Step into my grow room

lazaah

Well-Known Member
Hmm, I havent got that many clips. So far, I have used a tiny amount of glue and clamped for 30mins, allowed to cure for 24hrs, and all seems fine. Think I'll have problems? Tc after 24hrs is about 68C, ambient 24C , passive cooling by way of 50x50x3mm 'T' Extrusion.
 

MrFlux

Well-Known Member
Hmm, I havent got that many clips. So far, I have used a tiny amount of glue and clamped for 30mins, allowed to cure for 24hrs, and all seems fine. Think I'll have problems? Tc after 24hrs is about 68C, ambient 24C , passive cooling by way of 50x50x3mm 'T' Extrusion.
Looks good to me. Your Tc gets 44C above ambient, that's a bit better than what I get. You T-bars are 50x50mm and mine are 30x30mm so that might explain. When you get some air flowing along the bars the temperature will drop a lot. This will improve the efficiency of the light by a few percent, not really a lot but it might be worth doing it. Do you have a thread going or any pics? I'd be curious.
 

lazaah

Well-Known Member
I may share pics when I do the 5x10 build. I found that there were a few things I went ahead in the dark with, that I would of been more confident about given there was more info available. Given I've been on this site for 7 or 8 years and never really contributed, I feel I need to give back and a tutorial would be a great way to do that. My hesitation is I live in a non-friendly country, and do not want the attention that a popular tutorial could bring. Even though my interests lay outside of Canabis cultivation, it is illegal for me to knowingly give advice to someone about something that could be used to carry out a crime.

Besides, I still need to find a good way to estimate tj, what voltage each string is running at and how to measure that, and figure out how to use the dimming (I brought the B models).

On that note, measuring voltage in parallel to the strings I see 76.6 @ 700ma, isn't that a little low? 53 watts. When the dimmer circuit is not connected it should be running at 100% yeah?

Big thanks by the way flux, and all the others that have spent the time knowledge mining. It is hard to express ones gratitude via the interwebs.
 

MrFlux

Well-Known Member
On that note, measuring voltage in parallel to the strings I see 76.6 @ 700ma, isn't that a little low? 53 watts. When the dimmer circuit is not connected it should be running at 100% yeah?
It puzzles me what sort of configuration you have if you measure 76.6V. That looks like 3 soft running Vero 10's or something. The Meanwell B model should indeed be running at full 100%.
 

lazaah

Well-Known Member
9 vero10 run in 3x3. Voltage is at 76.3v @ 702ma after 72hrs at ambient of 26C, Heatsink temp is ambient +10C.

I only just realised that this driver may be a little soft for what I expected....
 

indianajones

Well-Known Member
that voltage seems high to me. the data sheets list the voltage as 26.5-28.4, @350-700mA. That makes the wattage 9.3-19.9w. I'm not familiar with what happens if you run in parallel though, maybe that's what I'm missing. I'm trying to figure all of this stuff out, I see a DIY build in my near future.
 

lazaah

Well-Known Member
that voltage seems high to me. the data sheets list the voltage as 26.5-28.4, @350-700mA. That makes the wattage 9.3-19.9w. I'm not familiar with what happens if you run in parallel though, maybe that's what I'm missing. I'm trying to figure all of this stuff out, I see a DIY build in my near future.
It actually makes the voltage a little low. When LEDs are run in series the voltage stacks, when in parallel the current is divided between the strings.

I guess I grabbed the wrong driver, should have gone with the 1050 not the 700.
 

MrFlux

Well-Known Member
Small update of the cab this morning
IMG_7334_1.JPG

20 plants flowering in a 4x5 grid. Blue Dream day 47F on the left, then a blue dream day 2F, then a C99 day 13F and on the right a blue dream day 40F.
IMG_7333_1.JPG

The big blue dream
IMG_7349_1.JPG IMG_7358_1.JPG IMG_7367_1.JPG
This thing is top heavy. The flavor and potency is already there and I plan on chopping it early, like tomorrow. At day 48F that's three weeks earlier than the previous run from seed.

Meanwhile in the veg room
IMG_7315_1.JPG
There are three topped ICE plants in the background. In the middle five C99's clones. Since I don't keep mother plants these clones were taking from the cindies that are now flowering, directly before they went into flower. That makes these clones 13 days old and they have already grown twice the size and have roots hitting the sides. The Lemon Kush clones on the right are much slower, having already spend a month trying to take root. In the foreground a batch of blue dream clones taken two days ago.
 

MrFlux

Well-Known Member
Your small pot size and close spacing is impressive.
What are the dimensions of those wide white containers you're using?
They are 60 cm long, 16 cm wide and 14 cm high. The volume is 9.5L. They are from Elho and cost about 3 euro.

The small pot size works because of the living soil inside. The beneficial fungi have turned the soil into a tight sponge-like mass that would not even need a container any more: It keeps its shape and bounces back when pressed. The plants are plugged straight into this fungal matrix and get their heavy nutritional demands met in large part through mycorrhizal symbiosis with the fungi. The living soil works as what the military would call a force multiplier.
 

bicit

Well-Known Member
Mr.flux: What power supply do you use to run your cooling fans? Are they running full speed or do you have them dimmed at all? How thick is the material of your Heatsink bars? I have quite a few questions about your soil too, but I'm not sure how to ask them lol.

Thanks!

ETA: Wanted to compliment you as well, such a clean build is amazing. Do you plan on adding any monochromes to your flower chamber in the future?
 
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iPot

Well-Known Member
Speedy I'm glad you're alive to tell it. I did a lot of stupid/dangerous things myself and have a healthy dose of respect for the 230 VAC mains power.

I wonder too when DC voltage really becomes dangerous. I touched 143V with dry fingers and felt absolutely nothing. So 143V is 'safe' for me, for someone with a heart condition it may be different. Would 190V be 'safe' to touch? I don't know. 400V? No way. For me it was not worth the peace of mind. I think it could only be used safely inside a self contained well isolated box-type of grow light.

Have you considered this option: 143V, 1400mA driver with 20 vero10's (10 per heatsink). Wired as 4 parallel strings of each 5 vero's. This is almost what I'm using. It takes a bit more vero's, but this will spread the heat and the light and since they run softer the efficiency goes up. Plus, the vero10 dropped in price yet again and is now only 3.90 euro at digikey.
Volts don't kill you amps/currents do.
 
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churchhaze

Well-Known Member
Okay, I hear this a lot... I finally have to bite.

I often hear people saying "Voltage doesn't kill, current does". Although it's true, the statement itself is very misleading and often used to justify stupid behavior.

High voltage is particularly dangerous. It's very unlikely that a 5V usb connector will deliver over 100mA through you, even though it's technically capable of driving 500mA.

Ohms law, or V=IR pretty much says that the higher the voltage across you, the higher the current will be... and current kills.

100mA of current through the heart can kill you. Be very careful with higher voltages. Like fire and knives, you don't have to fear it, but you must respect it or it can easily kill you.

Volts don't kill you amps/currents do.
 

iPot

Well-Known Member
That is exactly right. Here it is in visual form
View attachment 3192593


For $1000 you can make four of these lights (100 Vero's total). For the binning you need a voltmeter and a LED driver of about 300mA and 30V. An uncooled vero can be lit for max 2 seconds otherwise it overheats. So measure the forward voltage quickly. After that it becomes a puzzle of pairing the lowest with the highest forward voltages so that each string has about the same total Vf.
Do you have two of these in the flower area? I see you say you got 400+ grams from 385w.
What model vero 10 did you get? http://www.newark.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CompareProductsDisplay?catalogId=15003&langId=-1&storeId=10194&catentryId=48201790,48260091&pageType=PLP

I cannot spot the difference....

Is there any reason you went with 50 vero 10s for 385w other than the higher wattage leds like cree or the higher wattage vero? It seems they all manage to get 1gpw plus.

I also have a question about the driver. It seems you are giving 7w to each led is that the most wattage you could feed to them, why only 7w? Would it be save to get a bigger driver and give them more? If so what would be a good option? Or could I use less leds in series and turn down the amps some to achieve more watts?
 
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Positivity

Well-Known Member
Do you have two of these in the flower area? I see you say you got 400+ grams from 385w.
What model vero 10 did you get? http://www.newark.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CompareProductsDisplay?catalogId=15003&langId=-1&storeId=10194&catentryId=48201790,48260091&pageType=PLP

I cannot spot the difference....

Is there any reason you went with 50 vero 10s for 385w other than the higher wattage leds like cree or the higher wattage vero? It seems they all manage to get 1gpw plus.
Here is one reason why it's better to use smaller emitters in smaller areas...spread the light out. One big emitter doesn't work well

image.jpg
 

lazaah

Well-Known Member
Do you think I can run 6 of the Vero 10s at 300mA each per 32" long bar of this 2.079" profile http://www.heatsinkusa.com/2-079-wide-extruded-aluminum-heatsink/ , with a 120mm pc fan per bar blowing from one end down toward the other to help keep cooler? And maintain a reasonable Tc for efficiency and longevity?

Im wanting to build a new setup similar to yours but with those heatsink bars I linked vs the t-profile (cant find t-profile cheap locally) and using $2.92 30-65v 300mA +/-5% drivers, 1 driver per 2 Vero 10s.

I would be running 4 bars, 32" long with 6 Vero 10 per bar 24 total, spaced 4.8" on center front to back and 5.14" on center side to side in the tent. So that should be very even lighting which is what I am trying to accomplish now on my next build vs a shit ton of overly intense light in the center area under each CXA3070 Im currently running right now with much less light off to the sides and having to run the modules higher off the canopy to reduce yellowing of tops due to light bleaching from the intensity.
My input wont be as valuable as Flux's, but.... Fork out as much as you can for the heatsink. My passive 9x(3x3) V10s driven by HLG-60-700 (@230ma) 2ft/60cm long 50x50x5mm T-profile in a 2'L x 1.5'D x 2'H space with 90mm (underdriven) exhaust gets hot to touch on the sinks. Heatsinks temps are a min of 12C above ambient, with Tj about 45C above that (can't remember what Tc was). In a 3.5'L x 1.5'D x 5'H heatsink temps were about 7C above ambient.

My bet is you can defo fit that light in your space, and with good air flow it shouldn't get critically hot. But it will come down to the size of you meatsink. At least if you get the adjustable version you can dim when ambient temps get up. Dimming just 10% on mine, the t-profile goes from being hot to warm to touch.

Running all your cobs paralleled sounds line a PITA in terms of running wire
 
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