Gordo's new COB light setup.

[Gordo41]

Hi all,, well my new COB lights arrived from Timber Grow Lights yesterday, and i went right to work on making the frame support for them.
I used 3/4" aluminium angle X 3' long to produce an X frame that the heatsink/cob will sit on.
This is a 5 COB unit I bought to replace the Mars 2 400w light I'v had in the tent for the last 2-3 years.
I haven't been happy with the Mars unit for some time but I've only been using it as a supplement to the Sun when I bring the girls in at sunset.
I plan on doing a SCROG this summer and I new the Mars would not cut it. It's pretty much a one plant light. And the PAR rating sucks.
so here's a few pics of the frame with the lights on it.
one thing I added to the frame was gussets at the point where the two haves of the frame cross over each other,, it's a weak point.
if anyone needs or wants any more info on building the frame, there is a good video on You Tube by Cutter.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XQdTHO-YbX4

[PuravidaC]

Nice!! Boy has some serious DIY skills!!! (and yes, we call alligators lizards around here! 😉)

[Tika]

Ha! That's a piece of work! This is going to be interesting!

[Gordo41]

Stay tuned for the rest of the story.

[Gordo41]

Ok now that i have you're attention,,, on to the good stuff.
here we have the light hanging in my 2.5 X 2.5' tent. It is 26 inches from the bottom where i will be taking LUX readings.
26" is twice the recommended hight for this light but will be 16" above the plants when they are in there. And will be raised to keep up as the plants grow.
this unit comes with a dimmer switch so you can adjust the lights to the power you want. Let me tell you, I almost blinded myself the first time I turned them on.
so the dimmer is great if you want to work in the tent with the lights on but want to be able to see again afterwerds.
With the dimmer as low as it will go I got a reading of 1200 LUX @ 26" that would have been 4X that much @16" turned up to the highest setting, produces 40,000 LUX
and @16" would have been more like 120 LUX, which is the same reading you would get if you took it out in the sun. Wow.!!
Here are 4 pics,, two are at the 1200 setting and two at the 40,000 setting. By the way, this COB the Cree 3590 50w have a spectrom of blue and red even though the light is set at 3700k enough so that it can be used for veg and flowering alike.
as I have found in the past, the pics never stay in the order I selected them, but I'm sure you can see which is which.

[Beach_Town_Brit]

Awesome project, look forward to seeing some plants under that monster

[bobsakamoto]

oh my god you have brought the sun inside!!!

[Gordo41]

LOL, let's hope so.

[PuravidaC]

Damn it, Gordo. Had my heart set on a 315 but now you got me thinking again (always dangerous)! Have heard good things about COB's. Can't wait to see how they work for you!!

[Gordo41]

The reason I didn't go with a fixed light like the Mars or other one piece units is because I wanted the ability to move the lights where I could get the best coverage over the plants. This setup is just want I was looking for.

[PuravidaC]

Just watched video link you posted and PAR rating graph was 2 to 3 times more with COB vs LEC. Cost for COB was a little more than LEC. However, I started out small and now replacing all grow room components so I want to get the right lights for my grow area and not keep upgrading!

[bobsakamoto]

PuravidaC i have 2 of these

https://www.amazon.com/Roleadro-Spectrum-Light-Innovated-Generation/dp/B01I4NY8KW/ref=sr_1_1?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1486714874&sr=1-1&keywords=roleadro%2Bcob&th=1

they were only $99 when i got 'em. but i love them and so do my plants....

[Gordo41]

That was a good deal you got there. You could get 4 of them and fill the tent for lass than $400. Just remember watts doesn't equal light output. Watts is and expression of work, and it can come in the form of heat and light. So it's possible to have a 400 watt light that puts out less usable light than a 50watt Cree3590.
Just sayin.

[bobsakamoto]

thanks Gordo! no, i know. i also have a 1000w dimmable HID and a viparspectra 300W led, so i got the COBs bc they were COBs that were FULL spectrum and at that price...can't beat 'em. anyway, i got the first one with the sole purpose of swapping around and tinkering with the set up to find the best set up for me and more imptly for what my plants tell me... come summer i am gonna have massive heat to deal with so i am still figuring things out...work in progress. wish i had access to a real PAR meter....SIGH.

but all that being said, that is a BOSS light you made yourself there, Gordo....i was only half kidding when i said you have brought the sun inside...

[Tika]

Ha! Haven't heard "Boss" in years..but your fixture sooo isssss! BOSS

[Gordo41]

You could say rad or gnarly also and we would all know where you come from.

[bobsakamoto]

all of these seem accurate to me... and familiar

[Tika]

Far (f.....g) out!!!!

[gbauto]

I don't know how difficult it is to source parts for building a system across the globe but if I had access to this a couple of years ago it would have been a no-brainer. The most challenging part of my current project is getting the heatsinks I want to use. Everything else was as simple as any ebay transaction. If you can operate a hand drill and hacksaw without a trip to the ER then it's really simple to construct, and as Gordo discovered they are quite bright.

[Gordo41]

Did you check at Cutters in AU or Timber grow lights in CA.?

[Gordo41]

So far the lights have been working flawlessly and I just got off the phone with Dan from Timber grow lights, and he wes very helpful with some questions I had. It's so nice to be able to pic up the phone and talk to a human that can speak English. He told me that if I had a small Fay blowing over the heat sinks, it would lower the temp by 20 deg. If needed.
also if i remove the dimmer switch during flowering it would boost the light out put by 10% fantastic bc as you know flowers need lots of light.
Hate to sound like an infomercial, but I can't help raving about these lights. The ability to arrange the lights to suit my needs was a big selling factor.
check it out.

[Gordo41]

Actually you can place your hand right under the chip and it only feels worm, not hot and the heatsink as well..
It's a whole lot cooler than the Mars 2 I had before.which had 2 built in fans going all the time and was still hot.
I don't even have my exhaust fan on since putting in the new lights. You can be standing right next to the tent and not hear a thing.

[bobsakamoto]

i wonder just how RICH the first person who comes up with the first *totally* silent fan-for-computers-sized fan will be.... wish it could be me...

[Gordo41]

My iPad doesn't have a fan.lol.

[Gordo41]

Got this today to hang the lights from.

[Gordo41]

I'm toying with the idea of adding 4 3way switches to the setup so I can turn on only the lights I need/want instead of having all 5 lights on at the same time even if I only have 1 Plant in the tent. This would save $ on elc and on the life of the cob although I think they will out live me at any rate.
I have the schematic drawn up and just waiting on switches now. I will post the mod when it's done.

[Beach_Town_Brit]

Good idea and more efficient than a dimmer