Lighting Mars Reflector 48 hack

[thetreeman]

So youve got 4 1212's driven at a max of .6A. Youll be generating about 40w of heat total. Youve got a fan in there actively cooling your setup, you PROBABLY dont even need heatsinks but I definitely wouldnt use ones that make it too big to fit everything back in the case.

 

[Slater]

So youve got 4 1212's driven at a max of .6A. Youll be generating about 40w of heat total. Youve got a fan in there actively cooling your setup, you PROBABLY dont even need heatsinks but I definitely wouldnt use ones that make it too big to fit everything back in the case.

That's interesting, so you think I might be able to get away with no heat sinks. That could make things easier on the build. Could I ask why you think I should make sure every thing fits in the case. Would it make much of a difference to just have the aluminum plate protruding by about 15 mm.

 

[thetreeman]

Just for aesthetics I guess. Interested to see how it turns out! Im not sure how thick that aluminum is and I havent tried mounting low power cobs without a heatsink on sheet aluminum so i wouldnt want you to fry something! If its fairly substantial I think it would work, but if its relatively thin, sinks is probably the best way to go You wont need much sink to cool that tho, producing only 10w / cob.

 

[NebulaNuggets]

Just for aesthetics I guess. Interested to see how it turns out! Im not sure how thick that aluminum is and I havent tried mounting low power cobs without a heatsink on sheet aluminum so i wouldnt want you to fry something! If its fairly substantial I think it would work, but if its relatively thin, sinks is probably the best way to go You wont need much sink to cool that tho, producing only 10w / cob.

I wouldn't even bother with the heat sinks to be honest. Of all the panel building and electronics assemblies I have worked on in my life, I can almost guarantee you that you aren't going to fry anything running 10w per cob. The fan should suffice. Hell when I start to have fun with cobs here I may do a mars rebuild without the sinks.

You said you were dealing with pretty warm conditions, correct? Maybe a little mars rebuild heatsink/no heatsink contest? I have you beat when it comes to hot grows I bet. It routinely gets above 100, sometimes 110 in the summer. May through early Sept. AND the kicker, I have evaporative cooling. Also called a swamp cooler. Which doesn't work during rainy season (monsoons) in July through Sept. Hot and Humid, yeah baby!

Looking forward to seeing this rebuild in action. Ok, I lied. I will probably go heatsink. Just because I like putting stuff together. Damn 110 degree days!

 

[The Elvis]

using just a small heat sink will make the cobs last longer.. sure they will work on sheet metal but for how long?? I suggest doing heat test.. this will give you the answer..
I use use a laser temp gun...

 

[Slater]

Thanks guys for all your input ,there has been a lot of good info there and it has given me something to think about these past few hours.
I've come to the conclusion to go ahead with my original design with the overkill heat sinks. The reason being is that I never intended to use these drivers for ever, it was a means to and end to get this project going and growing. I plan to swap them out in the future with a decent meanwell driver when funds are good so I can dim, pimp etc. the case more... that's when I will need the decent heat sinks.
I see this as an on going pimp, upgrading one part at a time...well all of them bar the driver.

 

[Puddentane]

Giving yourself that wiggle room makes it future proof and easy to up the chips without a great deal of effort. You guys got me wanting to brutalize my "300" watt cob as well now.

Having said that, I have no problem with Marrs lights at all. I cut my teeth on them and they grew bud. Until I know about the cob thing I was perfectly content with my little white balance nightmare hanging over my girls. I was thinking of a befuild that could be repurposed to a cabinet grow system. Could be some fun engineering. Man, those 1212'a sure do make some pretty light.

 

[The Elvis]

Giving yourself that wiggle room makes it future proof and easy to up the chips without a great deal of effort. You guys got me wanting to brutalize my "300" watt cob as well now.

Having said that, I have no problem with Marrs lights at all. I cut my teeth on them and they grew bud. Until I know about the cob thing I was perfectly content with my little white balance nightmare hanging over my girls. I was thinking of a befuild that could be repurposed to a cabinet grow system. Could be some fun engineering. Man, those 1212'a sure do make some pretty light.

I love my Mars lamps too!! they served me so damn well!!! But we didn't have Cobs 20 or less months ago!! its was the COB the we needed to advance the garden lamp business.. Diodes just did not have the "push" ..

This is as big as going from a Maxwell tape to a CD.. remember that?? or VHS to DVD..

 

[The Elvis]

This is the reason i always used LED with HID was less heat, and I had the push for big plants... Now i can replace my 600 HPS with my cob lamp After I'm done testing it..

 

[NebulaNuggets]

I love my Mars lamps too!! they served me so damn well!!! But we didn't have Cobs 20 or less months ago!! its was the COB the we needed to advance the garden lamp business.. Diodes just did not have the "push" ..

This is as big as going from a Maxwell tape to a CD.. remember that?? or VHS to DVD..

This. Exactly. Never in a million years were we going to get the push needed from diodes. Chip on board all the way!

Started looking into led five years ago and decided it just wasn't there yet to outperform the HPS and metal halides (still thinking about getting myself a really nice ceramic metal halide).
Now, after the advancements recently I am convinced the cob is the way to go.

Time to dust off the soldering iron. Looking at pricing up my first cob build and maybe do a mars rebuild soon thereafter.