Driverless Vs normal cob led help DIY

W

weedistoosick

Active Member
Looking to start a new experience with a.cob led grow ,probably a bunch of 50w ,probably 6-9

Wanted to ask a couple of questions

are driverless LEDs useless as some people go on ?
Quite confusing as the grows and articles based on research show otherwise

Also is this due to the efficiency e.g run to hard therefore running way hot.?

If not then why?

Which cob LEDs should I get ?
Are epistars a good bet ?
Also would 4 full spectrum.2 cool white and 3 warm.white be a good set up ?

I've seen millions on eBay so can't really distinguish but some direction would be great

And if standard driver LEDs are the way to go then how efficient can they be if running them adequately soft ?
I ask this as some.of the driverless LEDs I have been assured are about 50% ,e.g 50w cob =25w actual light lumens

Hoping to have a decent discussion about this


Thank you
 
GBAUTO

GBAUTO

Well-Known Member
You will definitely get more response in the led section.
The on-board driver chips use really low-efficiency components compared to what is readily available for DIY. Like 90 lumens/watt for the driverless compared to 160+lumens/watt for current tech arrays.
Sure, the driverless can grow weed there are just tons of much better options.
 
W

weedistoosick

Active Member
GBAUTO said:
You will definitely get more response in the led section.
The on-board driver chips use really low-efficiency components compared to what is readily available for DIY. Like 90 lumens/watt for the driverless compared to 160+lumens/watt for current tech arrays.
Sure, the driverless can grow weed there are just tons of much better options.
Click to expand...

Definitely and I've noticed that

Although little confused on even finding decent cobs that use a driver

Do you know any 160lumen per watt cobs that can be purchased off eBay or AliExpress ?

I've searched for epistar and bridgelux but when asking for lumen per watt rating (even though listing will state 110-130) I simply get a response stating it's more like 90 :/

Any help and direction greatly appreciated
 
W

weedistoosick

Active Member
Serverchris said:
I would suggest the mid power strip lighting like Samsung or bridlux. Here is a guide.


Are these strip lights providing the same lumens per watt of a normal cob ?

Didn't wanna break the bank ,what are the prices of these on average ?
Once again do you know any support e.g through AliExpress or eBay that will supply this to the UK

Thank you in advance
Click to expand...
 
S

Serverchris

Well-Known Member
I've only got legit Samsung strips but I'm pretty sure AliExpress sells knock off strips that are cheap that have worked pretty well for some people. Obviously not as good as the real thing but it will be better than a blurple.
 
TrippleDip

TrippleDip

Well-Known Member
weedistoosick said:
are driverless LEDs useless as some people go on ?
Click to expand...
weedistoosick said:
some.of the driverless LEDs I have been assured are about 50%
Click to expand...
I think they're pretty useless. Maybe a good replacement for cfls in a veg area or something. I made a post about them in the led section, they were only like 15% efficient when driven from the wall. They are probably ok when driven with a constant voltage driver until the leds start failing. Almost everything else is a better choice imo unless you are really dirt poor.

weedistoosick said:
Do you know any 160lumen per watt cobs
Click to expand...
Just wanted to vent my frustration at the industry standard measurement of lumens per watt because this usually just means the light has more green light and/or the light has a higher colour temperature, not necessarily because it actually outputs more light per watt. Basically it is utterly useless for comparing different lamps. For comparing one 560nm red led agains another 560nm red led it would be fine though.
 
W

weedistoosick

Active Member
Serverchris said:
I've only got legit Samsung strips but I'm pretty sure AliExpress sells knock off strips that are cheap that have worked pretty well for some people. Obviously not as good as the real thing but it will be better than a blurple.
Click to expand...
I see

Thank you for that
Do you have any links ?

Will be happy to give em a.go if someone else has tried them too ?

And sorry ,heard alot of blurple ,what exactly is that ?

Thanks guys ,helping alot more than me searching continuously and aimlessly on the internet
Thank you
 
W

weedistoosick

Active Member
TrippleDip said:
I think they're pretty useless. Maybe a good replacement for cfls in a veg area or something. I made a post about them in the led section, they were only like 15% efficient when driven from the wall. They are probably ok when driven with a constant voltage driver until the leds start failing. Almost everything else is a better choice imo unless you are really dirt poor.


Just wanted to vent my frustration at the industry standard measurement of lumens per watt because this usually just means the light has more green light and/or the light has a higher colour temperature, not necessarily because it actually outputs more light per watt. Basically it is utterly useless for comparing different lamps. For comparing one 560nm red led agains another 560nm red led it would be fine though.
Click to expand...
Thank you for your informed reply
Really appreciate it

So what would.be a good basis for purchasing a cob or strip
What should I be looking at ?

I understand lpw Atleast gives me an idea.of intensity

Is the CRI rating important ?
I understand this is how close to natural sunlight ,although confused on how this relates to different spectrums.

Does it just mean that's how close they are to the desired spectrum e.g. 3500k?

Thank you
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top