Bridgelux EB Series Build

Danielson999 said:
Have you measured the difference in umols with and without the cover on the light? I have that same brand tent but in a 6'x4' size. I think I'll get a 2'x4' for veg in the near future.
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The Quictent tents are really nice. Nice zippers, solid construction - the downside I noticed is they leak light, so unless you patch it from the inside on the sewing seams you wouldn't have as good results for flower.

I bought a Mars Hydro tent... and those are supposed to be light tight and they do seem to be, but the zippers are shit.
 
PicklesRus said:
That's totally true there is almost no air moving over it. But after my post above I think this is way too much light for such a small veg space anyway so I'll take it down and remove 4 of the strips. - Wow, efficiency! From 100W to 35W only! I think two strips will be the perfect amount for veg. The way the light is now the plants will go in there receiving 500umol and grow into 1100umol. I think that is way too much for veg.
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I have made a series of veg lights using the Samsung 4ft A strips, I run them at 700ma on a coralux controller.

Currently running 12 strips over a 8'x2.5' space achieving 250-300 umols and it's absolutely plenty to veg in. I happened upon a brand new 4'x1' fluoro light fixture for free and will be running 9 x EB series 280mm strips @ 300ma a quick measurement with meter was showing a range of 90-250 umols depending on distance. So I think you could safely remove a couple of those strips.

PS. Love what you're doing and it's all trial and error unfortunately until you get a Quantum Meter.. Using the meter has lead to a number of surprising and startling realizations for myself.
 
PicklesRus said:
Buddy said when clones are first cut and set in cubes a t5 or t8 is even too much light. He recommends starting with a t12 then moving to a t8 once they've been hardened out of the prop tray and transplanted into cups...

I'm thinking if I have to rig something up on the tent to shade the light or maybe make a cloning station with some 1 foot strips dialed down. Maybe multi stage

Fresh cutting light - super soft intensity maybe 50-100 umol

Light for post transplant 150umol

... hm. Or maybe I could wire up an arduino and program a light schedule using it as a dimmer where it gradually increases light until it's closer to my tent so when they are transplanted in they are not shocked . Decent idea. An automatic clone incubator

CloneDome (TM)
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It is easy to dial it down if you are using a dome for cloning...just put a semi-transparent white trash bag over the dome, or as mentioned above turn off some strips.
 
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Zulunature said:
I have made a series of veg lights using the Samsung 4ft A strips, I run them at 700ma on a coralux controller.

Currently running 12 strips over a 8'x2.5' space achieving 250-300 umols and it's absolutely plenty to veg in. I happened upon a brand new 4'x1' fluoro light fixture for free and will be running 9 x EB series 280mm strips @ 300ma a quick measurement with meter was showing a range of 90-250 umols depending on distance. So I think you could safely remove a couple of those strips.

PS. Love what you're doing and it's all trial and error unfortunately until you get a Quantum Meter.. Using the meter has lead to a number of surprising and startling realizations for myself.
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You're achieving 250-300 umols where? At the base of the plant stem, top of canopy?

BuddyColas said:
It is easy to dial it down if you are using a dome for cloning...just put a semi-transparent white trash bag over the dome, or as mentioned above turn off some strips.
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Yep I think I'll be removing some of the strips. I could actually leave them in there and wire 110v shutoff switches for each pair of strips so I can use them again later at full power, but I don't see them moving out of that tent so I'll test with 4 strips, then again with 2 strips and see what reads around the 250-300.

I work with a produce company and they had just around 200umols for their greens veg lights, and it could have done better with just a little bit more.
 
the diffuser should reduce a fair bit of photons..i cloned under cobs..they root faster with more photons..
and yes squeeze out a bit of liquid from the soaked cubes..

re veg it just depends on how compact you want your plants...
 
OLD MOTHER SATIVA said:
the diffuser should reduce a fair bit of photons..i cloned under cobs..they root faster with more photons..
and yes squeeze out a bit of liquid from the soaked cubes..

re veg it just depends on how compact you want your plants...
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What do you think of this? For compactness, more blue helps right? I have 50W of blue LEDs I could remove 4 of the 6 strips and mount the blue LEDs and run them at 0.5W or 0.3W.

upload_2017-4-1_10-38-14.png
 
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thats a pretty cool drawing..

honestly i have 4000 k cobs and 3500k and the 3500 are no slouch for vegging..

and i have not done side by sides to actually know enough

........but you sure have enough vertical space

you also can go so close with linear strips you can basicall get any umols you want ...

as well..i look forward to your blue led test..i used Blackstar veg 240's [150w]..which are way blue

to veg. for years ] they made some very compact plants with wide leaves and thick stalks

i could even veg to damn near 3 feet as long as i wasn't in a great hurry
 
OLD MOTHER SATIVA said:
i look forward to your blue led test..i used Blackstar veg 240's [150w]..which are way blue to veg. for years they made some very compact plants with wide leaves and thick stalks
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Sorry off-topic of strips - talking about Blue LEDs for a second.

I have a 700ma 57v Meanwell driver, if I want to fill it with blue LEDs I have a few options:

  1. Use cheap 1w Royal Blue LEDs from eBay. @ at 0.3w I would need 110x and it would cost $10CDN shipping included.

  2. Use cheap 3w Royal Blue LEDs from eBay @ at 1w I would need 100x and it would cost $12CDN shipping included.

  3. Use eBay 5w Cree XTE XT-E Royal Blue @ 1w I would need 38 and it would cost $40

  4. Use Cree 5w LEDs from Cutter or Rapidled, and pay over $100.
The question I have is, how bad are the ebay LEDs actually? The cost difference is huge.
 
PicklesRus said:
Off topic now but I read it's bad to overwater clone cubes, you could use an Arduino moisture sensor in one cube to program an aero cloned to water after it's been dry for a set amount of time. That way it always gets watered when it's the right amount of dry. It could be used after transplant too connected to drip lines. Awesome.
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i water one time at the start and keep my temps 80f anf humidity at least 70% if not 80 and consistent thru out .....i think any cloning method you use will perform the same with that temp/humidity...i go weeks sometimes without watering waiting for the occasional tough bitch who always has to go 4 weeks before setting a groot:).....
 
PicklesRus said:
Sorry off-topic of strips - talking about Blue LEDs for a second.

I have a 700ma 57v Meanwell driver, if I want to fill it with blue LEDs I have a few options:

  1. Use cheap 1w Royal Blue LEDs from eBay. @ at 0.3w I would need 110x and it would cost $10CDN shipping included.

  2. Use cheap 3w Royal Blue LEDs from eBay @ at 1w I would need 100x and it would cost $12CDN shipping included.

  3. Use eBay 5w Cree XTE XT-E Royal Blue @ 1w I would need 38 and it would cost $40

  4. Use Cree 5w LEDs from Cutter or Rapidled, and pay over $100.
The question I have is, how bad are the ebay LEDs actually? The cost difference is huge.
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steves led?
 
Abiqua said:
i water one time at the start and keep my temps 80f anf humidity at least 70% if not 80 and consistent thru out .....i think any cloning method you use will perform the same with that temp/humidity...i go weeks sometimes without watering waiting for the occasional tough bitch who always has to go 4 weeks before setting a groot:).....
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Did you know about this? Use red LEDs for your cloner roots faster and creates more root branches.

upload_2017-4-1_16-1-19.png
 
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PicklesRus said:
Sorry off-topic of strips - talking about Blue LEDs for a second.

I have a 700ma 57v Meanwell driver, if I want to fill it with blue LEDs I have a few options:

  1. Use cheap 1w Royal Blue LEDs from eBay. @ at 0.3w I would need 110x and it would cost $10CDN shipping included.

  2. Use cheap 3w Royal Blue LEDs from eBay @ at 1w I would need 100x and it would cost $12CDN shipping included.

  3. Use eBay 5w Cree XTE XT-E Royal Blue @ 1w I would need 38 and it would cost $40

  4. Use Cree 5w LEDs from Cutter or Rapidled, and pay over $100.
The question I have is, how bad are the ebay LEDs actually? The cost difference is huge.
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The latest Cree XPG-3 Royal Blue is 710mw of radiant energy capable of 10umoles, 38 pcs on star shipped DHL is approx USD75.00, if you think China .3w leds for $10 shipped is in the same performance category then send them your money
Cheers
Mark
 
PicklesRus said:
Did you know about this? Use red LEDs for your cloner roots faster and creates more root branches.

View attachment 3917505
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probably but not this specific one....and i do remember posting something about large amounts or rather, increasing amounts of 730nm seemed to do something similar......a year ago or more unfortunately...but its out there
 
Abiqua said:
hey pickles @PicklesRus i posted steves because they do binned epistars.....

who we might ask is photon fantom as well...they were in that realm until recently.....
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I see. I dont really want to buy cheaper LEDs but because those 1w/3w blues and reds are so cheap, its almost like being free.
I was only asking about the cheaper stuff because the low end ones are cheaper than a big mac that kind of makes you look twice.

If I build anything decent I would go straight for the best stuff at the best price (just like we all did here with the EB strips) and end up with Cree/Lumiled or whatever makes sense.


switching gears The problem with the smaller fluorescent fixtures is the footprint. The one I have is only 6 or so inches wide.
I removed four of the strips and under the fixture and tested levels. Under the lights they look alright, but the dropoff is pretty bad. I saw some posts today about that in another thread... I'm kind of stuck figuring out what to do now. Maybe I'll get a second fixture and go with 4 strips over the canopy.. not sure.

2 Samsung M series A strips (low power ones)

without the diffuser on:
150umol at the soil and 480umol at max height (12")

with the diffuser on:
115umol at the soil and 390umol at max height (12")​
 
PicklesRus said:
The problem with the smaller fluorescent fixtures is the footprint. T
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I measured at the edge of the canopy and it's under 80umol. The spread of this in such a height restricted space is no good - I'm definately going to pick up another one right quick here and fix that. But on the other hand it looks like two of the low powered samsung strips are plenty in this fixture.

Just to throw it out there. The Samsung M series A strips are pretty much half of one EB strip. That's why I bought them because it would give more even coverage for microgreens.
 
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