LED; Chips(SMD) vs COBs

[Shon]

I was looking at several manufacture spectrum charts for 10k in t5 and halides. I opened a new tab and started looking at leds.

Then a question popped in my head.

Why are there nearly no COB style lights? No not multiple SMDs on a PCB (board/puck/array), actual COBs. Those dinky, tiny dots that emit the light, crammed into a small space. I see few manufactures like Kessil using them (they call it a "matrix", I think that is still a COB?).

Why couldn't a company use a 6.5k cob, 450nm cob and mix in violet/uv smds to replicate a 10k or whichever desired kelvin light? I see most lights like old time candy dots on wax paper strips, a little unappealing for 2014, let alone 3 years later, today 2017.

 

[Robthorn]

Reefgrow had a light like this that I used for over 2 years with very good success. I do not know the spectrum but each chip has whites and blues and the cob is a total of 40 watts and they have other single led's surrounding it. Unfortunately they are out of production. I still have 8 of them with 2 controllers. I switched to Radion for web access.

 

[Shon]

I wonder if to use a high output COB, one would need recessed ceiling lights because they're so intense.

Reefgrow had a light like this that I used for over 2 years with very good success. I do not know the spectrum but each chip has whites and blues and the cob is a total of 40 watts and they have other single led's surrounding it. Unfortunately they are out of production. I still have 8 of them with 2 controllers. I switched to Radion for web access.

Sounds kind of like flip-chip but all I see for those is horticulture.

Edit: They still have a site and a product like that, "X3"

Edit 2: Found your posts from 2015/16, and no where for product. Kind of what I wanted too, lol.

 

[Shon]

Think I'll DIY. I see passive pin heatsinks are a thing, meaning no fans, less watts. RapidLED even has the 450nm cobs, as does CobKits. Cutter has 390nm, 400nm and 410nm pcb strips.

More research.. yay

 

[Robthorn]

Reefgrow is still a company for salt and additives but at this time they are not making lights from my understanding. I have been using there salt for about a year and a half now.

I searched for an alternative but I didn't find anything I thought was worth taking a chance on. The Reefgrow optic is good too and I had no disco at all.

 

[Lingwendil]

Do these to get a better result than most-

https://blueacro.com/acrostar/

He will even do them with different chips if you ask. I have a pair and they ROCK!

 

[Shon]

Do these to get a better result than most-

https://blueacro.com/acrostar/

He will even do them with different chips if you ask. I have a pair and they ROCK!

A plug'n play smd puck, US local, unlike Cutter (Australia) so shipping should be cheaper. I'll look into it more. Thanks!

 

[Robthorn]

Thats a nice looking board. Might be something worth playing with.

 

[Shon]

Thats a nice looking board. Might be something worth playing with.

I looked into that PM you sent me. Cant find it without having to MOQ 100 units. I even tried the good old line of "a sample request", even with the x+ more $ for a single unit and no dealer took the bite.

 

[Lingwendil]

Thats a nice looking board. Might be something worth playing with.

He posts under the username Theatrus on a couple other forums, and is a great dude to work with. It's actually a bit cheaper than doing your own array in some instances, and you can easily make up your own pendants, or like I did, throw a pair on one of the Premium 6"x20" Heatsink from RapidLED, and have a nice little rig that looks like an off the shelf project.





I'm testing one of his production prototype boards using the Luxeon C, with a custom arrangement of emitters...

One channel is 1x Luxeon 90CRI white, 1x Luxeon "mint", 1x Luxeon Royal blue, and the other channel is 3x Luxeon Royal blue, 1x SemiLEDs violet (U70 bin, 415-425nm).

I like a nice 20k look, and in person this turned out almost exactly like a 20k Radium with both channels driven at the same current. Great arrays to build with.