Is it possible to build a good COB LED light for a grow tent 3x3x5 for under $200.00?

mauricem00

mauricem00

Well-Known Member
CobKits said:
but some are also much more efficient. i reccomend the 14-15W ones
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the bulbs I use in my home produce 100LPW with very uniform light distribution. seems it would be hard to beat that with over the counter light bulbs.they are cheap and more effiecient than the cheap grow lights sold on E-BAY or amazon.and a way to try LEDs without hurting your wallet too much
 
pop22

pop22

Well-Known Member
The head of the screw fit perfectly between the fins. I'm thinking of an aluminum tubing frame that pivots in 2 dimensions, like a spot light. Easy and effective. But the chain works fine for now!
 
randydj

randydj

Well-Known Member
mauricem00 said:
the bulbs I use in my home produce 100LPW with very uniform light distribution. seems it would be hard to beat that with over the counter light bulbs.they are cheap and more effiecient than the cheap grow lights sold on E-BAY or amazon.and a way to try LEDs without hurting your wallet too much
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People badmouth the Chinese LEDS sold on amazon all the time but if you know how to grow... well anything you can do wonders with them. I grew this with $150 dollars worth of Roleadros:

DSC00170.JPG DSC00178.JPG
 
MMJ Dreaming 99

MMJ Dreaming 99

Well-Known Member
CobKits said:
i dont think people badmouth them because the cant grow but, but rather as in the long run a lot of them tend to be unreliable
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My issue is that Amazon and eBay misrepresent these $99 Burples as 1000 watt lights. Amazon is worse than eBay. The regular Burples are not good in flower and are middling in Veg. T8s will work better in Vegs.

I can put up 5 - 2 bulb Wal Mart T8s for less than $100 with bulbs and they will stomp any burple in veg. I can spend $38 for flower bulbs for them and will also stomp a Burple in Flower.
 
randydj

randydj

Well-Known Member
MMJ Dreaming 99 said:
My issue is that Amazon and eBay misrepresent these $99 Burples as 1000 watt lights. Amazon is worse than eBay. The regular Burples are not good in flower and are middling in Veg. T8s will work better in Vegs.

I can put up 5 - 2 bulb Wal Mart T8s for less than $100 with bulbs and they will stomp any burple in veg. I can spend $38 for flower bulbs for them and will also stomp a Burple in Flower.
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MMJ:
I agree that the specifications used in their descriptions is misleading especially to the uninformed and that is wrong. but to call them all "burples" is just as misleading. The two lights I used formed a very complete spectrum when combined and only used an actual 180 watts at the wall. The dry weight of the Moby Dick CBD with 58% boveda packs for the cure yielded 112.18g primo bud (not counting the samples I snitched early; I didn't think to weigh them) and 71.74g of high quality sugar leaf and popcorn buds. That would be .623g/watt bud only or if you count the larf (I use it for my meds in the MBM2 it is not for sale, so I count it) then it is better than 1g/watt.

I built my DIY cob because I think I can do better with a true 385 watts at the drivers. COTC autos under way now so time will tell.:weed:
 
Ganjineer

Ganjineer

Member
Alright. I like a challenge. Here is "Ganjineer's dirt cheap not complete shit COB build for a cool 2 hundy".

It's not the most elegant, but it'll produce a whole lot of light for very little coin. It'll give you plenty of room to expand and upgrade in the future. I've tested both the boost converter and power supply and they perform as advertised, with around 80-90% efficiency.

You use the power supply and boost converter to power 4 parallel strings of 2 COBs in series (8 COBs in total). You can adjust drive current by adjusting the current and voltage set potentiometers on the boost converter. This will drive them up to 400w if you wish. You use the 12v adapter to power the fans on the CPU coolers
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randydj

randydj

Well-Known Member
pop22 said:
and inefficient
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pop22:

What do you mean by inefficient? You see my actual numbers and with all inputs considered I think it was fairly efficient. The one unknown is reliability. I only ran them for 5 months but they were working when I replaced them with my DIY Cob. I have limited space available to grow in or I would keep them going. I am just saying they worked well for me. Maybe I am just lucky........ oh wait if I was lucky I wouldn't have all this pain from a bad disc and I could spend my money on a tropical island instead! :wall:

Happy growing!
 
pop22

pop22

Well-Known Member
the electrical efficiency of those type lights is maybe 25% if its a really good one. So 25% of you power makes light, the rest is heat. Lights are now approaching 60+% efficiency. It was not a comment on how well they grow a plant

randydj said:
pop22:

What do you mean by inefficient? You see my actual numbers and with all inputs considered I think it was fairly efficient. The one unknown is reliability. I only ran them for 5 months but they were working when I replaced them with my DIY Cob. I have limited space available to grow in or I would keep them going. I am just saying they worked well for me. Maybe I am just lucky........ oh wait if I was lucky I wouldn't have all this pain from a bad disc and I could spend my money on a tropical island instead! :wall:

Happy growing!
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pop22

pop22

Well-Known Member
Excellent post! Budget DIY around here is hard to find... This is a good compromise. Later key components can be upgraded as money allows, drivers etc. I like it!


Ganjineer said:
Alright. I like a challenge. Here is "Ganjineer's dirt cheap not complete shit COB build for a cool 2 hundy".

It's not the most elegant, but it'll produce a whole lot of light for very little coin. It'll give you plenty of room to expand and upgrade in the future. I've tested both the boost converter and power supply and they perform as advertised, with around 80-90% efficiency.

You use the power supply and boost converter to power 4 parallel strings of 2 COBs in series (8 COBs in total). You can adjust drive current by adjusting the current and voltage set potentiometers on the boost converter. This will drive them up to 400w if you wish. You use the 12v adapter to power the fans on the CPU coolers
​
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pop22

pop22

Well-Known Member
Hmmm think maybe you were pulling our leg with that burple light...lol! I have a couple still. BUT after just one grow using my cob light, I can't wait to replace them! 3x the light, 1/2 the power, whats not to like? every watt I shave off my usage makes me happy, With airconditioning i'm just shy of 3000 watts. With new lights and air, I hope to whittle that down to at least 2k watts

randydj said:
Hey gangineer:

Where were you before I built my COB? of all the suggestions yours would have been the best! You did see what I actually built for about $360.00; the Arduino controller bumped the cost about $60.00:View attachment 3856835 View attachment 3856836 View attachment 3856837 View attachment 3856838

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Ganjineer

Ganjineer

Member
randydj said:
Hey gangineer:

Where were you before I built my COB? of all the suggestions yours would have been the best! You did see what I actually built for about $360.00; the Arduino controller bumped the cost about $60.00.
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I appreciate the kind words and sorry for being a little late to the party. You've got an awesome setup there and I'm sure you're happy with the results. Very clean, well done.

I just wanted others to know that you could still make a great light, using top quality COBs, while cutting out some of the "fat" so to speak.
 
randydj

randydj

Well-Known Member
pop22 said:
the electrical efficiency of those type lights is maybe 25% if its a really good one. So 25% of you power makes light, the rest is heat. Lights are now approaching 60+% efficiency. It was not a comment on how well they grow a plant
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Wow I am a fantastic grower! If only 25% of my 180 watts at the wall was light that means my g/watt ratio was 2.48g/light watt that is killero_O
 
pop22

pop22

Well-Known Member
guess so! And Growmua5 got 4.134 gpw with his first DIY cob light figuring it that way.
 
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