Building A Small Cab COB LED

Should start by saying thank you to the DIY LED users and the time you guys have took to not only make write-ups but to open source your findings is awesome.

I'm a noob to growing , kinda , but not a noob to the web/researching. But as with learning its time to make a change , cfls just dont seem to cut it , really and if you have the space and not trying to be so low key , why would you run them. And it seems I should be able to produce more watt/sq and reduce the the heat using leds. That being said I'll begin.

I started my journy and read some good books and research the hell out of it , and everthing or anything that had to do with it.

So with my current situation , Veg is easy right , from what I learned you could veg with a nice flashlight and reflector if you wanted to. But Flowering is where light really comes to play and that penetration is really needed. That being said.

Cabinet = 30L x 30H x 18W (Currently running 2 3gal pots , topped and LST'd and a solo cup(Untouched from seed)
Lighting = Roughly 150 - 180watt of CFL
Temps = Daytime 79 - 82 F Nighttime 69 - 73F
Soil = Mix of homemade compost , MG seed starter , MG organic

Couple pics of current flower 5 weeks.



More to come!

So I begin the parts list , from there I scavenge some parts from old pc , I must say I am a DC electronics hobby guy , not full blown , but I do have Soldering iron , 3D printer , all the goodies to test , supply and maintain.

I plan on atm! , running two V18s or cxa3070 in a cool tube like structure. About to make some purchases tomorrow but wonder if I have enough space between the canopy and the light?

Heres two Heatsinks salvaged from some old pc's , they are 4 3/4 x 3 3/4 x 1 3/4 h . inches, Center piece is 25mm x 25 mm , so i might have to shave it off if the cob doesnt fit.

Ditch the cooltube idea. I think you will be surprised at how little heat those cobs put out (especially if driven soft) compared to CFLs.

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Im just dipping my toe in the pool on this , but I was thinking if I pull /extract the hot air away and out , it would help keep the ambient temp down for the overall Component/Cab ?

Yeah I dove in head first.. I'm just thinking you don't want to lose any light by using a cooltube. I run 3 cxa 3070 but mine are only the z2s and they run damn cool with the arctic 11 heatsink fan combo. What do you use for heat extraction now?

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Yeah that was my fault by using the term cool tube , I meant it for the inner heatsink fins horizontal in a tube , while the cob is extruding out a 1/4 inch, so the cool tube itself is just for internal components(Drivers -n Such) and the majority of the cob heatsinks.

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If you are going cheap, what about 4" square vinyl fence posts. Tough to beat for price. Easy to mod, with individual cobs and the heatsinks, maybe.....

Yeah the fence post is such a great ideal and I am definitely going that route.

I have a similar plan but I was going to mount the heat sink with the fins and fans on the outside of the cabinet and the cob side sealed inside. This would reduce the air inside dramatically and increase the headroom by not using a tube inside.

You can also find 100x 50 (4x2") downpipe, lower profile..
Mine running in 100x50 galv rail on HSUSA ribbed heatsink profile that slides neatly inside.
I'm getting less than 200mm (6-7") from ceiling- tops inc the lights running at 700mA..

I'm building a light for a mate (which is kinda funny, didn't know AC from DC a few months back Lol) that will be an octogon (600mm.. / 2 ft/ across) shape made from this downpipe with 8x 45 * angle joiners (to fit a circular grow space) 5/6 cobs venting from one or two fans (probably down over the plants in his case, colder climate)



edit: the plastic downpipe is actually 90mm (3.5") x 50. Pleanty of height but those h/s mentioned are too wide..

you could probably do 5x vero 10 on those sinks if they were actively cooled.

Figured I'd post an update on both the Diy led and the current cfl grow.
Been waiting on the drivers for awhile but finally the left Chicago and should be here Monday.

Been debating on having the fan pull or push air. And debating on the whole cool tube internals ideal as one cob / heatsink closer to the intake will run cooler than the one at the exhaust which will obviously run hotter , and how I can combst that.
and here is some pics.

Also here is some eye candy of my hopefully last flowering cfl grow.

55 days since sexing , roughly 70 days total since 12/12. Starting to amber and not really looking for couchlock, atm. Does it look premature for harvest?

Been thinking to balance the air flow would be to have to intakes and and large center /blow hole to extract the heat. Would be more of equal cooling to cobs/heatsink.

240sxing said:

Been thinking to balance the air flow would be to have to intakes and and large center /blow hole to extract the heat. Would be more of equal cooling to cobs/heatsink.

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Balancing air flow from the middle would have some Engineering issues, remember air is lazy, air prefers to go the easy way. This means the hard way will be starved for air/cooling. I would use the flow through tactic, at least that way you know you are getting even flow

Very nice and clean, glad you were able to follow thru with the idea

Keep it up, just about done with my V10 3500k mini flower light as well

Dloomis514 said:

Balancing air flow from the middle would have some Engineering issues, remember air is lazy, air prefers to go the easy way. This means the hard way will be starved for air/cooling. I would use the flow through tactic, at least that way you know you are getting even flow

Click to expand...

Yeah after giving proper thought the air flow would collide and wouldn't be a proper flow , without a divider to guide the airflow , but I'm thinking from the others that have researched and tested that I'm probably overkilling it and is doesn't get that hot.

Abiqua said:

Very nice and clean, glad you were able to follow thru with the idea

Keep it up, just about done with my V10 3500k mini flower light as well

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Thanks yeah got the cobs quick and been waiting weeks for the drivers. I love diy electronics and the addons that can always follow. Never Ending

i don't think you're seeing amber, i think that's just the reflection of
the pistil color in some of the trichs. those probably have about two
weeks left to flower before they finish up.

indianajones said:

i don't think you're seeing amber, i think that's just the reflection of
the pistil color in some of the trichs. those probably have about two
weeks left to flower before they finish up.

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Think you are right. Well I ended up chopping the tops off and letting the lowers continue. At least ill be able to test both I guess.

Drivers are out for delivery , if al goes right ill be lighting the up for some test tonight.