Calling out to Weezard for LED advice

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So what do you think? Two 8.5" sinks, 8 reds, 2 blues, one mastech, one 60-12, one 60-15, and two fans?

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I have done it that way myself, and would do it again. Remember, that mastech will drive 7 reds. And that is kick-ass heatsink material. Easy to work. Hey, it's an investment--peeps always looking for stuff like that as scrap. Look at what folks are asking on the Bay for their used ham radio junk... After the collapse of civilization you will still be able to barter with fine heatsinks like those. :thumbsup:

7 reds and 1 blue make a nice little flowering light; better than a Procyon IMO. You wouldn't need the 60-12 yet.

You could also run the reds a tad cooler (~1100-1150mA), and build (2) 4+1 lights and still power all 8 reds with the mastech.

Then, you can add on whenever you want! I buy myself little presents like that...:thumbsup: I'd spring for 10 and save the $20, though.

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If I do that would I mount the blues on the inner sides of the bottom of the sink so they stay towards the center of the room?

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I'd like to get the Maestro to chip in on this one. Looks like his blues are mounted about as far apart as he can get them on his 10 + 2 light. Mine are spread out a ways, too-- that blue light has powerful effects and seems like once there's enough, it's enough. I think a more uniform distribution works well for me, despite my initial concerns with phototropism.

Reds seem different as far as coverage. I like having a red smack in the middle of the light; I just added some like that.

At 6" from the plants, having the emitters spaced closer than 6" but further than 3" apart looks like "ballpark optimum" spacing for these 15W. (That doesn't mean you gotta do that over an entire 9 sq.ft. area. Coupla concentrated areas (lamps / semi-point-sources) seem better to me than spreading your reds out too thin trying for "even" coverage over 3x3'.)

DEFINITELY would like to hear what other Ledengin 15w users think. These are just my off-the-cuff observations, based on few strains and little experience. No take to bank yet...:hippy:

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If I were to put it all on one sink it would look like this.

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Yep, done it like dat, too, sorta. Added a red in the middle later; my blues were a bit further apart.

Damn! That is one intricate drawing! Beautiful! :thumbsup: (They will only give me crayons to work with...:sadcrying)

Don't sweat it too much; a layout that's great for 5 leds (like 5's on dice) becomes assymetrical when you add a 6th red after your ship comes in :dance:. De plants no keah! :thumbsup:

Weez or DH,

Don't both of you grow in coco? I wanted to start another DWC project but without the use of hydroton. It really was a PITA with it's swings the last go round.

Where do I start with coco? I'll do the reading if you could point me to a good thread that does it the way you do.

Thanks for the help guys!

Well, I haven't found anything all in one place, at least on this board.

I haven't germed in coco yet. Just transplanted into it from various stages of soil grows.

My preferred method is cloning in rapid rooters, so that's what I'll do, and just plant into coco (in a 20oz beer cup) soon as I see roots coming out of the RR -- same as I do with soil.

In reality, I'll betcha cloning (or germing) right in the coco will work just as well. Just haven't tried that yet-- the RR's have been foolproof for me and @~.32ea it ain't worth messin' with.

I go from the 20oz. cup to a 6" netpot, or:

20 oz cup > 1 gal nursery pot > 8" netpot.

Unfortunately, my 1 gal pots are a tad bigger than my 6" netpots, but that'd be a direct swap if I had the right sizes.

Weez showed me a cool trick: you use the cup (or pot) your plant is in to mold a cavity inside the bigger pot--just pack moist coco all around the cup, remove the cup, and the plant drops right into the new hole.

That's about all there is to it. I set up nute level in the res about half an inch below the the bottom of the netpot. The bubbles splash the coco and the moisture is quickly distributed evenly throughout the medium. I've accidentally submerged the bottom of the netpot, and I've let the nute level drop a couple of inches, too. Neither boo-boo caused a problem. (This stuff is too easy. :thumbsup:) We used wicks into the res at first to make sure the coco got saturated, but it was unneccessary. And some of the wicks liked to grow bacteria, and we've both got warm res temps, so we both quit doin' dat.

My only concern at this point is if my tiny grow space will accommodate a DWC plant grown in coco its whole life. I may do a simple drip-to-waste in 3 gal coco pots just to keep the size under control. :thumbsup:

So there really is no trick? What about PH? Is it slightly higher than hydroton?

I too love rapid rooters. Works every single time for me. So, I too would go RR to coco.

Maybe one trick--I use the Botanicare compressed bricks. Just expand with lightly nuted, cal-magged water. Some other types of coco may contain salt, presumably from the coconuts floating in sea water, and must be flushed. I've heard people complain about it, so I never stray...Jes' use da bricks--just add water for instant hydro, even in pots.

If you're doing DWC, it's like the coco's not even there. Just helps hold the plant, and coco's wicking properties make the transition easy when from a top watered pot to a bubble bucket.

I've run pH from 5.2 to 5.8 without problems. Like hydro. I've seen nutes "specially formulated for coco." Never even tried 'em. Using DynaGrow (for hydro) or Botanicare PBP. Regular hydro stuff, no additives. Just calmag cause I'm using distilled water. (OK, a little Cha-Ching at the end...;))

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While the plant's in a pot, awaiting transplant into a bubblebucket:

I keep the pH of the pot contents at 5.2 to 5.5, as estimated by the runoff pH. Just treat it like hydro, except you don't have to battle the pH as with hydroton. With distilled water, I don't even need 'pH-down' much.

I water and feed alternately, with little or no runoff. (This is so easy...) You could do a real light nute solution every time (which is how life will be in the bucket) but that can require watering to significant runoff to prevent too much nute/salts buildup in the coco. Or just flush occasionally; just check the EC of your pot runoff to see when thatâ??s needed. I guess the point is, all these different things have worked for me. The medium is just very forgiving. :o

From now on, soil's just for moms, and anything else I might want to deliberately keep small and slow-growing.

Howzit, DH?

I just had a stoner thought.
Got a pile of peltier devices that I intended to use as active heatsinks.
Until I found out how much current they draw. Ouch!
Got a dozen of them on the shelf.
They work both ways.
Heat one side, and/or cool the other, and it acts like a thermocouple and generates current.

Then your idea of mounting the 15s on homemade "stars" got me thinkin'.
We're eating Watts to remove heat with the fan.

Perhaps we should stop seeing the heat as a waste product and put it to work for us.

Here's what I propose.
Epoxy one, or two 15 Watt Ledengin emitters to the chip side of the peltiers.
Then bolt the fin sides to a large heatsink with a fan.
Use the temperature difference to generate enough current to run the fan!
As the fan cools the big 'sink, it "bootstraps" the fan power a little more as the temp. difference increases.
Does that sound semi-sane.

I'll have to buy some emitters to try it with and see how many units it would take to run a fan.
Ambient can get to 90F. here, so a 50 degree difference would have to suffice.
If it works, it's self regulating!:cool:
And, dare I say, rather elegant.:thumbsup:
That's why I call this MMJ, Cogito.:jointsmile::detective1:

Aloha.

Weezard

The first person to develop an LED street light?...will be rich beyond their wildest dreams....:thumbsup:

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The first person to develop an LED street light?...

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Already done. Some company picked up the streets of some major city as a client...can't remember who or where ATM...:stoned:

What I see happening in the future is spinoff technology from the residential lighting market. Lotsa companies working on RGB emitters to light your home, with "color mixing" ability so you can dial up the exact "white" tone your eyes prefer with three little faders.

When those things get cheap/powerful enough they'll be a tunable grow light in the rough. (The red wave might not be as long as we'd like, though.) Dial up more blues for veg/stretch mitigation; more reds for flower. Bring up the midrange wavelength to experiment, produce "white light" via color mixing, etc.

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Originally Posted by Weezard

Howzit, DH?

I just had a stoner thought.
Got a pile of peltier devices that I intended to use as active heatsinks.
[FONT=Book Antiqua][SIZE=4]Until I found out how much current they draw. Ouch!

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I recently asked you about 10w vs 15w LEDs from LedEngin's, and in your response you mentioned the Flea-bay heatsink dealer (I had already stumbled upon him). That led me to think about various other ways to cool an LED light. I had successfully used pelitier devices before to cool LNAs (low noise amplifiers) used in satellite communication dishes I had installed in the middle east. The problem that I found was for every watt of heat you wanted to get rid of it took a watt of electrical power to accomplish it. A 1 kw light required 1 kw worth of peletier to cool....not real economical.

And DH, has it right about street lights, they are doing it now. I believe that Cree has a deal with a Chinese city to deliever street lights. They should be able to copy the technology and sell it back to us for less! Can't wait!

Hey DP, nice to see you following along and chimeing in! :D