all the COBs on. Speaking from experience you may not want to have 16 cobs on using 200 W to 400 W for seedlings.
Using the hlg185-1400 will allow you to have more control over your lights and because is 1/4 the price of the 480 you can expand as you go. The 480 also only holds 9 COBs and is not as efficient as the HLG1 85.

 

[jimmyclone]

HPS with little blues, mostly yellows and some reds.

Now this is where using a semi conductor based lighting source is superior to an iincandescent basedlighting source.
With semiconductors you can have all sorts of colours already combined on one chip. This is known as a chip on board semi conductor or COB.
This allows you to have "full spectrum" LED light. Luckily for us growers it just so happens that LED COBs produce the exact spectrum required for photosynthesis to occur at optimal conditions. These are known as the chlorophyl A and B regions of photosynthesis. There are 2. One A and B group in the blue spectrum and one A and B group in the red spectrum.

Vero 29

So you could quite literally go right now and order four Vero 29 BXRC-40E10K0-D-73 chips and a HLG 185h-C1400b, one potentiometer from future electronics and be growing weed under led cob by Monday.
Using two colour temperatures with LED Cobbs is beneficial if you want to get more Reds or Deeper (660-730nm) reds during flowering but seeing as you still have to spend at least a month or two to actually grow the weed before you can flower I would strongly recommend investing in a "4000 K all purpose array" to get started. You can veg and bloom under the Vero 29 4000 K lights perfectly on their own.

Thanks for all this informations !
It sure does really help, as i said earlier i already have mars reflector 192 with 5w chips !
I'll finish this grow with my mars hydro but i'll start buying piece for my cobs So i'll go with 3 2 3 build with 8 cobs.
I'll keep following this post and still be reading and comparing data sheet to try to better understand

I don't want to to ask to many question but if i use hlg-480h-c1400 that has output of 343v (9 x 37.73 = 339.3v) since it's a CC 1400ma it would bring each cobs up to 52.78w x 9 = 475w total power. I don't know if i'm reading data sheet wrong but this could be good if i'm right ?

I really appreciate your help guys you're awesome[/QUOTE]
Yes that will work just fine.. Nice choice..

 

[jimmyclone]

Dont know why that quoted everything... But yes that will. Work great...

 

[Peachapoil]

Thanks for info!
The idea of having more control on how many cob are on is a very good advantage !

edit:
Yess also having few trouble with quoting and double posting on GF computer

 

[JimmyJames905]

Thanks for info!
The idea of having more control on how many cob are on is a very good advantage !

I can show you how to make an array switchable. 2 COBs on to 4 COBs on.
You could use two 4000k 80 cri and two 3000k 90Cri. Mix them up anyway you want.
I try not to select colours for people. I use the 4000k/1750k combo for the 660 reds so my system is a little different
All I can say is. Pick your lights according to your Grow. Some people grow Giants for months on end, some do scrogs. I do 10 in a 2x4 3 month micro grows.

.

 

[JimmyJames905]

I forget to mention. The phosphor coating absolutely helps determine color. Most older tech diodes are bright blue or white and use the phosphor coating to alter the color. But the underlying color of the emitter probably plays a larger role in projected color. But both combined create the color you see on most chips. There are companies that use different combinations as mentioned. Bridgelux could theoretically "deposit" any group of color on their chips and then deposit two different colours of Phosphorus. Seoul semiconductor does this for their "tuneable colour" cob. If you look closely you'll see the Seoul semiconductor chip is actually two separate arrays that can be driven by two separate drivers. Pretty crazy.

While Alta LED takes a totally different approach to multi spectrum led.

So things are changing rapidly in the led cob world.

 

[jimmyclone]

I can show you how to make an array switchable. 2 COBs on to 4 COBs on.
You could use two 4000k 80 cri and two 3000k 90Cri. Mix them up anyway you want.
I try not to select colours for people. I use the 4000k/1750k combo for the 660 reds so my system is a little different
All I can say is. Pick your lights according to your Grow. Some people grow Giants for months on end, some do scrogs. I do 10 in a 2x4 3 month micro grows.

.

10 in 8sq/ft.... Oooooo tight...

 

[Fugazi138]

So people that dont know, quality cobs are the most amazing grow lights available for the price, Hands down. Efficiency, spectrum, control, customization. I wanted to share my build and time with these little gems.

Lets look at the spectrums here first.
The McCree curve is what we are trying to achieve here

You can see that cob lighting fills much more of the gap than hid. Now there are many more options for cob spectrums than what is shown here. Vero now actually has a 1750k chip.. Then we have 70,80,90 cri options.. I did say customization..

Here is an efficiency chart comparing some of the most common quality cobs.

So lets go through some of my build..

16x vero29 se 3500k
4x meanwell hlg240-1750 b drivers

Built into 2 36"*36" panels to go in my 8*8 tent. I only use a 4*8ish space inside.

So i went from 1000w hps at around 20" away to 330w over 8 cobs at 30-36" away on my 2 final girls from last run and in 12 hrs they were showing severe signs of light stress. I had more tacos then the local burrito shop.. So down to 250w i went and they were praying like they never had b4.. Extremely powerful little things.

Now these really aren't that hard to build.. Much , much cheaper than high end prefab leds, and you can easily get a much higher ppfd for your grow space.. And if you dont want to tackle the build yourself you can order a timber kit in the US (pretty expensive though) or there is a guy on here from canada that builds and sells quality cob panels. Also check out autocobs, great guy with a quality product as well. If your going to try to build one, Rapidled.com is a great place to start, they have everything you need to get going besides aluminium angle..

Please, please, please, people, think twice about buying blurple crap..
White light is the way forward, blurple was a bad mistake...

Thank you
White Light Warrior

Jimmyclone you are awesome, thank you so much for the info.

 

[jimmyclone]

No prob bud... I hate seeing people through there money away in bluples... Dont do it.. Please..
Cheers

 

[Growingmaster]

Top quality setup.full coverage of the ground below.awsome.hope ur light does u proud best of luck ans happy growing

 

[jimmyclone]

Thanks growing master... I love it so far.. The best part is you can always add more/less, change spectrum , i have always had a passion for electronics and now i have a new addiction.... Hobby, sorry i ment hobby..
Cheers

 

[Peachapoil]

Thanks to all of you that answer all of my question ayhnd took time to give me good information! I think that the best for me now is

2 x Bxrc-30g10ko-d-73-se
6 x Bxrc-40g10ko-d-73-se
2 x hlg240-1750 b (i wish i could find a driver that could let me drive up to 100% these cob led but it's the best that fit my budget and these cob)
8 x pin fin passive heatsink
2 x inline meter (do you have one to recommand)
2 x linear potentiometter (87 k was recommanded i think)
1 x plastic control box

I'm from canada so if you have place to recommand to buy parts i'm oprn to any suggestion

I'll start to buy parts every week by next week
Thanks again guys

 

[Peachapoil]

If you can message it to me i will be more than glad to receive your help because i can't private message for now i only have 30 post !

I also want to know how to run these chips at 83w and for the driver i will keep on at least 2 separate driver to have better control and the ability to expend as i go !

 

[newbee61]

Hi to all and especially Jimmy

I nearly read all the thread and another written before (the same topic). I also decided to built my own light after all and i have some questions. Because first i guess my english is not so well enough and second I'm not so good in electronics as you guys.

In my region i have only the chance to buy these vero29 from one place and these are actually not matching yours. Thats why i want your help. I have also a 4*4 tent where i want to place it and want to make the same 36"*36" as you did. But i want that you can say me which ones I have to buy.

here is the list which vero29's I can get;

B-6011 VERO 29 BXRC-27E10KO-L-03 2700 80
B-6012 VERO 29 BXRC-27G10KO-L-03 2700 90
B-6013 VERO 29 BXRC-30E10KO-L-03 3000 80
B-6014 VERO 29 BXRC-30G10KO-L-04 3000 90
B-6015 VERO 29 BXRC-35E10KO-L-05 3500 80
B-6016 VERO 29 BXRC-40E10KO-L-06 4000 80
B-6017 VERO 29 BXRC-50C10KO-L-07 5000 70

What I also want to ask is about the drivers (meanwell). I'm not able to get that one in my country. Can you just say me for which one I should ask?

I really appriciate the great affort of yours and keep up the good work!!!

 

[JimmyJames905]

Hi to all and especially Jimmy

I nearly read all the thread and another written before (the same topic). I also decided to built my own light after all and i have some questions. Because first i guess my english is not so well enough and second I'm not so good in electronics as you guys.

In my region i have only the chance to buy these vero29 from one place and these are actually not matching yours. Thats why i want your help. I have also a 4*4 tent where i want to place it and want to make the same 36"*36" as you did. But i want that you can say me which ones I have to buy.

here is the list which vero29's I can get;

B-6011 VERO 29 BXRC-27E10KO-L-03 2700 80
B-6012 VERO 29 BXRC-27G10KO-L-03 2700 90
B-6013 VERO 29 BXRC-30E10KO-L-03 3000 80
B-6014 VERO 29 BXRC-30G10KO-L-04 3000 90
B-6015 VERO 29 BXRC-35E10KO-L-05 3500 80
B-6016 VERO 29 BXRC-40E10KO-L-06 4000 80
B-6017 VERO 29 BXRC-50C10KO-L-07 5000 70

What I also want to ask is about the drivers (meanwell). I'm not able to get that one in my country. Can you just say me for which one I should ask?

I really appriciate the great affort of yours and keep up the good work!!!

What country are you in? I have suppliers all over the globe that can definitely help you.