Lighting New Cidly Apollo 4 LED - Custom

[Hansbricks]

Hey bro, glad others are finding this thread useful.

To answer your questions, no there wasn't an additional charge for custom colours or spectrums (just a few extra days for processing the order)

As for the spectrum I chose, I did quite a bit of research on what the top companies were using.

The GN spectrum you have listed is their newest one which they just started using 4-5 months ago (right about the time when I was choosing my LED) Their old spectrum was this:
Deep Red 7pcs,Red 4pcs,Blue 2pcs pcs, Cool white 1pcs, Infrared 1pc
(660nm, 630nm, 460nm, 6000k, 740nm)

I was also looking at the Fero spectrum:
2 x 6500k (cool white) , 1 x 430nm, 2 x 455nm (blues) : 9 red: (1 x 630nm, 4 x 640nm, 4 x 660nm): 1 infrared (730nm)


So mine is a bit of a combination between all of them lol. Basically any of these spectrums will work well tho since they are all very similar. Seems to be the consensus now that a good growing spectrum will have mostly deep red, then some red, blue and whites and a bit of infrared.

 

[az2000]

A few posts back I condensed spectrum details of 4 various namebrand LEDs into a tabular format for easy comparison. I've taken this a little further, adding the GN "Rebel" and two Blackstar units. And, I represented the spectra as percentages for more ease of comparison.

Hopefully Hans won't mind me adding this to his thread. It might help others considering their own custom configuration. (If I go further with this I'd like to put it in a nicely formated PDF. Maybe even render the wavelengths into a color bar for a visual representation of how each product is weighted to colors.).

Also, I've been thinking about Cidly's 15-piece modules. This limits us to a certain number of rational choices. I.e., you might only want 2 white bulbs. If you put one in every module, you get 4 white. TopLED offers custom LED configuration. If they have no minimum and no custom surcharge (or a reasonable surcharge) that would be a powerful option. For example, 324 individual LEDs to play with -- not 4 or 6 groups of 15. (Just thinking out loud.)

[FONT=arial][B]Grow Northern Rebel[/B] - 30 pcs (per module)
6.7% IR 2x 730nm
60.0% Red, deep 18x 660nm
13.3% Blue 4x 450nm
20.0% White 6x = avg 4233k
                 2x 2700k
                 4x 5000k

[B]Grow Northern 2nd gen[/B] - 15 pieces (per module)
 6.7% IR 1x 725nm
66.7% Red 10x avg 654nm
              53.3% Red, deep 8x 660nm
              13.3% Red 2x 630nm 
13.3% White 2x 5700k 
13.3% Blue 2x 460nm 

[B]Grow Northern 1st gen[/B] - 15 pcs (per module)
 6.7% IR 1x 740nm
73.3% Red 11x avg 649nm
              46.7% Red, deep 7x 660nm
              26.7% Red 4x 630nm
 6.7% White 1x 6000k
13.3% Blue 2x 460nm

[B]Cidly Apollo (TaNg's custom)[/B] - 15 pcs (per module)
 6.7% IR 1x 720nm 
73.3% Red 11x avg 652nm
              53.3% Red, deep 8x 660nm
              20.0% Red 3x 630nm
 6.7% White 1x 12000k
13.3% Blue 2x 460nm

[B]Cidly Apollo (Hansbrick's custom)[/B] - 15 pcs (per module)
 6.7% IR 1x 730nm
66.7% Red 10x avg 651nm
              46.7% Red, deep 7x 660nm 
              20.0% Red 3x 630nm 
13.3% White 2x 6500k 
13.3% Blue 2x 460nm 

[B]Blackstar v2.0 180w UV [/B]- 30 pcs (per module, has 2 modules)
   ? IR ?x 730nm
86.7 Red 26x avg 651nm
   60.0% Red, deep 18x 660nm
   26.7% Red 8x 630 
6.7% Blue 2x 425nm
6.7% White 2x 12000k
   ? UV ?x 380nm
? = UV and IR are not dedicated LEDs. The v2.0 uses "integrated phosphors" in the white LEDs to generate some amount of spectrum.

[B]Blackstar 135w UFO[/B] - 45 pcs
 6.7% 3x IR 730nm
Red 35x avg 645nm
        40.0% 18x Red, deep 660nm
        37.8% 17x Red 630nm
11.1% 5x Blue 425nm
 2.2% 1x White 12000k
 2.2% 1x UV 380nm

[B]Fero Bulldog[/B] - 15 pcs (per module)
 6.7% IR 1x 730nm
60% Red 9x avg 648nm
           26.7% Red, deep 4x 660nm
           26.7% Red, med 4x 640nm
            6.7% Red 1x 630nm
13.3% White 2x 6500k
20% Blue 3x avg 447nm
            13.3% Blue 2x 455nm
             6.7% Blue/UV 1x 430nm[/FONT]

EDIT: A warning about averages. Imagine you have one foot in freezing cold water and another foot in scalding hot water. Even though you'll experience an average 122f, you'd be very uncomfortable.

I believe the same goes for the way I use averages in the above. It's just to depict the direction (or weighting) of different configurations. 10x 640nm and 10x 660nm will be more meaningful than a light which implements the average as 20x 650nm.

 

[Evo]

Very informative thread. I contacted cidley guys and they replied back and gave me a very good quote for Appolo 6 with Hansbriks specturm. But he also suggested not to have UV in every module. I only grow photoperiod plants and am using the old GN006 in veg and flower. For the appolo 6 what specturm do u guys suggest for me?

 

[az2000]

Very informative thread. I contacted cidley guys and they replied back and gave me a very good quote for Appolo 6 with Hansbriks specturm. But he also suggested not to have UV in every module. I only grow photoperiod plants and am using the old GN006 in veg and flower. For the appolo 6 what specturm do u guys suggest for me?

UV is supposed to be in the 100nm to 400nm range (according to wikipedia). Hansbrick's spectrum was:

1x IR 730nm
7x deep red 660nm,
3x red 630nm,
2x white 6500k,
2x blue 460nm,

Do you know what part of that is considered UV?

GN's spectrum before Rebel is:

1x IR 725nm
8x deep red 660nm,
2x red 630nm,
2x white 5700k,
2x blue 460nm,

Before that spectrum I've been told they used:

1x IR 740nm
7x deep red 660nm
4x red 630nm
1x white 6000k
2x blue 460nm

So, your GN006 is one of those two.

I don't think anyone can tell you what spectrum to use. Everyone has good reasons for picking what they do. I ordered a light based upon GN's rebel spectrum. Instead of 30 bulbs (as Rebel uses) I used 15 (which is what you're forced into with the Cidly Apollo design). Basically half of color Rebel uses:

2x IR 715-745
18x deep red 650-670
4x blue 440-460
2x white 2700k
4x white 5000k

Becomes:

1x IR 730nm
9x deep red 660nm
2x Blue 450nm
1x White 2700k
2x White 5000k

Aside from being half the power, I think the Rebel module uses modulation to expand the width of the light. So, it's not an exact copy. Just enough to give me a taste of how the new GN units might be like before buying one. (That's the reason I chose this spectrum. It's a low-cost entry into the new GN.).

 

[Hansbricks]

Very informative thread. I contacted cidley guys and they replied back and gave me a very good quote for Appolo 6 with Hansbriks specturm. But he also suggested not to have UV in every module. I only grow photoperiod plants and am using the old GN006 in veg and flower. For the appolo 6 what specturm do u guys suggest for me?

The spectrum I got does not have any UV, same as GN. If you plan on using the apollo6 for veg and flower then yeah UV is not recommended, I would suggest using either the spectrum I have or any of the GN ones.

 

[Evo]

The spectrum I got does not have any UV, same as GN. If you plan on using the apollo6 for veg and flower then yeah UV is not recommended, I would suggest using either the spectrum I have or any of the GN ones.

Sorry guys. I confused UV with IR. They suggested me not to use IR in every module. They are not forcing me. They just said very less ppl use IR in every module and they just wanted to let me know.

 

[az2000]

Sorry guys. I confused UV with IR. They suggested me not to use IR in every module. They are not forcing me. They just said very less ppl use IR in every module and they just wanted to let me know.

I assumed every module had to be the same. That's how GN does it.

I'd be concerned about uniform coverage if only one module had an IR. I guess if you put it on the edge closest to the center it would be ok. If you rotated your fixture 180 degrees every couple days that would compensate for the uneven coverage. (If coverage is even important.).

It does seem that the technology is moving more toward full spectrum white. The new Area-51 XGS uses all 3750k white LEDs. Blackstar's new v2 180 and 240w models don't have UV nor IR bulbs. Lighthouse Hydro said these spectrum come from integrated phosphors in the white bulbs. (I assume A51's white bulbs do the same thing.).

Pick something and jump in. These custom Cidlys are a good way to model spectrum and see how they work. I actually ordered a second one spec'd with A51's XGS white light. I'm germinating 5 photosensitives and will have a Cidly GN Rebel(prototype), A51 XGS(prototype), Blackstar v2 180 UV, and something else (probably a Mars II, unless I can think of something better) in a 4x4x7' tent.

 

[Evo]

What spectrum would you guys recommend if the LED will be used for veg only?

 

[Hansbricks]

Haven't seen too many veg only spectrums other than the blackstar HO ones. But I would suggest maybe to change 3 of the 660 reds to the 460 blues and use 12000K for the 2 whites instead of 6500K. "My 2 cents"

 

[F.N.]

Iam up by Algonquin park bro nice thread. Apollo by cidly is a wicked light. I was at there wholesale website and they had a 1200 watt light called the king kong. Do they have a retail site too cidly ?