LEDgardener

:EDIT: First pictures start at the end of page 6

Hi

I've been researching a build now for a while. I have a 4x4 tent, and planned to get 30 2foot f-series strips. I was thinking of running 14 strips on top @320w, and 16 strips on the sides @240w, so I can grow the plants tall, and use up the whole space.

I know that 320w up top is somewhat less then usually recommended, but I Planned to run the lights very close to the plants, and take care of deeper penetration with the side lighting. Hopeless?

My main fear is that there will be a dimmer area in the middle, and one thing I've been wondering about is should I put a few cobs in the center to give penetration?
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I'm a bit fan of thinking about grow space in 3d, as a cubic volume, rather then just square feet/ meters. Even using a 400hid in the 90's, I was able to dial in my space understanding I only had 30cm penetration.

Now I just spent over a decade only growing outside, and recently decided to test indoors growing again. I was given an LG 730w plasma, and realized that despite it having a ridiculous penetration, side lighting is where I want to move. First I was reading about Heaths vertical 600w, but then I ran into midpower leds, and I imagine these should be even better.

You know I have always wondered how side lighting would work with led's.

Researching for the build I found one company, Amare with a product I think was called sun cloak, where they were doing something along the line, but in a super wasteful manner. Everything was built into place, so you could not even lower the canopy lighting, and all the sides were blazing even when the plants were tiny...

Besides keeping the canopy light close, I think the side lighting should be horizontal belts with individual drivers, so I can activate them one by one as the plant gains height.

First I was thinking about having the side light as a part of the frame, but finally I will test first. Maybe I want it pointing down, maybe in.

But even with the lousy setup on the Amare, it produces dense buds from bottom up, just like outside.

Most people seem to be using 50% max of the real space in their grow tents.

I was thinking of using the pg-1530 extrusion as a heatsink, and maybe building the whole tent frame from the pg2020 extrusion. Finally the side lighting can be part of the frame...

http://www.moduasm.com/en/index.php?c=d ... &p=7&ic=12

Now I'm doing a run with sativa dominant hybrids looking for clones to test the side lighting with.

I have a 5x5 and I'm incrementally adding mid-power LED strips. I have 14 of those 23w TCI Strips from ebay for the top light, and 4 F-strips for the side lights. It's pretty intense, light burn is definitely a problem, but the penetration is great.

How hard are you driving them? Those are the 4 footers right? Is that one plant? looks like the f strips could handle 2?

Now I've been looking at vesta strips, and divided between them and eb gen2's for the sidelighting.... The vestas are about as powerfull as F strips, perhaps even more... I could probably put a few 75w drivers and 7 1foot eb gen2 strips per driver.... have 20-30 small strips to place around...

With the 1' eb strips you could build a kind of peg board frame an make the strips moveable as the plant grows. = O

Use however many rows of these for a frame as wide as the strip.

http://516.xg4ken.com/trk/v1?prof=428&c ... skQAvD_BwE

I have 4 of the 2-footers with a 200w Inventronics driver. There are 6 plants in that picture.

All of those you mentioned are good, but IMHO, it's best to find a deal on secondhand drivers and then select strips that will work with the drivers' output. You can get 150/180/200w drivers as efficient as Meanwells for $30 or less on ebay if you're patient and look at other brands.

Also, total cost of aluminum should drive the design after driver selection. F-strips work fine with cheap 1/8" Aluminum channel as heatsinks, but the total build cost might be higher if you use EB strips with a less-common extrusion profile. Don't forget about the weight if you have a tent. The TCI beast is definitely stressing the skinny tent structure.

I too have been thinking about the 3D growing, and I think the best setup would step the plants like stadium seating, or have taller ones in back. Basically a steeply sloped canopy instead of a level canopy. That's just about the most surface area you can fit in a cube. It gives you headroom for filters and fans and allows you to grow a few different sizes of plants.

sdfoster22 wrote: ↑

Wed May 02, 2018 4:08 pm

With the 1' eb strips you could build a kind of peg board frame an make the strips moveable as the plant grows. = O

Use however many rows of these for a frame as wide as the strip.

http://516.xg4ken.com/trk/v1?prof=428&c ... skQAvD_BwE

I was thinking of using the modular framing I linked above. Getting it straight from the source is pretty damn cheap. 20x20mm frame is about 2$ per m (3f). They use it to build machinery so I had played with the idea of making all the side lights move. Was thinking of building the entire frame of the tent from it, would cost less then 60$. Very worried about the light being too intense and touching leaves. Maybe will finally have to put the sidelights inside some extrusion with a cover

ShowMe wrote: ↑

Wed May 02, 2018 4:09 pm

I have 4 of the 2-footers with a 200w Inventronics driver. There are 6 plants in that picture.

All of those you mentioned are good, but IMHO, it's best to find a deal on secondhand drivers and then select strips that will work with the drivers' output. You can get 150/180/200w drivers as efficient as Meanwells for $30 or less on ebay if you're patient and look at other brands.

Also, total cost of aluminum should drive the design after driver selection. F-strips work fine with cheap 1/8" Aluminum channel as heatsinks, but the total build cost might be higher if you use EB strips with a less-common extrusion profile. Don't forget about the weight if you have a tent. The TCI beast is definitely stressing the skinny tent structure.

I too have been thinking about the 3D growing, and I think the best setup would step the plants like stadium seating, or have taller ones in back. Basically a steeply sloped canopy instead of a level canopy. That's just about the most surface area you can fit in a cube. It gives you headroom for filters and fans and allows you to grow a few different sizes of plants.

So your running the side lighting at 25w per foot? Perhaps I don't have to worry @ 9.3w per foot of ebg2 strip?

Tazztone pointed out an awesome deal on a driver at digikey. All the other drivers in the series have tripled in price, this one is still cheap. Will get a bunch although they might end up lighting veggies or the house in the future:

https://www.digikey.fi/product-detail/e ... ND/4332671

For heatsinks I was thinking of running the 1530 extrusion here:

http://www.moduasm.com/en/index.php?c=d ... ic=12&id=2

And simply tie it together with two 2020 extrusions, or a single 2080 if I want the drivers onboard:

http://www.moduasm.com/en/index.php?c=d ... c=12&id=32