Going commercial

[Stephenj37826]

The T22 is yes. The new ones will not, but spacing will still be part of the solution. T22 was about offering a lamp that I would likely use myself. There was going to be a CXB 3590 as well. In a single square foot a single Vero 29 at 1.05 amps provides almost 850 PPFD after lens loss. Without a lens the figure is about 900. CXB 3590 is more like 1120 PPFD and 3070 AD is inbetween.

.7 amps would require tighter spacing, and maybe pay for itself over time, and while certainly desirable it's even more money up front, something I would hesitate to do for myself though I would want to. I think now that even 1.05 is too expensive for retail... especially in a DIY looking case

It's not really diy looking. There is no kapton tape or wires hanging free lol. It looks more stainless like a kitchen appliance. That being in a good way. Looks really strong like my stove. GE monogram. Subtle but built to last.

 

[Rahz]

Haha, thanks. I think they look "industrial", but I can do better. The benefit of that design is that the nut/bolt combination can be fastened/unfastened without worry of stripping threads in metal sheet. Other solutions would require welding screw anchors or other machine fabrication if I wanted to continue using chunks of the 4.6 profile heatsink. Using a different heatsink I have designed an alternate 22 model that has no cap nuts, but since I'm ditching 1.05 amps for the time being there's no use in pursuing it.

 

[ttystikk]

Fascinating, following along as you start an LED lighting company. For my two cents, I'd much rather be spending my money on sexy high grade equipment inside a plain box.

 

[Rahz]

No more plain box. These new lamps are cheaper to build, faster to assemble and look much better than my first try. The powder coat helps but the design is much more clean. Sorry about the pic quality and hasty photo editing. I need to get hold of a real camera and some high CRI lighting.

 

[littlejacob]

Bonjour
I wonder what kind of legal authorizations do you need to sell cob panels In USA!??
Or anyone can sell a light he build to public?
Have a great day ★

 

[Rahz]

None that I am aware of. I have a business licence for LED lighting products, but not having electrical certs will preclude selling through middle persons like garden shops, etc. I can't afford a middle man til I can buy in bulk anyway so it will all be direct web based sales for the time being.

 

[Positivity]

Good luck rahz...very nice

 

[Rahz]

I have spent the last several hours taking and editing photos. I've discovered that without spending a lot of money it's not possible to get a "clean" image on white. It would almost be worth it to seek out professional help. The lamps were hung with fishing line and photographed using my cell phone and a 5000K light source in front of a white sheet. The resulting picture was not even close to a white background! I managed to extract the unwanted pixels and am mostly happy with the results.


This is a 200w Vero 29 lamp. I have a big handful of Vero 29s but am considering ditching Vero soon. Sad because I like working with them. The solder pads don't need flux, and they're large and close together the way it should be. Large aluminum thermal junction and built in holders. Still in the top 3-4 companies as far as efficiency, but when there are more efficient options it becomes difficult to justify using them.

As far as where things will go, I've been scratching my head about drive currents. The cost difference between a 1.05 amp lamp and a 2.1 amp lamp is zero. So what do you do? I have a particular drive current in mind, but will be providing higher and lower options just to see what happens.

What would you choose?

150 watt 50% efficient lamps
or
100 watt 56% efficient lamps

Beyond the price/performance question I have discovered that any single line of lamps (particular current) are unable to provide every PPFD bracket in every possible space configuration. The good thing about offering several different drive currents is that it makes it possible to zero in on a particular PPFD in a particular space. Whether that will prove useful or not I'm not sure...

 

[Stephenj37826]

I have spent the last several hours taking and editing photos. I've discovered that without spending a lot of money it's not possible to get a "clean" image on white. It would almost be worth it to seek out professional help. The lamps were hung with fishing line and photographed using my cell phone and a 5000K light source in front of a white sheet. The resulting picture was not even close to a white background! I managed to extract the unwanted pixels and am mostly happy with the results.

View attachment 3543837
This is a 200w Vero 29 lamp. I have a big handful of Vero 29s but am considering ditching Vero soon. Sad because I like working with them. The solder pads don't need flux, and they're large and close together the way it should be. Large aluminum thermal junction and built in holders. Still in the top 3-4 companies as far as efficiency, but when there are more efficient options it becomes difficult to justify using them.

As far as where things will go, I've been scratching my head about drive currents. The cost difference between a 1.05 amp lamp and a 2.1 amp lamp is zero. So what do you do? I have a particular drive current in mind, but will be providing higher and lower options just to see what happens.

What would you choose?

150 watt 50% efficient lamps
or
100 watt 56% efficient lamps

Beyond the price/performance question I have discovered that any single line of lamps (particular current) are unable to provide every PPFD bracket in every possible space configuration. The good thing about offering several different drive currents is that it makes it possible to zero in on a particular PPFD in a particular space. Whether that will prove useful or not I'm not sure...

Its definitely a good pondering subject for sure. At this point in time I think anything 50%+ will be best of the best. Still alot of lamps unreleased that are under 2.0 umol/j. To me the cutoff point will be 1.8 umol/j. Anything less you might just mix into the 2016 crowd. I kinda lean twords give them the 50% efficiency and make it dimmable. Explain this and kinda make it sound like it's a turbo option. They can get a fewer lamps to start our but as they want to expand/ improve there efficiency they can dim and run more lamps. Just my opinion though lol.

 

[ttystikk]

I have spent the last several hours taking and editing photos. I've discovered that without spending a lot of money it's not possible to get a "clean" image on white. It would almost be worth it to seek out professional help. The lamps were hung with fishing line and photographed using my cell phone and a 5000K light source in front of a white sheet. The resulting picture was not even close to a white background! I managed to extract the unwanted pixels and am mostly happy with the results.

View attachment 3543837
This is a 200w Vero 29 lamp. I have a big handful of Vero 29s but am considering ditching Vero soon. Sad because I like working with them. The solder pads don't need flux, and they're large and close together the way it should be. Large aluminum thermal junction and built in holders. Still in the top 3-4 companies as far as efficiency, but when there are more efficient options it becomes difficult to justify using them.

As far as where things will go, I've been scratching my head about drive currents. The cost difference between a 1.05 amp lamp and a 2.1 amp lamp is zero. So what do you do? I have a particular drive current in mind, but will be providing higher and lower options just to see what happens.

What would you choose?

150 watt 50% efficient lamps
or
100 watt 56% efficient lamps

Beyond the price/performance question I have discovered that any single line of lamps (particular current) are unable to provide every PPFD bracket in every possible space configuration. The good thing about offering several different drive currents is that it makes it possible to zero in on a particular PPFD in a particular space. Whether that will prove useful or not I'm not sure...

Box looks good. Even though I don't mind ugly shit that works well, I realize that I'm something of an outlier in this regard.

I think your puzzle is an opportunity. If you personally believe that the sweet spot for COB lighting cannabis is around 900PPfd, by all means design your systems around that spec and then discuss it in your product literature. The idea is to educate the customer on how you made design choices specifically with their needs foremost in mind.

After all, didn't you?

 

[dandyrandy]

I have spent the last several hours taking and editing photos. I've discovered that without spending a lot of money it's not possible to get a "clean" image on white. It would almost be worth it to seek out professional help. The lamps were hung with fishing line and photographed using my cell phone and a 5000K light source in front of a white sheet. The resulting picture was not even close to a white background! I managed to extract the unwanted pixels and am mostly happy with the results.

View attachment 3543837
This is a 200w Vero 29 lamp. I have a big handful of Vero 29s but am considering ditching Vero soon. Sad because I like working with them. The solder pads don't need flux, and they're large and close together the way it should be. Large aluminum thermal junction and built in holders. Still in the top 3-4 companies as far as efficiency, but when there are more efficient options it becomes difficult to justify using them.

As far as where things will go, I've been scratching my head about drive currents. The cost difference between a 1.05 amp lamp and a 2.1 amp lamp is zero. So what do you do? I have a particular drive current in mind, but will be providing higher and lower options just to see what happens.

What would you choose?

150 watt 50% efficient lamps
or
100 watt 56% efficient lamps

Beyond the price/performance question I have discovered that any single line of lamps (particular current) are unable to provide every PPFD bracket in every possible space configuration. The good thing about offering several different drive currents is that it makes it possible to zero in on a particular PPFD in a particular space. Whether that will prove useful or not I'm not sure...

Still running 8 veros here. They won't die.

 

[Sevren]

If you're stuck shooting with your smart phone, try getting a different camera app that allows you to change the white balance. You can then set it to 5000k (or any other color temp you're shooting at) or cycle through presets (I think cloudy [days] is close to 5000k) till you hit one that takes one in neutral or white background. Editing wise, the Pen Tool is your friend, it's tedious as hell but, will get you a clean cut out.

 

[Rahz]

Thanks, that's giving me some ideas although I no longer have a specific PPFD in mind and 500-1200 is the range now I will have to make some strategic choices though. 4 lamps with 4 possible drive currents... not going to stock all possibilities. I've gone through every lamp/lamp combo -vs- every space combo in a spreadsheet and that really got me to thinking about the limitations of a single line, and about the various choices a person might make setting up their garden. The site is still information sparse but I'll be fleshing that out a bit more now that I'm stepping away from the design process.

Box looks good. Even though I don't mind ugly shit that works well, I realize that I'm something of an outlier in this regard.

I think your puzzle is an opportunity. If you personally believe that the sweet spot for COB lighting cannabis is around 900PPfd, by all means design your systems around that spec and then discuss it in your product literature. The idea is to educate the customer on how you made design choices specifically with their needs foremost in mind.

After all, didn't you?

 

[Rahz]

Still running 8 veros here. They won't die.

No doubt, same here. Whenever I do disassemble my lamps I will have almost 40 passive radial heatsinks to play with. Probably not going to happen but CXB 3590 at .7 amps would pair perfectly with them

 

[Rahz]

If you're stuck shooting with your smart phone, try getting a different camera app that allows you to change the white balance. You can then set it to 5000k (or any other color temp you're shooting at) or cycle through presets (I think cloudy [days] is close to 5000k) till you hit one that takes one in neutral or white background. Editing wise, the Pen Tool is your friend, it's tedious as hell but, will get you a clean cut out.

Thanks, I'll check it out. I was reading that most color adjustment is done within the camera these days. I really know nothing about taking pictures. My phone has a 14 megapixel camera so I guess I should spend some time seeing what is available for it.

 

[dandyrandy]

You could add a 4" flange and reverse the fan and hook an inline carbon filter fan setup to pull all heat out of the grow room. I run 2 rails with 4 per tube. Cool hood option.

 

[dionysus4]

these lights look great

I was gonna suggest u get better pics but i see you are having dramas with that

I suggest you use a blue screen and software to edit out the blue(like the due for the weather forcast)


the t22 cree looks real nice- i like it a lot and that price is yum

gonna suggest these lights over at the pepper forums too

whats the word on the optics/light spread?(peeps there be looking for about 350-500 ppfd so thinking a T22 would work for a 4x4)

 

[Rahz]

Thanks for the compliment

The Vero T22 is 850 ppfd in a 2x2 so probably weak in a 4x4. 380 PPFD in a 3x3, little over 400 for the Cree. I'm actually loosing money on them at the price they're listed for. "World's most efficient Vero lamps!" lol

 

[dionysus4]

Thanks for the compliment

The Vero T22 is 850 ppfd in a 2x2 so probably weak in a 4x4. 380 PPFD in a 3x3, little over 400 for the Cree. I'm actually loosing money on them at the price they're listed for. "World's most efficient Vero lamps!" lol

great tnx so the T22 for a 3x3 for non pot growers =D

why is the V4-200 50% more expensive than the T22 vero when it uses the same parts?

if its a matter of pricing them too cheaply and losing $ i suggest you up the current to match the V4200 and sell both for the same price

 

[Rahz]

The T22 is a 150 watt unit while the V4 is a 200 watt unit. The fair market price for the T22 would be around $350 but they've been called unprofessional looking and I agree so I'm offering them at a discount. Once I have some stock of the newer models I will probably disassemble whatever T22s I have left. I would do it now but I have no use for the 1.05amp drivers at the moment so am in no rush. Besides the appearance the T22s are too expensive to make with Veros at 1.05 amps (and especially CXB at 1.05 amps). If I were to charge $350 I would only be breaking even with the Vero version. Once I'm satisfied with stock levels on the new models I'll take a look at redesigning the T22 but am not sure whether it will make a reappearance or not. I like the T22. It was my first design choice but it may end up being redundant and the more expensive option. If it does come back the enclosure will be redesigned and it will sport CXB as either a low current luxury item for 2'x2' as originally intended, or a higher current option for a 3'x3'.