Table of Contents
How do you make a LED COB light?
Assembly Installing the COBs in COB Holders. The first step is an easy one. Apply Thermal Compound to the Back of the COB. Fasten the COB & Holder to the Heat Sink. Terminate Your LED Driver AC Connection. Terminate Your LED Driver DC Connection. Terminate Your Dimming Potentiometer (“B” Style Drivers Only).
Can I build my own LED grow light?
But it’s not only cheaper to assemble your LED grow light upfront. You’ll find it’s much easier to fit your DIY units in small spaces versus many of the LED grow lights now on the market. Just like a DIY grow tent, making your own LED lights provides you with the ultimate control over the features of your grow space.
How are COB LEDs made?
COBs are made up of multiple chips/dies, usually with a minimum of 9 on a board. They are bright for their size, making them an alternative option to using lots of individual LEDs. They also cut out the need for soldering multiple times; it is just the one package. The chips used in COBs are LEDs without their package.
How do you wire a LED cob?
Take one of the leads from your LED driver (it doesn’t matter which polarity) and wire it to the corresponding input of your first COB (e.g. – positive lead to positive input OR negative to negative input). Take the other LED driver lead and wire it to the corresponding input on the last COB in the chain.
Does a COB LED need a driver?
LED Drivers LED drivers are the handy little boxes that take the power from your electrical outlet and convert it to a form that the COBs can use. The electricity coming from your outlet is alternating current (AC), and this does not work for COB LEDs – they require direct current (DC) instead.
What are COB LED lights?
Chip-on-Board or “COB” refers to the mounting of a bare LED chip in direct contact with a substrate (such as silicon carbide or sapphire) to produce LED arrays. COB LEDs have a number of advantages over older LED technologies, such as Surface Mounted Device (“SMD”) LEDs or Dual In-line Package (“DIP”) LEDs.
Is it cheaper to build your own grow light?
Making your own LED grow light is a cheaper alternative to buying a new one. Also, this way, you can choose the light spectrum range.
Why are COB LEDs yellow?
Base material of COB LED is usually MCPCB or ceramic PCB. COBs often have blue diodes and use yellow phosphor layer to convert light to desired color temperature. Mainly because this package construction enabled LED manufacturers to put high powers in small package.
Which is better Cree or COB LED?
Cree LEDs produce a fair amount of heat for a single chip but can disperse that heat easily. COB LEDs produce a similar amount of heat but as a harder time dispersing that heat. That means Cree LEDs may have a longer lifespan than COB LEDs depending on how much use they get.
How does a COB LED work?
COB LEDs use a single circuit with just two contacts to energize the multiple diode chips it houses. The ceramic/aluminum substrate of COB LEDs also acts as a higher efficiency heat transfer medium when coupled to an external heatsink, further lowering the overall operating temperature of the assembly.
Should I wire my LED lights in series or parallel?
In short, wiring in series divides the total power supply between the LEDs. Wiring them in parallel means that each LED will receive the total voltage that the power supply is outputting.
Do COB LEDs need resistor?
Therefore, constant current LED drivers are the preferred method of driving LEDs – they operate at a single current and adjust their output voltage correspondingly, ensuring that the forward current remains stable. When constant current input is used, a current limiting resistor is not necessary.
Are COB LEDs good?
While COB LEDS do provide an excellent light intensity, they’re not exactly the best when it comes to spread, because COB LEDs are a single-point light source (meaning all light comes from a single point in space).
What are COB lights used for?
COB lights are essentially an array of LED chips that are tightly packed together and bonded to a substrate such as silicon carbide. In effect this creates one large LED chip that has excellent uniformity of brightness, thus making it ideal for photographers and filmmakers.
Why are grow lights so expensive?
Grow lights are expensive because of the research and development that goes into producing grow lights that match the industry requirements to promote the healthy growth and fruiting of plants. Better quality materials are also used in the production of more expensive grow lights to achieve these standards.
Are grow lights worth it?
What should you do? LED grow lights are great because they are energy-efficient, durable, and have ‘tuned’ light spectrums to best meet the plant’s needs. However, there are still many excellent fluorescent grow lights that are much cheaper and still contribute to wonderful plant growth.
Can you use any lights to grow plants?
Yes, bulbs that you have in your house can be used to grow plants. However, regular incandescent bulbs do not provide the range of color spectrum light that plants thrive on. LED lights made for indoor plant growing are designed to give off a full range of color in the light which your plant will need in order to grow.
What makes an LED a grow light?
What are LED grow lights? As suggested by their name, LED grow lights are luminaires utilizing LED chips in a modern and efficient way to produce light for growing plants. One of the advantages of LED grow lights compared to traditional lighting solutions is the ability to match the light to the needs of plants.
What type of light is best for growing plants indoors?
Like plants growing outdoors in the sunlight, indoor plants grow best under full-spectrum bulbs, which produce a balance of cool and warm light that replicates the natural solar spectrum. They’re excellent for seedlings as well as houseplants, culinary herbs and other plants.