HELP... somewhat newbie...

Well hello fellow growers...

I have been growing for a couple years now, nothing that spectacular though... I am looking to upgrade my system. I have a pretty good idea of what I want to do, just not exactly sure what the best way to do it is...

A little about what I have to start out with...

I have a grow tent that is 32x32x60 for vegging...

I also have a grow tent that is 48x48x84 for flowering...

Currently right now I am only using the 32x32x60 for flowering... Have a 400mh/mps setup...

This is what I'm looking to accomplish with me new setup...

I will be running a SOG grow with 2 week cycle rotations. I will be using an 8 week flowering plant. This means that every two weeks I will have a harvest... I am thinking about going with 4 plants harvested every two weeks...This means a total of 16 plants at any given time, perpetual harvest...
I have done this in the past, and haven't really like the results I have been getting off the 400hps.

I decided to move on to LED's. Was planning on getting 3 Apollo 10's. 2 for flowering and 1 for vegging...getting rid of 400hps...
The problem that I have run into is, well, they are fucking expensive, and the reviews are spotty as hell...

The spectrums that I was going to use are as follows...
Vegging
3 red 630
3 red 660
3 blue 430
2 cyan 500
1 blue 460
1 white 6500K
1 white 4000K
1 orange 610-615

flowering
6 red 660
4 red 630
1 red 730
1 blue 460
1 blue 435
2 white 4000K


After a lot of research I have found out that Cidly.com has a lot of bad reviews for selling junk...This puts me off the Apollo's because Cidly.com is one of the main suppliers...

I guess the question that I'm getting at is: 2 things...

REMEMBER ACT AS IF I KNOW ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ABOUT GROWING

1) What is the best setup (HPS, LED, CFL) to accomplish what I am trying to do... (please include all details)

2) Can anyone supply me with information on all the materials that I would need to build 3 LED's myself that are roughly 360 watts each...
a) this would include what diodes and where to get them... 1w, 3w, or 5w...
b) what drivers I would need and where to get them...
c) How to do the heatsink, what size, where to get...
d) Can anyone supply me with step-by-step directions from beginning to end on how to go about building one of these...

E) Granted I have absolutely no electrical experience at all, I just can't see spending $1100 dollars on 3 apollo's if I can build them for half the price myself...

F) I am NOT looking to buy cheap shit, If I'm gonna do it I want to do it right...
I don't want to have to buy something else next year because they don't meet my expectations or needs...

Any help that you can give me would be extremely helpful...
Thank you

do you really need 3 of the same threads. A little word of advice, most people on forums dont like when people post 3 threads of the exact same thing.

I understand what you are saying...I'm just trying to get all the information I can possibly get on this thread... Figured if I posted it in more than one place I might have better luck getting the answers that I need...

This is a good start, imo:
https://www.rollitup.org/led-other-lighting/602349-central-diy-led-link-location.html

Too much IR in your flowering panel, imho.

1) All of them are good.
2) That's asking for a lot, at least for me, because I have no intention on building a panel like you have in mind.
2a-f) That link I gave you has a lot of good info which will help you make up your mind.

Here's a few more links:
http://www.digikey.com/product-search/en/optoelectronics/leds-high-brightness-power/525057?k=led osram
http://www.ledgroupbuy.com/categories/

I think you need to do some more research, make up your own mind and design your own panel. Who knows, you might come up with a new idea no one's really thought of yet.

Bumping Spheda said:

This is a good start, imo:
https://www.rollitup.org/led-other-lighting/602349-central-diy-led-link-location.html

Too much IR in your flowering panel, imho.

1) All of them are good.
2) That's asking for a lot, at least for me, because I have no intention on building a panel like you have in mind.
2a-f) That link I gave you has a lot of good info which will help you make up your mind.

Here's a few more links:
http://www.digikey.com/product-search/en/optoelectronics/leds-high-brightness-power/525057?k=led%20osram
http://www.ledgroupbuy.com/categories/

I think you need to do some more research, make up your own mind and design your own panel. Who knows, you might come up with a new idea no one's really thought of yet.

Click to expand...

What would you suggest taking out or changing in the flowering panel to reduce the IR (not even sure what that is)...

I have done tons of research, I have somewhat of an idea of how I want the panels to look and spectrums to use and shit like that...just not sure about the drivers, brands of diodes, heatsink issues, doing the actual soldering and wiring everything...these are the things I have no clue on...

Thanks for all the links though, I will definitely check them out...

The finished project is probably a month or so away, so no big rush, just want to make sure it is done correctly...

IR = Infrared = 730nm diodes
Those Neutral White LED's you have in the mix output some IR, and then you have one IR LED out of every fifteen. I'm sure there's some who would argue with me, but I just don't think it's worth it. I'd go 5 x 660nm, 5 x 630nm, 3 White 2700K, 2 White 4000K and you'll get a bit of the IR back with all those White's in the mix along with a lot of other beneficial wavelengths.

Cree are often revered as the best. They are also expensive. Check the third link I supplied you with for star-mounted Cree's.

Heat sink wise you've got a lot of Watts there, man. That's gonna need some serious cooling (read expensive).
http://heatsinkusa.com/
You'll probably want to implement a fan or two somehow, which would probably include a frame of some sort.

Meanwell makes well respected LED drivers. Look around for a good price. The first link (and the link I put in the second post of that thread) should be able to help you figure out what voltage, current, etc. you need.

I'd do a little more research if I were you. You're going to be spending a lot of money if you go through with this project, and there are perfectly competent manufacturers out there, imo. I mean I'm all for DIY, I'm building myself a few panels, but for what you have in mind, imo, I'd just say fuck it, it's not worth all the work.

Some food for thought:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Cooler-Master-Hyper-N520-CPU-Fan-AMD-Athlon-64-X2-AM2-/220624656435?pt=US_CPU_Fans_Heatsinks&hash=item335e411833
You could use a 100W LED chip with this. Make 4 and you've got yourself a pretty sick grow if you ask me. You can order custom spectrum 100W chips, too, look on Alibaba or Aliexpress for manufacturers if it interests you.

good point on the spectrum in my view, but you'd still want to look at those whites ... some whites have that IR you are talking about, some others havent nearly half of what you think!

Even Cree, some have more IR some very little, well at least from their datasheets ... for how accurate they are mmh