Mau5Capades: builds & grow journal

coolj said:

how many L/w are cree cxa and cxb cobs using them at 50w & 23 watts?

whats the least amount of cobs to have to compete with a 600w & 1000 hps?

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This is such a broad question. Firstly, idk if you are talking about 2530,2540,3050,3070,3590....the list goes on. All the lumen performance numbers are listed in PDFs, by simply googling the cob you are interested in. Cree provides PDFs for all the info you are looking for, with respect to lumens. Also, there are spreadsheets around here that will break it down based on drive current. Search"cob efficiency spreadsheet" to find that thread.

For the second question, based on my experience with 3070 @ 1400ma around 400w led is roughly equivalent (or better) to a 600w hps.

sorry, I was asking about 3070 & 3590.

coolj said:

sorry, I was asking about 3070 & 3590.

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here you go bro. this thread has it all.



If I simplify all the pertinent details: bin, color temp, 36v or 72v, drive current, etc. here is one comparison.
3070 140 lumens per watt
3590 156 lumens per watt

Hello sir,

I found your thread. need to poke around here and catch up.

I just ordered 4 x CXB3950 for testing. I need to get the driver and large heatsink in and have a ton of research to do. I'm building based on Supra's price/value breakdown:

@ 56.3%
(4) CXB3590 3500K CD 36V @ 1.4A (49W ea) $190
(1) HLG-185H-C1400 $65
196 dissipation W -> 85.7W heat ->
passive cooled heatsink 10284cm² -> 5.88" X 38" heatsink $72 (could split in 2 to improve uniformity/spread)
(4) lenses $16
110.3 PAR W covering 6ft² = 824 PPFD
$311 = $3.07/PAR W passive cooled (great value point IMO, very efficient use of driver)

I am a big computer guy and work with servers all day. I figure it wouldn't be too hard to build lights like this.

My concerns are mounting the LEDs to the heatsink and also with wiring everything up. I need to get the stuff in my hands so I can look at in person. Any advice?

Thanks much sir!

kliend said:

Any advice?

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hey kliend, thanks for checking out my YT channel and stopping by here. With your skill set, I think you will find that building one of these things is simple compared to what you are probably used to. I am happy to answer any questions once you get your hands on the gear. I will also have a more detailed cxb3590 video coming out very soon that you can use as reference.

Here is a diagram for the wiring. For tapping the heatsinks, I use a dewalt or Irwin brand 4-40 tap. I discard the drill bit it comes with and use a 3/32" dewalt bit for drilling the holes. it is just slightly larger than the bit included in the tap set and it makes tapping 3x easier and faster. I drill with a drill press but a standard handheld can work. The trick is to work the drill holes a few times, then tap with a lube. With your background, im sure you have plenty of screws and hardware that will work.

Thanks that helps a ton! I'll have to grab one of those 4-40 at home depot.

I'm sure I'll be back with more hand holding questions.

Just curious, do you do strains from seed or clone only? Strictly fem or are you fine with regs?

Growmau5 said:

hey kliend, thanks for checking out my YT channel and stopping by here. With your skill set, I think you will find that building one of these things is simple compared to what you are probably used to. I am happy to answer any questions once you get your hands on the gear. I will also have a more detailed cxb3590 video coming out very soon that you can use as reference.

Here is a diagram for the wiring. For tapping the heatsinks, I use a dewalt or Irwin brand 4-40 tap. I discard the drill bit it comes with and use a 3/32" dewalt bit for drilling the holes. it is just slightly larger than the bit included in the tap set and it makes tapping 3x easier and faster. I drill with a drill press but a standard handheld can work. The trick is to work the drill holes a few times, then tap with a lube. With your background, im sure you have plenty of screws and hardware that will work.

View attachment 3524376

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nice pics are you a teacher ? lol

kliend said:

Thanks that helps a ton! I'll have to grab one of those 4-40 at home depot.

I'm sure I'll be back with more hand holding questions.

Just curious, do you do strains from seed or clone only? Strictly fem or are you fine with regs?

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no worries, happy to help. Most of my stuff is from reg seed. I did grow fem I.C.E from Nirvana back in the day. Out of 10 seeds, I found 3 acceptable phenos. 2 of those phenos hermed when stressed slightly with 86F + temps. I am transitioning to most Exotic Genetix reg seed strains now the seedsherenow seems to keep decent stock and availability.

PurpleBuz said:

nice pics are you a teacher ? lol

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Whats the old saying, "those who can, do. those who can't teach" lol

Its funny, when I first got into this led stuff, i had not picked up a soldering iron since 1997 back when i was squeezing 15" JL audios into a honda civic, lol. I didn't understand this stuff and just wanted someone to give me a shopping list and a diagram or instructions. People seemed eager to help me if I demonstrated that I read their thread & tried to do my own research. A lot of peeps around here went the extra mile for me, so I don't mind taking some time to go the extra mile for newer people.

Growmau5 said:

Whats the old saying, "those who can, do. those who can't teach" lol
People seemed eager to help me if I demonstrated that I read their thread & tried to do my own research. .

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yeah that's key, I lose patience with those that insist on being spoon fed the whole way, and don't use their brain.

I haven't used a soldering iron since I was a teen, until two years ago, then I discovered the wonders of lead free solder. I was shocked and ruined a bunch of tips until I understood what was going on.

this is not led related, but it is efficiency related.
there was a discussion in another thread about total dissipation watts in a garden. And how simply switching to LEDs at the same dissipation is not a magic bullet that will cool down your space. I started analyzing my garden recording the diss of every appliance that I have, from fans, air pumps, clone light, veg, flower, to dehuey etc.

I have a fully installed and operational water cooled CO2 gen in my room, but I cant run it. Its too much heat and humidity for my 14000btu portable ac to handle. I tried bottled co2 for a while, but quickly got tired of going to fill it up. I have brainstormed all summer on how to integrate a larger mini split ac into my garden, but it just isn't an option for me. I came to the realization that 14,000 btu's of cooling is all I will ever have if I want to seal up this garden for CO2.

So, you guys saw a few pages back that I shaved 400w (plus some IR heat) by switching 2x600w HPS to 3590s. And even with the cooler weather coming in, the ac can't keep up with a sealed room and co2 genny. I decided to make the significant investment in the most efficient dehumidifier in the world: Quest dual 105.



My total watt savings after the upgrades this month will be 900w at the wall. or 3060 BTUs of heat. hopefully this will be enough to fire up the CO2 genny and take shit to a new level in terms of growth and harvest weight. Ill keep you guys posted as always.

Growmau5 said:

this is not led related, but it is efficiency related.
there was a discussion in another thread about total dissipation watts in a garden. And how simply switching to LEDs at the same dissipation is not a magic bullet that will cool down your space. I started analyzing my garden recording the diss of every appliance that I have, from fans, air pumps, clone light, veg, flower, to dehuey etc.

I have a fully installed and operational water cooled CO2 gen in my room, but I cant run it. Its too much heat and humidity for my 14000btu portable ac to handle. I tried bottled co2 for a while, but quickly got tired of going to fill it up. I have brainstormed all summer on how to integrate a larger mini split ac into my garden, but it just isn't an option for me. I came to the realization that 14,000 btu's of cooling is all I will ever have if I want to seal up this garden for CO2.

So, you guys saw a few pages back that I shaved 400w (plus some IR heat) by switching 2x600w HPS to 3590s. And even with the cooler weather coming in, the ac can't keep up with a sealed room and co2 genny. I decided to make the significant investment in the most efficient dehumidifier in the world: Quest dual 105.

View attachment 3524417

My total watt savings after the upgrades this month will be 900w at the wall. or 3060 BTUs of heat. hopefully this will be enough to fire up the CO2 genny and take shit to a new level in terms of growth and harvest weight. Ill keep you guys posted as always.

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Nice, that's a serious and pricey piece of equipment

Have you ever seen any info on rough approximations of how much each sq ft of plant canopy raises humidity of a space?

OneHitDone said:

Nice, that's a serious and pricey piece of equipment

Have you ever seen any info on rough approximations of how much each sq ft of plant canopy raises humidity of a space?

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It was quite an investment, but if it allows me to run CO2 without dimming or removing lights, I think the ROI will be pretty quick. ROI based only on the energy savings between the Ideal Air and the Quest will take 3 years in my garden. That does not account for cooling the heat produced by the unit (to hard to calculate).

I didn't use canopy sqft to size the unit, I used water/nutrient input average for the entire garden per day. That's what Quest recommends. But I would be interested in learning how the commercial guys size their units.

Are you using a CO2 PPM controller? My tank takes almost 2 months to empty.

nevergoodenuf said:

Are you using a CO2 PPM controller? My tank takes almost 2 months to empty.

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I am running 1600 cuft of airspace, the 20lb bottle just seemed to empty quick for me. I have a fuzzy logic C.A.P. controller, recently calibrated outside. Perhaps the room isn't as sealed as I think...

How many cuft of space are you enriching with CO2? And what ppm are you running. I am curious for reference sake, 2 months on a 20lb bottle?

My room is set to 1100 ppm and I just barely let the ball rise on the gauge. My room is L shaped with 9 foot ceilings. 9'x 10', but only 5 feet wide and 6 feet wide on the 10' side. I am waiting to get back my dehumidifier, warranty replacement, but I still have an 8" fan and filter to control humidity for now.

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Strange, other pic won't come up.

nevergoodenuf said:

Strange, other pic won't come up.

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If I am understanding you correctly, you have 675cuft @ 1000ppm. a 20lb bottle lasts almost 2 months, lets call it 55 days.
My 1600 cuft space is 2.37 times more air volume. assuming both rooms are equally sealed, a 20lb'er should last me 23.2 days. @ 1000ppm.
@ 1500ppm like I am running, it should last 15.46 days. Adjusting for possible minor air leaks and having 36 massive plants in flowering plus another 50+ juveniles in veg, the 12 days per 20lb bottle doesn't seem out of whack to me.

I commend you that your setup is low maintenance, but for the scale of garden I'm running, bottled CO2 is going to be a massive dick pain for me.

Growmau5 said:

View attachment 3517180​

Im calculating 659 PPFD, for this setup over 32 sqft. Do you guys think this will be enough juice, or do you think I should add another 8 cobs @ 700ma?

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Very clean and looks great! I just got my LEDs and lenses. It looks like the lenses require running the wires back through the heatsink. :-/ I wanted to minimize my drilling since I only have a hand drill but these lenses are really going to make me drill a lot. LOL

What do 80 degree lenses do? Throw it further or spread it out? sorry to ask such basic questions.