help with home made led lights

[alohamahalo]

aloha,
sorry if this has been asked in a different thread but iam a newbee here.
im trying to make a small led grow light with 5w ledengin emitters and was curious if anyone knew of any led drivers w/ dimmers(so i could control the spectrum) that would work well with these. iam using 2 deep reds(660nm), 2 reds(630nm), 2 far reds(740nm), and 1 blue(450nm). i was planning on running each band on its own driver and i wanted the far reds to be on its own power source so i can use it on a different timer.

would they all have to be on there own power source?

what drivers would you recommend?

how many 5w leds could i run on the driver?

and what would be a good power source?


weezard please help. need your advice braddah. i saw you made a similar light with a cake pan or something but cant seem to find that post of yours again to take a good look. cheeeeee!!!

help a braddah out please...

mahalo.

alohamahalo Reviewed by alohamahalo on 12-23-2010. help with home made led lights aloha, sorry if this has been asked in a different thread but iam a newbee here. im trying to make a small led grow light with 5w ledengin emitters and was curious if anyone knew of any led drivers w/ dimmers(so i could control the spectrum) that would work well with these. iam using 2 deep reds(660nm), 2 reds(630nm), 2 far reds(740nm), and 1 blue(450nm). i was planning on running each band on its own driver and i wanted the far reds to be on its own power source so i can use it on a Rating: 5

[alohamahalo]

heat and electricity are my problem so thats why i wanna try dis out. im planning on just growing a plant or 2 for me.
also would it be smart to run this in combination with cfls or flouros or would this be strong enough on its own?
sorry, i forgot to mention this is gonna be in a small cabinet about 30"t x 20"w x 12"d.

[Weezard]

aloha,
sorry if this has been asked in a different thread but iam a newbee here.
im trying to make a small led grow light with 5w ledengin emitters and was curious if anyone knew of any led drivers w/ dimmers(so i could control the spectrum) that would work well with these. iam using 2 deep reds(660nm), 2 reds(630nm), 2 far reds(740nm), and 1 blue(450nm). i was planning on running each band on its own driver and i wanted the far reds to be on its own power source so i can use it on a different timer.

would they all have to be on there own power source?

what drivers would you recommend?

how many 5w leds could i run on the driver?

and what would be a good power source?


weezard please help. need your advice braddah. i saw you made a similar light with a cake pan or something but cant seem to find that post of yours again to take a good look. cheeeeee!!!

help a braddah out please...

mahalo.

No worries, brah.
There are picture of "cake pan" in my albums, with captions.
Click on my avatar an' browse.
If you need my attention, jus' leave a picture comment and I will get notified.

The build thread for Ledengin emitters is "Calling out to Weezard for led advice"
You will see the 6 Amp. dimmers that I used. and the rational behind my choices.

I'm sure you will have some other questions then, an' I'll be happy to he'p.
Bump da thread an' I'll pop on over.

Aloha,
Weeze.

[alohamahalo]

Cheeee! Tanks braddah. Preciate em! I was looking over at the thread and saw the post of the cake pan light. That thing is sick. Dope stuff Breh. What kinda driver did you use for that? Are the lights dimmable? What kinda power source you use on em? I basically wanna make the same light you did but with the 2 far reds and on a heat sink aswell. Or you have any recomendations for a diff dimmable driver/power source for these buggahs? Btw im uneducated with electronics. Sorry if i sound stupid.
mahalos braddah
Cheeeeee hoooo!!

[Weezard]

Cheeee! Tanks braddah. Preciate em! I was looking over at the thread and saw the post of the cake pan light. That thing is sick. Dope stuff Breh. What kinda driver did you use for that? Are the lights dimmable? What kinda power source you use on em? I basically wanna make the same light you did but with the 2 far reds and on a heat sink aswell. Or you have any recomendations for a diff dimmable driver/power source for these buggahs? Btw im uneducated with electronics. Sorry if i sound stupid.
mahalos braddah
Cheeeeee hoooo!!

I'm sure it's all in the thread.
But, for anyone passing by, I went cheap n dirty onna current limiters.
Used LM317 voltage regulators an' tricked 'em into behavin' like current limiters.
Ya jus' hang a resistor between the output and your emitters.
I used a 1.25 ohm 10W. because I wanted a little over an amp. if I recall.
When the LED draws current through the resistor, it creates a voltage drop.
If you tie the sense lead of the regulator to the load side of the resistor the regulator will try try to maintain that voltage.
That keeps the current constant .
If you use a high wattage resistor you can avoid thermal creep and it works a treat.
Not the most efficient way, but it works, it's easy, and it's cheap.
'zat what ya wanted to know?

Aloha,
Weeze

[alohamahalo]

howzem brah. i came up on some money just now and was wondering if you knew of any drivers that you could just wire to the leds. i dont mind spending $20 to $30 per driver aslong as they could drive atleast 2 or more 5w emitters.

[alohamahalo]

and could be down to buy a more expensive drivers and wanna make sure theyre dimmable. mahalos for the help brah! seriously appreciate em a tons!!! cheeeee

[alohamahalo]

what about buck pucks with proprietor? how many 5w leds would one of these drive? are they efficient?

[alohamahalo]

sorry about the other posts. im really new to electronics. now let me see if what i learned is right.

4 x deep red:660nm,5w, 2.8v, 1a
2 x far red:740nm, 5w, 2.6v, 1a
1 x blue:440nm, 5w, 3.6v, 1a
2 x power supply:24v, 6.5a
3 x 3023-D-E-1000PmA Wired BuckPuck (one for each color)

i wanna wire the deep reds on one buckpuck, the blues on its own buckpuck, and same for the far reds. i wanted to wire the blues and deep reds on the same power supply(the attachment shows how i would wire it). would this work for my situation? also are the amps in the power supply a bit much?

ive been really confused about how many leds can run on a driver and how to figure it all out. if anyone could help out that would be awesome.

weezard mahalos again brah, i hope you dont mind all my questions. and if anyone else beside unko weezard get any input on my idea feel free to comment. im really interested and wanna learn about this.

R=red, FR=far red, B=blue, *=spacing between leds. the forum wont let me post with spaces in the beginning of lines.

this is how i would place them on the heat sink.

**R*R**
FR*B*FR
**R*R**
would this probably be the best layout or should i lay them differently?
far reds only come on when flowering(1hr before the lights turn on and turn off 1hr after, then 1hr before the turn off and 1hr after they turn off. do i need more far reds? is the time i would be running these sound about right?

would this little panel even have enough total power to grow 2 plants about 20" tall in a small box?

[Weezard]

sorry about the other posts. im really new to electronics. now let me see if what i learned is right.

4 x deep red:660nm,5w, 2.8v, 1a

4 X 2.8 = 11.2V
2 X 2.6 = 5.2V
Etc.
Do not exceed Vmax and do not power-up without a heatsink.

I have no experience with buckpucks.
So document and we'll learn sumpin', yah?

2 x far red:740nm, 5w, 2.6v, 1a
1 x blue:440nm, 5w, 3.6v, 1a
2 x power supply:24v, 6.5a
3 x 3023-D-E-1000PmA Wired BuckPuck (one for each color)

i wanna wire the deep reds on one buckpuck, the blues on its own buckpuck, and same for the far reds. i wanted to wire the blues and deep reds on the same power supply(the attachment shows how i would wire it). would this work for my situation? also are the amps in the power supply a bit much?

ive been really confused about how many leds can run on a driver and how to figure it all out. if anyone could help out that would be awesome.

weezard mahalos again brah, i hope you dont mind all my questions. and if anyone else beside unko weezard get any input on my idea feel free to comment. im really interested and wanna learn about this.

R=red, FR=far red, B=blue, *=spacing between leds. the forum wont let me post with spaces in the beginning of lines.

this is how i would place them on the heat sink.

**R*R**
FR*B*FR
**R*R**
would this probably be the best layout or should i lay them differently?
far reds only come on when flowering(1hr before the lights turn on and turn off 1hr after, then 1hr before the turn off and 1hr after they turn off. do i need more far reds? is the time i would be running these sound about right?

I do not know.
The timing is right but I can not even guess at the R:Fr.
Mo' betta, run that by KNNA.

It is my experience, that 4. 660nm. and one royal blue are ideal for blooming without the 740nm.
The 4:1 ratio actually promotes stretch, and early flowering in veg.
So much so, that I had to switch to a 7:3 ratio array to keep it from happening and to shorten the internodes.
When they are ready to flower, I'll go back to the 4:1 Ratio.

That's why I use a dimmer on the big array.
I just turn down the reds for vegging and can adjust internode length to my needs. 3:1 makes 'em short n squat.
Then turn them back to their maximum of 5:1 for flowering if they have the headroom.

would this little panel even have enough total power to grow 2 plants about 20" tall in a small box?

Not really.
Mo betta grow one plant right. The yield will be about the same as 2 plants because of the crowding effect.
(They read each other's reflected far red and compete, makes 'em spindly.)
And a 6.5A. power supply will run cool and happy with the light loading.
It also allows room for future expansion.
Aloha,
Weezard