Hola guys. so up until today grown with MH\HPS in my 170cm*120*60 (5"7*4*2) with 250MH to veg and a 600 watt HPS to flower... So now I see that people vouch for the ViparSpectra which doesnt have Cree leds but Bridgelux's Vero29 which are better from my understanding? and the Mars Hydro uses Cree leds and is less efficient? Now the ViparSpectra 300w model that draws 135w for $80 really seems like a good price per product quality as far as everybody says.. So does the ViparSpectra better than the Mars Hydro that uses Cree leds? Now for a full coverage of a 120cm on 60cm i'd guess I need 2 of these lights, either im going for the mars or vipar which would cost me around $200 not including shipping, so I was thinking if I can get (way) better results with a DIY project for the same or less price. should I go for it? I'm a newbie with electronics so how complicated would that project be? I need it to be done ASAP.. and I have to go with international shipphing also so was thinking about DHL or something... is there any reliable alibaba seller for all electronic parts that I would need? Thanks a lot in advance everybody!
Get a quantum board. Two 90w versions will do you great or even the 260 if you really wanted to. Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk
You also have to know the "bin" or binning on those COBs , Veros are newer and cheaper and can be driven harder, which to me makes them "better" but it is I suppose somewhat subjective. QBs are new, it will be like this for a while so all you can do is wait. There are already competitors "sunboards" and there will be more. Or use Samsung F series or Bridgelux EB strips for a DIY QB experience. Kingbrite on Alibaba DIY is going to give you the best quality/customization , but its not necessarily cheaper. The light I am building right now is going to be very expensive and experimental, but I look at like the drivers are an investment as are the heat sinks, I can always break the whole thing apart and rebuild it if needed and once I have it figured out I will likely just need to buy a few more things and I can split the light in two and start another tent. So its up to you and your space and your plans. An easy to assemble kit from Timber or COBkits might be a good option. Solderless connectors are common these days so its mostly just plugging the stuff together correctly. You will need some basics like wire (and probably still good idea to have a solder gun), multimeter, pliers, wire cutter/stripper etc. None of these things are particularly expensive really and again mostly these tools are an investment. The thing that I noticed was the framing aluminum and heatsinks (plus crazy shipping costs) was way more than I expected, this alone can double your build price or worse. So if you can think of a way to do it without this expense you are already winning.
soldering is so easy. if your worried at all practice tinning wire for a bit from there take the tinned wire and press it with the iron, goal being you want to melt the solder to make the connection and then get out of dodge asap. it my experience in soldering holding the dam wire in spot once you take the iron off is the hardest part of it and I got to agree with everything canadian1969 king brite on Alibaba.com. they use dhl and I got my stuff literally the other side of the world in 4 days including weekend time.
5x TCI Linear LED strip board 23W 3000K 3540lm 154lm/W CRI80 Drivers included! | eBay These are pretty good. Same efficiency as cob lighting. There are 3000k and 4000k listings. They come with 5 dimmable drivers for 5 strips. I use these and although I have not finished the bloom cycle, I can say they are very high quality. I mounted to 2" aluminum u channel and they stay very cool. You can also mount to 1/8" Al sheet or buy a slate heatsink from hlg but be mindful of their heatsink sizes, as some are too small for led strips. Just another option. Cheers P