LED lighting problems

Discussion in 'Do It Yourself' started by kamko15, Jan 28, 2012.

  1. I recently began making a cabinet into a grow station. It's almost finished, but

    im having trouble with the lighting system. In the beginning the idea was to

    make a full-spectrum LED light array of no particular voltage. I wanted to mimic this array I saw on LED Lights and Light Fixtures

    [​IMG][/URL][/IMG]

    [​IMG][/URL][/IMG]


    Then after I looked into it more I decided to use different types, and colors of

    LED That would produce the same full-spectrum light pattern. I chose a Warm White, Super Blue, Super Red, ,and Super-UV I put links to the specifications of each LED.



    I purchased 3 pieces of aluminum sheeting from Ace

    hardware and made 3 panels to mount the LED in.

    hardware.[​IMG][/URL][/IMG]

    These two are {18x9} in and have 99 holes {(11x9)} {Length x Width}

    They will hopefully end up looking like this

    41 Red
    36 Blue
    18 UV
    4 Warm White
    ------------------
    99 Led's


    [​IMG][/URL][/IMG]

    The other panel is { x } with 84 holes {(7x12)}

    [​IMG][/IMG]

    This is What im planning

    [​IMG][/IMG]

    I've been having trouble with the assembly, because im

    not really familiar with the process. I know how to wire in

    parallel and series, but not with different colors and

    especially not so many. if anyone could lend a hand and

    just shed some light on how I would go about doing

    this. Please help I am at a roadblock and need to grow!:smoke::smoke::smoke:


    P.S. Here a link to an LED series or parallel array wizard
     
  2. based on the wattage of the LED's being 1-3W will help you decide to wire in series or parallel. parallel draws more power and the LED's will be brighter by lowering total circuit resistance and reliability will also be better.. if one LED fails in series then your whole board goes out. now you need to figure out a good way to cool it with a few fans and set up a good power supply you should be set.
     

  3. the specs on the LEDs are linked. you cannot wire all those LEDs in series it needs to be parallel. if you know how I would wire those LEDs in parallel in either the 99 LED array or the 84 LED array That would be extremely helpful.
     
  4. looked over all of the responses and tweaked the design slightly.

    I am completely new to this and all of the feedback really helped.
    Now that I looked into it a little more I see 1 Watt LEDs would ultimately produce the best plants, so I ditched the 5mm and went with these. RED 630nm, RED 660nm, Blue 450nm, and Warm White.

    This was originally the array with 84 LEDs. It now consists of 70 1 Watt LEDs .

    [​IMG][/URL][/IMG]

    I know that the diagram above is NOT correct.

    My question, is this possible or am I just pipe dreaming.
    I know that I need some form of current limiter, or driver, but im not sure what exactly.

    is there anyway to use a smaller power source for this project? if so please let me know!

    I really appreciate all the input I can get on this project thanks in advance!
     
  5. #5 s7exiled, Jan 31, 2012
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 31, 2012
    It's good you decided to get the 1w 350mA led's, because that's MUCH better than the ones you linked before. If you want better quality you can invest more into bridgelux/cree LED's which are better than generic China ones.

    Don't get white LED's, they do nothing. Throw in some UV 430-440nm and IR if you want.

    Also, I would make the ratio 75% red, 10-15% blue, and 10-15% UV + IR

    Edit: Some people use old pc psu's as drivers, but you could also buy a LED driver. You might need resistors, but you should probably ask a expert on the wiring.

    Remember to get <60 degree lens' for the LED's to get the best penetration.
     

  6. White light is full spectrum light. UV n IR are unproven.

    Why would you use that ratio?
     
  7. Why would you use full spectrum when you can target the ideal ones for chlorophyll a/b production? That's the whole goal of LED's

    [​IMG]

    You should read up on UVB/IR effects on cannabis, it's up to you whatever ratio you use - but most lights use a higher percentage of red than blue (70~)
     

  8. Your right....Got any info on how to actually make it?
     
  9. Take a look at this

    Growing Marijuana with LED, Growshow

    and this

    [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yy62DdNpsqc]MY DIY LED GROW LIGHT - YouTube[/ame]
     
  10. I've finally decided how i'm going to assemble the 70Watt (70x1W) LED array.

    That dose not mean that I am ready to build it, not even close. I am posting this method so

    that you guy's can let me know if it will work, and it probably isn't the most efficient method

    so please, let me know, I am open to suggestions.

    However if this is a really good way to wire em up then please let me know what

    components i'm going to need, what I might need to know, I mean anything that can help.

    All of the information on the LEDs in on this thread.



    The image of this array is link to the site hosting it, and on that site you can edit so if you

    ever wanna use that too respond to this post you can.

    [​IMG]
     
  11. Hey guys. Thanks for all the posts and advice, but I have a specific question I need help with.

    if you look at the most recent diagram you'll see I'm planning on using

    10 constant currant drivers to run each series of 7 LEDs in parallel. Okay got that figured.

    Now i'm having issues with the power supply. I don't know how I am going to wire all of

    Those currant drivers to one power source.
    please if anyone sees something let me

    know.


    I saw that my LEDs weren't the same currant and am now looking for replacements.

    [​IMG]
     
  12. You should actually have the smallest clue before you offer others advice. People like you clog the forums with useless/wrong information and should be banned... at least from posting... I'm just saying... :wave:

    -Loki
     
  13. #13 Loki7, Feb 2, 2012
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 2, 2012


    Actually, he isn't. If all your plants did was turn light into energy, he would be. But that's what separates growers from wannabes. The light spectrum your plant is exposed to tells it how to grow, weither it should stretch for light or not.. weither to grow balls out or to reserve energy/water by not growing...

    Here are some basics...

    For fastest growth, a blue heavy spectrum cause stoma to open. It tricks the plant into thinking it's morning when its cooler, so the plant doesn't need to worry about losing water, as would happen under a noon day sun which is a spectrum that red heavy.

    For reducing stretching, you want to, of course, have enough light which varies from strain to strain, but with LEDs any where from 45-90 watts per square foot is usually plenty. However, the amount of light isn't the only factor in stretching. There's the shade response, also known as the Emerson Effect (basically the same principle). The shade response is basically the ratio of red to far red light. When light goes through a leaf, it gets red shifted. Sun light is missing a band of far red (around 730nm), so there is very little far red compared to red light. A plant thinks its in the shade if it senses a lot of far red compared to the amount of red light and will focus most of it's energy growing taller to get out of the shade. So, with LEDs that simply means no reds past 660nm-680nm wave lengths.

    For your LED design, the first thing you need to do is find a power supply, so you know what voltage you're going to be working with. For your application the PC power supply modification would be ideal. So, let's say you do that and are working with a 12v power supply. Now you'll be essentially making 12v LED modules which will all be wired in parallel to create your panel, so take your LED specs and plug them into the wizard as to make just one set of LEDs wired in series and terminated with a resistor. (Note, you ALWAYS need a resistor, even if it's just 1 ohm because it protects your LEDs from voltage spikes). A 12v group of LEDs can be wired in parallel to any other 12v group of LEDs, so you can mix and match colors in your panel this way. It's best to tailor your spectrum to what works best, so if you have 8 white LEDs and a 12v group works out to 3 LEDs, just make 2 groups of 3 and ditch the other 2 LEDs, because a group of LEDs making up 2/3rd of the load in LEDs means your resistor will have to carry that other 1/3 and that energy is turned to heat and wasted.

    -Loki
     
  14. Loki i dig what you're saying. I haveabsolutely no interest in the how to build only the application.Whats the sense in the build if you don't know how to apply it succesfully.I use a 400wt hps 2 ufos for side lighting and a window with southwest exposure and northern orientation a SCROG frame and use stadium style SCROGGING to make the most of the sunlight. It works unearthly well. I think you've helped me to understand why.
     
  15. UV was in the middle and I was too lazy to cut it. UV is fine, in moderation.

    You should re-read your link.

    "For instance, it explains why plants grown under incandescent lamps stretch (more infrared than red light)." - ie. You don't want IR (Technically, IR is usually 900+nm light and 730nm is considered far red.)

    If you grow with only blue/red, it's a pain in the ass to see deficiencies developing without bringing an external light in. You want to have to check your plants with a flash light... the fuck?

    Commercial crap...

    Wanting to help is noble, but if your information doesn't help... you just add to the posters problems.

    :wave:

    -Loki
     
  16. How much did you spend on all the supplies for this light ?
     
  17. That was 7 years ago, no way its the same these days ahaha
     
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