Building DIY LED grow light for six plants, looking for input on drivers/LEDs

Hi all,

With prop 64 passing in CA I thought it was time to start growing my own. I'll be limited to six plants legally, at this point I'm not entirely sure of the grow area, but considering either 3'x3' or 2'x4'.

I've been reading through the posts here and they've been extremely helpful.

At this point I'm thinking of going with 6x CXB3070 BB 3500K or 6x CXB3590 CD 3500K.

Is there a significant benefit choosing the CXB3590 versus the CXB3070 in these BINs?

Second question is in regards to the driver. I was thinking of using one 320W HLG-320H-C1400B and stringing up the six LED's in series. Is this a good driver for this setup or would a different model (or individual drivers per LED) be preferable?

Any other suggestions are appreciated as well. Thanks in advance.

With all the new LED's out I would look at citizen and Vero honestly. You will save money and have newer tech. Nothing wrong with the Cree's I built three lights with 3590's myself just saying.

The 3070 vs 3590 thing will start arguments left and right bottom line is there is nothing wrong with 3070's and they save you money. If you're one of the data sheet/efficiency Nazi's get the 3590's.

I just can't see telling someone to buy 3070's either for the same price you can get other COB's so that recommendation was if you MUST have Cree. I am not bashing them, again my lights are running 3590's, just things have changed a lot recently newer stuff has come out.

Thanks! The toughest part I've found about researching DIY LED solutions seems to be quickly evolving technology. Definitely no preference towards Cree, they're just the LED's I've been able to find the most information on.

If picking a solution for six plants in 8-9 sq. ft. which LED and driver would you recommend using currently available parts? I would plan to use the same lights for veg and flowering and open to using more (or less) than six LEDs.

hotarri said:

Thanks! The toughest part I've found about researching DIY LED solutions seems to be quickly evolving technology. Definitely no preference towards Cree, they're just the LED's I've been able to find the most information on.

If picking a solution for six plants in 8-9 sq. ft. which LED and driver would you recommend using currently available parts? I would plan to use the same lights for veg and flowering and open to using more (or less) than six LEDs.

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I would replicate my 3x3 veg light but with 3500K 3590's or 4K Citizen or Vero's. Pick 4 COBS space them 14" apart in a square grab a mean well 320-2100B driver and have at it. Or pick a 200 watt driver for each pair of cobs if you want more juice.

I run the same driver on the flower COB's pushes them at about 75W each. If you do the 2x4 just do a bar instead of the square depends on the grow area.

I like lenses the Khatod in particular but you could use glass lenses as well.

I think I answered all your questions.............

My veg tent with the 3x3 build described above using 5K Cree's and a mean well 240-1750.......

Thanks again and awesome setup, really clean!

I'll go with your suggestion and stick with 4 COBs at 2.1A powered by the 320-2100B. Looks like the Gen7 Vero 29's are the latest out there and look good on paper.

I'm planning to order the 2.1A Gen 7 Vero 29 4000K 80CRI (BXRC-40E10K0-D-73 from DigiKey) saves me a couple hundred $$ versus six CXA 3590's at 1.4A.

One last question before I pull the trigger, any reason you'd go with 4000K from Vero/Citizen and 3500K from Cree?

hotarri said:

Thanks again and awesome setup, really clean!

I'll go with your suggestion and stick with 4 COBs at 2.1A powered by the 320-2100B. Looks like the Gen7 Vero 29's are the latest out there and look good on paper.

I'm planning to order the 2.1A Gen 7 Vero 29 4000K 80CRI (BXRC-40E10K0-D-73 from DigiKey) saves me a couple hundred $$ versus six CXA 3590's at 1.4A.

One last question before I pull the trigger, any reason you'd go with 4000K from Vero/Citizen and 3500K from Cree?

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Yes the 4K in Citi and Vero has more blue without sacrificing much red if at all compared to the 3500K and 3000K.

The cree spectrum does not run the same.in the same kelvin temps look at the charts or just get the 4K lol

I got my parts from @robincnn at northern grow lights he was excellent to deal with and prices were great. He has the veros and everything youd need including a frame like mine has if that is what interest you.

Nice, I'm going with 4000K then

Unfortunately Northern Grow Lights is sold out of the Gen7 Vero 29's. Looks like a great source for the other parts though.

hotarri said:

Nice, I'm going with 4000K then

Unfortunately Northern Grow Lights is sold out of the Gen7 Vero 29's. Looks like a great source for the other parts though.

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Email him and ask website sometimes isn't up to date 100%.

I think he has them four for $100......?

Evil-Mobo said:

Email him and ask website sometimes isn't up to date 100%.

I think he has them four for $100......?

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Thanks for the info. They are indeed $100 for four but he lists them as "Sold Out" and suggests Future Electronics or DigiKey (I'd rather buy from a small shop personally).

hotarri said:

Thanks for the info. They are indeed $100 for four but he lists them as "Sold Out" and suggests Future Electronics or DigiKey (I'd rather buy from a small shop personally).

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Gotcha no sweat was just trying to help out bud

Keep us posted

I lied, that wasn't my last question.

I was looking at the data sheet and considering the higher voltage Vero 29's. Specifically the ~70V at ~1700mA seems like it is really powerful.

The options I'm considering would be:
4x 37.6V at 2.1A powered by a single 320W 2.1A driver
or
4x 69.4V at 1.75A powered by two 240W 1.75A drivers

Besides heat and power dissipation (I'm planning on using one Alpine 11 CPU cooler per COB), any reason not to go with the "C" type? The cost for the two 240W drivers should only be about $30-40 more than the single 320W. Seems like a side benefit of having two supplies would be that I'd still have a pair of COBs running if one string fails.

hotarri said:

I lied, that wasn't my last question.

I was looking at the data sheet and considering the higher voltage Vero 29's. Specifically the ~70V at ~1700mA seems like it is really powerful.

The options I'm considering would be:
4x 37.6V at 2.1A powered by a single 320W 2.1A driver
or
4x 69.4V at 1.75A powered by two 240W 1.75A drivers

Besides heat and power dissipation (I'm planning on using one Alpine 11 CPU cooler per COB), any reason not to go with the "C" type? The cost for the two 240W drivers should only be about $30-40 more than the single 320W. Seems like a side benefit of having two supplies would be that I'd still have a pair of COBs running if one string fails.

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I have not looked much into the veros because they were not out yet when I built my light. From looking at the info you presented i would say if the cobs are the same price then yes that's not a bad idea at all. So at this point it's really just what you prefer and would cost less. Good job on that, this is the kind of thinking that went into my other build with two 4 cob bars at 75w each.

I would have gone with the veros but they had not been released yet at the time. Citizen is worth a look too though just saying............

1818's and 1825's rock. I got a hold of some 1812's for a buddy and he's loving them so far switched his 3070's for them temps went down and he has more light in his grow.

Evil-Mobo said:

I have not looked much into the veros because they were not out yet when I built my light. From looking at the info you presented i would say if the cobs are the same price then yes that's not a bad idea at all. So at this point it's really just what you prefer and would cost less. Good job on that, this is the kind of thinking that went into my other build with two 4 cob bars at 75w each.

I would have gone with the veros but they had not been released yet at the time. Citizen is worth a look too though just saying............

1818's and 1825's rock. I got a hold of some 1812's for a buddy and he's loving them so far switched his 3070's for them temps went down and he has more light in his grow.

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Thanks for the recommendation to check out the Citizens. I took a look at the Citizens and got very close to buying the 1825's yesterday, but ultimately didn't since I'd be wasting driver power with the odd ~52V Vf of these guys.

I ended up buying four of the higher voltage Vero29 Gen7 4000K from Digikey. I'm powering them with HLG-185H-C1400B at 1.4A instead of using the 1.75A 250W setup to save some power/heat. So I'll be running about 100W per COB and probably going with the 3x3 grow area. 45W per sq. ft. seems like it should get the job done.

Thanks again for all the advice!

hotarri said:

Thanks for the recommendation to check out the Citizens. I took a look at the Citizens and got very close to buying the 1825's yesterday, but ultimately didn't since I'd be wasting driver power with the odd ~52V Vf of these guys.

I ended up buying four of the higher voltage Vero29 Gen7 4000K from Digikey. I'm powering them with HLG-185H-C1400B at 1.4A instead of using the 1.75A 250W setup to save some power/heat. So I'll be running about 100W per COB and probably going with the 3x3 grow area. 45W per sq. ft. seems like it should get the job done.

Thanks again for all the advice!

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Awesome can't wait to see the build done. Those 1825's do seem like a good one and something I had been eyeballing as of late myself too.

Happy Holidays