Data sheet for HLG rspec fr quantum board/general help

Reekwind

Member
Great idea with the walkways, it's a pain to reach the back of a 4x4 :)

Love the visualizations, it makes it much easier to understand what you're trying to do.

The cheap and easy way is going with 3x 260w kits from HLG for $750

If you're into buying from China, you can get HLG knock offs and strip lights at good prices from https://kingbriteled.en.alibaba.com/index.html?spm=a2700.wholesale.0.0.31fe4290uJfCnJ&from=detail&productId=62118075150
I know several people who bought from them with success.

The awesome DIY way is building 6x 200w lights for $1000ish
24x https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/samsung-semiconductor-inc/SI-B8V321560WW/21269180 ($350)
You can ''see'' the strips here https://led.samsung.com/lighting/led-modules/industrial-light-module/h-influx/
6x https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/mean-well-usa-inc/HLG-185H-24B/7703949 ($380)
And some heatsinks or 2mm thick aluminum U channels, wire, connectors, plugs, potentiometers, nuts and bolts or thermal tape.

You might be able to find the bits a little cheaper at other electronics wholesale stores.

Here's a picture of a similar light I built a bunch of a while ago:
IMG_20200804_171751.jpg


Quick comparison:

HLG
Price: $750
Diodes: 1,728
Watts: 780
Pros: Price, minimal manual labor
Cons: less coverage, less power


DIY
Price: $1000ish
Diodes: 2.112
Watts: 1200
Pros: Better coverage, more power
Cons: Price, manual labor

The red diodes are so few that it barely makes a difference whether they're there or not, so I won't take that into consideration in the comparison.

Both will perform very well in your situation.
 

mscritch

Member
Great idea with the walkways, it's a pain to reach the back of a 4x4 :)

Love the visualizations, it makes it much easier to understand what you're trying to do.

The cheap and easy way is going with 3x 260w kits from HLG for $750

If you're into buying from China, you can get HLG knock offs and strip lights at good prices from https://kingbriteled.en.alibaba.com/index.html?spm=a2700.wholesale.0.0.31fe4290uJfCnJ&from=detail&productId=62118075150
I know several people who bought from them with success.

The awesome DIY way is building 6x 200w lights for $1000ish
24x https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/samsung-semiconductor-inc/SI-B8V321560WW/21269180 ($350)
You can ''see'' the strips here https://led.samsung.com/lighting/led-modules/industrial-light-module/h-influx/
6x https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/mean-well-usa-inc/HLG-185H-24B/7703949 ($380)
And some heatsinks or 2mm thick aluminum U channels, wire, connectors, plugs, potentiometers, nuts and bolts or thermal tape.

You might be able to find the bits a little cheaper at other electronics wholesale stores.

Here's a picture of a similar light I built a bunch of a while ago:
View attachment 5364877


Quick comparison:

HLG
Price: $750
Diodes: 1,728
Watts: 780
Pros: Price, minimal manual labor
Cons: less coverage, less power


DIY
Price: $1000ish
Diodes: 2.112
Watts: 1200
Pros: Better coverage, more power
Cons: Price, manual labor

The red diodes are so few that it barely makes a difference whether they're there or not, so I won't take that into consideration in the comparison.

Both will perform very well in your situation.
My dude, you are awesome, thank you so much.

So both of these have roughly the same amount of red diodes? The rspec 260 kits are what got me looking at the quantum board, because I liked what people were saying about them but wanted to be able to spread them out farther. If thats the case, no brainer, ill just do the strips and make it easy.

As far as heat sink goes, it doesnt have to be a specific grade of aluminum right? Just any old aluminum of the right thickness and size? Im a sheetmetal worker so i can get alum cheap or free from our scrap

I priced out the rest of the stuff already based on the thread linked earlier, though i may need more now to do it in 6 lights

You said i can wire these to a control panel of sorts and have a single plug or maybe 2 plugs and have them dim evenly? 6 cords will also drive up the price. I thought about soldering to save cost on connectors too? Im a welder so soldering is nbd, but ive only done very little electrical soldering. Would soldering be a bad idea for any reason?
 

Reekwind

Member
My dude, you are awesome, thank you so much.

So both of these have roughly the same amount of red diodes? The rspec 260 kits are what got me looking at the quantum board, because I liked what people were saying about them but wanted to be able to spread them out farther. If thats the case, no brainer, ill just do the strips and make it easy.

As far as heat sink goes, it doesnt have to be a specific grade of aluminum right? Just any old aluminum of the right thickness and size? Im a sheetmetal worker so i can get alum cheap or free from our scrap

I priced out the rest of the stuff already based on the thread linked earlier, though i may need more now to do it in 6 lights

You said i can wire these to a control panel of sorts and have a single plug or maybe 2 plugs and have them dim evenly? 6 cords will also drive up the price. I thought about soldering to save cost on connectors too? Im a welder so soldering is nbd, but ive only done very little electrical soldering. Would soldering be a bad idea for any reason?
The strips don't have red diodes but the red diodes in the boards have minuscule effect, especially when compared to more overall light and not being able to switch red spectrums on/off independently.

Yes, any aluminum will do, it's mostly about surface area for heat dissipation. If you want to bolt the strips to the heatsink you gotta make sure there's room for the screws (+ head width) on the inside of the U channel. If you want to use thermal tape the outside width should at least match the strip width.
Remember to leave a bit room at each end for bolting the heatsink to the frame.
It's a big plus that you know how to work with metal, the heatsinks and framing is the hard part of a light build.

A control board is definitely possible. Keeping the drivers outside the tent keeps the heat in the tent a bit lower.
I usually do one dimmer per light for adjustability and there's also a limit to how much power a single dimmer can handle but it should be possible to find one that can dim all 6 lights together.
The easiest is to have driver and dimmer on each light, and from each driver a 6' AC cord with AC plug running to a 6-slot mulit socket extension cord at the top of the tent that's connected to a timer and then the outlet.. Because you'll basically have 6 individually functioning lights that can be moved and used in other tents and each light can be easily serviced without having to shut down everything.
The same principle without AC plugs can be applied to a control panel outside the tent with drivers and potentiometer(s).

I highly recommend NOT soldering anything!
The Wago push connectors are so much easier to work with and you only need 12x 5-ports and 12x 2-ports for all 6 lights, and if something isn't connected correctly backtracking is going to be a major PITA!
 

Reekwind

Member
That’s a really good deal, less than half the normal price.
Great find, thanks for sharing (:

@mscritch If you have cheap access to alumunum you can get q-series strips. You just gotta use around 60 strips total.
If you feel like going for that, let me know and I’ll help you pick out some drivers .

Also, I think I forgot to mention Octopart, you can search for part numbers like SI-B8V321560WW and compare prices from different vendors.
 

mscritch

Member
Hell yeah man! Thank you. I may try that. Only worry is that i dont want any intermingling between the groups of 4 as they'll be harvested at different times, so if they overgrow their net, it could make harvest a pita, however, for the extra room it may be worth it to either cut that net shorter and wider for that section or tie them into the net more carefully there.
 

mscritch

Member
That’s a really good deal, less than half the normal price.
Great find, thanks for sharing (:

@mscritch If you have cheap access to alumunum you can get q-series strips. You just gotta use around 60 strips total.
If you feel like going for that, let me know and I’ll help you pick out some drivers .

Also, I think I forgot to mention Octopart, you can search for part numbers like SI-B8V321560WW and compare prices from different vendors.
I did look on octo part and found the drivers i think cheaper than what you had quoted. All together priced out around 750 for that build with the wagos and thermal tape, i may just bolt because i can likely get them for free. Not counting alum because ill figure out how to grab that, should be np for me. If we dont have scrap i can go to our suppliers and get the company price on it. I already have wire I think.

Now with the q series lights, i can get it down even cheaper. Are there any pros or cons (besides more wiring) to using those over the influx you suggested? Roughly same diodes and fl?
 

mscritch

Member
1000001673.jpg1000001674.jpg1000001675.jpg

I remembered i have this piece of aluminum diamond plate laying around, it looks to be 14 or 11 ga, def over a 16th which is what the standard 2mm equivalent is, I can shear it into even strips.. any reason this couldnt work for heat sink?
 

Fallguy111

Well-Known Member
View attachment 5365095View attachment 5365096View attachment 5365097

I remembered i have this piece of aluminum diamond plate laying around, it looks to be 14 or 11 ga, def over a 16th which is what the standard 2mm equivalent is, I can shear it into even strips.. any reason this couldnt work for heat sink?
If you’re going with the Samsung strips you don’t need heat sinks. Even hlg qb’s don’t need heatsinks if running at <50watt. Build a frame that can be hung level and attach strips.
 

mscritch

Member
If you’re going with the Samsung strips you don’t need heat sinks. Even hlg qb’s don’t need heatsinks if running at <50watt. Build a frame that can be hung level and attach strips.
Thanks for the advice man. Any input between the Q series and Influx strips?
 

Reekwind

Member
I did look on octo part and found the drivers i think cheaper than what you had quoted. All together priced out around 750 for that build with the wagos and thermal tape, i may just bolt because i can likely get them for free. Not counting alum because ill figure out how to grab that, should be np for me. If we dont have scrap i can go to our suppliers and get the company price on it. I already have wire I think.

Now with the q series lights, i can get it down even cheaper. Are there any pros or cons (besides more wiring) to using those over the influx you suggested? Roughly same diodes and fl?
The Q-series have 40 diodes per strip vs 88 diodes on the H-inFlux strips, so just use 120% more strips and you're good.
You can get away with a lesser heatsink for the Q-series.

You'll get a better spread but beacause they're a less than half the power of the H-inFlux I suggest having the strips ''weighted'' towards the ends of the light to get a more even PPFD spread.


DRIVER SUGGESTIONS:

For the Q-series I'd use an HLG 185h-C700B (serial connection) you can run up to 12 strips on this to get to 200w.

OR an XLG200 H-AB (mixed connection) which can power 10 strips to 200w.
It's basically a parallel build but you link two strips in series(one wire + to + ) and treat the two strips as though they were one. You need a watt meter for this since the driver must be set to the correct voltage. This driver can actually output 10-15% more than it says on the tin. This is the trickiest to build but the drivers are cheaper and can give fewer strips more power which is impossible with the serial build.

XLG is definitely my favorite driver series, especially the H-AB models rock :)



View attachment 5365095View attachment 5365096View attachment 5365097

I remembered i have this piece of aluminum diamond plate laying around, it looks to be 14 or 11 ga, def over a 16th which is what the standard 2mm equivalent is, I can shear it into even strips.. any reason this couldnt work for heat sink?
I've seen people use cookie trays :) Can't vouch for their effectiveness though, I'd always have a bit of air between each strip.

If you can cut it into 60x 25-30mm x 600mm pieces I'm quite sure it'll be sufficient for 20w strips.
I've run them on 2x20x20mm u channels and they we're cool to touch

I would build the lights dimensioned 600mm x 500mm - 600mm is strip length + room for bolting framing to it and 500mm is to leave a little room between lights and tent walls.

It's a good idea to buff the aluminum so the surface the strips are attached to is rather smooth to ensure the best heat transfer.
 

Sade

Well-Known Member
Absolutely love DIY lights and just built scorpion diablo refurbished and saved $600. Just be careful mixing different lights and spectrums. I haven't met a single person in 8 years on rollitup or grasscity forums that has phd in Photobiology and botany (photosynthesis). Hell even top people in those fields of research still have absolutely no idea still in how many photons are being absorbed % and exact nano meter wavelength of spectrum being used during the whole life cycle of the plants except "they like blue during veg and red in flower" NASA has recently discovered the green spectrum actually does have a use during photosynthesis and since it bounces off the chlorophyll within the cellulose wall. It actually helps carry photons further down the canopy for stomata to absorb on pedioles beneath canopy.

What I'm getting at is that there is a shit ton of BROscience in the cannabis industry due to it being illegal for decades but these days and inevitable federal legislation tons of research has brought real science researched by reputable PhD professionals in the associated field. Has exposed alot of misinformation being spread among grow forums as well as on farms. One people dont accept is that Flushing in the end does absolutely nothing except starve your plants before you harvest. No living creature or plant knows they will be dying in 2 weeks and just stops consuming food and just water for half a month lol.

Anyways different spectrums can actually cause a lot more stress on the plants than you may think and visually see like nutrient burn, spider mites etc. Horticulture lighting group has a YouTube episode basically saying that teaming up with Samsung Electronics was a lifesaver because of all the knowledgeable people in the industry itself. Just be careful one spectrum colored diode can make a big difference but a single or couple diodes at a time and go from there because experimenting is how we all learn as well and also makes it fun.
 

Roguedawg

Well-Known Member
Sade Just because the forums were full of broscience during the outlaw days does not mean there were not real plant scientists growing back then that were using these so called new practices way back then. They didnt post on forums back then because they were outlaws and being hunted by leo.
 

mscritch

Member
Im making an order today or tomorrow for sure, hoping to have everything built within two weeks so i can start flowering my currently vegging girls.

Still undecided whether i want to go h-influx or q series though. The q series is like over 200 cheaper, if its the same except more wiring, then I might as well go that route. I just need to make sure my wiring is correct. Ive drawn a diagram of course, thats how my brain works. Is this correct @Reekwind ? Obviously, this is only 2 lights, 1/3 of the total project. 3 strips per bar? How wide are the strips? I cant seem to find that. But i can shear my aluminum to whatever size, so i think 3 strips per bar will be good?
 
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