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Thread: DIY led light

  1. #1

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    Default DIY led light

    Hello everyone I hope you’re all good, I’ve posted before and grateful for all the help I got!

    I have 2 Mars hydro grow lights and after a few years they started failing with half the led lights working, I’d like to change the drivers and fit some cob lights instead of throwing them away.

    I’ve seen 50 and 100w full spectrum cobs for £5-£10 but I’m not sure what drivers to get I’ve watched a few YouTube videos just can’t get my head around all the numbers.

    Any help on cheap drivers to run 300- 500w of cob chips would be great I’ll attach a few pictures of what I’ve been looking at, thanks a lot




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    Have you got a data sheet for the COBs you're looking at mate, for matching a driver?

    Also I know it's not what you asked, but what sort of heatsinks do the Mars Hydros have to mount onto? COBs will need a lot more care in that regard than the QB-type lights.

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  13. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by thelastrebel View Post
    Have you got a data sheet for the COBs you're looking at mate, for matching a driver?

    Also I know it's not what you asked, but what sort of heatsinks do the Mars Hydros have to mount onto? COBs will need a lot more care in that regard than the QB-type lights.

    Hey thanks for replying! The picture I sent had no description so here’s a similar looking led chip

    For the heat sink there’s a board with all the single led lights inside now and I was going to replace it with a sheet of aluminium with new cobs and keep the fans. Does that sound ok?


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    I’m lost! That says driverless chip?


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  17. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by xSmoker View Post
    I’m lost! That says driverless chip?


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    Hmm if they take 220V AC then they must effectively have drivers built in, hence the 'driverless' tag. I'm no expert but that all seems a bit sketchy to me. Not sure how much advice I can give on choosing COBs I'm afraid as it's been a couple of years since I looked at them, but I definitely wouldn't want AC current right up to the light itself if jt was me!

    For heatsinks, the problem you'll have is that the heat is generated over a much smaller area - if one chip is 50W compared to something like 1-2W each for mid-power diodes, sheet metal almost definitely won't cut it. Most COB builds use something roughly along the lines of CPU heatsinks, but what you need will depend on the power of each chip. If you're looking at mounting them to sheet metal have you thought of strips instead? At some point though the cost won't be any cheaper than just going completely DIY...

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    Quote Originally Posted by thelastrebel View Post
    Hmm if they take 220V AC then they must effectively have drivers built in, hence the 'driverless' tag. I'm no expert but that all seems a bit sketchy to me. Not sure how much advice I can give on choosing COBs I'm afraid as it's been a couple of years since I looked at them, but I definitely wouldn't want AC current right up to the light itself if jt was me!

    For heatsinks, the problem you'll have is that the heat is generated over a much smaller area - if one chip is 50W compared to something like 1-2W each for mid-power diodes, sheet metal almost definitely won't cut it. Most COB builds use something roughly along the lines of CPU heatsinks, but what you need will depend on the power of each chip. If you're looking at mounting them to sheet metal have you thought of strips instead? At some point though the cost won't be any cheaper than just going completely DIY...
    Thanks for that, il think I’ll go with the strips then! Do you think they’re any good? I was going to get both Mars lights going and adding them to the tent in the winter for extra light and heat, I’ve added a picture of the original light stats do you think I could get similar with the strips? Thanks again


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