Mini cob veg light (50watt)

Indoor Growing Lighting
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So a few products that needs more reviews. Could everyone help me out? What does everyone think of this item for a sort of “variable voltage/dimmer” :face_with_monocle:

600W DC-DC Boost Converter 10V-60V to 12V-80V Step-up Power Supply Module New Amazon.com

Then add in your heat sink w/ fan, and mount your cob directly to it. (I can get one from a computer tower) I’m using this as a reference, thank you amazon.

Cooler Master AMD FM2+ / FM2 / FM1 / AM3+ / AM3 / AM2+ / AM2 / 1207 / 940 / 939 / 754 4-Pin Connector CPU Cooler With Aluminum Heatsink With Copper Heatpipes & 2.75-Inch Fan For Desktop PC Computer https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01G0Y6RDS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_UYohAb73R5A24

And finally your plug: (this is an example) you can probably use any electronic 12v power supply with a 5.5mmx2.1mm plug

BINZET AC to DC 12V 10A 120W Power Supply Adapter Converter Regulator, 5.5mm x 2.1mm DC Plug, 12Volt 10Amp Wall Power Plug for DC12V 5050 5630 Flexible LED Strip Lights https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00Z9X4GLW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_AZohAbNGCTXWC

You can obviously find cheaper parts for this but I’m just “putting pieces of the puzzle together” so to speak.

List as follows:

Heat sink w/ fan (you can get these inside of a computer) as an example

Cob led 50watt (I would imagine a 100watt would work with the booster too as it has two adjustable turn style knobs)(I forgot the name of those specific parts) one for voltage and one for current.

600w AC/DC power booster (this is probably the only part I need to source online if I can’t make myself) I don’t think I could find a board anywhere anyways even if I wanted to. Most people use these boosters to power laptops in their vehicles :upside_down_face:

A 12volt plug (you can probably use any sort of laptop or small electronic devices power source.

I will in the future try and replicate this mini project and I will post my results. The estimated total for these premium parts is roughly (55$) for a self controlled 50watt cob led :+1::call_me_hand:

@dbrn32 @OldSkunk @Daddy @Alton66 @MAXHeadRoom @ktreez420 @Kcdaniels @Covertgrower @BIGE
I though of you guys making this post, so I tagged you. who else is into the diy cobs/quantum boards? :+1::+1::v: I thought this was pretty cool.

I don’t know how to post my links as pictures, @bob31 can you help me post these links as “photo links” or what you computer savvy guys call it. Makes it easier to the eye, and plus you can stay on this page while reading it without having to hop back and forth from the forum to amazon :+1::wink:thanks! Have a great night everyone! :crazy_face:

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@Donaldj @Majiktoker @garrigan62 @bryan @Mrcrabs

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I may chime in on this thread once I finish putting together my driverless 450w light Have 15 30w cobs just waiting on heat conducting gel then will start assembly

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It seems like you may be going the long way around on the supply circuit. But I’m not sure if I clear idea of what you’re picturing. If I know which cob or cobs and how many, I’ll have a better idea.

The cpu cooolers are pretty handy, and have been a staple in diy builds for a long time. However, the passive pin sinks are down to under $20. And you can get away without fan and power supply. Either will work, up to you. Cost wise, isn’t much different up front. But you’ll never have to worry about fan power or failure.

I didn’t see a specific cob listed, do you have one?

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It’s more so of an efficiency type thing. I saw some guy in the UK on YouTube make this setup. I’ll try to track down the video quick. One min @dbrn32

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Am I allowed to post you tube links on here? Lol @Donaldj

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I am with @dbrn32 a passive heat sink is more than enough for lower watt units if you were to add 10 of the cobs to a light array like a t5 shade style then water cooling would be a good option single lights it isn’t quite as practical since you would likely need several to get decent footprint meaning more power supplies more cords more headaches
and yes if youtube link doesn’t include seed sales link etc…

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Ok great thanks @Donaldj and I wouldn’t be running that complex of a setup. It’s just going to be used for seedlings. It’s a knock off cob brand. It’s 50 Watts I don’t know the brand name. It came with a driver I bought that I needed to fix a broken cob I already had. So I have a spare cob (chip on board) laying around and I figured I could whip up a new light for cheap. Also it would be driver less, which is why the 600w ac/dc booster came to mind. It would be my junction for a “dimmer” if you will. They sell much larger ac/dc converters for much more money. This is probably the smallest one you can find. Ha

This guy is a genius, he had me amazed how he could fine tune the voltage and current for the 100watt cob he had. I would only run mine at half power of my cob so (25watts) it would last much longer (again it’s only for seedlings) @dbrn32 @Donaldj :+1: fast forward if you don’t want to hear how he made it. But I learned a lot. It’s a very educational video.

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Here is what I’ll suggest if you’re chasing efficiency, meanwell hlg series. If filled properly you’re looking at 93-95% on most sizes.

There’s not a transformer in the world that’s 100% efficient to my knowledge. The booster you linked says up to 95%. Anytime I see “up to” I immediately assume that’s lab type setting where they adjusted load to where it was most efficient. The end user won’t quite have that ability, and will usually be less.

But let’s say it is 95% efficient. You’re 12v supply probably isn’t that efficient. But will say it is. What’s 95% of 95%? It’s not 95%. Catch what I’m saying?

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Driverless cob is a whole different ballgame, disregard what I said haha.

Do you have any specs on the cob? I’m thinking if you were gonna drop $50-$60, you would just about be into something with higher performance.

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@dbrn32 I catch your drift sir. Yes I do. There are two adjustments in the board that change voltage and current, I think you missed that. Also the guy on YouTube was using a 100watt cob. (I have a 50) I’m not running full draw out of it anyways so it is possible to run 100% efficiency. I’m just saying with all those capacitors and such I don’t know the tech savvy names/or brands and what part that actually is. Lol the booster/driver is what your talking about? I kno of dimmable drivers. I just like the circuitry and how I can fine tune with a multi meter the voltage and current, to give me my desired draw, also the light is dimmable, it gets brighter! Lol this 600w ac/dc booster has its own heat sink. So it’s not technically a driver, right? It probably doesn’t get too hot? I’m not an expert at all on these cobs just yet. Learning, learning :nerd_face: thanks for your quick responses! It means a lot to me, I’m headed to bed soon​:exploding_head:

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Yes it’s driver less and it’s dimmable/adjustability!!! :+1::+1::+1::+1:

Here you go @dbrn32 LED Tutorial: Light a 100W LED from 12V - Simple & Cheap - YouTube

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I’m by no means an expert at anything either. But anything you’re doing that’s changing voltage or current definitely isn’t 100% efficient. These components maybe very good, but any type of a heatsink is a dead giveaway that there are heat losses. Even if the booster was 100% efficient, the 12v power supply isn’t. My guess is that it’s about 90% or so.

I know very little of the driverless cobs, never seen one in person. I know that advertised efficacy is less than 100 lumens per watt on the ones I’ve seen. In a veg light spectrum, that’s half what you could be doing with a $20 or so dc cob. And a 50 watt dimming driver is probably $25-$30 tops. That leaves you with heatsink, thermal compound, and whatever hardware you need.

Or you could look at it this way too. A 30 watt vero 18 will produce as much light as 50 watt with that low of efficacy, and they’re $9 lol.

All in all, I like to tinker with stuff too. So I’m not bashing on your idea. But the minute I start spending money, I want it to go as far as possible. It seems like the end result of what you’re spending to make free cob work as desired doesn’t justify the performance level of free cob is all.

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BXRC-50C4001-B-74-SE Is $12 and some change

Meanwell NPF-40D-36 is $24

Arrow electronics discount code HOLIDAY gets you 20% off.

40 Watts actual at 175 lumens per watt, plus the driver is dimmable for under $30. And that should qualify for free overnight shipping.

You add:
Heatsink
Thermal paste/pad
Potentiometer
Hardware

Should be less than $60

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Hey guys if you post links from amazon we want ILGM to get the click thru we can edit the url to do that.

Just look for the ? in the link and remove everthing after that and replace it with tag=greenrel-20

@AmnesiaHaze I’m not sure why yours link in not resolving to the picture box, but when I post the link for the first one mine does the picture box, but the link is different. Not sure why?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LXR0R7J/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?tag=greenrel-20

Amazon.com**

I messed with that link a little so you guys could see what I did at the end

Since they are an affiliate, ILGM gets credit for a click thru so please do that when posting a link if anyone else needs help with that, start a different topic and we can work that out.

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Thanks for the link update, @bob31 You rock!

Actually @bob31 when I press share on amazon and I copy the link; I go to ILGM and it pastes the link without any ? Marks in it…hmmm. Becuase I’m on a smart phone?

It’s looks exactly the same when I paste and then submit the link. If I remember correctly, last year on my smart phone it would do it automatically. Now it doesn’t. Seems things have changed? Just an update with his that works.

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I like the topic you started! Very interesting! Looking forward to see how it goes! @AmnesiaHaze

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@BIGE that setup in like a 3500k would probably work wonders for what you were looking doing. Efficacy drops to like 159 lumens per watt going with the warmer color temp. You can also save a few bucks by dropping the dimming driver. And a few more if you’re willing to run multiple cobs per driver and get dimming function back.

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Topic is proving to be interesting if I remember correctly from 20yr’s ago nearly when I was in class apprenticing for electrician ticket we discussed and had to do the physics on efficiency and how converting power factored. That was long time ago and I am sure I forget most of it but the gist was every time you convert energy in any form their are losses ac-dc dc/ac each ballast/adapter produces heat so in the system used in youtube Video there would be 2 ballasts/adapters used to power a light this doesn’t factor fan which pc types are typically 12v so the system shown is likely drawing more watts than it is actually driving to lights and producing more heat

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I agree, and exactly what I was trying to say with less words.