CXB3590 tents, max amount of power?

I have a couple 3x3 tents and soon a 4x8, what is the most i can run without running into problems? I already have a 9 CXB3590 light in a 3x3, running @1050mA, can i run that same light @1400mA in a 3x3 tent? The heatsinks are rated to @1400mA, and i will be using a pot, so I can ease into flower transition. For the 4x8, I would like to do the same, have a perfect grid of 16 CXBs @1400mA for each 4x4 section, basically 1 CXB sq ft, again will this be too much?

I have the height since i run scrog, but will i run a massive hot spot in the middle? I could put the middle one, or the inner 4 for the 16cxb light on its own driver, and run two pots. Basically i am looking to max out the usable light possible, without causing harm to the plants.

Thank you very much!

50w per sq ft is the magic number so sounds like you have it nailed in both cases. You will have as much ppfd as you will need without going too overboard.

50W/sf with a cob is ALOT of light (not that its bad)- but thats def upper end where with hps people go 60+ sometimes

Think I will need the middle light, or lights on a separate driver/pot? Unfortunately, I have yet to buy a quantum sensor, so I'm not even sure if my current setup is giving me a hotspot, but I'm thinking it is, and increasing power would make it worse.

And is that 50w sq ft from the wall, or par watts? While I hate cheaping out, i just cant afford a LiCor at the moment, any good meters on the cheap that would at least allow me to balance the light, if I was to run separate driver/pot?

Is that extra light going to translate into a measurable increase given the extra power used? I know my WPE is going to go down a bit @1400mA, but do you think its a worthwhile change/investment?

Thank you very much!

CrazyKappa said:

Think I will need the middle light, or lights on a separate driver/pot? Unfortunately, I have yet to buy a quantum sensor, so I'm not even sure if my current setup is giving me a hotspot, but I'm thinking it is, and increasing power would make it worse.

And is that 50w sq ft from the wall, or par watts? While I hate cheaping out, i just cant afford a LiCor at the moment, any good meters on the cheap that would at least allow me to balance the light, if I was to run separate driver/pot?

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thats wall watts. 20-25 par W is a lot

CrazyKappa said:

any good meters on the cheap that would at least allow me to balance the light,

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$10 lux meter from ebay

Thank you! Do you personally think its worth it to drive it that high? Right now @1050 I am sitting at 40w sq ft, and 24.4 par W.

yeah if you dont have heat issues, 1.7-2.1 seems to be the best bang for the buck for cxbs. theyre not cheap. still plenty effficient out past 80W

What is the WPE for 1.7 and 2.1? All the literature Ive read only lists .7, 1.05, and 1.4, always assumed it fell off hard after that. I know 1.4 is 56%, much lower than that, you might as go DE HPS.

all things being equal in a properly run garden ill put cobs at 2.1 up against hps any day of the week.

This is my 8x8'

I have 16 CXB3590s per 4x4 section

yeah at 1 cob/SF, diminishing returns over 50W per cob

I think that engineering overkill can set in easily in COB LED design lol

I built a module with 4 cxb3590 chips, all running at 53W. With driver, it pulls 225W from the wall. It covers a 2x3' area, I'm already using less chips.

That's 37.5W/sq ft and it's way plenty.

So having the amount I have is a bad thing?

CoralMafia said:

So having the amount I have is a bad thing?

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not if you can dissipate the heat and keep up with nutes

the higher you go, the finer a line it is to run super hard. make sure your roots are massive and your regimen is dialed going into a 50W/SF COB room or you will struggle

I haven't had any issues to speak of but thx for the heads up. couple pics of some runs.

CoralMafia, how hard are you driving those cobs though?

CoBKits, I can handle the additional heat, but extra nutes, well I'm just not sure... I run no till living organic in SIP boxes, I do not use bottled nutes of any kind, I dont even PH my water, my microbes do all that for me.

I adhere to the school of CC in nearly everything I do, but I have no idea how hard the microbes can be pushed, before they fail to keep up with demand. I guess it would be a factor of how much soil I run, right now I'm running 15gal earthboxes, and was hoping to stick with those for a bit.

Crazy K, I run my cobs at 49 watts each.

CoralMafia said:

I haven't had any issues to speak of but thx for the heads up. couple pics of some runs.
View attachment 3818945 View attachment 3818946

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Sweet setup and runs cm.