ace1928 Posted September 25, 2015 This will be handy come summer, usually have problems in summer with hot lights. And with a heat mat during winter you can have a 12 month growing season Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theuserformallyknownasd00d Posted September 25, 2015 In a closed setup with walls etc you don't need to use any heating. Even know the LEDs don't heat up bugger all, it gets nice and dry and warm. Depending how you rig the setup it's enough heat for each shelf minus the bottom. The bottom was never an issue for me and I germinated lots of cactus seeds during the dead of winter in an old uninsulated home. In summer it wouldn't be a problem so long as you had an open front to the unit I reckon. My design is similar the Changes, but my LEDs are directly attached to the Next shelf, his are suspended. I also use an extra LED rig on each shelf cos mines bigger ;P . It'll be interesting to see how we fair when it warms up. Considering they're cactus I'm referring to I doubt they mind the warmth! It may pose a threat if you don't fan the air whilst rooting plants or seedlings due to the hardening off issues surround heat and closed spaces for cuttings etc. The next challenge is rigging enough LEDs so it's affordable to do AND supports a tub of Astro grafts all the way thru to flowering and seed production!! It definatly supports grafts up until my current point in time, and that's tiny loph seedling to almost 5c piece size on a trich seedling. That's growing thru winter I might add! Many other grafts have grown 5x the size in 2-3 mths on various stocks under the same LEDs that raise the seedlings. I shall post pics sometime, but it's basically the same as Changes only bigger shelf and the mounting thing. Viva le led (for seedlings and establishing grafts anywaus!!) 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ghosty Posted September 25, 2015 (edited) "And with a heat mat during winter you can have a 12 month growing season :P" You need a fan anyhow, why not use it get rid of the heat mat? Less power consumption. The LED's your using will produce heat. They look like some kind of ready made module... This will disipate any heat so you wont feel it. But, it's there. I'd personally forget such modules and buy multi-spectrum chips of desired wattage. Work out spacings, work out lineal meter's, mount to aluminium tubing (rectangle shaped), add fan system, to slowly blow through the tubes and vent each section into it's own shelf. through holes drilled into it, limiting or blocking the end to force out the holes. or other design. (Each shelf having it's own roof of lighting, and heating / cooling vent system) Either flip the fans to reverse the flow and create a cooling updraft in summer or work out another reversing system. There are so many ways you could do it. I'm aware of electrical component power consumption. Was just saying it's extreme. surprising. Even for a person like me who has done their own custom circuit boards and electrics with 240v / high / low voltages and repairs to such almost daily for some 35 years (started at age 5 on 240v, freaking my parents right out LOL). I feel your design needs a lot of refinement. 150w multi-die single chip LED in the spectrum of 6000-6500K for laser cutting / etching? are you serious or taking the piss? the latter i should hope.. Edited September 25, 2015 by ghosty Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ace1928 Posted September 25, 2015 150w multi-die single chip LED in the spectrum of 6000-6500K for laser cutting / etching? are you serious or taking the piss? the latter i should hope.. If they are lighting cigarettes up or burning them then with a focusing lens it should work fantastic for some slow etching of wood or cutting of cardboard or card. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ghosty Posted September 25, 2015 oh, etching wood might work but you'd be better off with a 150w halogen for such "stencil etching" work on wood or other material. It would draw less current off the wall. the 150w LED chips contain some err... um.. 12 rows of 11 or 12 LED (UV coated in phosphorous to make white middle / cool) soldered together under the resin by tiny thin gold wire forming a chip the size of 25x25mm (active area) by some 45x45 total size. about 2mm thick. To burn a ciggy at that range is just in front of the lit chip (wear shade5 glasses or higher) no lens. The light is cold not too far away from the chip (that gets bloody hot!). For you idea, I'd use a series of such chips at 10-15w each. I'd drill each of the chips mounting holes into aluminium tubing at 2.5mm and cut a thread at 3mm to mount the chips. Silicone cable would then return into the tube to emerge at the next chip etc. This is then neat, effective and gives you total control over the desired spectrum. It makes use of the LED chip heat by means of the tubing and a fan incorporated into these tubes is taken into design of the venting system, taking full advantage of the "waste" LED heat. Economical systems are made this way, by wasting as little as possible. not just using "low wattage" parts, that add up to "high wattage" fast. Those "storage boxes" are not UV stable either. I'd base these systems on good, but light grade storage shelf units. Anyhow, Look at LED chips or "high power led chips" on fleabay. Thats where i get mine. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ghosty Posted September 25, 2015 "cutting of cardboard or card." Is that for stencils like for airbrushing or some such? I looked at making one of those one time for airbrush work, they were being made from laser printers with a diode change i thought. I never did make that thing. I didnt like the idea of dangerous less than visible light beams splattering about the house.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Change Posted September 25, 2015 What do you mean by UV stable ? How do i test the UV stability of my lighting boards ? at this point im time, im judging the quality of my lights by the really nice growth rates on the seedlings over winter and the fact that i haven't had to fix anything once. I plugged it in, and its been running like a dream ever since. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ghosty Posted September 25, 2015 Is that a rhetorical question linked to an editorial or a valid serious post and question? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
illogicalBrew Posted October 6, 2015 (edited) ... Edited April 11, 2016 by illogicalBrew Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ace1928 Posted October 6, 2015 https://www.reddit.com/r/Head2HeadMG/comments/2lvnul/guide_ledwizards_1000_true_watt_led_light_part_1/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Head2HeadMG/comments/2lvo45/uide_ledwizards_1000_true_watt_led_light_part_2/ Lol. Whoever wrote that tutorial doesn't understand lighting. You don't measure your power in "watts per square foot" If you want to follow stupid instructions and waste money then go for it It would be preferable in future if you want to post bullshit instructions you do so not in a for sale thread. Cheers Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ace1928 Posted October 6, 2015 The guy in his own thread points it out. It's shit. It's overpriced, inefficient and potentially quite dangerous. And would cost more money to build his thing then it would to buy something with more power from me. [–]LEDwizard[S] 2 points 10 months ago Oh I take no offense. I do LED engineering as a 9to5 and believe me, the LED array I've designed here is SHIT electronics. But it works, and doing a constant-current, PWM system using good circuits would have taken 2X the money and 3X the time. I encourage others to experiment! The fun of DIY is that you can try stuff and iterate quickly. I made many mistakes before I settled on this design. permalink parent Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BedOSpines Posted October 7, 2015 its also ugly and 40mm fans are loud as fuck. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
