My DIY LED build (deprecated)

[juanitos]

DEPRECATED, PLEASE SEE NEW version 2
         
 
After experimenting for a while i decided to go with this as my current led build.
 
60$ per 4x2x2 grow shelf, uses half the watts of t8s, less maintenance with emitter 50,000 hour.
 
http://www.instructables.com/id/ETZYEGCHVGXSFRO/
 

 

[sudostahp]

Seems neat! I may have to build one myself.

 

[dlsolo]

I'm with sudostahp.  The build seems pretty straight forward.  I'm curious on wavelength.  As other lighting discussions have pretty much put to bed the 5700K vs 6500K debate, I would be interested to see what those LEDs put out.
 
I have a fear that once I started a project like this, I'd go big... really big.

 

[PepperLover]

nice project jon

 

[juanitos]

I'm with sudostahp.  The build seems pretty straight forward.  I'm curious on wavelength.  As other lighting discussions have pretty much put to bed the 5700K vs 6500K debate, I would be interested to see what those LEDs put out.
 
I have a fear that once I started a project like this, I'd go big... really big.

lol yeah i didn't go too far into wavelength, i know people love to mix deep red, red, infared all that stuff, i just went simple as can be.
 
and yeah i was thinking i could do 500+ plants easy! dunno what i would do with them after they were big though.

 

[dlsolo]

lol yeah i didn't go too far into wavelength, i know people love to mix deep red, red, infared all that stuff, i just went simple as can be.
 
and yeah i was thinking i could do 500+ plants easy! dunno what i would do with them after they were big though.

 
So, I spent a good part of the day research parts and building my concept.  I'm still trying to figure out if I will need any bright white leds or just red and blue.  Based on the size of my piece of copper (  9" x 22" x 5/8" thick) I think I'm gonna try and go all out.  Once I get time tomorrow, I'll draw it up.  I'm thinking 8 rows of 18 leds.  I've got some old aluminum/copper heatsinks from the aviation graveyard out in AZ that I can attach some 120mm computer case fans too.
 
Oh yeah, the brain juices are flowing....

 

[filmost]

Neat! I might have to give this a try a well, though may I ask why is there more red than blue light?

 

[juanitos]

So, I spent a good part of the day research parts and building my concept.  I'm still trying to figure out if I will need any bright white leds or just red and blue.  Based on the size of my piece of copper (  9" x 22" x 5/8" thick) I think I'm gonna try and go all out.  Once I get time tomorrow, I'll draw it up.  I'm thinking 8 rows of 18 leds.  I've got some old aluminum/copper heatsinks from the aviation graveyard out in AZ that I can attach some 120mm computer case fans too.
 
Oh yeah, the brain juices are flowing....

 you only need red and blue, the point is to stay away from white as it has all those unnecessary yellow wavelengths. That being said adding a white light isn't going to hurt anything, and you can use my model and use all whites if you want.
The more leds you add the hotter it gets, with that small piece of copper u will probably most definitely need a PC fan. Also you're going to have to find a driver or use paralell circuit with pc power supply or something, makes it much more complicated ^_^
 

Neat! I might have to give this a try a well, though may I ask why is there more red than blue light?

plants can grow in complete red light but get edema and long weak stems. Small percentage of blue light helps them grow shorter more robust and prevents edema. You can play with the ratio of blue / white / red lights you want. White is the cheapest at 1$, blue 1.50$, red is expensive at 4$
http://www.greenhousegrower.com/plant-culture/growing-seedlings-under-leds-part-two/
http://journal.ashspublications.org/content/120/5/808
http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/content/43/7/1951.full

 

[magicpepper]

nice build. cheap and easy as well. just the way i like it lol

 

[dlsolo]

 you only need red and blue, the point is to stay away from white as it has all those unnecessary yellow wavelengths. That being said adding a white light isn't going to hurt anything, and you can use my model and use all whites if you want.
The more leds you add the hotter it gets, with that small piece of copper u will probably most definitely need a PC fan. Also you're going to have to find a driver or use paralell circuit with pc power supply or something, makes it much more complicated ^_^
 
plants can grow in complete red light but get edema and long weak stems. Small percentage of blue light helps them grow shorter more robust and prevents edema. You can play with the ratio of blue / white / red lights you want. White is the cheapest at 1$, blue 1.50$, red is expensive at 4$
http://www.greenhousegrower.com/plant-culture/growing-seedlings-under-leds-part-two/
http://journal.ashspublications.org/content/120/5/808
http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/content/43/7/1951.full

 
Thanks for the info!  So, I've got a conditional "okay" to pursue a small scale experiment.  I love my CSM (aka the wife).  I'll be doing some research/purchasing this weekend.  Will keep you all posted.
 
BTW, I so wanted to push the easy button with the BigDog XL-U LED lighting system  - - > http://www.blackdogled.com/products/universal-series/platinum-xl-u-11.html
 
One shot, one kill.  Buy one, ever have to buy again.

 

[juanitos]

meh mine are on shelves, with 1800$ of my lights i could grow 4320 seedlings, XD much more than just one big light.
 
Although that light can probably bring plants all the way to maturity, where mine probably couldn't. I don't need them to as i only do inside for seedlings.

 

[dlsolo]

meh mine are on shelves, with 1800$ of my lights i could grow 4320 seedlings, XD much more than just one big light.
 
Although that light can probably bring plants all the way to maturity, where mine probably couldn't. I don't need them to as i only do inside for seedlings.

 
I hear ya.  A more powerful (less heat) LED solution would be my target goal.  I'd like to replace my T5's with a huge LED solution to veg and bloom indoors.  I may look toward the $1800 LED option after another deployment.
 
Nonetheless, I'm leaning more towards the ratio of 1:3.  For everyone one royal blue emitter, I'd mate it with 3 red emitters.  Now, I just have to figure out how "big" I want to build this thing.

 

[Sluggy]

 you only need red and blue, the point is to stay away from white as it has all those unnecessary yellow wavelengths. 
 

White light is a combination of all visible colors.  It would probably be a good idea to add a few white LEDs to cover other wavelengths in the visible spectrum than blue and red.
Although plants do not absorb green light, it is now believed that green light may trigger processes in the plant and that green is beneficial after all.

I've been conducting some experimenting with LEDs and LED panel making. 
My findings are that as a supplemental light source, LEDs seem to be really working.

I have several morugas and Thai chillies on a window sill. Two (one of each) of them share a mere 20 watts worth of extra red, white and blue LED light.
Within a week and a half, the moruga grew a bit bigger and the Thai grew SIGNIFICANTLY bigger than their cousins that only get natural daylight through the window.

This particular mini DIY panel is 14 x red (630 and 660 nm mix), 2 x blue, and 4 x white (warm and cool white mix). The LEDs are equipped with random 60 and 90 120 degree reflectors, making the light beam very, very bright.  
It consumes only 18 watts or so.

I've made a few other mini panels to experiment with. Pics soon.




Pics soon.





 

 

[juanitos]

hmmm, it appears some green would be helpful. but that you have to get the ratio correct, 5% showed no gains, 24% was good, above actually reduced plant mass. So have to be careful.
 
http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/content/39/7/1617.full.pdf+html
 
http://www.amjbot.org/content/100/1/70.full
 
 
===== 
maybe i could experiment with 
4 rgb led
2 red led
that gives me 55red 22blue 22green
 
now the difference is rgb need 300mA so need to get the red leds that are in parallel, and have to get a different driver.
meanwell lpc-60-1750, can run 6 in parallel. 25$ so costs more.
=====
 
they are tons of options and my build i tried to do with cheapest components i could find then tested that it worked well.

 

[Seacowboy]

 
Thanks for the info!  So, I've got a conditional "okay" to pursue a small scale experiment.  I love my CSM (aka the wife).  I'll be doing some research/purchasing this weekend.  Will keep you all posted.
 
BTW, I so wanted to push the easy button with the BigDog XL-U LED lighting system  - - > http://www.blackdogled.com/products/universal-series/platinum-xl-u-11.html
 
One shot, one kill.  Buy one, ever have to buy again.

Look into Lumi Grow LED fixtures. You can adjust them for color and has more wattage and coverage than the blackdog. I don't have one but I think that if I were to spend over a grand that would be my choice. 

 

[dlsolo]

Look into Lumi Grow LED fixtures. You can adjust them for color and has more wattage and coverage than the blackdog. I don't have one but I think that if I were to spend over a grand that would be my choice. 

 
Hmmm, never heard of these guys.  Will give them a look.  Thanks for the tip.

 

[Sluggy]

That alu U channel is not going to be enough to cool off 10 watt emitters. 

 

[dlsolo]

That alu U channel is not going to be enough to cool off 10 watt emitters. 

 
Absolutely!  I'm thinking more like this - - > 

 

[juanitos]

That alu U channel is not going to be enough to cool off 10 watt emitters. 

I have working models. I assure you it works. I have run them for 24/7 2 months. I took temperature readings at 60C

 

[Sluggy]

I have working models. I assure you it works. I have run them for 24/7 2 months. I took temperature readings at 60C

The LEDs will work, but constant high temps reduce their lifespan.