Rapids DIY Vero29 COB lighting

Discussion in 'DIY LED Builds' started by Mrgreengenes, Sep 27, 2017.

  1. Mrgreengenes

    Mrgreengenes Administrator

    I just switched to all LED lighting. I purchased the kit for a 4x4 table set up. The kit came with 12 Vero29 COBs 3500K and wiring, drivers, thermal pads and connectors. I added reflectors I also added 9 more LED 100 watt bulbs that I just removed the plastic domes off of to add more 5000k light since I have some plants still vegging. It sure added a lot more light!
    Here are a few pictures and a video. Enjoy!
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  2. bigbudztoo

    bigbudztoo growin the good stuff

    Nice setup. How much did that cost you ?
     
    Mrgreengenes likes this.
  3. Mrgreengenes

    Mrgreengenes Administrator

    bigbudztoo, the total cost was $946.10 Companys that sell the finished kits run $1500.00 and up.
     
  4. nippie

    nippie preachin' and pimpin'

    Looks great.

    I like rapid, but been having trouble with some of their stuff lately, all the original onyx units, starting to lose whole sections and their cooling fans arent great.

    That being said, it looks like the redesign would solve those.

    Interested in your run. Spec about heat. I always thought led were supposed to be cooler, but i never seen that with my experience with the oynx
     
  5. ResinRubber

    ResinRubber Civilly disobedient/Mod

    Didn't realize you did the kit. How was it going together? Looks sweet.
     
  6. Mrgreengenes

    Mrgreengenes Administrator

    Nippie I have three onyx’s with two grows on them. They ran way two hot. They were really designed to use with open hood aquariums.

    After running the new setup for almost two hours with no fan blowing on them to cool them. The max temp was 81 degrees at the heat sink. These run way cooler.
     
  7. Mrgreengenes

    Mrgreengenes Administrator

    ResinRubber not hard to put together. My big complaint is lack of directions. I’m guessing because it’s a DIY kit. Easy enough to put together. No instructions on wiring. I went to YouTube to figure the wiring out.
     
    Lvstickybud likes this.
  8. Lvstickybud

    Lvstickybud Bongmaster

    Great job. So that's for your vegging room? What do you have for your flower?
     
  9. Justcheckingitout

    Justcheckingitout GK Old Timer

    I just seen this thread. Did you go with the 63 w drivers? Are are you other driver pushing 70+ wats per cob?? I see 3 drivers. One per row of cobs.

    Alot of money saved on going with the 4 x 4 set up. I was going to do 2 of the 2x4 but i can get two more cob leds and a extra driver with the 4x4. I just wonder why the 2x4 set up comes with 5 cobs in a row and the 4x4 comes with 3 rows of 4 cobs?? When I called Rapid yesterday I didnt get to talk to mike, I got some guy that may have been cool but sounded like a hydro store dude. He was telling me go with cree just because he said they will last longer, but i also have been looking at online data and the vero 7 gen is pretty dam good.
     
  10. Justcheckingitout

    Justcheckingitout GK Old Timer

    Bump^^^^^ questions^^^^
     
  11. ducrider

    ducrider growing your mamas weed

    If I’m not mistaken the boss is using a 1400ma driver which will run the cobs at 1/2 of their rating or 50w. Running them at 1/2 power seems to be the optimum balance between efficiency and life of the cob.
     
  12. ducrider

    ducrider growing your mamas weed

    I also don’t see anything wrong with using the Vera 29 chips. From what Ive read on the google both the Vera 29’s and the Cree chips perform equally when driven at 1400ma, is when you run them in parallel at a lower current that the cree chips will outperform the veras.
    Another bump for the Vera 29’s is that you won’t need to buy a separate cob holder because unlike Cree the Vera cobs have the holder built in.
     
  13. Justcheckingitout

    Justcheckingitout GK Old Timer

    I noticed on the kits they sell 63 w drivers or a upgrade at 70 something watts. I got the 63 watts.
     
  14. ducrider

    ducrider growing your mamas weed

    What’s the part number for the driver?
     
  15. Justcheckingitout

    Justcheckingitout GK Old Timer

    SKU :

    HLG-320H-C1750B
    Output Voltage (DC) :
    91-183V (~3-5 X 36V COBs Or ~31-61 X 3V Mono LEDs)
    Max Output Current :

    1750mA
    Input Voltage (AC) :

    90-305VAC
    AC Current :
    3.5A/115VAC, 1.65A/230VAC
    Dimming Signal :
    0-10V Analog, 10V PWM, Resistance
    Efficiency :

    94%
    Dimensions :
    9.95" X 3.55" X 1.73"
    Weight :

    4.15 Lbs
     
    Last edited: Nov 26, 2017
  16. Justcheckingitout

    Justcheckingitout GK Old Timer

    My cobs will be here thur. I am sweeting like I use to waiting on the dam attitude to ship my seeds.

    I wonder if I should keep the drivers they sell with the 5 cob kits? 63w is not a whole lot bigger than 50w. I assume they go to the 1750ma for five cobs, since they sell 1400ma ones for each row of 4 cobs on the 12 cob 4x4 kit. It doesnt say how many watts the 1400ma runs 4 cobs at on the web page for the kit.
     
    Last edited: Nov 28, 2017
  17. ducrider

    ducrider growing your mamas weed

    Hmm. Try looking at driver selection a different angle. Because the cobs are wired together in series and each cob needs 36v to fire the maximum voltage output of the driver will determine how many cobs it’ll run. The driver you have coming had a maximum output of 183v so it will run 5 cobs.

    The other half of the equation is how hard you want to rub the chips. The cobs are rated at 100w when driven at 2.8 amps (2800ma) but they won’t last long being run that hard. It’s my understanding that running the cobs at 50% of their rated capacity is a good trade between efficiency and long life. As output increases efficiency and chip life decrease.
    So your 1750ma driver will drive the cobs at 63% of their 100w capacity.
    There’s no free lunch so as you increase the output of the cobs you will also be increasing their running temperature.



    Make sense?
     
  18. Justcheckingitout

    Justcheckingitout GK Old Timer

    Yep, i orignally was confused at the rapid site saying the cobs were running at a,balanced 63w each. I just wonder how much the trade in space is between the extra 13 w and diminished life span, but atleast it easy to change the cobs in 10 years if needed and at $31(cree cxb3590) on sale its not a bad deal. I love the light cobs. I am going to build a custom one for another space.
     
  19. OldSmokey

    OldSmokey Registered Users

    In ten years, I think cobs will be one of those things that we "used to grow with." Consider where LEDs were ten years ago.

    I envision a cob-type thing that's dome-shaped and that will output a much wider beam than we're used to seeing today.

    I came pretty close to getting one of the 2x4 kits this weekend but since I'm still figuring out nutes, I decided that it would have to wait.

    JCIO, I'm looking forward to seeing how it works for you.
     
  20. GrowKing

    GrowKing Member

    I think a cheap testing led setup with a flowering spectrum could work.
     

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