great value led bulbs

Sonnshine

Sonnshine

Member
BigYellowCob said:
It'd be great to be able screw bulbs into a couple of the clamp-on lamps to use for side lighting or supplemental lighting - not saying you can't do this now since the bulbs will grow plants just fine, but they are not a very efficient solution as Tim has been noting.
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I've got 6x cxa3070 4000k and am considering doing this with 2-3 10W 2700K bulbs just to throw some extra red at them when they get to flower. I have a few of these just for the house, so it's free, except for the 30W/hour electricity, so why not?

I've seen these LED corn bulbs using cobs - no clue if they are actually of decent quality, but thought the idea was intriguing.

http://www.amazon.com/WYZM-Mogul-Street-Parking-Bright/dp/B00QEXYROM/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1443653057&sr=8-10&keywords=led+corn+bulb
 
BigYellowCob

BigYellowCob

Well-Known Member
FranJan said:
Just stumbled on this video and company and thought of you guys :). I love the design for a COB bulb grower. Especially with some of those new Samsung COBs which really up the LPW and have a much smaller LES.

http://www.wickedgrowlights.com/aboutus.html

http://www.ebay.com/itm/145W-CREE-CXA-8w-COB-LED-FULL-SPECTRUM-VEG-FLOWER-HYDROPONIC-GROW-LIGHT-DIY-/131598097210?hash=item1ea3db9b3a
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It is a pretty good design idea - it would be cool to be able to quickly swap out some LED bulbs to go from veg to flower on a lamp.The bulbs that are out there now are not worth it though. Even the cob bulbs I looked at are all low power, low efficiency cobs. Maybe someday.
I'd never buy one of those Wicked Grow light fixtures though. You could go to Lowes/HD and buy a couple cheapo bathroom vanity light fixtures, screw them both to a hunk of plywood and have the same light for $20. It'd be pretty ghetto looking, but it would work the same.
 
BigYellowCob

BigYellowCob

Well-Known Member
Sonnshine said:
I've got 6x cxa3070 4000k and am considering doing this with 2-3 10W 2700K bulbs just to throw some extra red at them when they get to flower. I have a few of these just for the house, so it's free, except for the 30W/hour electricity, so why not?

I've seen these LED corn bulbs using cobs - no clue if they are actually of decent quality, but thought the idea was intriguing.

http://www.amazon.com/WYZM-Mogul-Street-Parking-Bright/dp/B00QEXYROM/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1443653057&sr=8-10&keywords=led corn bulb
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I think adding a couple 2700k bulbs to your grow sounds like a great idea. My indoor lettuce garden has a 4' LED shop light from Home Depot hanging over it, and is supplemented with 2 5000k Phillips LED bulbs. It will grow lettuce no problem. Not very efficient at around 100lm/w or 30% efficient, but since this garden will only run during the winter, any heat coming off it will help keep the house warm.

The corn bulbs look cool, and if they are built well will probably last longer than HPS in a street lamp installation, plus they have natural white color instead of the ugly orange light you get from HPS. The problem is they are expensive ($145) and only product 9500 lumen for 100 watts of power, which is probably around 29% efficient (less efficient than HPS). For a grow, you'd probably be better to slap a Vero 29 onto a CPU cooler heatsink, drive it at 2.1 amps and get over 10,000 lm at 78 watts and can be built for probably $60.
 
Sonnshine

Sonnshine

Member
I paid $23 for mine from mouser. Adding drivers, cpu coolers and holders and shipping, it worked out to around $62 per lamp. Plus frame and wiring supplies, it was still less than half what a commercial light would have cost.
 
Sonnshine

Sonnshine

Member
BigYellowCob said:
The corn bulbs look cool, and if they are built well will probably last longer than HPS in a street lamp installation, plus they have natural white color instead of the ugly orange light you get from HPS. The problem is they are expensive ($145) and only product 9500 lumen for 100 watts of power, which is probably around 29% efficient (less efficient than HPS). For a grow, you'd probably be better to slap a Vero 29 onto a CPU cooler heatsink, drive it at 2.1 amps and get over 10,000 lm at 78 watts and can be built for probably $60.
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Yeah, I am not ready to buy those yet, just saw them for the first time and thought it was a cool idea. If they catch on, refine the design and the price drops, maybe someday it will be a more viable option than CFLs.
 
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