DIY LED Options in a 2'x3'x2.6' Cabinet

Hey all, hoping to get some suggestions and advice on my planned cab, particularly on the lighting. I've not used LED before (HPS and CFL, in different spaces), but I'm keen to get my head around it and build myself a light setup. Learned a BUNCH already reading here and elsewhere, enough to get proper confused and need some pointers!

Long story short, I'm looking at a SoG in soil, with a very short veg, flowering in a 2x3 foot space that's 2.6 high (so, 2 foot 7 inches... I'm a metric kid so apologies if I'm fucking up the units!) The cabinet will be a bit longer than that, to make space for the climate control and a mums/clones area, but I'm mainly worrying about the flowering for now. In flower, I'd have about 8" height for pots, 15" for the plants, and another 8" for lights.

So my first question: is it going to be a problem having the LEDs that close to the tops of the plants? I can maybe get a couple inches more height if I absolutely have to, but I'm close to the limits of space available to me.

Second question: Can anyone give me a quick-and-dirty idea on strips vs COBs? From looking at my local suppliers, it seems like strip components are more expensive for the same amount of light, but that might be me misunderstanding. Obviously the spread would be better under strips, and I imagine heatsinking might be easier with the LEDs spread out over a strip, compared to concentrated in 8 or so COBs...

I should also say, I'm leaning more towards quality and efficiency than low cost.

Anyway, there's a ton more I need to learn, but that's a start. Thanks for your time, look forward to any input!

Working in such limited headroom is going to be challenging.
Check out Lost Leaf Matt(lostleafmatt) on IG. He runs a small commercial grow in MI with a rack system. https://www.instagram.com/lostleafmatt/
You may get some ideas from him.

I’d go with strips for sure. With the right strips, your plants can grow into and literally touch the lights with no harm done. COBs still put out quite a bit of heat, hence the big heat sinks or fans!

I flower in @ 40" of space and have my new flower tent set up w 2 40" racks. still in veg tent atm but will post photos once it's up and running. 30" is doable but going to be a tight squeeze no matter what. your biggest issue from what I can see will be airflow. you will need to find a way to keep air moving thru there and with every square inch full it's going to be a challenge.

fwiw having tried SOG in a small space, it is more effort than its worth. had to defoliate/lollipop everything all the time. id suggest just scrog 1 or 2 plants max in there. it will only add a few weeks of veg and will be more manageable long term. I think it will be easier to manage the height as well.

I would definitely go for strips. you can get them within an inch or 2 of your space ceiling. see if you can get bridgelux eb2 strips for a good low cost option. or look into the bridgelux vesta series. there are older ones that are 25V and newer versions that are 20V for about $10-15 per 2ft strip. 6 would be good, 8 would be ideal. not as high lm/w as Samsung (which tbh in that short of a space probably doesn't even matter) but you can get a higher CRI, and best of all they are tuneable so make a nice full spectrum light w both 2700k and 5000k rows of leds. a few threads about them if you search.

Damn, thanks for the quick replies everyone!

Just had a quick look at Lost Leaf Matt, that's an impressive setup! I'll have to have a good dig there and see what I can pick up.

Sounds like strips it is then - I like the idea of a tuneable system, and yeah, heat was definitely worrying me some. Totally agree on the airflow too, it's going to be a challenge. I'm hoping that an outsized extractor, well placed intakes, and some creative PC fan placement will get the job done... Only one way to find out!

Scrog might end up being the way to go, once I've got the thing up and running I'll give it a jam

Thanks again for the input folks, I really appreciate it! Gonna be a couple of months most likely before I'm up and running, but I'll post something once the build's underway, and when I've got some girls in there.

Cheers!

Hey there,

Where do you get your clones from?