Bridgelux EB Series Build

[OLD MOTHER SATIVA]

A fan is not a bad idea, although technically you could probably do without it. Remember efficiency goes up slightly as temps go down.

You could add some 630nm reds, but the jury is still out on whether there is much to be gained from that.

If you haven't done it already, I would recommend considering building a far red flower initiator for this light.

i have been watching the flower intiating threads..

i have always used onset of flower 36 hrs darkness and it sees to work..not that early onset flowering by aday or so mattermuch for me.

unless you are meaning that the flower intiating is for flower mass..

 

[PicklesRus]

How do you mount to the top of an open C channel? My bars have airspace between them so not sure how I would fix them to a crossbar.

Instead of using radial blowers inside the tubes ill connect all the tubes to a larger 2x4 tube and drill holes where they connect... so ill put a couple fans on the 2x4 and it will pull air through all the tubes with just a couple fans. Its too bad i dont have extra width, i could have put directional nozzles on the end of the tubes and pointed them at the plants for airflow.

Should also add im getting the tube for 1$/foot

 

[Randomblame]

How do you mount to the top of an open C channel? My bars have airspace between them so not sure how I would fix them to a crossbar.

Instead of using radial blowers inside the tubes ill connect all the tubes to a larger 2x4 tube and drill holes where they connect... so ill put a couple fans on the 2x4 and it will pull air through all the tubes with just a couple fans. Its too bad i dont have extra width, i could have put directional nozzles on the end of the tubes and pointed them at the plants for airflow.

Like this

L-channels to mount them on the ends and a bigger channel as driver case or remote with driver outside like this

 

[Randomblame]

The strips works well without active cooling and going passivly could safe a few bucks on your electicity bill especially if you run more of this units it quickly adds up to 20-30w or more. You can drive them at 700mA without a heatsink, I've seen one drive them @1050mA without issues but don't remember who .. but here on rui.

 

[PicklesRus]

I cant put a bracket on the end of a channel. Im limited to 45" max width and the strips are just over 44"... unless i get a .25" l bracket

 

[PicklesRus]

The strips works well without active cooling and going passivly could safe a few bucks on your electicity bill especially if you run more of this units it quickly adds up to 20-30w or more. You can drive them at 700mA without a heatsink, I've seen one drive them @1050mA without issues but don't remember who .. but here on rui.

The other problem with channels is how do i mount the drivers on the fixture? Theres nothing on top of the channel to mount to. I would prefer to use channels but I cant figure out a clean solution to mount stuff ontop of them.

 

[MrTwist1]

i have been watching the flower intiating threads..

i have always used onset of flower 36 hrs darkness and it sees to work..not that early onset flowering by aday or so mattermuch for me.

unless you are meaning that the flower intiating is for flower mass..

I believe it can shorten flowering time by upto a week over the course of the flower period. I don't believe it adds flower mass. I believe your 36hours darkness could also help get things going for the same reason.

 

[MrTwist1]

730nm put them to sleep right?
The 630nm I thought were to wake them up. I was going to have both plus some high CRI monos like Growmau5 did on the quantum canopy.

Yes 730nm to put them to sleep. The theory is that they sleep immediately... rather than the 2 hours it is thought they can take to go to sleep in a normal indoor grow. As such the hormone that triggers flowering is able to build up in the plants quicker as they are essentially sleeping 12hours instead of 10.

I haven't experimented with 630nm... although i actually meant to say 660nm!!!

As far as I can see 660nm is mostly used to boost that highly photosynthetically active red part of the spectrum for increased growth. It is based upon the emerson effect whereby plants are supposed to increase photosynthesis significantly when 630nm and 660nm are high. Obviously that is a very basic explanation of it, so I would advise some research. This is why some folks are leaning towards the 90CRI chips lately, as they have a slight increase in 660nm light over their 80CRI counterparts.

 

[Abiqua]

Yes 730nm to put them to sleep. The theory is that they sleep immediately... rather than the 2 hours it is thought they can take to go to sleep in a normal indoor grow. As such the hormone that triggers flowering is able to build up in the plants quicker as they are essentially sleeping 12hours instead of 10.

I haven't experimented with 630nm... although i actually meant to say 660nm!!!

As far as I can see 660nm is mostly used to boost that highly photosynthetically active red part of the spectrum for increased growth. It is based upon the emerson effect whereby plants are supposed to increase photosynthesis significantly when 630nm and 660nm are high. Obviously that is a very basic explanation of it, so I would advise some research. This is why some folks are leaning towards the 90CRI chips lately, as they have a slight increase in 660nm light over their 80CRI counterparts.

actually it worked more along the lines that less radiated powered combined with 620ish 680 and 700 nm seemd to yield more than just using larger amounts of just 630,660.....and other stuff...

I encourage anyone to read the actual Emmerson paper, much differerent imho, than the rare analysis that floats around.....

 

[Abiqua]

Nice work! I had a similar initial design, but scrapped it due to the cost of the 1x1" on mine. I wanted to have a 12V fan blowing through each tube.
Example ( can get way cheaper)
https://www.amazon.com/Connector-Cooling-Blower-50mmx15mm-Laptop/dp/B00MJU6JR2/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1490957595&sr=8-4&keywords=50mm+cooling+fan
You could blow them though two tubes each, that way your airflow is equal if you space the connection right.


I think you guys may be overdoing thoughts on heatsink design for these, I've been running 9 of these @ 900ma for ~2 weeks now and the light is not getting above ~81F (hit 85 degrees outside here today, tent is in basement which sits in the low 60s). I have a 4 in ventilation fan + filter and a single fan above the light and below it passively blowing air on it. This barely heats my tent, (mid-high 60s). See chart below for light temps, low point is turn on time (my logging dies after 6 or so hours due to a bug I haven't tried to fix).
View attachment 3923248

brahhby where are you placing your measuring at? On the Tc points?

 

[brahbbyB]

brahhby where are you placing your measuring at? On the Tc points?

Dead center in my fixture on backside of Al Sheet ihave DS18b20 attached with aluminum tape. So not really a dead accurate measurement, but should be close enough.

 

[Abiqua]

Dead center in my fixture on backside of Al Sheet ihave DS18b20 attached with aluminum tape. So not really a dead accurate measurement, but should be close enough.

fair enough....im too intensive to skip that part myself....i do the same thing though with another data pointer thermometer and notice about 7-8 C degree rise over the actual Tc and that was in dead still ambient, so you should absolutely be alright with your semi passive fans too....i guess i wanted to show how all this gets modelled and how anyone can do it correctly

 

[brahbbyB]

I appreciate it it, you guys have added a ton on info/research on these things since this thread started. I'm less concerned about even temps as all my strips are individually driven by their own LDD-1000H, so even if the strips have differences, it won't effect the others.

 

[PicklesRus]

I appreciate it it, you guys have added a ton on info/research on these things since this thread started. I'm less concerned about even temps as all my strips are individually driven by their own LDD-1000H, so even if the strips have differences, it won't effect the others.

If it wasn't for you I wouldn't be growing lettuce in my kitchen

 

[Danielson999]

I used square aluminum tubing and loved it. It's effortless to work with, offers a way to hide wiring and it's way stronger than using angle. I had thought about using it for strips too but I'm not ready to get invested quite yet. I also have 4 x 18" pieces heatsinkusa 4.850" sinks so who knows what I will end up doing first!

 

[PicklesRus]

Per decree of the Mouse, roughly 38 (actually 39) watts per sf.

This is my bridgelux EB light. 10 strips in the 3500k temp. Using 2 - 250w 1050 ma drivers. Its on a 3x4 frame (roughly)

This thing is bright. I was looking at it when i turned in on, that was not a good choice.

at 29 inches its putting out 20k lux.

I turned it down to 468 watts. It was at around 524 watts

The lighting is very even, I am a huge fan.

Anyone have any heating issues with them? They were warm to the touch after about 5 minutes on, but i wouldn't say hot. I don't have any heat sinks on them, they are just attached at the ends and i have one beam in the middle for stability. Should I have attached them to L bars all the way down?

This is going in my garden in the next day or so, it will be going over established plants, so it will be hard to tell how well it works.

I gotta come back to this - the way those strips are hanging makes me feel uncomfortable. I think you should add two more cross beama they are sagging

 

[muleface]

I gotta come back to this - the way those strips are hanging makes me feel uncomfortable. I think you should add two more cross beama they are sagging

I haven't really run the light yet. I didn't think they would be that flexible. I am actually considering running each of them on their own L bar. I need to find a local metal supply house. Before I actually put it into production, I am going alter the light quite a bit.

 

[goodro wilson]

Gonna buy a few more to hook up under kitchen cabinets and grow some herbs thanks for answering all my questions @PicklesRus

 

[PicklesRus]

Gonna buy a few more to hook up under kitchen cabinets and grow some herbs thanks for answering all my questions @PicklesRus

Not a problem Mr. Good

 

[goodro wilson]

Got the Hlg 80 350 for $36
And six strips for $24
Definitely a good little light for 60 bucks I'll probably dim down and use for my clone/ seedling area
Now I have everything on the way I guess I should know how to wire them
I know they have the poke in connectors so do I wire in parallel ? And hook up one side to driver