How do you install a 50w LED floodlight indoors?

[FranJan]

In case anyone wanted to know I bought a 20 watt 5000k light, it works amazingly for how little wattage, so I bought the 50 watt 3000k model. Now I'm waiting on the light, and funds to make the super mini cab, an adjustable spectrum cabinet made for small flowering plants (bonsai and early flowering). Wish me luck in the coming weeks!
Best wishes on your growing endeavors,
ILovePlants

A 50 watter eh, nice IlovePlants. You must grace us with some photos/info. And it is amazing how well they work for the wattage and I've got the electrical bills to prove it. I just knocked $60 bucks off my electrical bill by ditching my CFLs for LEDs in the veg cab and this is the time of year when my bill is highest. I think a couple of 630nm spots for the flowering tent are in order for this magnificent occasion . Imagine if people just start ditching their $1,000 panels for a couple of hundred dollars worth of these suckers . LOL

Hey Rasser, I totally messed up one of my spots when I accidentally pulled a pin off an IC chip they wire in between the light and the transformer. I tried to solder it back on, but even with a 10 watt soldering gun, I probably cooked the chip. Oh well, lesson learned. Maybe I'll find a replacement. Here's some info on the chip btw DI156s . I got a new LED coming in the mail, and I'll be modding it when it comes, but I'll be leaving that section alone this time .

 

[Rasser]

A 50 watter eh, nice IlovePlants. You must grace us with some photos/info. And it is amazing how well they work for the wattage and I've got the electrical bills to prove it. I just knocked $60 bucks off my electrical bill by ditching my CFLs for LEDs in the veg cab and this is the time of year when my bill is highest. I think a couple of 630nm spots for the flowering tent are in order for this magnificent occasion . Imagine if people just start ditching their $1,000 panels for a couple of hundred dollars worth of these suckers . LOL

Hey Rasser, I totally messed up one of my spots when I accidentally pulled a pin off an IC chip they wire in between the light and the transformer. I tried to solder it back on, but even with a 10 watt soldering gun, I probably cooked the chip. Oh well, lesson learned. Maybe I'll find a replacement. Here's some info on the chip btw DI156s . I got a new LED coming in the mail, and I'll be modding it when it comes, but I'll be leaving that section alone this time .

Good to hear about your saving on the bill, I'll expect the same.

Well shit happens, and in this case is should be cheap to repair and can be done 4 diodes or any other bridge rectifier,
Don't know if you have looked it up but here is the run down 'DC power supply 101'.

This is what is inside the chip, 4 diodes wired like this:

It turns 50 HZ AC into 100Hz ripple DC like this: (Work from Hz-Mhz)

And when you mount a capacitor it will hold the charge between the peaks, depending on the load:

Copy from another thread :
Normally if you start drawing maximum current the capacitor can't keep enough charge between the peaks
to supply the load and what is called a ripple voltage happens, witch creates hum when using a 50Hz
underpowered PSU connected to a stereo.

 

[FranJan]

Good to hear about your saving on the bill, I'll expect the same.

Thanks for the little primer Rasser. And the more I look at my light I doubt this sucker is drawing more than 12 or 13 watts. It seems my 20 watter is a matrix of 20 x 1 watt diodes running at around 50% with a watt or two of overhead. This makes a little more sense when looking at why my electrical bill dropped so substantially for this time of year when using LEDs instead of CFLs. Regardless, they work and that is everything!

 

[Rasser]

In case your going to use 4 single diodes then this is how you'll connect them.

I'm having fun again with Open/Libra Office draw, it has stuff ready for quick sketch drawing,
as I'm waiting on my 5 10W flood light, should have been here but was sent to zip no. 2860 instead of 2806
according to track and trace. Not very smart to use the same numerals in different zip numbers I think.

Anyway my Flexi Veg 10 W LED Floodlight Station (4-10W white and 1-10W RGB) what will remain is to be tested

As I'm writing this, I'm considering what to use as the movable reflective wall and using blinds will for sure,
for me, be the most cheap, easy and flexible solution, I can have a peek by turning the handle,
and pull the cord when it's time for watering or general nursing.



Aluminum or white for sure.

 

[IlovePlants]

Attachment 1. An agent orange bud I grew. Amazing pheno, but it's a breeder not a keeper.
Attachment 2. Picture of the light in action.
Attachment 3. Cheddarwurst2 (AKG) day 44 of 12-12 , now under the 50 watter
Attachment 4. Finished Cheddarwurst2 (it was the throw away pheno, still great though)

 

[FranJan]

^^^ Excellent! So are the diodes setup as 50x1, 25x2 or something else? I'm also very interested on how that Cwurst2 is going to respond under that light. She looks so beautiful that it would be a sin if something happened to her but something tells me you guyz have a backup plan . Best of Luck with your girls ILP!

 

[IlovePlants]

It seems to be a 50x1 matrix but it could be larger and running at 50 actual watts. It is about 4 times the size of my 20 watt light. I thought they sent me the 80 watt version by accident, but it's labeled 50 watts in about 3 different places on the packaging. She has been responding by sending out new hairs and absolutely thickening up. All seems great!

Cheddarwurst2 is just starting to fade at day 46 now, I would say she has about 18 to 23 days. I can't wait for these buds to fatten up! They smell like blackberry/huckleberry chemdawg, it's fucking mind blowing in my opinion. The scissor hash from the throw away pheno tasted like smores, but the buds held a fruitier, menthol aroma. Personally I don't like this menthol taste as it had that rez harshness, so I went for the Blackberry chem pheno. It definitely has more of a chunky cheese hybrid look, rather than the Chemdog indica dom buds that the throw away had.

Attachment 1: My fist is about 4.5" across in this picture. I have 10 of those, with 5 more that are slightly less developed. 3 gallons is doing well these days.
Attachment 2: Spectral diffusion of the lighting in my room.
Attachment 3: The top of the bud that my hand was compared to. My room is damn bright!

 

[KidneyStoner420]

Any try to plug the light into a fan speed controller? Will that dim it?

 

[FranJan]

^^^ It's not that simple with LEDs. They need to be dimmable LEDs or you could ruin them and most of the cheap stuff isn't dimmable.

 

[MajorCoco]

Pulse width modulation is the best way to dim LEDs I heard, and I think PWM should work with all LEDs even cheapos shouldn't it? It's an expensive way to do it though I think unless you're an adventurous electronics DIY'er like Rasser!!

 

[FranJan]

Pulse width modulation is the best way to dim LEDs I heard, and I think PWM should work with all LEDs even cheapos shouldn't it? It's an expensive way to do it though I think unless you're an adventurous electronics DIY'er like Rasser!!

Interesting Major, and I must admit I'm over my head here a bit, but I'm under the assumption certain electronics must be included with the diode in order for it to be dimmable or it must be of a certain design. Maybe the PWM gives you the ability with the cheap ones but I'm not takin one for the team on this one to find out .

Edit: Actually there's some reviews of LED dimmers I've seen saying to stay away from PWM since an LEDs response is too fast and it creates flickering. Maybe you need to have some kind of rectifier? Or a LED with an exceptionally fast response time? This is all getting beyond me. Rass?

 

[MajorCoco]

It's the fast response that makes it work..it means you can switch them quicker than the eye can see, avoiding flicker.

http://www.reuk.co.uk/LED-Dimmer-Circuit.htm

 

[patrikantonius]

I think all "high power" LEDs (understand LED chips, not LED panels) can be dimmed with no problem.

PWM dimming (aka flickering the LEDs at a very high speed) is great to have a consistent color but it sacrifices efficiency a bit.
Regular dimming (aka reducing the current going through the LEDs) is very efficient but creates variation in the LED color.

Basically, for most LEDs, the lower the current, the greater the efficiency (a 660nm 3w LED might output 320mW at 2.15v/400mA -- efficiency of 0.37; and 735mW at 2.6v/1000mA -- efficiency of 0.2. That's why it may be better to dim the current only as with PWM the current is most likely high. BUT the output wavelength (color) differs with current as well... So basically a 660nm LED can have a peak wavelength of 660nm at 400mA but it can slip to 650nm at 1000mA.

If wavelength is very important, PWM dimming is great. If efficiency is important, current dimming is the best. For a grow light I'd go with current dimming.

 

[Rasser]

Interesting Major, and I must admit I'm over my head here a bit, but I'm under the assumption certain electronics must be included with the diode in order for it to be dimmable or it must be of a certain design. Maybe the PWM gives you the ability with the cheap ones but I'm not takin one for the team on this one to find out .

Edit: Actually there's some reviews of LED dimmers I've seen saying to stay away from PWM since an LEDs response is too fast and it creates flickering. Maybe you need to have some kind of rectifier? Or a LED with an exceptionally fast response time? This is all getting beyond me. Rass?

Hi.

As you hinted at the talk of LED's being dimmable or not has to do with the LED driver build in the commercial light bulbs.

LED switch on/off fast so if the frequency is not higher than 100Hz there is flickering I presume.

Regarding the efficiency: If an LED is most efficient at running 2.4V 680mA then the PWM should make that 2.4 volt available not 100% of a period like DC but maybe only 50%
of the time to get the dimming effect.

Current control would not work I think.

 

[Rasser]

Made some measurements of my new cute 10 watt LED flood light.
I'm planning to use them on 4 plants for the first weeks before they are put under the 120W(90)W led and then the 200W(180W) LED

With and without front glass -the glass was a bit colored to make the light more warm. The difference in intensity is actual visible with the naked eye.

Looks good compared to my 90W CFL tubes.

 

[FranJan]

^^^Interesting stuff gang. I always have to read most of your stuff at work where I need to be a little more clear headed . Some of you should pull together and write a little LED electronic sticky for us more electronically challenged headz .

Anyway finally gotten around to separating my spots from their converters. Definitely running much cooler now that they're separate, I couldn't work on one of them for 10 minutes because it was so hot from running for 10 hours. Now you can just pick the converter up and hold it in your hand while it's running. It's still hot, just not insane hot anymore. And I guess you could put the converter's housing back on for esthetics, but I'm using part of it to mount on a sheet metal tray on the outside of my veg cab. Like this they can be mounted in very tight spots.


I'll be finishing them up with some split loom and mounting them soon. And probably during football season, maybe even sooner, I'm going to resolder and rewire as much of the damn things as possible. You cannot believe how terrible the soldering is, and how cheap the wiring that they used is also. I had to solder that fucking chip and 2 of the wire connections together again, but it was mostly because of cold connections that were probably going to fail. But they're doing clones like nobodies business ATM with no problems. Still, no skill involved in the production of these lights. Is the LED even soldered right?

 

[IlovePlants]

Yeah after viewing this fact, and looking into Gastanker's DIY Cheapo Leds, I realized that you can put together lights for almost the same price as buying them, and you know that the labor is quality, which for me is everything. I can customize and make it exactly how I always wanted LED to be, big 5000k day white light in the middle with a large amount of much lower wattage: deep red, red, amber 3w leds on a separate switch for flowering.

I don't know about you or Rasser, Franjan, but I think that it's time to make my old 400 watt hood to pay it's dues. I'm going to mod it up, cast aluminum heat sinks onto it and save myself all the money on aluminum, and reflectors.

Pictures taken on the second of July, about a week to go.

 

[KidneyStoner420]

Pictures taken on the second of July, about a week to go.

LOL, that was 2 days ago

 

[FranJan]

See my whole thing with DIY is if I go that route then I'll take my time and spend the money. But until I see better results (no offense anyone), better prices, and better efficacy and cooling, I'm just gonna watch you "pioneers" of LED DIY. Plus someone's gotta fuck shit up .

 

[hyroot]

Ive been watching this thread. Great idea and good work guys. I have a little electrical background.from the electrician classes I had to take at audio engineering school. We were taught to build and repair consoles, vu meters, etc..

Anyway. I found same cool white and warm white 20w led flood lights for $23. The rgb witih remote 10
watt for $33 and 20w for $41 localy. Would any of you think 4 20w white lights could cover a 2x4 for veg. I grabbed 2 to replace the 4 27w cfls I have over my moms. I still have to wire up th plugs though. Im lazy today.

I have 1 t5 in veg. I need to get another light for veg for perpetual veg. If 4 of these flood lights would work or even 6. Its still much cheaper and less watts than another t5.

Id rather have another led than a t5. Im really trying to lower my electric bill

Thanks