Bongsauce's micro cabs and stuff. (help thread)

I think it's 8x10" inside...and 22" from bulb to floor.  The fine details are further back in the thread...I just daisy chained some light sockets together with an old extension cord. I got the sockets at lowes for about $2 each.
 
*round 2 is almost finished.

 

I've been hibernating

 

fuck yeh...I think it's about zero out today. ..workin on an update....

 

hope everyone had an awesome thanksgivin and stuff.
 
hey alpaca here's a shot of that GDP...better late then never
 

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here's some shots of the led speaker cab:
 

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(back row):

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closeups:

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...so yeh running smooth...I'll probably chop em in a week or 2. I'm behind on clones...but that should get settled within the next 2 weeks. I've also seriously taken a good look at all my grow boxes and I plan on making some major changes this winter. I've been doin this a few years now and my best results are in these tight areas with these led bulbs. I figure if this is working so well I might as well change everything over...I'm gonna get rid of the hps (already have one shut down) ..and I'm switching over to these little led bulbs. I think I'm gonna try to sell my mars2 panels also eventually. I'm much happier with my results under these bulbs then I am with the mars2 panels. I think they're decent panels and they produce good results....but hell...I'm tired of wasting time...It's time to focus on what's working best and say fuck the rest. I mean shit, I pulled 2 oz out of this little speaker box but my big wardrobe closet with the led panel only pulled like 5oz or so....plus I had to veg those plants in the wardrobe for like 2-3 weeks....as I mentioned to someone the otherday...I'm switching my focus from bigger and better to smaller and more efficient.
 
...on a side note I did a bucket grow...apperently those are called spacebuckets ...I didn't realize they were a thing till 1/2 way through the grow. I didn't have the greatest results...pulled about 18 fluffy grams I think. It's a work in progress, I need to find a nice 20-25w led bulbs to stick in it instead of the 42w cfl I tried last time.
 
*appologies for any typos...somewhere my spellcheck got turned off...and I'm feelin lazy these days

 

well I feel watt for watt these are producing better results (in my set up) and are cheaper or same price per watt as the mars panels. I also like that I can configure the individual lightbulbs however I want. I can also return them to lowes or w/e ..I think costco sells em too sometimes. I also like how these look to the eye...much higher cri. My mars2 panel also has some fogging going on between the glass and leds which I'm sure is causing some light loss. I'm sure I could pop it open and clean it out...but that might void the warranty...and it will just cloud up again anyways. Customer service seems pretty good with topled...but honestly I don't feel like fucking with it and dealing with a return.....the little bulbs on the otherhand I have no problem driving a mile or 2 up to the local lowes to exchange them...not that I've had any issues with them so far.
 
I think I have 11 running now and plan to get another dozen or 2. The main thing that I'm looking at when I compare results is space and wattage efficiency. ....simplicity of a single plug and play unit is realllly nice, but for me personally it's not much work at all to wire up a couple lightsockets. I also use these around the house    I've done alot of research too on these little bulbs and I'm really glad I stumbled across this particular bulb when I did. These are a really great buy for not only the amount of light you get for the money...but they are a quality bulb with a heavy metal heatsink....not like the cheapo plastic led bulbs that are startin to pop up for below $10 here and there at local box stores......when searching for these 13.5w feit omni bulbs I came across quite a few websites and sellers asking 30-40 dollars for these same bulbs.imo 7-8$ per is a steal. these pull 10w from the wall so @ $7 each you're lookin at $0.70 per watt
 
I've done plenty of work with cfls too...they work great as well and are a smaller investment upfront, but wear out overtime and haven't produced nearly as good as these leds. (in my particular setups!)   I would never suggest a 400w hps user switching to 40 of these bulbs btw!!  lol   ..I've also had quite a few cfls burn out on me in the past 5 years of using them...both in grows and around the house. (technically they didn't burn out they just stopped working)  ...cfl's light output drops quite a bit after 4-6 months of use in 12/12 or 18/6...I couldn't tell you the numbers exactally but I can clearly see a difference in a cfl bulb that's been run for 4 months of 12/12 vs a brand new one.

 

I didn't use a specific tutorial...here's a pic of how I jsut wired some up:
 

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the sockets used in this pic are cheapo .99 cent ebay ones from china. I reccomend paying the few extra bucks and buying some form lowes or home depot....they're much thicker plastic and higher quality. Basically you just chop the end off an extension cord...technically the negative or black wire should go to the brass connection(on the sockets you buy, there will most likely be a silver screw and a brass screw). Black to brass will save yer ass when working with electrical stuffs. If yer not sure what the negative is it's the bigger prong on the plug in....follow the wire
 
Connect each socket the same...and don't connect the wires on the last 2!! like see in the bottom of the pic how those wires come to an end at the last socket?
 
When shopping for sockets try to find the kind with 4 terminals on the bottom instead of 2(like I have) ...4 terminals allows for easier connections...2 terminals means you have to stack 2 wires in the same spot which takes a little twisting and pushing sometimes.   Always wrap the wires around the terminal clockwise so when you tighten the screw it will make the wire wrap around it and stay in place kind of...
 
As you can see ther was no ground on these sockets so a ground(green) wire isn't necessary on the plug in.
 
I'm sure you can find a safer and more professional tutorial on wireing up a socket somewhere on the internet....feel free to second guess me or seek out better electrical knowledge lol I am officaly not responsible for your safely with my halfassed wiring tutorial!!    ...I mean look...I didn't even spell "wireing" right !! 
 
FYI this is a great time of year to pick up any spare timers or powerstrips you might need..they're super cheap with all the xmas light stuff right now.
 
 
**if you look closely enough at hte pic  you'll see that it looks like the wires are twisted between some of the sockets...those sockets actually were flipped around 180 degrees...you just can't tell from the view

 

I took a closer look at the mars2 700w panel:
 

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 I belive this panel has 3 IR leds...witch are the ones that look dark with a red dot in them. They run in a diagonal pattern from upper left to bottom right. You can also see a few burnt out leds, and a few leds that look like they're running at 50% or less....maybe they're on the verge of burning out as well?  What you see in the pic is a very accurate representation of what I see with my eyes (thru sunglasses) ...there's no wierd camera angle playing tricks here....
 
Here's a nice clear shot of how it looks when it's off :   
   (pretend I placed a 'disappointed' emote thingie right here)

 
this panel is how old? I'm afraid to go back and look. I dunno wtf is up with that fogging....each led under the fogged areas is burnt out(well 90% burnt out)...and burnt looking too. One looks like it's melted sideways...I'm not sure exactaly how that fog or condesation can even get in there....and I'm not sure if the fogging caused the burnouts or the burnouts caused the fogging. One thing I know for sure is that my plants never grew into the lights....for some reason I was thinking at first maybe some leves touched against the glass and like transferred condensation through the glass or w/e ... but I think that was my stoner brain thinking and not my logical brain        
 
You can see center left on the glass where there's some resin streaks too...and no fogging...so that rules that out too. Maybe that fogging is more of a smoke reside from the leds burning out? I dunno what to think...except that I feel really bad for recommending these panels to alot of people.....I really thought we had a winner here and I gave topled the benefit of the doubt (and my $'s), but with this many leds going to shit so soon I either got a really bad roll of the dice...or these aren't the quality I'm (we're) looking for.   
 
way she goes....way she goes.  

 

yeh looking at the panel I thought for a second that it was related to the IR leds...but all those are clear and normal looking in the second pic...you can also see the yellowing on the board where the burnt leds are. This is the 'standard' model...according to the site there's "430~440nm, 450~475nm 620~630nm, 650~660nm, IR, and white"   You're right about the pattern..I see it now...looks like the next led to burn out is gonna be the one that's top center, left. All of these leds started out as clear looking to the eye when it was new. The pattern makes me think maybe it's a bad driver running a string of the blues...that would make sense right? Usually these panels are wired in strings of similair bulbs to balance the load or w/e ... and if one burns out it increases the power to the others in the string...and they burn out in turn. I think these don't have individual resistors on each led if I understand right about led wiring....I guess....lol.
 
those '13.5w' bulbs pull 10w each on the killowatt. Buds need to be close though....prime distance is like 2-8" from the bulb.
 
* I should mention that anyone who might try out those led bulbs to be super careful if they pop off the dome. You're exposing barewires and 12v electricity. These aren't as like clfs where the plants can grow right into them either...you need to make sure the plants don't grow into the leds or wires. There are also other options out there for led bulbs...if anyone goes with a different brand, I'd go with warm white spotlight style.

 

I'd say they're similair..but all the heat comes from the metal heatsink...above the bulb ya know. So it's kinda dispersed different.