I switched from High Pressure Sodium to COBs. My experience

Actually I was looking at the PAR diagram for that board and decided it would be nice to get a second one, so I got a HLG 240h 48a driver and cancelled the 120. I’ll buy another board next week.

I don't want to jack the thread, but if somebody could please explain the difference between a COB and a quantum board. They both look like circuits on boards so is it just the placement of the LEDs? like in a circle or more placed out?

Cob stands for chip on board, and it’s a single, extremely powerful chip/light. A quantum board is a PCB with a bunch of diodes.

anyway I decided to just buy the second board. If this all works I’ll have put together a really nice 200ish watt quantum board build for around 200 bucks. Once it all gets here and I build it I’ll post some pics. Since it’s all from amazon it should get here early next week. I might even try flowering a couple plants in a trellis under it.

On that note, what are the pros and cons to doing a 480 watt quantum board and flowering under that vs 480 watts of cobs? Just seems a little easier than building an array of 6 cob lights.

Well fuck lol I’ve now canceled 3 drivers from amazon. Realized that 48a meant 48 volts and the boards I ordered are 54. None of the ones on amazon are 54 volts and my boards are. I just broke down and ordered the 240h-54b from cobkits. It was only like 8 bucks more than the one from amazon. Looks like every single grow light is 54 volt and those drivers aren’t super common.

TerrapinBlazin said:

Well fuck lol I’ve now canceled 3 drivers from amazon. Realized that 48a meant 48 volts and the boards I ordered are 54. None of the ones on amazon are 54 volts and my boards are. I just broke down and ordered the 240h-54b from cobkits. It was only like 8 bucks more than the one from amazon. Looks like every single grow light is 54 volt and those drivers aren’t super common.

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Thank fuck for that.

I was just checking through the data sheets to get clarification.
As it happens the board is stated to be 54v but at 2800mA its actually fV is 51 and the 48a driver actually you can adjust the voltage up to 53 so chances are it would of been fine.
However you should use the driver they recommend for simplicity so stick with the one you ordered from cobkits.

Yeah it looks like a better driver. I’m no electrician but I have a fair amount of experience with electrical, and it seems like getting a 48v driver for a 54v light is like plugging a 240v appliance into a 110v outlet. It just took me a little while to figure out the important numbers on these things. If I like these boards I might get 4 more for a 400 watt flowering light. It’s too hot in the summer to run the HPS and that would allow me to grow indoors when it’s hot. I’ve been reading some chatter that there are a lot of advantages to boards over cobs, and that the only disadvantage is less penetration. I use a trellis so that isn’t a dealbreaker for me.

pthobson said:

I don’t know if anyone has mentioned it yet but I know with LED you actually want your ambient temp to be a few degrees hotter than you would aim for with HPS. Can be a little tricky at first because obviously LEDs run cooler

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Yes, in fact many people uses LEDs just to get the grow cooler. Before COBs I had too much heat in summer and it was a hell to grow, so I usually stopped for a couple of months (July and August). But now I see that the temps are so low in Winter with COBs that the plants were growing a little slow for my taste, so I decided to rise the power. I never had problems with low temps in Winter nights, even when I had temps around 10ºC some times.

But for what I know from my experience, what makes buds a little airier than usual is the excessive heat. I don't see any negative effect of relative cold on bud formation. In fact the terpenes and anything volatile tends to stick to the resin.

Cheers

Finally I upgraded my setup with a little HPS light to keep the things warmer both in temperature and color temperature. 600W HPS + 800W 3500ºK Citizen/Cree COBs in a 120x240 flowering tent. I believe that this will rock, it is a lot of light.

I've used the COBs I took out the flowering tent (400W) to overpower the vegetative tent, where I start the flower regime for many batches of plants. This is where COBs are unbeatable: for the first two/three weeks of 12/12, the very intense COB light (600W for a 120x120 cm tent) makes really strong, leafy, healthy and compact plants. Total beauty. And then, some mixed HPS/COB spectrum for the last weeks.

I believe I've found the sweet spot for this. I'll tell you how it goes.
Cheers

It’s funny to come back to the thread that convinced me to switch to LEDs. I used 4 30 watt mini cobs in my light but it gets most of its power from boards. I’m adding even more to it this weekend in the form of two 60 watt 2’ bars. I took the HPS out and put in the LED light when my plants were at about week 5. They just hit week 7 on Monday and the LEDs made a difference.

TerrapinBlazin said:

It’s funny to come back to the thread that convinced me to switch to LEDs. I used 4 30 watt mini cobs in my light but it gets most of its power from boards. I’m adding even more to it this weekend in the form of two 60 watt 2’ bars. I took the HPS out and put in the LED light when my plants were at about week 5. They just hit week 7 on Monday and the LEDs made a difference.

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Glad to hear you are liking the LED lighting! You have a journal with plant pics? I wanna see how they are looking bro.

As you mentioned in an earlier post, you do need to run a little warmer canopy temperatures due to the lack of infrared. Once the temps are dialed in LED can be so wonderful. You don't have to work as hard to cool the space because you actually want it a little warmer and the LED's puts out less "canopy heat". I say "canopy heat" because most of the heat radiates upwards off the heat sinks and the same with the drivers that could be outside the space as well. That combined with the lack of infrared to heat the leaf surfaces means the canopy temperatures can become extremely easy to manage unless in a cool area like a basement in the winter, then you may actually need a heater or want the warm air from the top of the tent circulated down to the canopy instead of being exhausted constantly. With cool ambient temps, one may end up venting more for CO2 or humidity control than temperature.

Good reading, having recently taken the plunge from MH and HPS to LED. As an “old schooler” it took me a while and I’m converted! Loving the HLG 550 V2 Rspec. And Mums happy under a lower watt 4000k HLG kit too.

The re training is different light heights for the PAR wanted, and the big one is dialing in the VPD (vapour pressure deficit) as LST (leaf surface temperature) at the canopy is different. Once the room RH and temps are good for VPD at the growth stage I’m finding the LED’s are doing a great job.....growing like a well fed gym junkie.

Renfro said:

Glad to hear you are liking the LED lighting! You have a journal with plant pics? I wanna see how they are looking bro.

As you mentioned in an earlier post, you do need to run a little warmer canopy temperatures due to the lack of infrared. Once the temps are dialed in LED can be so wonderful. You don't have to work as hard to cool the space because you actually want it a little warmer and the LED's puts out less "canopy heat". I say "canopy heat" because most of the heat radiates upwards off the heat sinks and the same with the drivers that could be outside the space as well. That combined with the lack of infrared to heat the leaf surfaces means the canopy temperatures can become extremely easy to manage unless in a cool area like a basement in the winter, then you may actually need a heater or want the warm air from the top of the tent circulated down to the canopy instead of being exhausted constantly. With cool ambient temps, one may end up venting more for CO2 or humidity control than temperature.

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here’s everything in my closet right now. The two 60 watt bars I’m adding also have deep red. That will bring my light up to 480 watts and it should cover my entire canopy even better than it does now. I was using the HPS when I started the thread but switched to the LED at around day 35. I got one absolutely stunning pheno in this batch so there are lots of pics.

eyderbuddy said:

For Flowering 3000K is king, 3500K is still a good and balanced veg/bloom spectrum, but you're going to have to keep a couple things in mind when switching from the HPS mindset:

- More Cal-Mag (the spectrum stimulates consumption)
- More Leaf matter, Inter-nodal Stacking (again, spectrum)
- Much Less Vertical Growth (spectrum)
- Plants in veg in will grow at about the same speed (photon/photon), but the HPS will look "bigger" because they will stretch more, while the LED ones will stack more node and will look shorter.

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You must be referring to a plain white?
Properly Enhanced white led does not have the Bonsai problem & will send bag appeal through the roof.

TerrapinBlazin said:

Driver — I couldn’t find the exact one the board manufacturer recommended, so I got the 36a instead of 56a

MEAN WELL LED Driver Single Output Switching Power Supply 120 Watt 48V @ 2.5A A Model, 120 Watt - HLG-120H-48A https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DEDANWU/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_A2S6DbHWKAMTQ

Board

Atreum Lighting 288.2 LED Grow Light Board Kit, Horticulture Full Spectrum Grow Light Panel, Samsung LM301B with Heatsink, Hanging Rope and Solid Copper Cables https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VSZ2PNS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_q3S6DbFC2X5JZ

Will this work? It isn’t too late to cancel. Also is this even worth building? Be honest. I’m trying to do something cool for my tent on the cheap that will be a learning experience but I want this to be a really good veg light too. Is 3000k good for veg?

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5k bro.

DaFreak said:

I don't want to jack the thread, but if somebody could please explain the difference between a COB and a quantum board. They both look like circuits on boards so is it just the placement of the LEDs? like in a circle or more placed out?

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Yes

Ailalelo said:

Yes, in fact many people uses LEDs just to get the grow cooler. Before COBs I had too much heat in summer and it was a hell to grow, so I usually stopped for a couple of months (July and August). But now I see that the temps are so low in Winter with COBs that the plants were growing a little slow for my taste, so I decided to rise the power. I never had problems with low temps in Winter nights, even when I had temps around 10ºC some times.

But for what I know from my experience, what makes buds a little airier than usual is the excessive heat. I don't see any negative effect of relative cold on bud formation. In fact the terpenes and anything volatile tends to stick to the resin.

Cheers

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Agreed, i run cooler then recommended here. Higher terps i feel, healthier plants with less yellowing or defficencies. 78-82 is what i shoot for during the first 1/2 of flower but now that im towards the end im dropping to 75-78•. The 64-68• stuff i leave for lights out the last week to help pop some color n flavor.

5000k probably gets tighter internodes but I’ve been running the 3000k board for veg and my plants are loving it. I also finished my flower light yesterday. It’s more boards and bars than cobs but it has four CXB1820s in it as well. I shut down the HPS and started running the LED a while back, a few weeks before I added the bars yesterday. Now that this light is up to 480 watts I think it’s gonna make some pretty spectacular nuggets.

hybridway2 said:

Agreed, i run cooler then recommended here. Higher terps i feel, healthier plants with less yellowing or defficencies. 78-82 is what i shoot for during the first 1/2 of flower but now that im towards the end im dropping to 75-78•. The 64-68• stuff i leave for lights out the last week to help pop some color n flavor.

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I have 3 drivers in my light and it puts off a fair amount of heat, so I just sit a desk fan up in it blowing over the drivers and board heatsinks. It pushes some warm air down over the canopy and with the LED on it stays between about 70 and 80 with the light on and can get down to the low 60s/high 50s with the lights off. It was getting above 90 in there with the HPS. Every single plant in my closet turned purple this time and is surprisingly frosty. I think that signal stuff I’m using is helping too. It claims to help with resin production and color and it’s made a difference with phenos I’ve run without it in the past. I’ve got a pheno of a strain (kandy kush) that’s supposed to test around 15%, but this fucker is way too frosty to be below 20%. I’m wondering if the cooler temps are having an effect. These buds are rock hard too. I’m sending this pheno and one other into the lab to get tested. The rosin too. This one is from seed. I’m excited for the clones. I love how much better my pics come out with the LED light as opposed to the HPS.

TerrapinBlazin said:

I think a 100 watt quantum board should be plenty for a 3x3 tent, right? So board, heatsink, and wiring is obvious but I’m having a little harder time figuring out which driver to get. Do I want something a little more powerful than 100 watts so I can turn it down?

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Big negative. I run in a 3x3 and started with 400 watts of timber 4vs. Added the timber 2vl for a total of 600w of vero 29 cobs. Was averaging 8-12 zips w 400w per run. Went all the way up to 20+ ounces each grow with the 600w. I'm going to say from personal experience that I would want 400w minimum cob wattage in a 3x3.

Southside112 said:

Big negative. I run in a 3x3 and started with 400 watts of timber 4vs. Added the timber 2vl for a total of 600w of vero 29 cobs. Was averaging 8-12 zips w 400w per run. Went all the way up to 20+ ounces each grow with the 600w. I'm going to say from personal experience that I would want 400w minimum cob wattage in a 3x3.

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In my case i use strips, for a 3x3 tent, you need at least 270 watts of QB's... 300-360 watts sounds more reasonable though... Personally i wouldn't even hit 400W without CO2