building a 750w LED fixture from high bay lights

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watsongreenthumb

Active Member
Hello all, I am dipping my toes into Led's- I bought a mars hydro tsl2000 a couple of months back and have been pretty impressed with it, much more powerful than I was expecting and than the led's I had seen roughly 5 or 6 years ago. I also love the clean white light compared to hps, really makes it easy to spot any little thing going on. Unfortunately I don't have the cash right now for a 6-700w led fixture that could replace one of my se 1000w lights, however I did come across some 150w ufo style high bay lights locally for $15-20 a piece. They are model UHB26-150DM-50NL0, they are dimmable and come with a sosen driver and dimming lead. my question is, could I get maybe 5 of these and run them in an x pattern to replace a 1000w hps? that would be 750 watts of led's but I am assuming these are not as efficient as the samsung diodes so I know wouldn't get the amount of light a 750w fixture with Samsung diodes would produce. Obviously there is no par data for these fixtures but they seem to be either 130 or 150 lumens per watt, for a total of around 20,000 lumens per fixture. another idea I had was to get more than 5 and run them dimmed to increase efficiency. let me know your thoughts!
 
J232

J232

Well-Known Member
I haven’t heard anything good about UFO style led. There is one or two tailored to cannabis cultivation but for the money, not worth it IMO. I don’t do data sheets but that’s where the answer will be. I will check those out, in a rush now, maybe someone else can give more info on them. I’m hooked on building what I need.
 
W

watsongreenthumb

Active Member
Yeah, I will try to find some data sheets for these and post them up, they were extra from a large commercial building project. I know they aren't the best option out there or anything but since I can get 5 for $75 it seems like they would be hard to beat value for money wise, I mean 5 of these together so 750 watts would have to be at least as powerful as a 1000w se hps right? I figure I could grab an 8 or 10 foot piece of steel, cut it in half and weld it together so its like an x, with a light on the end of each bar and one in the middle. I would need to get a dimmer though, as these led's have dimming leads but no included dimmer.
 
W

watsongreenthumb

Active Member
yeah I did some more research, hps lights are about 130 lumens per watt, and these are only 150 so theres not a huge increase in efficiency, might go ahead and get them anyway and try it out as a veg light with it dimmed down some. I have looked at various quantum boards but it seems like even if I assemble it myself its going to cost at least 450 for a good 600w led build, where as with these I could put together a 750 watt fixture for $75 bucks. Have been looking at the medicgrow lights though, they look like a pretty good deal. Maybe I am looking at the wrong boards and components for building these led's? I have been looking at various quantum boards and light strips mostly using samsung 301b diodes, are there more cost effective choices or different sources I should be looking into? It just seems like as soon as something gets labeled for a horticultural application the cost goes WAY up. Thanks for bearing with me guys, just want to get some nice clean white light for the ladies and don't have much in the budget for lighting upgrades at the moment
 
1

1212ham

Well-Known Member
watsongreenthumb said:
Hello all, I am dipping my toes into Led's- I bought a mars hydro tsl2000 a couple of months back and have been pretty impressed with it, much more powerful than I was expecting and than the led's I had seen roughly 5 or 6 years ago. I also love the clean white light compared to hps, really makes it easy to spot any little thing going on. Unfortunately I don't have the cash right now for a 6-700w led fixture that could replace one of my se 1000w lights, however I did come across some 150w ufo style high bay lights locally for $15-20 a piece. They are model UHB26-150DM-50NL0, they are dimmable and come with a sosen driver and dimming lead. my question is, could I get maybe 5 of these and run them in an x pattern to replace a 1000w hps? that would be 750 watts of led's but I am assuming these are not as efficient as the samsung diodes so I know wouldn't get the amount of light a 750w fixture with Samsung diodes would produce. Obviously there is no par data for these fixtures but they seem to be either 130 or 150 lumens per watt, for a total of around 20,000 lumens per fixture. another idea I had was to get more than 5 and run them dimmed to increase efficiency. let me know your thoughts!
Click to expand...
Not great efficiency, but it's hard to beat that price! Running more of them dimmed will also give a much better spread of light. I'd avoid 5 in an x pattern as it will concentrate light in the center. Dimensions of your space?

This dimmer can control the bunch, but buy a spare as dimmers can act up with age.
rapidled.com

Cased Potentiometer with Knob

.
rapidled.com rapidled.com

Also, led doesn't raise leaf temps above air temp with IR like HID so you'll want higher air temp, around 26-29C.
 
W

watsongreenthumb

Active Member
1212ham said:
Not great efficiency, but it's hard to beat that price! Running more of them dimmed will also give a much better spread of light. I'd avoid 5 in an x pattern as it will concentrate light in the center. Dimensions of your space?

This dimmer can control the bunch, but buy a spare as dimmers can act up with age.
rapidled.com

Cased Potentiometer with Knob

.
rapidled.com rapidled.com

Also, led doesn't raise leaf temps above air temp with IR like HID so you'll want higher air temp, around 26-29C.
Click to expand...
Awesome, thanks for the link to the dimmer, I think that will be a crucial part of this setup. I should be picking them up this weekend so I will be able to get a feel for how bright/powerfull they actually are, veg space is 5x6 and the ceiling height is only 7'6" plus i have a tray with the bottom about a foot off the ground. Once i get them I am going to do some testing to see if maybe i can wire one driver to 2 boards, cutting the drive current in half. I could then potentially use the extra drivers to power some deep red/ far red booster boards. I saw growdaddy led has a kit with 6 660+730 strips with heatsinks that are designed to be run at 150 watts so that could be a good option, just need to do some testing on the sosen drivers on the ufo lights to see the voltage and figure out how best to wire it all.
 
W

watsongreenthumb

Active Member
As far as heat and leaf temperature I definatley noticed that while the surface of the mars led I have now gets hot when its cranked up, it does not warm things around it like an hps would, and that can be kind of an issue as temperatures are barely reaching 70 degrees in there. Am in the process of converting this whole garden to a sealed setup so I will have to keep a close eye on whats happening with the environment and make some changes as needed. Too little heat is not a problem I have EVER dealt with before so not sure how best to deal with that, the only thing that comes to mind is to stop air cooling my lights.
 
1

1212ham

Well-Known Member
Air cooling? Do you mean cool tubes on the se 1000's? Transpiration generally lowers leaf temps with LED to around 1-2C under air temp.

Check it out...
growlightmeter.com

Photone - Grow Light Meter

The grow light meter app to measure PAR / PPFD, DLI, lux / fc, or Kelvin with your iOS or Android phone. Including PPFD meter and DLI conversion for plants.
growlightmeter.com growlightmeter.com



More reds.
growlightsaustralia.com

Buddies - Grow Lights Australia

"Buddies" Grow LEDs fill the gaps other LEDs can’t reach. Tough, waterproof side-lighting, under-canopy lighting, supplementary Far Red and more.
growlightsaustralia.com growlightsaustralia.com
 
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W

watsongreenthumb

Active Member
Yeah, the se lights are currently air cooled but I may take the glass and ducting off once I finish sealing everything. That photone app is pretty sweet, when i first got the tsl2000 I scorched some young plants thinking its output would be along the lines of the 4ft t5's Ive used before, and the photone app really let me get a feel for its power. I have since used it to check the par output of every light in the neighborhood it seems like.... I just have the free version but was thinking about upgrading to the paid version with access to all the different lighting types, do you have the free or full version?
 
ilovereggae

ilovereggae

Well-Known Member
for $100 I'd be tempted to try it. worst case you have a lackluster round and realize you either need to supplement w CMH like @PadawanWarrior suggested or upgrade to some better led bar or qb fixture.

you could make up for the lower lmw by just pushing up to 35-40w sf and you should still get a great harvest.
 
J232

J232

Well-Known Member
watsongreenthumb said:
the photone app really let me get a feel for its power. I have since used it to check the par output of every light in the neighborhood it seems like.... I just have the free version but was thinking about upgrading to the paid version with access to all the different lighting types, do you have the free or full version?
Click to expand...
You need to pay for each light type, I paid for white led but have nothing to compare it to yet, accuracy is a guess.
 
W

watsongreenthumb

Active Member
Those buddies are pretty cool too, I am all about some side lighting, that phosphor coated red diode is something I havent seen before, I wish they had a spectum chart to go with that color. Going to meet the guy in the next couple days, excited to actually get them in my hands so I can get a feel for the best way to use them, They will probably get pressed into service in veg right now but I would really like to use them as part of some sort of frankenstein rig using some of the drivers to run all the boards at a lower current and use those drivers to power some 660+730 or 2700/3k strips. I settled on 5 because 750 watts and about 100k lumens sounded like the right number in my head but I might end up getting a few more since they are such a deal. Could also use them in conjuction with my existing hps lights to fill out the spectrum.

Oh and I almost forgot, I saw the photone app on youtube in a comparison of par apps and it was the most accurate one. I use my ladyfriends iphone since its for ios only. Heres the link to the video
 
1

1212ham

Well-Known Member
watsongreenthumb said:
Yeah, the se lights are currently air cooled but I may take the glass and ducting off once I finish sealing everything. That photone app is pretty sweet, when i first got the tsl2000 I scorched some young plants thinking its output would be along the lines of the 4ft t5's Ive used before, and the photone app really let me get a feel for its power. I have since used it to check the par output of every light in the neighborhood it seems like.... I just have the free version but was thinking about upgrading to the paid version with access to all the different lighting types, do you have the free or full version?
Click to expand...
A sealed grow will retain more heat without ventilation and eliminating the air cooling will sure make a difference. Lots of variables!
I need a new phone so I don't have Photone yet. BTW, the android version is out now.
 
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