Economical multi LED Chip Projects for Growing

I like the concept but I would like to make two separate lights, 3 100 watt cheap leds a light. Any recommendations on a reasonably priced 150w driver? Im am new to this any help would be appreciated

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jpizzle4shizzle said:
I like the concept but I would like to make two separate lights, 3 100 watt cheap leds a light. Any recommendations on a reasonably priced 150w driver? Im am new to this any help would be appreciated

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See page #1 of this thread for details.
If your using the same cheap ebay chips and drivers I'm using, use two100w LEDs per 100W driver wired in parallel.100 watts with 2 chips per driver seems to be the most economical configuration for light I've seen. I've seen individual 100W cheap chips draw as little as 46 w and as much as 56w from a driver, so you can use two LEDs per driver.

I haven't seen any 150W drivers on ebay. There are other ways of getting 150w of power, but since your getting started, best to keep it simple and direct. Buy a driver and the matching LEDs, and pick a way to cool the chips and contain all the parts.

Keep an eye on this thread because there might be a few builds coming up that will give you some ideas and information and have a look at the start of the thread, it's only 4 pages so far.
 
Keep an eye on this thread because there might be a few builds coming up that will give you some ideas and information and have a look at the start of the thread, it's only 4 pages so far.[/QUOTE]

I sub'd the thread last night, I have already learned a lot of info from you guys, thanks a lot. All I found were 100 watts as well, I appreciate the help though. Btw your designs are ingenious, it reminds me of redneck ingenuity (im from Kentucky) , along with a great tech savvy. I think you should get in contact with the Chinese and start making lights brother Lol
 
VEG Lamp Rig #1 Progress Report
Today the rig frame and cooling tubes were assembled, the LED panels and electrical box were installed and the driver and fan power supply mounted in the box. Tomorrow I'll mount the fans, complete the wiring and bench test the rig, I expect first light sometime tomorrow afternoon.

Here are a couple of photos of the build so far. The electrical box is a little skewed on the tube and since I used silicone caulking under it too, it's probably not worth fixing, I don't think the plants will notice it though.


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Now that looks like a project I could get busy with!

It will be interesting how it turns out and how eeffective it will be.
 
Gonna ask a quick question has anybody tried the big canned goods cans as a cob holder? Im new to this so was just wondering if they'd be any good, I have a few old nacho cheese cans around somewhere lol

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jpizzle4shizzle said:
Gonna ask a quick question has anybody tried the big canned goods cans as a cob holder? Im new to this so was just wondering if they'd be any good, I have a few old nacho cheese cans around somewhere lol

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I was toying with the idea until I got lots of ATX power supply boxes. I figure a coffee can or any can large enough to hold the parts is OK. I usually make my projects in metal containers, but the veg light #1 driver will be contained in a plastic project box. I'm doing this because the inside of the plastic box will be lined with aluminum muffler tape and the driver is partly enclosed by a heat sink. If room is tight in the container you can save space by mounting the fan on the outside. You could use a plastic container, if it was the right kind, you used a partly enclosed or enclosed driver and you lined the inside with muffler tape. Large flat metal boxes seem to work best. You could for instance mount 4 computer heat sinks and LEDs to the lid of a large square metal cake or cookie can, along with the drivers etc Use an older can with thick metal because the newer ones have pretty thin metal and you may have to reenforce the lid (use it upside down).
 
Yeah I was thinking something along the lines of that, right now im thinking im gonna go with an old heatsink from a car amp. Would heat transfer from the cans onto the heatsink?

I was thinking about lining the cans with crushed up coke cans to give more area for passive cooling but im not sure if any of that would work Lol

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Aluminum conducts heat 5 times better than steel, so cut a hole in the steel so you can mount the LED(s) directly on the heat sink and have enough metal left to screw the heat sink to the can. You'll need a CPU fan with the air blowing on the heat sink and will need to use heat sink paste between the LED and heat sink too. What kind of LED(s) and driver are you going to use?
 
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jpizzle4shizzle said:
Yeah I was thinking something along the lines of that, right now im thinking im gonna go with an old heatsink from a car amp. Would heat transfer from the cans onto the heatsink?

I was thinking about lining the cans with crushed up coke cans to give more area for passive cooling but im not sure if any of that would work Lol

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I don't think the crushed up cans thing will work, I would suggest some dumpster diving, meaning go around to computer repair shops and ask for their junk, old PCs, heat sinks, fans etc. Get familiar with the local scrap yard, because you usually can get aluminum, tubing, channel, angle and plate there for about a buck a pound, buying it at Home Depot will cost a fortune. The screws I used to put the veg light frame together with were from dollar store toy car kits and the screws used for mounting the LED arrays were salvaged from the street lamp tear down as were the LEDs.The more junk you have laying around the more build options you have, don't forget yard sales and heavy pickup days for trash. One mans garbage is anothers treasure. Once you strip down most electronic or electrical equipment and toss the carcass, the fasteners and parts you'll need don't take up much space.

If you order your parts off ebay you'll often wait 4 to 6 weeks to get them. Use that time to plan what your going to do and collect the items and tools you need. When the parts arrive you'll be ready to build your lamp
 
DIY-HP-LED said:
I don't think the crushed up cans thing will work, I would suggest some dumpster diving, meaning go around to computer repair shops and ask for their junk, old PCs, heat sinks, fans etc. Get familiar with the local scrap yard, because you usually can get aluminum, tubing, channel, angle and plate there for about a buck a pound, buying it at Home Depot will cost a fortune. The screws I used to put the veg light frame together with were from dollar store toy car kits and the screws used for mounting the LED arrays were salvaged from the street lamp tear down as were the LEDs.The more junk you have laying around the more build options you have, don't forget yard sales and heavy pickup days for trash. One mans garbage is anothers treasure. Once you strip down most electronic or electrical equipment and toss the carcass, the fasteners and parts you'll need don't take up much space.

If you order your parts off ebay you'll often wait 4 to 6 weeks to get them. Use that time to plan what your going to do and collect the items and tools you need. When the parts arrive you'll be ready to build your lamp
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Yeah I really want to save as much money as possible so I will take your advice, it helps that my mom and grandma are semi hoarders so I can probably find something. I didn't think the can thing would work but I just wanted to find a way to passively cool the fixture without it having to be a behemoth.
I bought the same cobs and drivers you have so I wouldn't mess things up. Do the cobs run hot? I haven't seen very many people using them, its hard to pass up for six bucks though.


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Sorry but here is what im getting, 3 cool white 100 watt cobs and 3 warm white cobs, 3 drivers that were linked in the original light you made on this thread. An amp heatsink that's around 12 ×13 but that's it as of now. My problem is im just blueprinting so im all over the place on what I wanna do, but I appreciate the help. Still haven't decided whether to make two separate lights or not. Im thinking 6 cobs might be too much on one but I know nothing of this.
I will be scavenging a lot today so I will post pics to give a better understanding, once I get home i will take a pic of the heatsink and the area im trying to light up as well. But thanks again I appreciate any help you can give me brother, im just trying to learn all I can.

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jpizzle4shizzle said:
Sorry but here is what im getting, 3 cool white 100 watt cobs and 3 warm white cobs, 3 drivers that were linked in the original light you made on this thread. An amp heatsink that's around 12 ×13 but that's it as of now. My problem is im just blueprinting so im all over the place on what I wanna do, but I appreciate the help. Still haven't decided whether to make two separate lights or not. Im thinking 6 cobs might be too much on one but I know nothing of this.
I will be scavenging a lot today so I will post pics to give a better understanding, once I get home i will take a pic of the heatsink and the area im trying to light up as well. But thanks again I appreciate any help you can give me brother, im just trying to learn all I can.

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Sounds like your off to a good start with the heat sink. If your using the same chips as me, then you will want to have a six LED rig, it will generate more heat than 3 LEDs but will give you about 70% more light, just drive the LEDs in parallel pairs off the drivers.

The easiest and cheapest build would be to put everything in one case and use one heat sink with the 6 chips arranged about an inch from the edges of the sink. Acquire a metal box to put everything in, or make an enclosure using heavy aluminum flashing (used for widows and roofing) that you can get from building suppliers. Flashing is easy to work with and you can cut it with tin snips, if you distort the metal cutting it, just put it between two piece of wood and hammer it flat again after your finished cutting. You can order strips of aluminum flashing custom bent for a reasonable price and about a buck a bend and they do it right there. Say you ordered a strip of flashing 5" wide with a 90 degree bend on one edge and a 3/4 to 1" edge, so you would have a piece of 5"x 1" "L" shaped angle of aluminum flashing say 6' to 8' long. Next you would wrap it around the heat sink to make a box with the heat sink making up the bottom, cut 90 degree triangles out of the top corners with tin snips and screw the flashing to the heat sink along the bottom edges. Now you will have a 5" high metal box with a 3/4 to 1" lip around the top edge that you can bolt another flat 12" x13" piece of aluminum flashing (or other heavier metal) for a top, drill or cut holes in the middle of the lid for two 3" or 4" computer fans blowing down onto the heat sink from the top, you can mount the fans inside or outside the box and stick them on with silicone caulking. Screw the lid onto the side edges with self tapping sheet metal screws and cut ventilation slots in the bottom of the sides where the air exits the heat sink fins.

You could put this light in the center of the garden with out lenses or reflectors for a foundational top lamp, you can add other lamps from other angles later. If you think about it a bit you could order your flashing a bit wider with an additional 30 degree bend along the bottom edge to act as a reflector, just line the inside with aluminum tape. If you want to keep it simple though, add a reflector later. You should get almost 100W from each pair of chips, say 300W total, if 25% of the energy is converted to light that leaves about 230W for the heat sink to dissipate and your sink is 12" x 13" = 156 sq/in. So the heat sink dissipates 230W/156sqin = 1.47W per square inch and of course were not counting the radiator fins on the back. If noise is an issue, 12vdc fans run quiet and can be under volted to run even quieter (fans inside the case are quieter than those outside), you can use a 7 or 9 VDC wall wart adapter to run the fans if you want. You should actively cool this rig, but I don't think you will have to drive the fan(s) hard, bigger fans can run slower and quieter.
 
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I actually still have the enclosure from the amp. Do you think that will work? I may still get some aluminum. Cause it sounds like itd have a cleaner look. I will post a pic of the amp heatsink and enclosure to see what you think about it.

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Thanks for all of the help, I appreciate it.. Now I just gotta wait for the drivers and cobs to come in

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Amp boxes can work fine, just put the heat sink on the bottom or even top. If you use it upside down you might be able to replace the feet with eye bolts to hang the whole thing, it should be strong enough to support being suspended and there might be lots of ventilation holes in the bottom (now top) for air flow. You can use aluminum flashing plate on the front and if the power cord is still on the box so much the better. If it's a wooden or plastic box over a steel frame for the top and sides, use aluminum muffler tape on the inside, or bolt aluminum flashing panels to the sides and top of the amp frame instead of the OEM cover. You could have your lamp enclosure by the time your chips and driver arrive, don't forget about powering the fans, a simple cheap solution would be to put an old power adapter in the box along with the drivers and wire it to the 120VAC switch, if your using one, or the power cord. Test the adapter(s) on the fans and pick one with the volts and power you need to drive the fan at the speed you want. You can get second hand power adapters at yard sales and thrift stores for often less than a buck, you'll need between 7 and 12volts and each fan uses about 250ma so lets say something around a half a watt or even less should do, try a few.
 
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