Lighting DIY Mars to Cree Cob conversion

[Dudeski]

Yes, u dont have to buy drivers. A couple heat sinks and the cobs. Ripper has two different threads, his is what I followed for my 300 conversion. Northern Grow Lights has great prices on the 3590s!

 

[Baxterwolfe]

...but well worth it none the less right ?

Yes well worth it and your plants will love you for it lol

 

[Gilligan]

Before I started reading this thread, I thought I was intelligent. I watched the video and thats all pretty straight forward.

Where IM stuck is I have a mars hydro-400. I used it for a one plant grow and it had ok results. What was lacking was the buds were just not dense enough for my liking.

It is my hope that by doing this conversion I can resolve that problem. Yes/no?

Heres my questions for the experts and if it looks like I forgot something...please feel free to suggest.

When I opened up the fixture it has the two fans, the two heat sinks and three drivers.

The drivers have no information on them.

So how do I find out specs on these drivers?
And once I determine that, could you experts chime in and suggest which cob combination would be the best and where to order them from.

I honestly read all 20 pages of this thread, normally I can pick up on things rather quickly, but I guess because I am so new to the cob lighting aspect, I just cant seem to get a good grip on everything.

Will this size fixture and im guessing 5 or 6 cobs of differentiating spectrums be sufficient to grow at least one maybe two plants from start to finish with a good quality dense bud and decent yield

or will I need additional lighting.

I really appreciate the assistance. Perhaps one day down the road, we will cross paths on a forum of a different nature where I will have the knowledge and be able to repay the favor you will do for me here

 

[Kaivorth]

I'm trying to retrofit my MARS300 unit. Will 4 Citizen 3500k 1212s be a good fit for this? The COBs are $12 each. Stock heatsink not enough you think? Trying to do this really cheap, but don't want to burn them out. Will use Arctic Cooling MX-4 paste, get holders and drill them into the heatsink.

How efficient are the drivers? Might end up just doing a scratch build if these aren't that great.

https://led.cdiweb.com/ProductDetail/CLU0481212C4353M2K1-Citizen-Electronics-Co-Ltd/585065/

 

[Dudeski]

Before I started reading this thread, I thought I was intelligent. I watched the video and thats all pretty straight forward.

Where IM stuck is I have a mars hydro-400. I used it for a one plant grow and it had ok results. What was lacking was the buds were just not dense enough for my liking.

It is my hope that by doing this conversion I can resolve that problem. Yes/no?

Heres my questions for the experts and if it looks like I forgot something...please feel free to suggest.

When I opened up the fixture it has the two fans, the two heat sinks and three drivers.

The drivers have no information on them.

So how do I find out specs on these drivers?
And once I determine that, could you experts chime in and suggest which cob combination would be the best and where to order them from.

I honestly read all 20 pages of this thread, normally I can pick up on things rather quickly, but I guess because I am so new to the cob lighting aspect, I just cant seem to get a good grip on everything.

Will this size fixture and im guessing 5 or 6 cobs of differentiating spectrums be sufficient to grow at least one maybe two plants from start to finish with a good quality dense bud and decent yield

or will I need additional lighting.

I really appreciate the assistance. Perhaps one day down the road, we will cross paths on a forum of a different nature where I will have the knowledge and be able to repay the favor you will do for me here

I'm trying to retrofit my MARS300 unit. Will 4 Citizen 3500k 1212s be a good fit for this? The COBs are $12 each. Stock heatsink not enough you think? Trying to do this really cheap, but don't want to burn them out. Will use Arctic Cooling MX-4 paste, get holders and drill them into the heatsink.

How efficient are the drivers? Might end up just doing a scratch build if these aren't that great.

https://led.cdiweb.com/ProductDetail/CLU0481212C4353M2K1-Citizen-Electronics-Co-Ltd/585065/

I have to defer to @BigSm0 or someone else. I converted my 300 with two 3590 crees.

 

[BigSm0]

Before I started reading this thread, I thought I was intelligent. I watched the video and thats all pretty straight forward.

Where IM stuck is I have a mars hydro-400. I used it for a one plant grow and it had ok results. What was lacking was the buds were just not dense enough for my liking.

It is my hope that by doing this conversion I can resolve that problem. Yes/no?

Heres my questions for the experts and if it looks like I forgot something...please feel free to suggest.

When I opened up the fixture it has the two fans, the two heat sinks and three drivers.

The drivers have no information on them.

So how do I find out specs on these drivers?
And once I determine that, could you experts chime in and suggest which cob combination would be the best and where to order them from.

I honestly read all 20 pages of this thread, normally I can pick up on things rather quickly, but I guess because I am so new to the cob lighting aspect, I just cant seem to get a good grip on everything.

Will this size fixture and im guessing 5 or 6 cobs of differentiating spectrums be sufficient to grow at least one maybe two plants from start to finish with a good quality dense bud and decent yield

or will I need additional lighting.

I really appreciate the assistance. Perhaps one day down the road, we will cross paths on a forum of a different nature where I will have the knowledge and be able to repay the favor you will do for me here

Cree and citizen cobs spectrum is unmatched. The red and blue panels really miss out on the full spectrum part of things. So with the mars you can basically multiply the wall watts by .2 or .25% and that's what the plants are actually receiving. With these cobs you can multiply your wall wattage by .5 and .6 that will give you the par watts. As you would guess the mars isn't very good at converting energy into light, epistar LEDs are very inefficient and they are also using cheaper drivers to do so. Mars panels do fit most budgets and as you can see do a fairly good job at growing but Cobs do a much better job at converting energy into plant usable light.


As for your build it is risky and I definitely wouldn't recommend converting any panel with unmarked drivers. DIY does have some risks and since you don't know the drivers in or output, amperage it increases the risk. The simple solution would be to find another converted panel build and hope yours is the same. As far as your interest goes by posting here I can tell your on the right path. Cobs are proven technology and you will be happy once your first cob lights up.

 

[BigSm0]

I'm trying to retrofit my MARS300 unit. Will 4 Citizen 3500k 1212s be a good fit for this? The COBs are $12 each. Stock heatsink not enough you think? Trying to do this really cheap, but don't want to burn them out. Will use Arctic Cooling MX-4 paste, get holders and drill them into the heatsink.

How efficient are the drivers? Might end up just doing a scratch build if these aren't that great.

https://led.cdiweb.com/ProductDetail/CLU0481212C4353M2K1-Citizen-Electronics-Co-Ltd/585065/

Most cob conversion builds including myself start out with Cree 2530's since the cobs and holders are inexpensive. Since the citizen took its fame I haven't seen any converted panels yet. But I'm sure there will be plenty soon. Without knowing what your drivers are rated at I can't say if they will work or how many you can run. But usually the stock heat sink and fans are enough. You usually have about 50% less heat vs the mars anyways. If you plan on doing a build it is recommended that you use real cob holders too. You can remove the cobs at a later date and the mechanical bond is much better. You will thank me in the future.

 

[BigSm0]

Sorry if I missed anything. Understand people don't necessarily like ripping apart perfectly operating panels but after they are slightly disappointed in their success. The conversion is the simple solution to converting an expensive door stop into a real photon producing panel your plants will love. Cobs put on major weight and I can almost guarantee that the yields should double with the addition to cobs vs what's in them now.

Head over to the DIY section and check out the current builds. Jupiter just finished his 3rd kind led conversion and there is a lot of info there as well as new builds.

 

[Dudeski]

Thanks @BigSm0 !

 

[BigSm0]

Thanks @BigSm0 !

Thank you for the heads up. Gotta get these guys and forum on track lol. Plus I'm about to drop a bomb on DIY lighting and the more interested the better.