BodhiKarma
Active Member
I posted this under the design and setup forum. Didn't realize this subforum was here. Have tried to delete the other to move it here but don't see how to. Don't ban me for asking the same question in two places please...
Hey guys, lighting question and hoping for a "math based" answer basically.
Some background you can skip if you want
. Have about 9 or 10 years with MH/HPS. Moved in 2012 and was limited in space and no good way to vent heat so I made the jump to LED. Tried that for about 6 years but only halfheartedly. Used the purple crap and never made anything that compared to my past results.Did a little reading and bought a cheapo COB off of Amazon that had Epistars and there was a noticeable difference between the COB and the purple crap. So that lit a bit of a fire and I've spent the last several weeks to a month reading, watching videos etc and I've landed on the idea of making my own.
My environment is 30" x 60" x 86". I'll be using the bottom 18" or so for a reservoir so really I only have about 68" vertically. My lighting goal is to have consistent coverage across the 30" x 60" and the correct amount of PPFD for room temperature ( say a range of 72 - 84 ). I don't know how to do the math. I believe I will go with Rapid LED 48 x 22 substraight. That is basically two rails. My plan is to do 4 lights per rail for a total of 8. Lights will be Cree CXB 3590's. Probably 3500K ( Happy for any input on that as well). Those rails coupled with 8 lights will allow me to have each light 7.5 inches from the wall and 15 inches center to center to a neighboring light. So I'm looking for each one to cover just a little over a square foot and still have enough photons to hit under the neighboring lights at an angle. I'm at a loss as to the wattage or milliamps I should be looking at.
I like the idea of a single controller but that isn't a requirement. Also considering the number of COB's, the proximity to neighboring COB's and reflectivity, as well as limited vertical space, should I even mess with a lens on them?
Hey guys, lighting question and hoping for a "math based" answer basically.
Some background you can skip if you want
. Have about 9 or 10 years with MH/HPS. Moved in 2012 and was limited in space and no good way to vent heat so I made the jump to LED. Tried that for about 6 years but only halfheartedly. Used the purple crap and never made anything that compared to my past results.Did a little reading and bought a cheapo COB off of Amazon that had Epistars and there was a noticeable difference between the COB and the purple crap. So that lit a bit of a fire and I've spent the last several weeks to a month reading, watching videos etc and I've landed on the idea of making my own. My environment is 30" x 60" x 86". I'll be using the bottom 18" or so for a reservoir so really I only have about 68" vertically. My lighting goal is to have consistent coverage across the 30" x 60" and the correct amount of PPFD for room temperature ( say a range of 72 - 84 ). I don't know how to do the math. I believe I will go with Rapid LED 48 x 22 substraight. That is basically two rails. My plan is to do 4 lights per rail for a total of 8. Lights will be Cree CXB 3590's. Probably 3500K ( Happy for any input on that as well). Those rails coupled with 8 lights will allow me to have each light 7.5 inches from the wall and 15 inches center to center to a neighboring light. So I'm looking for each one to cover just a little over a square foot and still have enough photons to hit under the neighboring lights at an angle. I'm at a loss as to the wattage or milliamps I should be looking at.
I like the idea of a single controller but that isn't a requirement. Also considering the number of COB's, the proximity to neighboring COB's and reflectivity, as well as limited vertical space, should I even mess with a lens on them?
