I am starting a vege garden, and have started some seedlings in soil blocks, but being me, I want to tech it up and make some LED lights to try and get them growing a bit better and more stocky (they only get light through the window at the moment and they are pretty spindly)
I have done some reading and been looking on ebay for supplies, but thought I'd ask some of you LED experts before I buy anything
So far I have come up with putting 10 3W LED's onto this heatsink:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-pc-Aluminium-Heatsink-8-3W-Aquarium-Led-Bulb-/170643940622
using this power supply: http://www.ebay.com/itm/20w-30w-7-1...177?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3362a557c9
As for LEDS, I figure from my reading I need a 4:1 Red:Blue ratio, so 8 Red and 2 Blue on the one heatsink. I am trying to do all this in the cheap, so looking at the cheap 3w LED's on ebay.
I'm not sure if one of these heatsinks with the 10 LED would be enough but I might need a couple
So some questions:
-- On ebay they seem to sell the 3W LED's with and without the STAR heatsink eg:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/10-pcs-3W-H...971?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3379a73f63 vs http://www.ebay.com/itm/10pcs-3W-Re...978?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e6e9beb62
I was planning on getting the ones with star heatsink, but could I use the bare ones just glued to the heatsink? If so would it be much harder to do?
-- The blue and red LED's have different forward voltage, can I run both the 2 blue and 8 red ones from that same power supply?
-- If I make multiple heatsinks with LED's is it best to get one of those power supplies per heatsink or one big power supply?
-- does 10 LED on one of those heatsinks / one one of those power supplies seem OK? can I use more / should I use less?
-- In general does this all sound right? These constant current supplies are still confusing me, my mind only works with constant voltage
Any advice would be great, thanks!
I have done some reading and been looking on ebay for supplies, but thought I'd ask some of you LED experts before I buy anything
So far I have come up with putting 10 3W LED's onto this heatsink:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-pc-Aluminium-Heatsink-8-3W-Aquarium-Led-Bulb-/170643940622
using this power supply: http://www.ebay.com/itm/20w-30w-7-1...177?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3362a557c9
As for LEDS, I figure from my reading I need a 4:1 Red:Blue ratio, so 8 Red and 2 Blue on the one heatsink. I am trying to do all this in the cheap, so looking at the cheap 3w LED's on ebay.
I'm not sure if one of these heatsinks with the 10 LED would be enough but I might need a couple
So some questions:
-- On ebay they seem to sell the 3W LED's with and without the STAR heatsink eg:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/10-pcs-3W-H...971?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3379a73f63 vs http://www.ebay.com/itm/10pcs-3W-Re...978?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e6e9beb62
I was planning on getting the ones with star heatsink, but could I use the bare ones just glued to the heatsink? If so would it be much harder to do?
-- The blue and red LED's have different forward voltage, can I run both the 2 blue and 8 red ones from that same power supply?
-- If I make multiple heatsinks with LED's is it best to get one of those power supplies per heatsink or one big power supply?
-- does 10 LED on one of those heatsinks / one one of those power supplies seem OK? can I use more / should I use less?
-- In general does this all sound right? These constant current supplies are still confusing me, my mind only works with constant voltage
Any advice would be great, thanks!
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