-boring 'ol 230w 154lm/w led strip build

nfhiggs

Well-Known Member
@iHearAll - I bought 10 of these strips a while ago and haven't built anything yet. I've been trying to find specs for the strips to choose a good driver or 2 to run them instead of the skinny things they came with - do you know what the forward V of these things is?

Cheers
If they are the 56 diode Acuity strips they are 24V.
 

dopeonarope

Well-Known Member
If they are the 56 diode Acuity strips they are 24V.
Cheers mate - I've got the same TCI strips as iHearAll so not the acuity strips (although I thought about grabbing some when I saw them on ebay - they dont seem to have any of the 56 diode strips left though)
 

iHearAll

Well-Known Member
If they are the 56 diode Acuity strips they are 24V.
Maybe true if you are referring to each string of leds on the strip but the voltage is labeled at 49v 900ma max on the face. Then, powered lower. In my previous post I shared the voltages I measured along with the current at each.
 

nfhiggs

Well-Known Member
Maybe true if you are referring to each string of leds on the strip but the voltage is labeled at 49v 900ma max on the face. Then, powered lower. In my previous post I shared the voltages I measured along with the current at each.
OK, yeah I saw your post after I sent that last. I though iHearAll was referring to the Samsung Acuity strips rather than the TCI strips. My bad.
 

nfhiggs

Well-Known Member
Cheers mate - I've got the same TCI strips as iHearAll so not the acuity strips (although I thought about grabbing some when I saw them on ebay - they dont seem to have any of the 56 diode strips left though)
Yeah, I can't find anymore of them.... Hopefully some more will pop up.
 

iHearAll

Well-Known Member
Digikey's side of the project came through. These diodes are TINY! not quite what i was expecting but, nonetheless, they should work. Clearly the 3/4" U channel wont have a problem dissipating the heat of these little buggers. I included some plants i have grown under some red/blue monochromatic COBs in this past year. You can see why i need to upgrade! Ancient technology ..
CIMG4613.JPG CIMG4614.JPG CIMG3744.JPG CIMG3754.JPG CIMG3755.JPG CIMG3757.JPG CIMG3759.JPG CIMG3886.JPG CIMG3907.JPG CIMG3973.JPG
 

iHearAll

Well-Known Member
1000 views? what the heck?


just stamping some numbers out for no reason whatsoever except boredom. OK, so, i calculated:
  • 6.65w HE Photo red
  • 6.65w Far Red
  • 26.6w 365nm-370nm UV-a
  • 26.6w 380nm-385nm UV-a
  • 26.6w 390nm-395nm UV-a
  • 115w (dimmable) 4000k (154 lm/w)
  • 115w (dimmable) 3000k (154 lm/w)
according to wikipedia, UV-a can reach higher intensities in a sky with some sort of sun obstruction (if i'm following this graph right).. So, for sake of experimentation, i will try to gas light routine filled with UV-a to resemble a cloud in front of the sun or a tree the happens to block the direct sun everyday at the same time. Make sense? mostly i just would like to minimize my power bill with something realistic to the plants. Reds will be on in the first 15 minutes and last 15 minutes of a whole day's lighting schedule.
Spectrum_of_Sunlight_en.svg.png
 

iHearAll

Well-Known Member
heatsinks are cut and i opted for purching lower powered drivers to power the UVa and the Red. Using 300ma for Red and 600ma for UVa instead of what i posted earlier. Not too different.
 

iHearAll

Well-Known Member
0711170901.jpg 0711170901a.jpg
I'm connecting each sink by a machine screw and nut. My gut tells me it could need more than two screws per segment so I don't put too much leverage on a screw and snap it when the panel is hung
 

iHearAll

Well-Known Member
i have the main lights up and working. Whenever the UVa, PCB stars, and other drivers arrive in the mail i will go ahead and finish assembling. The light radiation is nowhere near as hot as a COB's. The plants are a Querkle male X autopounder fem chuck and a femm amnesia monstercrop that i cut back to one branch.
CIMG4628.JPG CIMG4630.JPG CIMG4631.JPG CIMG4632.JPG CIMG4633.JPG CIMG4634.JPG CIMG4635.JPG CIMG4638.JPG CIMG4639.JPG
 

iHearAll

Well-Known Member
Yea, two strips side by side. There was no 1.5" wide tape. So, I applied two .75" strips.
It's really sticky. I placed a light in the wrong spot and drew blood trying to get it up. One light strip now has two layers thick of tape because this goof
looks good. Did you just use thermal adhesive to attach the strips to the aluminium?
 
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iHearAll

Well-Known Member
Is that Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) visible in the leaves of one of the two plants?
Not sure. I've been keeping an eye on it. I need to spray them down with probiotics today. Thanks for the reminder I probably would have put it off a few more days.

It's possible it is a genetic issue, the plant is a regXauto and Im just growing it to see if it autos. I imagine the auto is horribly inbred. Adding epsom salt to my next watering as well.

I think the consensus is tmv is not contagious to cannabis. Its likely a hungry plant.
 
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dopeonarope

Well-Known Member
Yea, two strips side by side. There was no 1.5" wide tape. So, I applied two .75" strips.
It's really sticky. I placed a light in the wrong spot and drew blood trying to get it up. One light strip now has two layers thick of tape because this goof
Yeah I have the tape as well but I'm thinking of using screws and nylon washers – If I stuffed up and layed a strip on crooked then my OCD would kill me forever
 

wietefras

Well-Known Member
I put screws through the line in the middle where I saw no electric traces, but the screw heads still touched some metal and caused it to short out. Nylon washers helped prevent that. Or in my case I 3D printed some load spreaders (they push down on the wider edges):
TCI_ledstrip_screws.jpg

I was afraid a simple piece of aluminium wouldn't be enough as a heatsink so I didn't want to glue it down just yet, but since this works just fine I would glue/tape them down next time I guess.

Posted some more pictures in the Pictures of your DIY lights thread
 
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