Many buildings in Barnstaple at that time, of which a few remain today, were built of cob. Building Byelaws of 1902 referred to walls of brick or stone or other non-combustible material properly bonded and solidly put together. Note the requirement for bonding again, something that mass cob, as a form of monolithic construction, cannot attain. The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or agreement of the International Conference of Building Officials.
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There are so many advantages to building your own LED grow light, from savings to customization to output. Making your own light is a lot of fun and if you put money towards creating your own light rather than buying a premade unit off of Amazon or eBay, you’ll end up with a final product that’s FAR more powerful and efficient.Since I first wrote this article, it’s gotten much, much easier to build your own lights. The part that proved most difficult in the early days was finding a heat sink for your DIY COB grow light, but now there are all sorts of heat sinks available that come pre-drilled for a variety of popular COBs, so I think it’s worth revisiting this and giving it a little revamp. We’ll start with examining how to build your light the easy way, then have a look at the original, more involved option, where you’re drilling your own heat sink. METHOD 1: THE EASY WAYLet’s use a common build for this tutorial: 4x 36 volt COBs on a Mean Well HLG-185H-C1400.
This setup works out to be about 50 watts per COB, 200W total. A light like this will cover a space of about 2.5’x2.5′ for flowering plants and will cover up to 3’x3′ for vegetative growth or leafy greens.
A Mean Well HLG-185H-C1400B LED driver. ToolsHere’s what I needed for tools for this build:. Wire Strippers. Screwdriver. Soldering iron. Old Plastic Card to Spread Thermal GreaseAssembly 1. Installing the COBs in COB HoldersThe first step is an easy one.
Take your COB and fit it into one of your COB holders. There’s generally a springy little tab that you’ll need to depress, and a couple corners you’ll need to fit your COB into. The back of the holder will likely have a plus symbol to indicate which side you need to match with the positive side of the COB. The front of the COB will have this same symbol – just make sure to match them up.2. Apply Thermal Compound to the Back of the COBThere are a few different ways to do this.
You can use thermal compound, which is the way I always do it, or you can purchase handy little thermal pads that are sized for your particular COB – though these may be more expensive. If you go the thermal compound route, put a pea-sized amount of it on the back of the COB and spread it out with an old plastic card:3. Fasten the COB & Holder to the Heat SinkIf you’ve purchased the right heat sinks for your particular model of COB, they will have come with pre-drilled holes that match the mounting points of your holders. When you line the holder up, make sure that not only do the screw holes line up to fasten it down, but the screw holes for attaching an optional reflector also line up:4. Terminate Your LED Driver AC ConnectionIf you’re unfamiliar with working with electricity, consider enlisting some help on the driver terminations – otherwise, do this at your own risk. Make sure everything is unplugged until you’re 100% complete and certain everything is wired correctly.I really like the connector I used to terminate for this example because it’s waterproof and provides excellent stress relief for the cable (if the wire gets tugged on, it won’t rip it out of the connector). You can use a connector like I did, or a number of others like a NEMA 5-15P or IEC-style power connectors.Consult your driver’s manual for information on wiring the AC connection.
Some may have information printed on the case of the driver – mine tells me that the brown wire is my line (hot), the blue wire is neutral, and the green wire is ground. Make sure you screw the connections down very tightly no matter which style connector you use, and be sure there aren’t any stray strands of copper that manage to poke out. I terminated my driver into one side of the connector, then attached my power cord to the other side of the connector. I matched the black of the power cord to the brown of the driver, the white of the power cord to the blue of the driver (neutral), and the green of the power cord to the green of the driver (ground). Make sure you’ve properly identified the colors of your specific power cord – they may not be the same as mine.For more info on terminating a standard power plug instead, read 5. Terminate Your LED Driver DC ConnectionThe same safety rules apply for the DC side of the driver as the AC side. Get help if you’re not comfortable with this and be sure to double-check all the connections, then only power it on when you’re positive everything is done correctly.The DC side is much easier than the AC side.
Most people use Wago connectors for the DC side, and they’re a breeze. Just strip back the driver output wires a little and then snap them into 2 separate Wagos. When you’re ready to connect all your COBs, the positive side of the COB run will be connected into these the positive Wago and the negative side of the COB run will go to the negative Wago (we’re using a series connection in this build).5. Terminate Your Dimming Potentiometer (“B” Style Drivers Only)If you buy a Mean Well driver that ends with a “B” (e.g. An HLG-185-C1400 B), you’ll need to terminate an external potentiometer on it in order to dim the light.
If you get the “A” version of the same driver, it will come with a built-in screw terminal that can be used to dim the driver. Here’s how to terminate an external potentiometer on a B type driver:5. Build a FrameThis video covers the frame build process from start to finish for these 4 Citizen COBs.6. Connect the COBs to the Driver09/06/17: Coming soon hang tight! For now, METHOD 2: THE HARD WAYIf you don’t go with a pre-drilled heat sink, you can make your own out of a CPU cooler. ComponentsMy parts list for this build is as follows:. 1x Bridgelux Vero 18 (BXRC-50E4001-C-74) with Wire Harness.
1x. 1x. If you go with a bigger COB, make sure your CPU cooler has enough surface area on its face to mount the COB. 1x. 1x 10 Pack of (I would highly recommend using, as they are even nicer to work with.
Hi LEDGardener I only grow vegetables and consumables other then cannabis medicine.My grow area is 8×12 and I am on a budget that means kids and wife. ?So for super hots they seem to need less light then weed in other words. I’m liking the gpu fan and heat sink because of cost it seems.
We can start small and work our way up. Upon researching the cobs I find the crew to be over priced in comparison to citizen or vero cobs.I do want to get full spectrum for flowering and veg so as to not have to change setup. It seems i don’t need veg bloom cycle like weed just regular natural plant light or similar. We will use the kratky bucket system, DWC.Please suggest what I can do for 500 USD and to grow as many as possible as well as 2 heirloom tomatoes for salsa. ? we plan on defying nature as usual and growing super hots all winter, then once growing season comes we acclimate them and bring them out side to become huge pepper bushes with 100s of peppers that we sell to locals for fun and to pay for the system. Please help with this build.
I do have pretty extensive mechanical and electronics aptitude as well as basic math skills so it should not be hard.It seems I am ready to purchase yet I need one final bit of guidance because I haven’t tested these lights. Thanks for this awesome blog and your sugfestions.
With the first recorded mud buildings dating back to 8,000BC in Jericho, cob building – building with mud – has a long history. In fact more than 30 per cent of the world’s population still live in buildings that are built of earth.The material is now making something of a comeback in the developed world, thanks to its worthy eco credentials. Mud is extracted from clay, mixed with water, aggregate and straw and then built into a house. Such simplicity obviously leaves a small carbon footprint, but a building like this will need regular maintenance, with an annual lime wash being a must. You’ll also need a ready supply of clay. If you live in an area with no clay subsoil or where it gets excessively cold for long periods of time, then cob building is not for you.
How do you build with cob?Cob building is usually best served by building in the round, and it can be sculpted into all sorts of free-form curves and shapes, giving a lovely, organic shape. Most people thinking of cob building for the first time will be self-builders, but it is possible to use the services of professional cob builders.Whichever route you choose, it’s worthwhile consulting with experts in the field or with experienced cob self-builders. It’s also advisable for a first-timer to try a small project such as a wall or summer house. While the raw materials are very cheap – if not free – cob building is an incredibly labour intensive way of building and it takes both time and energy. It lends itself to a large labour force, so getting friends and family involved is well worth while if you can persuade them.
What is the right mix?Essentially cob is made from the clay that is found in the subsoil underneath the topsoil, and to produce cob you need to dig down to this layer and analyse the clay content of your subsoil to see if it’s suitable. To make a good, strong building material you need between 15-25 per cent clay mixed with between 75-85 per cent sand/aggregate mixed with water.Depending on the content of your subsoil you will need to add more or less of these materials. Getting the balance of your mix right is essential, and it’s worth creating different batches to experiment with and to get to grips with the material. Clay itself is unstable and will shrink and swell with changes in its water content, so mixing it helps create stability.The ideal way to build is to have a source of clay on site or at least very close to it. If not, you will need to source it, for example, in excavated subsoil that would otherwise be dumped – most specifically from the digging of foundations on large building sites.The final ingredient you need for cob is fresh, long straw (not hay), but it must be dry – once damp its strengthening function is compromised. On top of strength, the straw helps absorb movement and spreads out stresses, creating numerous hairline cracks rather than single, large cracks that are likely to splinter a wall in two.Mixing the material is dependent on time and finances – you can mix on a tarpaulin using your feet or use a JCB to help you. Be warned, though that mixing cob is a time consuming skill.
It’s worth getting help in or buying a good guide book to help you with mixing techniques as it’s an enormously important process, see the contacts for more information. What tools do you need?Cob buildings are traditionally laid on stone foundations bound by lime mortar or even poured limecrete. The building tools you’ll need are fairly simple, forks, spades and wooden thwackers – all of which are easily obtained or can be homemade. Constructing cob walls is hugely time consuming. Even when a cob home is built it dries from the outside in, so it can take up to a year for a building in our climate to dry out.Electricity and plumbing need to be factored in at an early stage, and be aware that leaks could compromise the cob, so ensure good access to pipes is factored in throughout your build. Is it easy to get planning permission?As with all builds, it is necessary to get planning permission and satisfy Building Regulations. While this may be complicated there is no reason why you should fall short of meeting the Building Regulations, but obtaining planning permission will depend on the outlook of your local planning office.
When approaching the planners it’s worth finding and photographing local cob buildings to help support your planning application – a local heritage group may be able to point you in the right direction.