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Its time to build a Cephalotus grow space, would love input!

  • #21
I ended up ordering just neutral white, cool white, and warm white LEDs. I could not figure out a configuration I was happy with using only 2 drivers and the 750mA/1000mA/1500mA LEDs. So I went with all 1500mAs. When I'm done if I think I need more red/blue I have a plan! I can order a http://www.rapidled.com/4-led-solderless-moonlight-kit/ and just run it without a dimmer with the blues/reds. Worst case when I wire the bottom two shelves I'll have the proper number of drivers to configure everything with dimmers if I want to. Although it would be a wiring nightmare.

Anyway I received all the LED pieces today!

First up on the project list is putting together the dimmer. With luck I'm start on that tomorrow, its the only part of this I will have to solder.

DSC_0749 by randallsimpson, on Flickr

And the rest of the LEDs pieces.

DSC_0750 by randallsimpson, on Flickr
 
  • #22
:0o::0o:im watching thanks again for keeping this going.:0o::0o:
 
  • #23
You will probably be ok with all whites, especially as you have several types - just won't be as energy efficient as plant specific wavelengths as there will be a fair bit of wasted greens. If you decide to add later then you won't need blues, as they will be well covered in the whites, you'll just need reds.
 
  • #24
mobile said:
You will probably be ok with all whites, especially as you have several types - just won't be as energy efficient as plant specific wavelengths as there will be a fair bit of wasted greens. If you decide to add later then you won't need blues, as they will be well covered in the whites, you'll just need reds.
Click to expand...

Just adding the reds would work out really well actually, 4 reds per shelf would be about perfect.

I'm not going to get into any of the skills required to solder as this would not be a good beginner project imo, if you have done a few things in the past it would be a challenge but very doable. Although, since this is not a space shuttle and is not likely to take off at high speeds, vibrating like mad, the need for high reliability soldering is really low:-O. Gotta love soldering training video's! This is just a dimming unit and there are a lot of prebuilt units out there if you are soldering challenged.

First up is to gather all your supplies, take note of the large coffee cup in the back as its the most needed component this early in the morning. I have replaced 4 of the supplied wires with longer red/black wires for easier connection later on.

DSC_0751 by randallsimpson, on Flickr

Tinning your wires and terminals is very helpful, if you don't know what tinning is you may want to buy a pre-built unit or practice some.

DSC_0752 by randallsimpson, on Flickr

I connected all the "inner" wires together first before connected the "outer" wires for one main reason, I did not want to mess with longer wires hanging all around my work space until I needed too.

DSC_0753 by randallsimpson, on Flickr

And the completed unit, I tested 3 setting (0%, 50%, 100%) with an ohm meter on both channels to ensure everything was working ok. This was the hardest part of this entire build, everything is downhill from here. It took me about 1hr 15m from start to finishing cleanup. I have many years with soldering but I'm getting old and my hands are not as steady as they used to be, really slowed me down some.

DSC_0754 by randallsimpson, on Flickr

Got the heatsinks last night also. Next on my list is to drill holes for the hanging mounts into the aluminum. For anyone who has never worked with CREE LED or the like, this looks like a lot of metal for such tiny little circuits but its not. I will not be running these at full power for two reasons, LEDs are "supposed" to last significantly longer if ran at cooler temperatures and if I ran 7 of these LEDs per heatsink at full power the heatsinks would be too hot to touch. Yes 7 of those little circuits can and will heat that giant bar of metal hot enough to burn your hand in under an hour if you run them at 100%. Off to drilling!

DSC_0755 by randallsimpson, on Flickr
 
  • #25
Looking at your soldering, I reckon you would of been ok soldering wires to the LED PCBs and saved yourself some money from buying the ones with connectors.
 
  • #26
Somebody pass the popcorn, I am going to be watching this for a while.

Mad props, RSS!
 
  • #27
mobile said:
Looking at your soldering, I reckon you would of been ok soldering wires to the LED PCBs and saved yourself some money from buying the ones with connectors.
Click to expand...

A few years back I would have been ashamed of that soldering :-)). I've been to a few advanced soldering classes while I was in the military. Since I don't have all the fancy equipment and my hands like to move on there own its the best I can do now.

Drilling the heatsinks was pretty uneventful and easy. Non dull drill bit, slow speed drill.

For those interested here is a close-up of one of the LEDs. That 1/8" greenish square in the middle is the LED, the rest of it is heatsinks, wiring, few components, and material just to make it larger for easier handling. Seven of those tiny little squares is what that large piece of metal is for, simply amazing the amount of heat and light those little dots can produce.

DSC_0760 by randallsimpson, on Flickr

Its time to mount the LEDs to the heatsink, the first step is to clean the heatsink with some isopropyl alcohol or similar cleaner. Then I marked the locations for the LEDs in pencil on the heatsink and labeled which color of LED is going in which spot in marker.

DSC_0756 by randallsimpson, on Flickr

I'm using peal and stick thermal pads instead of thermal grease or thermal adhesive because I'm lazy. Its basically double stick tape that transfers heat.

DSC_0757 by randallsimpson, on Flickr

Bout 30m later we have:
NW WW CW NW WW CW NW
NW CW WW NW CW WW NW

DSC_0763 by randallsimpson, on Flickr

Next is the part I don't like, attaching the lenses. Maybe tomorrow.
 
  • #28
Looking neat. Any plan to fan cool that heatsink, or do you think passive cooling will suffice?
 
  • #29
The other 2 similar LEDs I have setup are at about 60% power and the heatsinks stay just above room temp, cool to the touch. I'm hoping this will be enough light for the Cephs to get some good color but only time will tell. I'm hoping passive cooling will be enough and I would probably add another 7 LED strip before I cranked up the power if more light was needed. I'm trying to keep the heat generated to a minimum. Higher power = more heat, less LED life, it just seems like a lose/lose when you turn them up a lot.

I will be adding some sort of air flow across the plants but I haven't thought much about it yet.
 
  • #30
I only have a baby Cephalotus under LED, so hard to see if colouration is going to be good. I do however have quite good colouration on a H. minor under LED:

PianGwF.jpg
 
  • #31
Looks nice! Can we get some information about the lighting? Color/# of LEDs, distant from the LED to the Heli?
 
  • #32
It's an off-the-shelf lamp, though I have build my own in the past. Specifications are 15 x 1W LED: 10(Red):4(Blue):1(white), positioned 4 - 7cm from the top of the Heliamphora.
 
  • #33
mobile said:
It's an off-the-shelf lamp, though I have build my own in the past. Specifications are 15 x 1W LED: 10(Red):4(Blue):1(white), positioned 4 - 7cm from the top of the Heliamphora.
Click to expand...

That's a lot closer than I'm planning on placing these. I'm looking at 6-10" range, but its easy enough to move them closer if I feel the need.


I just got through placing all the lenses for those 2 bars. These are 80 degree lenses.

I just placed them on top of the LED board, if you look closely you can see there is one missing from each bar. For reasons I can not figure out bout 1 in 6 just don't fit right and are a real pain to get on. So I leave them off until after I mix up the thermal adhesive. Remember this is a race! You have about 5m before the mix becomes unusable and you have to mix up more, so go with small batches. I mixed up about a M&Ms worth and it was twice what I needed. Mix up 1:1 of parts A&B of your favorite thermal adhesive and add a small amount to the base where the lens meets the board. Taking extra care not to get ANY of the thermal mixture anywhere on the inside of the lens or on any part of the actual LED. This may/can reduce the light output by clouding/blocking the lens/LED.

DSC_0764 by randallsimpson, on Flickr

It doesn't have to be pretty, but when the LED burns out you will want to be able to remove it without a hammer.

DSC_0765 by randallsimpson, on Flickr

DSC_0766 by randallsimpson, on Flickr

And now I wait for a few hours, before getting into the main wiring and hanging. I might have Cephs under them by the end of the day!
 
  • #35
killer thread , im on board , must get buisy, thanks RSS , for the work on the pics and lighting help ,
if you could please :blush: Post some pics in a month or so so we can keep up with the progress.
 
  • #36
What angle are the lenses? It would be interesting to see if plants under a particular 'colour' white react differently.

You have lots of babies, are they leaf cuttings from your own collection?

BTW... I like those clear square pots you get over there.
 
  • #37
mobile said:
What angle are the lenses? It would be interesting to see if plants under a particular 'colour' white react differently.

You have lots of babies, are they leaf cuttings from your own collection?

BTW... I like those clear square pots you get over there.
Click to expand...

They are 80 degree. They are all leaf pulls from my other plants.

The pots are Rand aircone pots, you might be able to find them but you have so much neater stuff over there :) They are a bit pricey but the plastic is pretty heavy for a pot.
 
  • #38
Its only been 6 days under the LEDs and I can already see all of the babies coloring up. I would say within the first 2 days I could see the Emu starting to darken. Hopefully it will continue.

None of them are all green like they were in the photo's from a week ago. The Emu is clearly the best looking one so far, but this clone has always grown better than any other for me. No one else I've kept in contact with that has traceable plant material between us has expressed the same opinion about the Emu. I'm including the traceable part because I suspect a lot of the Cephs being passed around are mislabeled.

For reference all the Cephs above were grown up from leap pulls under a single old (probably 3-6 months before it burns out) T5 about 7-8" from them. Under the LEDs they are about 9-10" from the LEDs.

Baby pitchers are so cute!

Here is the all green Emu Point with the green label getting its bronze on.

DSC_0771 by randallsimpson, on Flickr
 
  • #39
nice keep sharing , want to see them in a month, looks like it will be a great success
 
  • #40
RSS - where did you get the racking from in the end??? just stumbled across this an it looks so good the end product!!!


RSS said:
Got the rack in today.


DSC_0746 by randallsimpson, on Flickr

After about 30-45m of trying to figure out the horrid instructions.

DSC_0747 by randallsimpson, on Flickr

Overall I think it will work just fine, but I would have preferred more vertical supports for the shelves. I put 2 10lb weights on a shelf to see how it felt and everything seemed stable enough. Depending on how it feels fully loaded I many add a few supports.

Now that its here I can get the proper measurements and order the heatsinks for the LEDs!
Click to expand...
 
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