Can I interest anyone in a blimp?
1 Like
Itâs not supposed to be no hearingâŚjust an excited monkey.
1 Like
That`s better, now it might stick.
Thermal paste and epoxy.
Its in there solid, not the neatest job but it werks.
Holy jeebus thats bright, been seeing spots for 20min, donât look kids, I did it for your safety.
Havent even made the inside reflective, maybe I can skip that 
Feels like sunlight when you hold your hand under it, its gonna need some height to not fry seedlings, better order those dimmer pots too.
The aluminum arm I have planned is not attached yet, the thin pan doesnât conduct enough heat alone, shut things down after 5min, keeps rising past 70C on the LED substrate, no bueno.
Next time, the finishing touches.
5 Likes
Ok, when I saw the bread pan last night I thought it was a good idea; now that I see your results itâs a great idea. How did you treat the pan before applying epoxy?
1 Like
Hey thanks, preparation was done with 40grit sandpaper.
Shouldâve made a little more thermal epoxy, luckily they can manage without perfect heat transfer.
Cant get to my preferred store due to germophobic humans/bureaucrats, so it will be a week or so before I get my aluminum arm installed, maybe youâll like the design, might be a dud but it looks great in my head 
2 Likes
My thoughts were a simple wooden gantry, screwed into the pan with nylon washers to protect the wood⌠I just realized I read your temp in freedom units though- might be a bit hot for wood. Steel? Seems cheaper than aluminum these days, and at this scale I wouldnât worry about weight.
1 Like
It was not removing heat fast enough, that pan doesnât have the mass or heat conductivity needed, would eventually burn out the LED strips, 70-80C(~170F) and above is not where you want to hang out with LEDs.
With a more robust bread pan your plan would be just fine, mine is so thin walled, feather weight, dollar stores finest. Benefit tho, I will be able to make a stylish but non too thick support arm, maybe even coming in from just one side.
Alu I can bend by hand, its light, conducts heat really well and doesnât rust, but if you donât have any troubles working with steel or iron, why not.
1 Like
I think you might be over-driving those strips if Iâm reading this correctly.
If you do not have a 100K linear pot attached, then that driver is running full power. That means 1.67 amps. Iâm guessing the strips are rated at 700mA?
Do you have the Model number handy? Iâll look up the spec.
Working the thermal numbers backwards, the strips are typically rated at max. 85C (Tc). Iâve previously calculated the thermal resistance of the strip at 7.6C (lets call it 10C) so the max temperature at the back of the strip would be 75C. Iâd suggest 50C as the maximum temperature measured at the top of the pan (where you measured the 56C)
You can knock off a few degrees by drilling 4x 1/4" holes through the corners of the pan so the hot air pooling up under there can bleed out.
You are going to love that setup when you get that pot hooked up. 
Cheers
G
3 Likes
Thanks, nice to know more precise numbers, the âif you smell burntâ isnât as accurate.
Cant find anything with whats on the package. Says 24pcs lm301h 20-28v 600mA.
24V straight from the hose, was hoping pots to be included, no such luck.
Excited to get things going, once i attach a ~40x3mm strip of aluminum in direct contact with the back of the pan, should cool things down a little.
Here are some pics of planting strawberry seeds.
Keep wondering how this is going to turn out, growing these exactly like I would with weed, hopefully fantastic
Washed fresh outa the bag perlite, GH flora ~500uS , Ph 5.7.
Wow , working with tiny seeds, kept finding a few more here n there for 5min.
They stick everywhere, first try to get them to stick to you so you can flick them at the substrate and hope for the best. most of them I just poured in with the soak water.
Off to bed they go, recipe says bake for 1-2 weeks, cool and dark.
To be continuedâŚ
5 Likes
Yep, over driven by about 30%⌠each strip should be getting about 800mA right now, get that pot hooked up and it should be better.
3 Likes
Everything is pretty much here.
Pots are nearly here, surprisingly fast ship.
Got my hands on some rather thin aluminum sheet, will have to do for now.
Works, ends up at 65C up top, a little too hot overdriven but would be doable, addition of a backing strip would do it. Will wait for the pots, turn them down a notch.
3 Likes