Lighting DIY Mars to Cree Cob conversion

[cotum3]

I think you would be better to run smaller drivers to each set/spectrum of cobs. It has been done and also done by myself but it’s not recommended to run cobs of a different forward voltage in the same line. The driver would be a huge upgrade over those 88% bargain basement drivers though.

Another thing and it won’t be exact but if for example you take a lower temp and a higher temp and mix them together you basically end up with what the 3500 gives you.
You’d just have more red or more blue in the coverage area of the specific cob. You won’t necessarily achieve a wider spectrum if you mix them. What I recommend to people is the 3500k as the base and if you felt you wanted more of a color add it on top of the 3500k.

Many thanks for the reply, a bit of clarity goes a long way, "although according to the citizen all the spectrums have the same fv" I will keep it in mind though and look at different drivers for each spectrum.

I have some old habits I guess, I like extra blue when vegging and some extra red when flowering, I did read a lot of your work here you were my inspiration to go with the citizen cobs albeit the older smaller run, I did choose just the 3500k first, only a day later I then decided to add the blue and reds, like I said old habits ;-) Thanks again for the info.

 

[BigSm0]

Many thanks for the reply, a bit of clarity goes a long way, "although according to the citizen all the spectrums have the same fv" I will keep it in mind though and look at different drivers for each spectrum.

I have some old habits I guess, I like extra blue when vegging and some extra red when flowering, I did read a lot of your work here you were my inspiration to go with the citizen cobs albeit the older smaller run, I did choose just the 3500k first, only a day later I then decided to add the blue and reds, like I said old habits ;-) Thanks again for the info.

I get it. Choosing your cobs is like a kid choosing candy in a candy store. You definitely feel like you need at least one of each. You could run 2 drivers, run the bluer sided in veg and the redder sided in flower. I actually made a light like this. 2 plugs, one for veg and one for flower and at the end I ran them both. It would be a lot more work but an option to consider. The good thing about afn is there are a lot of good ideas you can pick and choose from.

 

[cotum3]

I get it. Choosing your cobs is like a kid choosing candy in a candy store. You definitely feel like you need at least one of each. You could run 2 drivers, run the bluer sided in veg and the redder sided in flower. I actually made a light like this. 2 plugs, one for veg and one for flower and at the end I ran them both. It would be a lot more work but an option to consider. The good thing about afn is there are a lot of good ideas you can pick and choose from.

"Choosing your cobs is like a kid choosing candy in a candy store" so very true.

yup I am now leaning to something much like that, with 2x hlg-185-v1050a's, 3x 3500 & 2x blue on 1 heat sink, 3x 3500 & 2x red on the other, or just pick up 4 more 3500's, and have 5 on each, all these options lead me to think I should not have bothered with the conversion though and just built some lights from scratch. Still its all live and learn. i rather thought I would save some funds using the old frame, heat sinks and drivers.

so if I understand correctly now I have about 220W and will almost double that with the hlg-185-1050's, 10 x 36v @ 1050 with a ratio something like 62/38 photons to heat. seems like quite a lot in a 70x70cm tent but not too much.

I have time to plan it and work it out, the current grow just started flowering, so maybe I will hold my enthusiasm until its completed.

 

[BigSm0]

"Choosing your cobs is like a kid choosing candy in a candy store" so very true.

yup I am now leaning to something much like that, with 2x hlg-185-v1050a's, 3x 3500 & 2x blue on 1 heat sink, 3x 3500 & 2x red on the other, or just pick up 4 more 3500's, and have 5 on each, all these options lead me to think I should not have bothered with the conversion though and just built some lights from scratch. Still its all live and learn. i rather thought I would save some funds using the old frame, heat sinks and drivers.

so if I understand correctly now I have about 220W and will almost double that with the hlg-185-1050's, 10 x 36v @ 1050 with a ratio something like 62/38 photons to heat. seems like quite a lot in a 70x70cm tent but not too much.

I have time to plan it and work it out, the current grow just started flowering, so maybe I will hold my enthusiasm until its completed.

This is something I find happens with everyone doing a conversion. It starts out as a budget build turned crazed cyclops super light lol. It does make sense but I think human nature takes over and we are left in your current situation. The fans and fan drivers are not the best. Heatsink are a bit small and the frame is tight for a big build. The max id run or suggest for this size space is 100-150 watts. You’ll be nearing 400 watts when done.

 

[cotum3]

This is something I find happens with everyone doing a conversion. It starts out as a budget build turned crazed cyclops super light lol. It does make sense but I think human nature takes over and we are left in your current situation. The fans and fan drivers are not the best. Heatsink are a bit small and the frame is tight for a big build. The max id run or suggest for this size space is 100-150 watts. You’ll be nearing 400 watts when done.

You sir are a fountain of well informed and experienced information. Having run My Mars 700 since early 2017 @ 300-350W with some good harvests, I was thinking around that same Wattage would be ok and a little more probably wouldn't do any harm, I could always turn down the power if it seemed too much.

I have to say that currently the lights look ok, they run very cool, the heat sinks have not gone over 29c and as they are connected directly to the Mars metal frame I think some heat is dissipated directly to the frame, which isnt a bad thing. Yes the fans are pretty poor, I am not even sure they are required at this low level of power, I have a number of old PC fans sitting in boxes, most of which are probably much better than the Mars fans I will check into using those..

So if I understand you correctly, you are saying that my current 10 cobs, producing about 200-220w should be more than ok for a tent of this size, BUT upgrading the drivers and fans would be fine (because the Current drivers and fans are crap) however, there is no need to go up to 1050mA or 1400mA drivers because that would be overkill on a tent of this size. In which case, I guess 700mA drivers would be the correct way to go, possibly 2 x hlg-185h-c700b one for each heat sink and set of 5 cobs, and probably best to use all 3500k rather than mixing spectrums because the fv can vary.

I could also use 1 hlg-185-c700 with the 6 3500k's on one heat sink, which would give me about 150W and still be running pretty cool. Options so many options.

thanks again for your input, i thought I had managed to understand the basics, its seems I underestimate the power potential of the 1212's.

 

[Wheezyp]

I have the same light as OP im sure just lying round want to get it cob but not sure what options I have and how many cobs I want to do 4 http://vi.raptor.ebaydesc.com/ws/eB...=178989&pm=1&ds=0&t=1597250968621&cspheader=1
Not sure if that will work or suck any advice or waste money ?

 

[Atulip]

I have the same light as OP im sure just lying round want to get it cob but not sure what options I have and how many cobs I want to do 4 http://vi.raptor.ebaydesc.com/ws/eB...=178989&pm=1&ds=0&t=1597250968621&cspheader=1
Not sure if that will work or suck any advice or waste money ?

I'm a little rusty on my led knowledge, but as long as you stay in the voltage range you should be good. A quick google says the clu048 is 36V, so 2 of them in series per driver should work just fine. You will probably want a better heat sink though. They don't look as efficient as cree cobs, but for a budget price they'll still out perform the old blurple light.

 

[Wheezyp]

I'm a little rusty on my led knowledge, but as long as you stay in the voltage range you should be good. A quick google says the clu048 is 36V, so 2 of them in series per driver should work just fine. You will probably want a better heat sink though. They don't look as efficient as cree cobs, but for a budget price they'll still out perform the old blurple light.

I am going to be running in with this Amazon product
in a 180x 160 X 60 do you think I should use a smaller blue cob aswell on the conversion
the one driver without the fan ? Also been hearing good things about mars ts600 and as I'm near the £85 mark is it worth just buying that instead

also is the other light bad not grown for 3 years now was doing photo hydro's with that mars (home made) in a wardrobe making roughly 1.5oz dry lol but I tried autos Frist time soil about 3 months ago and they never really kicked off under that light not more than a inch in 5 weeks then I unexpected moved and had to get rid old pic for fun

Sorry for the life story but I've never had anyone to talk to about it all thanks

 

[Atulip]

I am going to be running in with this Amazon product
in a 180x 160 X 60 do you think I should use a smaller blue cob aswell on the conversion
the one driver without the fan ? Also been hearing good things about mars ts600 and as I'm near the £85 mark is it worth just buying that instead

also is the other light bad not grown for 3 years now was doing photo hydro's with that mars (home made) in a wardrobe making roughly 1.5oz dry lol but I tried autos Frist time soil about 3 months ago and they never really kicked off under that light not more than a inch in 5 weeks then I unexpected moved and had to get rid old pic for fun

Sorry for the life story but I've never had anyone to talk to about it all thanks

What kind of space do you have, 60cm x 160cm with 180cm height? the TS 600 should be good for about 4 sq feet total, I wouldn't flower anything bigger with that light. If you have a 2 foot by 5 foot ish you'd want 2-3 of them side by side.

Theres nothing wrong with the blurple lights, my first grow was in a 80cm x 80cm with a pair of those cheap mars blurples. The cobs and now the quantum boards are just more efficient lights. The main thing you get with efficiency is money saved on the power bill for the same amount of light, and a less heat. I'm not sure how the mars epi boards compare now to cobs or the old blurples, but they are definitely more pleasant to look at.

I've recently purchased a TSW2000 to Veg in a 4x4, and my biggest complaint is the heat the thing puts off. I'm dealing with heat stress right now, about 7°C higher than room temperature under the light(hot summer months don't help though, room temp is 24-27°C already). The lack of fan is noticable since heat isn't being sucked upwards above the light.


If heat and efficiency is less of a concern it's hard to beat the price of an HPS over leds. But no replacement bulbs and electrical savings are where the LEDs really shine.

 

[Wheezyp]

I did consider HPS yeh got 60d160w that Amazon light is Samsung daylight I linked it that's what I tried with the autos and it's loud AF why I wanted to look into getting ts but together it's still gonna be lound so why I'm looking to convert the mars after watching YouTube got me here

Im going to try for 3 autos ( Bluetooth x2 1 og kush) and 1 photo White widow seedstockers to make big but only top the rest I will lolly pop and just have it as back up if I mess the autos up just keep her going on the side just getting all equipment together now