Vero 10 5000k Veg Light: diy step-by-step build

Tim Fox said:

i cant seem to find your bridgelux cobs anywhere, the web site linked on page one has a min order of 200 units

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Abiqua said:

Tim, this was started long ago, that these are still Version 1....oops, wish I could edit....

Here is the entire Vero10 line-up
http://www.digikey.com/product-search/en?s=48360&FV=fff40008,fff80354,fffc03d0&mnonly=0&newproducts=0&ColumnSort=0&page=1&quantity=0&ptm=0&fid=0&pageSize=250

and here is the direct replacement 5k version
http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/BXRC-50C1000-B-24/976-1276-ND/5180248


Since you responded here, I wanted to ask where you got those Fuse Holders...I like that style and haven't seen them around me anywhere....[Salem/Wilsonville ish]

and the fuse holding was partly sage advice from Supra and partly someone's experience, where they swapped out drivers and while unplugging an UN-fused string, blew out a couple of diodes....Fusing is just a really cheap safety precaution, that everyone should practice

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Tim Fox said:

my new cob light is too strong for my clones, So i need to build a nice gentle veg light that I can put over clones and use that veg light until the plants are young teenagers, , then I can flip on the big cob light.
do you think this light would be a good fit for that in my 3x2 box?

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Abiqua said:

Tim, this was started long ago, that these are still Version 1..oops, wish I could edit....

Here is the entire Vero10 line-up
http://www.digikey.com/product-search/en?s=48360&FV=fff40008,fff80354,fffc03d0&mnonly=0&newproducts=0&ColumnSort=0&page=1&quantity=0&ptm=0&fid=0&pageSize=250

and here is the direct replacement 5k version
http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/BXRC-50C1000-B-24/976-1276-ND/5180248


Since you responded here, I wanted to ask where you got those Fuse Holders...I like that style and haven't seen them around me anywhere....[Salem/Wilsonville ish]

and the fuse holding was partly sage advice from Supra and partly someone's experience, where they swapped out drivers and while unplugging an UN-fused string, blew out a couple of diodes....Fusing is just a really cheap safety precaution, that everyone should practice

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littlejacob said:

Bonjour
you speak about fuse
Is it for parallel wiring or do I need it on my cxb 3590 panels on an hlg-185-1400b is there a thread on it?
Thanks

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Abiqua said:

hey gang....

If you ever though about getting into building your own led light, follow along....I took a bunch of photos as I put together a veg light for a 1x2' space with maybe 27" of height or so...this should cover it well...
Specs
21" Long x 5" wide by 2" high.....
2x Vero 10 5k @ 6-7watts each = 13 watt
5v fan power supply [5v x .5amps] = 2.5 watts
Roughly a 15w fixture, could almost cover 4 sq. ft.....@ 24-18"

View attachment 3358187

View attachment 3358188



It is about a 13w light...I am using a 280mA driver to run two cobs in a series.....I am still running over 40% efficiency direct to the canopy, that competes or beats out per watt ANY high end commercial light!
View attachment 3358197
as you can see, if I was running @ 280ma I would be slightly below 42% efficiency and using almost 7 watts for each cob at about 140 lumens per watt....more important the PAR wattage

Par Wattage is [Efficiency % x Wattage]
Each Vero is [.42 x 6.39= 2.68 watts]

for comparison.......Consider a 26w 5k CFL is probably 15% efficiency so..[.15x26 = 3.9 par watts]
......but, a LED cobs emit light in a 120 degree + arc, downward from the light source...meaning very little light is lost like the omnidirectional light that emits from a cfl.....in the best mounting position for downard lighting, the cfl may only be delivering 50% of its PAR on its BEST day....meaning 1.95 par watts for every 26 watt CFL....
Also...the cfl is 65-70 lumens/per watt, while the LED is double that 140+ lumens per watt....

Build

LED drivers are almost always Constant Current...the exceptions are the RGB strip lights...
P Equation Watts = Volts x Amps [current]
Each Vero 10 is 25.57 volts @250 milliamps of current [25.7 x .25= 6.3925 watts]

• 2x Bridgelux Vero 10 5000k 80cri diodes [Led Cob aka chip on board]
  • http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/BXRC-50E1000-B-04/976-1193-ND/4747499
• Molex wire adaptors [one for each cob]
  • http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/0688014146/WM9591-ND/388
• 25w LED Driver 110AC - 24-80volts DC @ 280mA [these will do up to 3x Vero 10's in a series..
  • http://www.aliexpress.com/snapshot/6454680822.html?orderId=65487750032110

Heatsinks/Fan/Driver Mounting

View attachment 3358194 View attachment 3358198

1 heatsink I had laying around from LEDSupply [75 grams]...Another is an unknown that weighs 59grams and is using a recycled Playstation 2, 60mm 7v dc cooling fan...The other 50mm .125 12v fan was from a 400w inverter case....
Fan Power Supply: 5v 700ma AC/DC phone charger...Nokia

Rule of thumb: for every 25cm2 of heatsink using active cooling [fans] assume cooling for 1watt of led disapation....for passive cooling assume 75cm2 for every 1w.

The 3rd heatsink is also harvested from a Playstation 2 and was meant for a 3rd Vero led, but I decided to use it as a heat extractor for the driver....[these things can get hot and make your ambient temps [Ta] rise a little.....More so in much bigger builds, but still the concept remains...
Parts / Assembly

View attachment 3358199 View attachment 3358200 View attachment 3358201 View attachment 3358202 View attachment 3358203

Really, I had everything left over from past builds or wrong orders....Wago wire connectors [224-412's] are a must.
Using Prolimatech PK1 paste to mount the cobs and a little laser thermal temperatur gauge is super handy for monitoring temps during the 1st testing...

Also had some left over driver cases that I made into Wago junctions boxes to hide all my wiring connections

to be continued.......

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Microgreen Cultivator said:

Abiqua,
dont mean to dig up an old thread but i want to do a build very similar to yours. I'm looking to grow microgreens with vero 10's. Why did you choose that particular vero 10? there are many 5000ks. How did the build work out for you?

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Abiqua said:

Dig by all means!

hmm....lets see, I just shit canned this particular light, since one of the caps in the Driver went to emergency flash mode.....after 2 years of faithful service Although the diodes are still being used on another driver.....so not technically dead

Couple of reasons going with these diodes....

Cheap
Easy to connect with Molex Pico Ezmate's
No Tapping option for me at the time, [and still to this day] are held down with Kapton Tape and ProLimaTech thermal paste....
RTH of heatsinks was 1.8-2.0 C/W, [spreading the heat out was crucial]

Ok, now my reasons for 5k.....I like 5k for vegetative matter, but the nice thing about LED is that different kelvin spectrums can be mixed....Many poopah the idea, but right now I am mixing spectrum in my cannabis vegging @3500K and 5K.....and in my cannabis flowering @ 3000k, 3500k and 4000K...
5k might have a tad more blue than you want for some microgreens, but the radiometric output of the Vero 5k is similar in regards to Cree's 5k...maybe a tad more blue itself...

more like an educated guess, nothing particular
I had been using Cree 5K diodes and wanted something similar in COB format and the CXA18xx and 2xxx, weren't as good as even the cheap Vero 10's at the time....


Vero's are still a great light and like I said, still being used, diode wise, although drivers had to be switched out...[the 1st driver was a $3 fasttech, so not bummed at all]

What kind of microgreens are you growing? My limited experience with 3500K Vero's included some microgreenery, but nothing super substantial, just never had the proper time.

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