$1200 dollar budget for 8'x4', strips or Cobs?

Larry3215 said:

They seem to be the best value out there for quality LEDs as far as I know.

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Meh, Not really. $20 for 96 diodes is $0.208 per diode. Samsung F strips are $0.18 per diode ($28 for 144) for the same exact diode. And if you buy in bulk the price drops by as much as 35%. Just buying ten of the 44" single row strips gets you more than 10% off (with Digikey) - that's basically getting the tenth strip free.

I don't care for the 15" length either. Its fine if your working with a 3x3, but most folks have 2x2, 2x4, 4x4, or 4x8. The 22" and 44" fit these spaces much better.

So far im planning on going with the double diode samsung f series gen 3 in 3500

Whoa $10 per 50w ALU PCB strip.. Its ideal to water cool those bad boys to with the ALU PCB..

Larry3215 said:

That would work for folks who need 50 strips at a time! Not real practical for small growers though. Plus there are all the usual risks for buying from alibaba - like getting ripped off and trying to handle warranty claims or dealing with scams and fake led's etc etc.

Id much rather pay a little more, and buy only what I need, from a reputable dealer, in-country, that I can trust not to screw me over or rip me off.

Actually, buying from that guy would have cost me more than 3 times as much as buying from Solstrips. Of course, I would have had 44 left over strips... if I ever got the order. Maybe I could also go into business selling LED's!

Not

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That's only the first link I've found. You can also get less than 50 strips. And what do you think where the Solstrip owner gets his strips? A lot of people are trying to act as a reseller, some with it's own online-shop other sell their boards over e3ay. Even if you trust the owner, you can not trust the supplier. You are really sure only if these strips are also made in the USA but its probably not the case.
The best way to get true LM561c is to buy original Samsungs F-Series strips and the prices are also comparable (2ft. double row, 144 diodes, $ 25).

nfhiggs said:

Meh, Not really. $20 for 96 diodes is $0.208 per diode. Samsung F strips are $0.18 per diode ($28 for 144) for the same exact diode. And if you buy in bulk the price drops by as much as 35%. Just buying ten of the 44" single row strips gets you more than 10% off (with Digikey) - that's basically getting the tenth strip free.

I don't care for the 15" length either. Its fine if your working with a 3x3, but most folks have 2x2, 2x4, 4x4, or 4x8. The 22" and 44" fit these spaces much better.

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f double strips cheaper ,,

nfhiggs said:

Meh, Not really. $20 for 96 diodes is $0.208 per diode. Samsung F strips are $0.18 per diode ($28 for 144) for the same exact diode. And if you buy in bulk the price drops by as much as 35%. Just buying ten of the 44" single row strips gets you more than 10% off (with Digikey) - that's basically getting the tenth strip free.

I don't care for the 15" length either. Its fine if your working with a 3x3, but most folks have 2x2, 2x4, 4x4, or 4x8. The 22" and 44" fit these spaces much better.

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I stand corrected. Did they just lower the price recently? I could swear that when I compared these exact strips to Solstrips last Dec, that Solstrips were the better deal.

Larry3215 said:

I stand corrected. Did they just lower the price recently? I could swear that when I compared these exact strips to Solstrips last Dec, that Solstrips were the better deal.

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I don't think The F series prices have changed, they have been sitting at $14/$26/$48 for quite a while - were you perhaps looking at something other than the US site?

Randomblame said:

You can get them a lot cheaper direct from the manufacturer. At least he says that the 3500°K strips only have LM561b+. The shop owner should take CRI90 into the offer, because so far there are no strips in higher CRI classes.
And as we know plants love them.

7,50$
https://m.alibaba.com/product/60730934376/Quantum-boards-96-LED-Samsung-lm561C.html?spm=a2706.8288997.0.0.75021fd79UMjhO

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Don't buy off this D Bag. Roget is your typical ass turd looking to make a quick buck. He still to this day lies to me and says my 3500k are lm561c and that's what his samsung reps say. That being said they grew decent stuff just why gotta lie about what they are.

Anyone know where to get good deals on heatsink or just free shipping lol

Its the only part im thinking about being cheap lol
But i dont want to degrade the lights either

160. Shipped for 4 6ft sticks

Cold$moke said:

Anyone know where to get good deals on heatsink or just free shipping lol

Its the only part im thinking about being cheap lol
But i dont want to degrade the lights either

160. Shipped for 4 6ft sticks

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Strips really don't need much. 3/4" Aluminum architectural channel is only about 10 bucks per 8 feet at your local hardware store and works great. You can get 1" profile extruded heatsinks from Heatsink USA for pretty cheap, a little over 7 bucks per 44 inch piece. Shipping is always a bitch. If you go with the single row strips, they are just about the right width for the .601 inch profile, which is only 8 cents per inch - under a dollar a foot. You can get 8 four foot lengths (.601 profile) shipped to your door for under 60 bucks total.

Shipping to up here sucks balls

I got tons of different kinds of aluminum as i work with it.

But i didnt have anything that looked like heat sink .

Just didnt know how big a difference the heat sink vs 1 big u channel with a smaller one inside like fins?

Cold$moke said:

Shipping to up here sucks balls

I got tons of different kinds of aluminum as i work with it.

But i didnt have anything that looked like heat sink .

Just didnt know how big a difference the heat sink vs 1 big u channel with a smaller one inside like fins?

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Like I said, 3/4" channel works great.

I think the f strip double diodes are 2 inch wide

Thoses are what im looking at atm

Just get wider channel or screw, bolt, rivet, bond two channels together . If you have the tools, shear and bend aluminum sheet into channel.

Cold$moke said:

Shipping to up here sucks balls

I got tons of different kinds of aluminum as i work with it.

But i didnt have anything that looked like heat sink .

Just didnt know how big a difference the heat sink vs 1 big u channel with a smaller one inside like fins?

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There is no big difference between a heatsink and a DIY heatsink. Calculate the surface area, you need ~110cm² per heatwatt for passive cooling(40cm² for active cooling). If you have a 50% efficient COB/strip running at 50w, it creates 25w of pure heat. To cool that passively multiply 25w by 110cm². A heatsink with 2750cm² can be used. For strips the needed area could be smaller(~90-100cm²), because strips radiate almost half of the heat fromtwise.



I did exactly what you described to cool my CRI90 COB's.
At first you compute all perpendicular and horizontal lengths together (Pic 1),

then multiply it by the length (Pic 2).


This heat sink of an 25x 35x 25x 2mm and an 20x 15x 20x 2mm channel with a length of 350mm offers approximately (246 x 350mm) 861cm² cooling surface.
Dividing this through 110cm² you get 7.82w of heat, which can be passively removed with it.

Say we, we use a 50% efficient COB (7,82:50x100=15,64w), then the surface of this DIY-heatsink is enough to passively cool a 16w COB without airflow.
Say we, we use a 60% efficient COB( 7,82:40x100=19,55w), then the surface is enough to cool a 20w COB.

Say we, we want to calculate it for active cooling(40cm²/heat watt). Surface area 861cm² : 40cm²/w = 21,5w heat.
With the same 60% efficient COB it would be enough to cool ~54w actively.(21,5:40x100=53,75w).

I just glued the little one in with the same thermal tape I'll use for the strips and it works very well!

I have 2 such heatsinks, each with a length of 1150mm, thats 2829cm² per heatsink. Divided by 110cm² it is able to remove 25,7w pure heat passively.
I have 8 Bridgelux V18c/3000°k/CRI90, which are ~50% efficient at 500mA and two heatsinks. Without airflow one of this heatsink could remove 51,4w. But there is always a little airfflow inside a grow tent so I am not afraid that it might get too hot with my about 66w. (4x 33v = 132v x 0.5A = 66w).

The 110-120cm²/heat watt are calculated so that you can touch the heatsink without burning. We are talking about 50-55°C. If we would calculate with desired heatsink temperatures of 85°C, the required area is further reduced. So you can assume that there is enough room to be save when you calculate with 110cm² per heat watt.

Thanks man.
Do you know anything about timing controllers?

Id love to just wire everything at once and i saw that grow green led controller.

Is it worth it? Is a diy version easy.
Can you wire up 3 drivers into it?
This one might have to wait till later though as i want to build my system in 2 stages .

So i might have to rock potentiometers and timers till then

Cold$moke said:

Thanks man.
Do you know anything about timing controllers?

Id love to just wire everything at once and i saw that grow green led controller.

Is it worth it? Is a diy version easy.
Can you wire up 3 drivers into it?
This one might have to wait till later though as i want to build my system in 2 stages .

So i might have to rock potentiometers and timers till then

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Sonoff timers are nice and cheap and you can control the timer settings with an app on you smartphone. With internet connection from where ever you are. A sonoff basic costs ~5$, a Sonoff Dual ~10$. They are available in many different versions, eg. with 4 channels or with temp/humidy control, or as Sonoff POW with power consumtion calculator. Also LED bulbs and RF remote control is available and all pretty cheap.
The GrowGreenController is just too expensive, IMO. You can get something similar at Stevesled.com (typhoon controller) and pay about 2/3 of what the GrowGreenController costs. Otherwise, you can of course build your own, there are enough instructions on the web and on youtube.
If you want to simulate sunrise and sunset, you need a controller with 10v PWM or 0-10v dimming expansion board to use it with HLG-drivers. If you are only concerned with a comfortable control of the on and off times, Sonoffs are completely sufficient.
BTW,
Sonoffs have an own thread here, just type in the search.
That's their website, probably the cheapest way to get them:
https://www.itead.cc/

Shit man im not into the whole control by phone thing yet

I wish i could figure out how to add it to my gavita controller lol same thing it seems like.


I saw it was pretty spendy and i did see they have a hurricane x controller at steves led (75.00)

I guess i got some you tubing to do lol

Cold$moke said:

Shit man im not into the whole control by phone thing yet

I wish i could figure out how to add it to my gavita controller lol same thing it seems like.


I saw it was pretty spendy and i did see they have a hurricane x controller at steves led (75.00)

I guess i got some you tubing to do lol

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Happy viewing, lol, there is a lot of stuff from the aquarium guys.
Sonoff use relays btw to switch on and off so you could also control your gravita ballast. They are available with 2200w/10A relay and with 3500w/16A relay. The latter should be sufficient ...