dsmer
Well-Known Member
Hey guys! This is actually my first thread on here lol. I'm not a big forum poster but i like them for information and there are definitely some smart people on here! This may be long and I apologize lol
So heres my story. Until recently, like many others, iv'e relied solely on hps lights for flower for many years without issue. I currently run 2x600w and 400w in a 4x8 (give or take) space. Now although they work great, the price for running them is making me think alternatives. Currently where I live, the total cost of electricity went from .14cents/kwh to .24cents/kwh as soon as winter hit! So at the ~1400kwh i use every month (whole house) my bill went from $196 to $336! thats a ~$140 difference every month for the same usage. This medicine is for personal use (between 2 people) and I don't sell it so this is becoming an expensive hobby for me lol. Currently I removed the 400w and dimmed the 600's to 400 each for the time being. I also switched from a metal halide in veg to t5's which is actually working very well.
My goal is to replace one of my 600w hps lights with an equivalent cob led fixture, and it works well I will replace both. See another one of my problems is my a/c died last year and I wanna be prepared for when summer hits. This is bad because now I have to shell out $500+ on a new a/c plus @1200w 12hrs a day would be another $100 a month for electricity! Right now im air cooling my lights and it stays right at 75f with minimal elec usage. But only because its winter lol.
Which brings me to led's. I tried led's a few years ago for veg. It was a 200w california lightworks vegmaster. although it worked well, it didn't exactly "wow" me and I eventually went back to halide and sold the led. Until this point thats the only real world experience I have with led grow lights.
After reading thru a bunch of the diy led threads on here and gathering a bunch of info (thanks to all who spread there knowledge btw!) I think I'm gonna give it a go. I'm looking for some advise and some constructional criticism and hopefully these COB leds will be the future! Im excited for it.
Ok! I want to start building one of these things fairly soon but Im in no rush by any means. Heres a little background on my skillset. Im a welder/fabricator by trade and have been doing so for about 12 years. I also own my own equipment at home which is nice because i can make any style fixture I choose. Im also pretty handy with wiring. Ive done some home wiring (basic stuff) and alot on automotive applications. so Im fairly confident in basic elec knowledge though Im far from an expert. The funny thing is my last job i was actually a fabricator for a lighting company which made commercial and residential led and flouro lighting (mostly ornamental) fancy stuff for offices and schools etc. I built aluminum enclosures for them. unfortunately I left there before I got into led grow lighting which sucks because they had huge buying power from both cree and meanwell and had shelves FULL and i mean FULL of ballasts,drivers, led's etc. as well as tons of wiring. Oh well lol.
So id like to brainstorm some ideas on my next light. hopefully supra and others will chime in. bare in mind im not trying to "outdo" the hps lights, just want somewhat equivalent results with far less elec usage. My current basic idea for the first fixture is to use 6x cxa3070's being driven @1.4a with (2) HLG-185H-C1400A drivers powering 3 COB's wired in series each. This "should" give me about 325w draw (not including fans) but correct me if Im wrong. Does this sound good for a 4x4 footprint? If total draw from this light is under 400w and has the same results as 600w hps then I would save 200w each fixture I replace. for example: 400w saved total from replacing both hps lights = ~$35 a month or $420 a year! (i think thats a sign lol) thats not including having to replace hps bulbs every year (~$100 each) and a/c bills @~$100/month. so at first glance it looks like i would save around $1000 a year if you figure I use a/c for 4 months (or more sometimes) by switching to led. This of course is all theory in my book.
anybody have ideas on optimal fixture design? i would love to hear/see some ideas for building the ultimate fixture. I also work at a machine shop so I have access to mills, etc.
One last thing id like to throw in lol. I was thinking about the options of powering pc fans for active cooling. What about using thermoelectric generators to power the fans? maybe wedge a Peltier chip in between the COB and the heatsink. The heat from the led combined with the temp differential of the "cold" side of the heatsink should create a measurable voltage. maybe enough to power the fan, effectively using its own heat energy to increase efficiency. the fan would also be self controlling because the hotter the led got, the more voltage it would create thus spinning the fan faster. This would eliminate the need for external fan controllers and additional wiring+ increased efficiency (which is what where all after right?) of course this is only if the chip would create enough current, which im not 100% on.
again sorry for the long story lol but id love to hear some feedback! thanks for reading
So heres my story. Until recently, like many others, iv'e relied solely on hps lights for flower for many years without issue. I currently run 2x600w and 400w in a 4x8 (give or take) space. Now although they work great, the price for running them is making me think alternatives. Currently where I live, the total cost of electricity went from .14cents/kwh to .24cents/kwh as soon as winter hit! So at the ~1400kwh i use every month (whole house) my bill went from $196 to $336! thats a ~$140 difference every month for the same usage. This medicine is for personal use (between 2 people) and I don't sell it so this is becoming an expensive hobby for me lol. Currently I removed the 400w and dimmed the 600's to 400 each for the time being. I also switched from a metal halide in veg to t5's which is actually working very well.
My goal is to replace one of my 600w hps lights with an equivalent cob led fixture, and it works well I will replace both. See another one of my problems is my a/c died last year and I wanna be prepared for when summer hits. This is bad because now I have to shell out $500+ on a new a/c plus @1200w 12hrs a day would be another $100 a month for electricity! Right now im air cooling my lights and it stays right at 75f with minimal elec usage. But only because its winter lol.
Which brings me to led's. I tried led's a few years ago for veg. It was a 200w california lightworks vegmaster. although it worked well, it didn't exactly "wow" me and I eventually went back to halide and sold the led. Until this point thats the only real world experience I have with led grow lights.
After reading thru a bunch of the diy led threads on here and gathering a bunch of info (thanks to all who spread there knowledge btw!) I think I'm gonna give it a go. I'm looking for some advise and some constructional criticism and hopefully these COB leds will be the future! Im excited for it.
Ok! I want to start building one of these things fairly soon but Im in no rush by any means. Heres a little background on my skillset. Im a welder/fabricator by trade and have been doing so for about 12 years. I also own my own equipment at home which is nice because i can make any style fixture I choose. Im also pretty handy with wiring. Ive done some home wiring (basic stuff) and alot on automotive applications. so Im fairly confident in basic elec knowledge though Im far from an expert. The funny thing is my last job i was actually a fabricator for a lighting company which made commercial and residential led and flouro lighting (mostly ornamental) fancy stuff for offices and schools etc. I built aluminum enclosures for them. unfortunately I left there before I got into led grow lighting which sucks because they had huge buying power from both cree and meanwell and had shelves FULL and i mean FULL of ballasts,drivers, led's etc. as well as tons of wiring. Oh well lol.
So id like to brainstorm some ideas on my next light. hopefully supra and others will chime in. bare in mind im not trying to "outdo" the hps lights, just want somewhat equivalent results with far less elec usage. My current basic idea for the first fixture is to use 6x cxa3070's being driven @1.4a with (2) HLG-185H-C1400A drivers powering 3 COB's wired in series each. This "should" give me about 325w draw (not including fans) but correct me if Im wrong. Does this sound good for a 4x4 footprint? If total draw from this light is under 400w and has the same results as 600w hps then I would save 200w each fixture I replace. for example: 400w saved total from replacing both hps lights = ~$35 a month or $420 a year! (i think thats a sign lol) thats not including having to replace hps bulbs every year (~$100 each) and a/c bills @~$100/month. so at first glance it looks like i would save around $1000 a year if you figure I use a/c for 4 months (or more sometimes) by switching to led. This of course is all theory in my book.
anybody have ideas on optimal fixture design? i would love to hear/see some ideas for building the ultimate fixture. I also work at a machine shop so I have access to mills, etc.
One last thing id like to throw in lol. I was thinking about the options of powering pc fans for active cooling. What about using thermoelectric generators to power the fans? maybe wedge a Peltier chip in between the COB and the heatsink. The heat from the led combined with the temp differential of the "cold" side of the heatsink should create a measurable voltage. maybe enough to power the fan, effectively using its own heat energy to increase efficiency. the fan would also be self controlling because the hotter the led got, the more voltage it would create thus spinning the fan faster. This would eliminate the need for external fan controllers and additional wiring+ increased efficiency (which is what where all after right?) of course this is only if the chip would create enough current, which im not 100% on.
again sorry for the long story lol but id love to hear some feedback! thanks for reading
Have a look to the Coolmac-system.
