If this is just a flowering light, a 1:4 or even 1:5 blue:red ratio is plenty blue. Your 2:6 design's got a 1:3 ratio goin' on. I found that bluer than I needed for flower; I jes' built it that way cause 'Zard said, "My next light will have 2 blues" (talkin' 'bout his 4+1 cake pan lamp). I didn't realize he was gonna run 'em with 10 reds! I later added a couple more reds to that lamp; it's an 8 + 2 now.

But it's nice to have that blue power available to stop stretch so it's hardly wasted. If you were cutting corners you could get by with a single blue , a 30-watt driver, and 4 reds. (Or up to 7 reds with a mastech 3010) In reality, the 30 watt drivers cost almost what the 60 watters cost, and running 2 blues would be pushing it. They'll actually take up to 18 watts or so...

Really, how you power the reds most efficiently depends on which ones match the closest in Vf.

If you are trying to flower a 3' sq area, that's the rough footprint of a 400HPS. I'd shoot for 200 watts of quality led power to match that. A 6+2 ledengin light will edge out a Procyon (also bluer than it needs to be for flower, IMO) but a 6+2's only 120 watts running flat out. Think I used to run one with 107 watts from the leds, not counting driver consumption. Compares more to a 250HPS, I guess.

I like to keep my light < 6" from the plant tops so it doesn't spread too far. Is that the shape you're trying to light-- 3 x 3? You can build the light to closely match your space. I'd probably use 2 lamps side-by-side for a 3 x 3 space, especially if you're looking for much penetration.

You might check your heatsink supplier. Sometimes 2 ship as cheap as one. You can power the blues from a single driver even if they're on different heatsinks. And you get a price break at 10 reds... Just thinkin' out loud, here...

Lessee, you could get 11 reds. Put 'em on 2 heatsinks, 6 on one, 5 on the other.

Power the closest-matched 7 with a mastech, the closest-matched 4 with a 60-12. (Notice I am using all my driver power). Run a blue on each light. If you want to add more blues, the 60-15 will accomodate you.

That's 195 watts of well-driven leds. Yowsa! (I'd prolly add a 3rd blue later, jes' cause there's enough 15V driver to do it.)

You could also cram 10 reds and 2 blues onto a single heatsink.


It ain't cheap to do this right. That's how come you hear some kids saying leds won't grow. All they've tried used shitty components, shitty matching, shitty drivers. Also how come the only lights that really perform are pricey. Top quality emitters and drivers aren't cheap. They shouldn't be. :thumbsup:

I'll keep an eye on ya. You can always add more emitters to your sink and run some more wire...