modular overkill led striplight build

SSGrower said:

He's beein cheap, 50 bucks will get you enough to get started.
Runnin my cutter uvb/c strips low as I can (about 15W per channel) and 20W uva for the middle 5hrs as all day was too much. Also with my mixed reds (660/730) 80W was too much 60W is much better ~10% light wattage.

Garden is looking good cobshop.

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hey man! thats great you share your ratios.

i dont use UVB atm at all, so cant comment there.
myself is just using 8W UVA 5h a day, 4W 365nm, 4W 390-400nm.
the 390-400 seem to be quite efficient, giving a good peak on the spectrometer.
with these few watts i have allready quite a peak, am sure you saw my posted spectrum.
i went higher with my mainlight and the 660nm but not with the UVA, so it shouldnt be that dominant now.
ill see if i can post a snapshot of the recent spectrum.

what is your UVA composed of?
the higher UVA wavelenghts, almost near UVA arent that agressive, i think.

and to what i observed, the (here on RIU often mentioned by captainmorgan and others)
10% 660 to 3000k 80cri ratio is a safe bet.
i went also lower here this time, only 10%, last run i gave more.
maybe now late in flower i go higher with 660nm, above 10%.

the problem zone

below ec out of the left plant.

of the right plant

the canopy is fine.
just want to deleaf her a bit and dont like she is eating herself.
D20 F

SSGrower said:

He's beein cheap, 50 bucks will get you enough to get started.
Runnin my cutter uvb/c strips low as I can (about 15W per channel) and 20W uva for the middle 5hrs as all day was too much. Also with my mixed reds (660/730) 80W was too much 60W is much better ~10% light wattage.

Garden is looking good cobshop.

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I'm going to have 2 strips, and i'll be running each strip at 50W, so I guess 25W per channel? Each strip has its own heat sink and fan as well so there shouldn't be any heat, the top of my tent has a whole lot of wind

Powertech said:

I'm going to have 2 strips, and i'll be running each strip at 50W, so I guess 25W per channel? Each strip has its own heat sink and fan as well so there shouldn't be any heat, the top of my tent has a whole lot of wind

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Unless you are talking a 15x15 tent I am gonna saw thats a bit heavy.

I have 2x 10w chanzon 365nm cobs off amazon. I would not recommed doing business with this company though, they are the ones who recommended and shipped the drivers I had an issue with, then stated they would initiate a return. Crickets since then, I dont have time for that kind of bs, waste of 30 bucks on cheap ass shit. Better to get quality and only buy once.
I also have 2x GLA boards (2700k + 6500k uv pump) running at 100W ea.

That spectrometer you have is neato.

In those pics it does look dark under there. One way for me see it better is to compare 2 pics (best in manual mode with same Fstop and shutter speed) one focusing above the canooy and one focusing below the canopy. Which one is drinking more liquid? What is the rootzone/bucket temp? Curious if after you deleaf if there is any impact to rootzone temp.

i stripped some leaves today, but didnt went heavy.
there shouldnt be much diff. to measure.
just a lil cleanup

so far i am not unhappy for the 200W i put in there. 180W main, 21W 660nm

have no better picture atm.
the one to left is drinking less, always had been drinking less.
its really some strange genetics.
the one to the left, always have EC - 0.1 compared to the others, much lower then to what goes in.
even after a 3l feed, it stay low.
there is a clear relation, she need nutes.

light is harmless and looks it works fine.
looks like its important to not overdo it while transition.
the small part uv is what i give 5h a day, i havent changed a thing on UVA since veg.

Damn how much that meter cost? Wonder how much one that reads down to 280 cost lol?

its a spectromaster c7000 and you dont wanna know the price, really.

Hello @cobshopgrow . Do all your plants have a fan blowing? Or just that one on left?

3 under the canopy and 6 140mm slow rpm fans on top of the fixture (i showed somewhere here).
the 2 other below the canopy are smaller ones, theyre also cliped to the plant stand.

cobshopgrow said:

3 under the canopy and 6 140mm slow rpm fans on top of the fixture (i showed somewhere here).
the 2 other below the canopy are smaller ones, theyre also cliped to the plant stand.

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I wonder if moving the one by left plant would change the plants response?

Going thru this thread your adding 660 and 730 nm without raising leaf temps to match is your biggest culprit. This is a must and you'll experience mg deficiency no matter how much mg you add, it will also light burn the leaves easily. Get your environmental temps up to a minimum of 27c, optimum about 28.5c. The plant is receiving a good amount of light energy but without thermal energy the biological processes in the leaves are unbalanced. Greenegene talks about this as well if you don't believe me (5-8 F higher) I went thru the same trials you did, bumped temps up and plants much happier.


Second thing is your running too many strips in series, your thermal imaging is showing you this, the first strip is lit up more than further down the circuit. Also something that is usually overlooked is the maximum working voltage of the insulation is 60v. If you look in the eb gen 3 slim datasheet it says this:

"This product has been designed and manufactured per IEC 62031:2014. The working voltage designated for the insulation is 60 V d.c. The maximum allow-able voltage across the module must be determined in the end product application."

This puts you about 5 max in series for the 1 footers, your at 14 or 153v which is 2.5 times the insulation rating of 60v. It needs more parallel legs, this will also give your lighting more uniformity (it's really good as it is, but I'm anal this way, but since your custom build why not make it ideologically align with your design intent....getting the mostest from the leastest) Look on Ledgardener on one of the builds a person named Ted did is exactly showing the same tendency as yours.

Third thing, this is more knit picky and not as crtical is the spacing of the outer edge leds should be closer together to further give more uniformity to light distribution as it reaches the edges. The outside leds have less contributions from their neighbors so they should be spaced closer, use your tool to tell you optimum spacing.

Also for those looking for a cheap alternative to t slots, go with threaded rod thru aluminum angle to allow you to adjust, add, subtract strips. It's an easy way to repurpose your light for another area, modify etc.

Also run both the uv and ir at the same time, they will balance each other out, just need to play with the ratio. Sorry to be so critical, just trying to help you out.

@end_of_the_tunnel yeah, i can paly a bit with the air distribution.
its not soo uneaven atm and shouldnt cause problems but can be, idk.
but again this plant looked strange from the beginning.

@Bignutes
youre right a higher temparature would help.
its just winter here and i am not willing to heat with electricity.
a warmer seanson will solve this problem.

to which thermal youre refering? from which version.
i guess youre refering to V1 where the outer strip is laying on a t-slot over its whole lenght while the others arent.
your interpretaion is probably wrong you need to consider where the frame interacts as heatsink, where is more material and where it dont, where is more airflow etc.
i eaxamined my thermals regarding this closely and took many life readings as i checked the radiation uniformity with the spectromaster.
if youre right you would be able to see 4 groups behaving similar.

would assume ill have a more uneaven load distribution if using more in parallel, simply the nature of the beast.
consider that the load is very low also, 525mA, in real world now 300mA.
i can see if can do a a more clear thermal for you.

yes below 60v is low voltage, there is CE on the strip so they better write that when selling a bare board.
the solder stop can take, as any other at least 1KV, connector n cables are rated accoridngly, am using a extra GFCI etc.
anyone to his liking.
i have my driver remote and dont wanna loose so many watts on the cabling.
also when i concepted it there where no xlg line out as the new AB driver versions.
i took also nylon wahsers, which you should do anyway.

consider that the load is very low.
below attached 2 screens of what a trace needs to be for 525mA, 0,06mm and its for sure thicker on the eb3 strips.
also 2 voltage drop calcs for 153 and 44V, well it isnt a world.

did strip layout logarithmic, as good i can to avoid the hotspot, there are real world limitations, especially the size of my custom strips who should fit in between the EB3´s.
there is always room for tweaking, but the spread is dam good.

i payed 28$ for 6x 780mm and 2x 800mm t-slot bars, incl. precise cut, no shipping, no mounting material.
ill pay 8.80$ in my next homedepot for 2m suqare 20x20 aluminium, no cut, no shipping, no mounting material.
buying regular aluminium online puts me in a similar region as the t-slot.
in the end i safe on tools and nerves, have no metal workshop at hand.
why should i bother for alternatives?

edit: first i understood you, i ,should look for a alternative, could be you edited this part.
"threaded rod thru aluminum angle " is for sure a usefull searchterm, i would investigate if i need to for sure, good hint!

i ve read some about positive effect of using 365 and 730 together, ill may try that.
i just wont be able to interpret anything if i change too much at once now.
only fear i have there is that the 730nm will reach below the canopy while the UV wont.

@Bignutes , lets take a more extreme example.
30C ambient and a rise of 1C
trace with for cheapest thinnest standard copper would be 0.5mm (external layer, which it is) and its above this.
and again consider i run them with not more then 300mA practically.

It doesnt matter which thermal version, 14 in series will always give you the same result. I suggest you revisit this so that you keep yourself and your house mates safe.

Voltage limits the insulation, not the current or temperature. It doesn't work that way because voltage remains relatively constant over a change in current.

Your deflecting on the insulation rating by skirting with other electrical ratings in other parts of your design. At the end of the day the weak spot will remain that way regardless how much higher the other components are rated. It's the reason why there is a product datasheet, could you imagine them having to write all that on a strip?

I like your design, don't get me wrong, it's pretty nice, just don't expect your results to change.

why my results should change regarding light distrubution when i follow your recommendation, if i can proof some of your points are wrong?
dont get me wrong also, its a open discussion here! and i like every good hint.

regarding electrical ratings, again, everyone his own, there are quite some discussion about this topic.
i force no one to do so.
for the 60V i explained my view why they wrote it.
btw i have all my connections in 400V rated boxes.

the main thing is, trace with, wire thickness isnt linear to Amps.
so you normally win going higher with the voltage as long you can handle it.
f.e. 2 A would need a 3mm trace, not 2mm.

60 volts - your misguided and led astray on what's important, your viewpoint is a misinterpretation of mfg ratings, having your connections in 400 volt boxes is irrelevant to the point at hand, but ok good you got safeguards in other areas, well done. The first strip in 14 in series is taking approx. 153 volts and the last is approx 10.9 volts. Shouldn't this tell you something?

Again I feel like your lost, we aren't talking about wire thickness in relation to current (which is important), its voltage rating on the connectors.

The first post with your thermal image - your last strip on the left is vastly different in heat output then the far right one. Looking at your light distribution numbers it would explain why your lowest value of 562 versus 875 for a difference of 56%. I hardly call that even distribution. The 14 strips in series is doing this my man.

I get the feeling your ego won't let you be wrong, even in the face of fact. I guess I should just praise you from now on cause I feel that is what your looking for.

Bignutes said:

I get the feeling your ego won't let you be wrong, even in the face of fact. Narcissists generally exhibit this trait and defend, deny and deflect by clouding irrelevant discussion points to prove their knowledge and superiority.

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The guy built a great light, His connectors have too much voltage but no need to get nasty about it. Easier ways to explain things than to presume that someone is a narcissist. You would have built it differently that's fine, he isn't arguing with you and you have made your point.

Yeah I edited my post, I agree with you I didn't need to put that in. This is an acceptance that I was wrong, something I don't think cobshop is capable of.