First DIY led cob build

So I decided to build my own led light. This plan was born out of frustration with dealing with lying led manufacturers and retailers. Looking at this shut and saying "damn, I could build this better myself". And of course, to give credit where credit is due.... watching realstyles, growmau5, supraspl, and several others on here gave me some ideas/courage to try this out. What's the worst that could happen right?
Anyways, one of my biggest problems with almost all led manufacturers is the size of their lights. Just curious here...how does a rectangular shaped light cover a square area? Like "this light covers a 4x4 area"....yet It's a long rectangle. ? Wtf? Lol. So I decided the best way to cover a 4x4 area for sure, was to build a 4x4 light.
I ended up going with the Vero 29 cobs for a couple of reasons. One, ease of installation. Nothing crazy here just add some thermal grease and 4 screws. Two, they handle a good amount of power. Three, they offer a plug (Pico Ezmate) that plugs right in and allows for zero solder during my build.
I chose some E-flite connectors to connect the cobs to the driver. This allows me to disconnect the cobs from the driver should I wish to.
I used Wago's to connect all the red wires from the cobs, and all the black wires together. Running the driver in parallel to a total of 4 Vero 29 3500k.
The driver is a Meanwell Hlg-240h-42b. I also wired a potentiometer so I can dim the light as needed.
The cobs are mounted on a 48" X 4.850" heat sink from Heatsinkusa. And cooled with a Thermaltake Riing 12 fan.
I plan on building 3 more to cover the 4x4 area and may make changes to the existing design as things progress. I'll let you know how it all works out.

A couple more pics. Sorry the quality sucks.

I fully understand your frustration and I am right there with ya man! I'm trying to build a decent DIY led grow light myself and I actually ran into a distraction when I found 110w retrofit led lights for only $39.75 a pop! They each come with their own MW driver and have 56 LED's per light. They only put out about 11,300 lumens each, but I think I am going to be running 4-5 of them altogether which will add up to one big light! Sounds pretty ghetto I know, but the price just couldn't be resisted. Can't wait to see how they work. I'm also building my own still, just got my cxa2530's x16 from Fasttech.com today, I just need to get my solderless connectors now and I will begin the build. I need to make sure I can drive the LED's with a MW hlg 185 c700a drivers as I have been told I can. How much was the cost of your build dude?

Lumengeek,
I think that driver will run 5-6 of those cxa's if I'm not mistaken. (215 volts maximum, divided by 36 volts per cob). Should give you around 25 watts per cob. (36 volts X .7 amps per cob wired in series). Please chime in someone if this is incorrect. 16 of them should definitely do the trick. Post a photo when done.
I believe I have around $300 into it now. Maybe a few dollars more.
Heat sink $48
Driver $75
Fan $18
Cobs $108
Plus wires, connectors, shipping, etc. But I'm very happy with it so far and will be building more soon. Also building some Area51 w90 style single cob units just for fun. Will post some pics in the near future.

Why would I only run that many of these cobs when the drivers are rated for 286v max each, where did you get 215v? I guess I need to figure out if I can actually drive these chips @ 35.75v before I even try running a string of 8. I have been told it will work, but am still kinda skeptical. So far with 16 cxa2530, 2 MW hlg 185h c700a's, and then another $100 for the crazy huge heatsinks I got, my build will end up costing close to $400. Still kicking the idea of mounting my 2530's in my 2x4 t5 fixture so as to utilize the reflectors in it. Not sure exactly what I will end up doing but will get there eventually!! I'll definitely post pics once I am finished tho.

I run 8 at 100w each. Area is 46"x40". I run soil in 5 gal buckets. Nothing fancy. I get more than I can smoke. I switched from 3w LEDs to cobs and the change in growth was amazing. I even have a blurple cob that stinks. Vero or cxb series you can't go wrong.

You run 8 vero29 at 100w? That's gotta be quite the setup! Can't wait to see what my setup will be able to do. I went with the cxa2530's simply for affordability. Eventually I would like to get cxb3590's for a strong light for flowering.

lumen-geek said:

Why would I only run that many of these cobs when the drivers are rated for 286v max each, where did you get 215v? I guess I need to figure out if I can actually drive these chips @ 35.75v before I even try running a string of 8. I have been told it will work, but am still kinda skeptical. So far with 16 cxa2530, 2 MW hlg 185h c700a's, and then another $100 for the crazy huge heatsinks I got, my build will end up costing close to $400. Still kicking the idea of mounting my 2530's in my 2x4 t5 fixture so as to utilize the reflectors in it. Not sure exactly what I will end up doing but will get there eventually!! I'll definitely post pics once I am finished tho.

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You are right. The site I got the 215v figure from is obviously wrong. Meanwell's data sheet shows they will run 286v. My bad. Which means at 35.75v you can run 8 (35.75v X 8 =286 x .7amps = 200.2 watts) And that will be very good use of the driver, you'd be using every available amp/volt. (Although the meanwells are a bit underated)
And the t-5 fixture...very original. That is actually a very good idea. Let me know if you go that route, I'd be interested to see that.

dandyrandy said:

I run 8 at 100w each. Area is 46"x40". I run soil in 5 gal buckets. Nothing fancy. I get more than I can smoke. I switched from 3w LEDs to cobs and the change in growth was amazing. I even have a blurple cob that stinks. Vero or cxb series you can't go wrong.

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What drivers do you use?