Lighting help me … Pimp my light ! (EU)

[Groff]

Hey guys,

So I had a tremendous success upgrading my Ms0006 fan's to Noiseblocker silent fans. Been going for 3 years without hickups. A WORLD of difference. Here is a video comparing with and without I made a couple years ago. GN is something else. Lots of care was taken to do it right, specifically analysing CFM ratings. Unfortunately the pics were hosted in the previous AFN website and they're gone. But I kept a video

https://www.autoflower.org/threads/lets-talk-fanny-seriously-now-led-fan-upgrades.24350/



On the other side, I have another 2 units with COB that has turned out to be quite disappointing. Chips are dying on me. While under warranty the company helped me diagnose and sent me substitution chips. The drivers were ok. But they just keep dropping. I'm down to half and need to fix them, so I thought I'l do a complete makeover - silent fans and new chips and/or drivers.

I'm great with tools, but nuthead regarding electronics. So asking for someone to take my hand. I'll be swapping out both the fans and the chips. I hope the drivers are ok and only heed the actual chips. I'll soon take pics of the driver to get the specs, but they're the usual 50w format.

Right off the bat, where can I find chips in Europe? I only know of www.mouser.com
Can I expect some sort o warranty on just the chips?
Is 3500k better the targetted 7 band? Why?

I'm a sucker for funky I ideas, heck, this forum is living proof I'll try the craziest sh!t just for fun

.

 

[BigSm0]

Great I just saw your post in another thread. A "makeover" will be your best bet as far as efficiency goes and longevity. Cheap Chinese cobs don't fare well in any aspect. They lead people to believe that their cheaper tech is as good or better than most other lighting types when it's actually the opposite. As far as warranty goes you won't have to worry about the Cree or citizen cobs burning out unless they are wired incorrectly which I have done and no issues besides it not firing up and over powering them with insufficient cooling.

Photos are a must. If you could open the panel to get some in and outside photos I'm sure we can come up with a way to get you going for a very fair cost. The unfortunate downside to these panels is the driver amperage limits your new cobs. Most mars conversions leave the cobs at 20-22 watts so hopefully yours is rated a little higher.

 

[Groff]

Great I just saw your post in another thread. A "makeover" will be your best bet as far as efficiency goes and longevity. Cheap Chinese cobs don't fare well in any aspect. They lead people to believe that their cheaper tech is as good or better than most other lighting types when it's actually the opposite. As far as warranty goes you won't have to worry about the Cree or citizen cobs burning out unless they are wired incorrectly which I have done and no issues besides it not firing up and over powering them with insufficient cooling.

Photos are a must. If you could open the panel to get some in and outside photos I'm sure we can come up with a way to get you going for a very fair cost. The unfortunate downside to these panels is the driver amperage limits your new cobs. Most mars conversions leave the cobs at 20-22 watts so hopefully yours is rated a little higher.

Hey BiSm0!

Thanks a bunch buddy, you certainly do seem to know your stuff ! I will take some snaps ASAP. I know the chinese market all too well unfortunately, as I am an LED pioneer myself. Check that sticky thread on LEDs direct from china

The lights are actually from a reputed USA company that outsources from china and does QC. Drivers definitely white label OEM. That being said, we all perfectly know how the chinese love to send immaculate prototype and initial runs, and then gradually start throwing lemons out the door. I have one of the those prototypes and early production runs (since I did some grow tests for them), I really do think it's just low quality chips.

pics soon

 

[BigSm0]

I find it fascinating that a lot of countries charge high customs fees and us Muricans bitch about loss of jobs and cheap Chinese products.

The good thing is you have a nice frame:smoking:

 

[Groff]

I find it fascinating that a lot of countries charge high customs fees and us Muricans bitch about loss of jobs and cheap Chinese products.

The good thing is you have a nice frame:smoking:

Except I'm actually from the other side of the pond and had to pay 23% tax and was nightmare (and security risk) to get out of customs… twice! Luckily I managed to get different names and addresses, but I've exhausted all possibilities now and simply not worth the risk.

The first batch of substitution chips came straight through, but I'm not risking anything to do with customs any more. Ever!

 

[BigSm0]

It is completely legal here with its limitations. I just ran into the local shop to grab some diamond nectar and the manager was on the front step smoking a joint-illegal. This sort of killed the market for us caregivers though. I'd say for a very small area and the amount of licenses out we are on a completely opposite extreme.

 

[Dion]

id just start from scratch honestly, you can build urself a nice light without having to engineer it to fit into a poor design.

if you want to just do a lil switching out of the cobs try

https://www.fasttech.com/products/1609/10013316/2250000-cree-cxa2530-60w-4000k-6000lm-cob-led-array

 

[BigSm0]

id just start from scratch honestly, you can build urself a nice light without having to engineer it to fit into a poor design.

if you want to just do a lil switching out of the cobs try

https://www.fasttech.com/products/1609/10013316/2250000-cree-cxa2530-60w-4000k-6000lm-cob-led-array

Yes and no. the 1212's are 15.75 each with holder and 4 of those in a mars 300 would humiliate the og panel. It is a bit of work either way, such is life

 

[Groff]

id just start from scratch honestly, you can build urself a nice light without having to engineer it to fit into a poor design.

if you want to just do a lil switching out of the cobs try

https://www.fasttech.com/products/1609/10013316/2250000-cree-cxa2530-60w-4000k-6000lm-cob-led-array

You know, I had that exact same thought as sons as I was done opening my light and inspecting it… But, having said that… scaled economy my friend. Let's seem what we can pull off together

Yes and no. the 1212's are 15.75 each with holder and 4 of those in a mars 300 would humiliate the og panel. It is a bit of work either way, such is life

@BigSm0 … had to leave town on urgent work. I had these taken but forgot to bring them along. Anyway here goes… This is the second light I've got from this vendor. The first one the chips have a plug-in connector, these are soldered … ug … been a veeery long time since I used a soldering iron.

I was thinking of maybe… mayyybeee … switching all the working pods from one light to the other, and just start blank with the gutted light. Heat sinks are for 70mm fans I believe (dammiit …80mm silent fans are usually cheaper).

I dont have a lot of cash, So I'm wondering what my options are. Leave it to you gents! Completely out of my league from here on.

 

[BigSm0]

I assume the first driver is specifically for the fans?

There will be a fair amount of work converting the panel but if your up for it I'm happy to help.

Going off of 9 cobs at 500ma you should see around 150w 16 watts per cob. Buuuut a very efficient 150 watts and also a very cool lamp. Sup to you. How many cob drivers are there? For 9 cobs you would need 5 drivers not including the fan drivers.