New Led Or Not ?

Spuzzum

Well-Known Member
dang $355 for just a sixteen piece, veg clone light? wondering what it would cost to make something powerful enough to flower? Dig the DIY though....8-)

That's a lazy man's price... :D

Make your own drivers.. $25 less. Mount and solder the stars manually.. ie: no solderless holders.. another $40 less. Right there, that's a minimum of $65 less.. maybe more.

Make your own heatsink.. U-Channel from HomeDepot or similar.. about $30. That's roughly the same as an actual heatsink.. but without cost of shipping. That's at least another $30 off.


Right there.. that's $100 less if you do it by hand.

The cost is all in the whites.. they cost the most. If making with reds.. they're $4 each.. a little more than 1/2 the cost of a white.


As for "powerful enough to flower".. I still think they'll do just fine. Look at the spectral graphs of the Hortilux HPS and the Cree WarmWhites. The Cree's put out far more red than the HPS (630nm, 660nm, and 735nm).

And as from what I've been reading over the last 16 months or so, is that the InfraRed should be about 10-15% of the total "output" wattage. The WarmWhites have about 10% 735nm. That's why I want to try "without" the added 735nm from some LedEngins for my clone/veg panel.

I'm still not sure if I need to add 735nm to my flower panel yet.. will see how the tester goes with the smaller panel.



Should also mention... that's 16 diodes in the clone/veg panel.. run them at 700mA.. 2w a piece. That 32w panel will still kick ass on a 50w or 75w ChinaCrap. Heck.. maybe even a 90w UFO. :D
 

Eraserhead

Well-Known Member
If you look at it closely, it appears to be an amber color, but when on, it has a "black light" like color. It looks like there's a 470nm behind it shining through.

Needless to say, I wont be using their 410nm anymore....

410??

410's Violet.. am I going colourblind?? :D
 

Spuzzum

Well-Known Member


I circled the red and the amber.. the amber looks just like the 410nm alibaba sells

http://www.aliexpress.com/fm-store/800238/211243772-497521275/1W-Purple-Violet-high-Power-LED-400-410nm-6-8lm-3-0-3-6v-350mA.html


But one thing I notice right away.. these guys are mixing wavelengths on the strings. A red uses 1v less than a blue (on average). You're supposed to have dedicated strings per wavelength. The way these guys are doing it.. they either drive the reds way too high, or the blues so low they'd need way too many just to equal out the ratio.

This is exactly what you should NOT do. No wonder they're dying...... :p




edit:

bet you anything it's a red that died on you
 
Those are definetly lenses that have been degraded by UV led chips. This is very common around in the 380-410nm range. The UV still works but they can eventually degrade totally off, this is the problem with UV and LEDs unless you spend 150 bucks for glass lens.

spuzzum, definetly think you should use 735nm in you leds, this is what allows the plant to go to sleep and process photosynthesis. It also allows the plants to follow a circadian rhyme along with provide a heat source that so the plants will sense and know where the light is coming from to process more. Kinda like how a sunflower follows the sun across the sky...it senses where the sun is by In fared heat. also help initiate flowering. as the plant converts 660nm to infared. actually the best wavelengths would be 680nm-700nm and 730nm 850nm(heat for leaf penetration). but nobody makes a 680nm. which i believe can be very useful.

I will definetly agree that your DIY leds will blow away a cheap china 90w UFO, But to make a Huge light anywhere in the 200-300 chip range for flowering. it would be pricey. But worth it. I would love to have a completely controllable dimmable spectrum 300 chip light.

LED Tech, Veteran LED growers Forum All LED tech Information, DIY and High Quality LEDs

Maybe we should move this LED tech to its own thread?....would be nice to have a place to gather info and put all our heads together...


 

Eraserhead

Well-Known Member
1 IR died, and 1 410 died. I tested each one with a battery.

You can still see the IR when they come on, just barely, and when on with the brighter LEDs, you can't tell it's on.
 

Spuzzum

Well-Known Member
@ blacktourmaline

I'm still using 735nm.. it's in the warm whites, and some in the blue whites still, though a lot less. And I don't entirely agree with earlier research about helping it sleep. Some did flashes of 735nm during daek period, and this is where that came about. From everything else I've been reading.. 660nm needs 735nm "together" to change Pr to Pfr.. don't know what or why.. I just know it's needed. :D

And if you consider that an HPS has the 735nm in "it's" spectrum.. we see that using "just" during day period is good enough.. no need for night flashes. The only thing I'm not positive on yet.. the amount actually needed. I'll more than likely still add to the bigger panel, but still want to test a full cycle with the veg panel.



@ Eraserhead...


Thinking some more.. those reds are being pumped at 3.x volts instead of 2.x volts. If there's blues on that string.. the blues' voltage requirements will dictate what voltage is being drawn through the string. It can't go "3.2v->2.2v->3.2v->2.2v->....."



These guys are idots....... :p
 

Spuzzum

Well-Known Member
How many Lumens Would your one panel Run Spuzzum?
The veg panel?

8 x Q5 Warm whites @ 107-114lm/350mA (856-912lm)
8 x R5 Cool whites @ 139-148lm/350mA (1112-1184lm)
---------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------- 1968-2096lm @ 17.92W (8*(3.2v*350mA)=1.12W)

If driving at 700mA, it's not double what a 350mA would output. Somewhere between 1.5 and 2x.
 
They did not start out as a brown lens, they were used and the UV has degraded them.....to turn them that color. It happens all the time, i have UV diodes in mine that look exactly like it and they started out clear, they produce a blue around 410nm which its bandwidth +- 20nm dips into VIOLET And Ultra Violet.
 
Yeh that is some good amount of lumens, you would probably need about 6-8 of them to provide a good flower LED. Man that advanced LED looks very badly designed....i had no idea. IMO it would be nice to Have All custom LEDs, but for now The Epistars are great and they provide the widest wavelengths available and honestly, But more wavelengths are need for them to work efficiently, because of the narrow bandwidth intensities. I would imagine you would need less wavelengths in a panel with Custom DIY crees LEDengin etc. they have way more bandwidth spread, which is a benefit. So you could use less diodes. Also had a question. Do you know if you can run different chips, cree, LED engin, Bridgelux together on a driver, or would you have to separate them for there own Voltages. The only downfall i could see with DIY is the lack of available wavelength? Maybe someone can tell me some info about mixes different brands and wavelength to provide a good wide spectrum. As with using all White diodes I would imagine you will need at least some supplementary wavelength, but i bet you could use mostly white and they would perform good because of there wide spread. Also a White LED start out as blue but they add a phosphor coating.
 

PSUAGRO.

Well-Known Member
Long story short and full of BS I got my shipping label emailed to me from Ben and no restocking fee.......Winning!!ha
Thanks Eraser....told him I'm investigating(bringing electrical engineer over/lol) whether his panels actually contain ANYTHING other than chinese diodes.....he said its slander/can take me to court..ha..this went on till this morning where he said that just don't say anything about this on the forums and ill get every penny back....oops

So back to the drawing board.........I've narrowed down to two companies Lumigrow(es165) and California Lightworks solarflare.. I'd like both of your opinions on these panels..Both are 100% built in America /both claim 5w top bin leds /massive heatsinks in both/ decent warranties....thoughts???

Strange both panels actual power outputs are 165w ......but Lumigrow panel claims 26diodes and cali panel claims 40 diodes....huh???
 

PSUAGRO.

Well-Known Member
That advanced led is junk.........my god they are ripping us(growers) off!!!!!!!
That panel costs significantly more than my crappy panel........all same parts to......
 

Spuzzum

Well-Known Member
They did not start out as a brown lens, they were used and the UV has degraded them.....to turn them that color. It happens all the time, i have UV diodes in mine that look exactly like it and they started out clear, they produce a blue around 410nm which its bandwidth +- 20nm dips into VIOLET And Ultra Violet.


http://www.theledstore.com.au/product_p/ls0024.htm

That's a 400nm from LedEngin. They don't change colour.




That's your UV ranges.



Also... buddy only had the panel running for 20 or so hours.. if it changed colour that fast.. then it's crap materials.

I personally see a coloured lens.. not a lens that's had its colour changed. The stuff to make it "violet" is supposed to be "inside" the dome.. not "on" the dome itself.

I've actually read threads where peeps got a diode with "red nail polish" over the dome.. making a deep red. :p
 
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