Hlg 260 r spec help! Scam?

mrpopo93

Member
Hey! I just bought 6x hlg r spec 260 kits, i was going to buy them from the us and pay for shipping to eu but they had eu reseller links on Their website. I ordered from a company called todogrowled that also makes their own lights, based in spain so i got free shipping and taxes. I payed a total of 1800 eu for the lights and i got them very quickly within a few days. I have a couple of chinese 480w meiju boards from before but wanted to pay a little extra and get the real product so i could know 100 % what i was getting.

Heres the problem(s). First thing i noticed when i opened the cardboxes was that it wasnt the standard white box with the hlg logo on it but didnt think much about it except that i notoced it. I took out all the parts, opened all the boxes and quickly noticed that i didnt get the much talked about drivers ”hlg-240~etc” which hlg ceo Stephen always praises and refers too as the best driver there is. I got some kind of copy called elg.. Ive heard him talking about companys that stole and copied his products countless times and he also says that none of them has the same quality so i was pissed that i didnt get the real stuff when i ordered from a company that hlg is partner with. Even the chinese meiju boards use the hI continued opening everything and There was not a single hlg driver from 6x kits all of them were the ELG kind. I had been doing some research and looking at diy hlg kits assemblys on youtube and instructions. It looked really simple and nothing hard at all even though i dont have any experience with it and it was alot cheaper too. I startes building it but my wires werent the same colors as everyone elses on videos and other guides but i managed to find which one to use where by listening and the ELG driver had a sticker with which color was + and etc. But when i aassembledit exactly as the youtubers with the only differense that most of them used 4x wagos instead of the waterproof thing. (I only got 2x wagos instead of 4x in all the packages) it didnt work and i thought it was the driver. I assembled anorher one and found another way to wire them in series on the hlg website (both were series i know i cant do parallell) but it didnt work either. I have no idea what to do and feel pretty helpless since i dont know any electricians that can help me or tell me whats wrong :/ You guys have any ideas?

I bought the HLGs cause i wanted to know what i was getting and be sure of the quality. I like i was scammed :/.

Sent a Mail to hlg and asked about it and they responded with ”
The kits get plain brown packaging, not the white boxes like the HLG 550, HLG 100, and HLG 65. Some of our international distributors just purchase our Quantum Boards and put their own drivers to save on shipping and customs fees. If you want our kits, you can always order direct from HLG, but be aware you will have to pay customs and taxes levied by your country.” How can they do this?

the website i ordered on ishttps://www.todogrowled.com/gb/
 

mrpopo93

Member
ELG is a solid driver. Especially for you EU users on 240V AC main. You'll need to take a couple pics of your wiring so we can help you out as fast as possible.
It is?? Thank you! Thats a huge relief! Im at work atm working the night shift but ill be home in an hour or so and ill send pictures.

Thank you!!!
 

BigSco508

Well-Known Member
First off HLG didn't scam you bud no one ever told you to read the fine print before you buy something on the Internet is a wondrous but also dangerous thing.

Never trust any website that pop's up whether it be direct partners or not just to save a few bucks. Just some advice for your future endeavor's !
 

Psyphish

Well-Known Member
So Todogrowled is still shipping products? I ordered their TLG 240 fixture 10 days ago but haven't received any information on shipping yet. Spain is having a hard time with the corona virus so I figured they'd stopped shipping orders.
 

PadawanWarrior

Well-Known Member
Hey! I just bought 6x hlg r spec 260 kits, i was going to buy them from the us and pay for shipping to eu but they had eu reseller links on Their website. I ordered from a company called todogrowled that also makes their own lights, based in spain so i got free shipping and taxes. I payed a total of 1800 eu for the lights and i got them very quickly within a few days. I have a couple of chinese 480w meiju boards from before but wanted to pay a little extra and get the real product so i could know 100 % what i was getting.

Heres the problem(s). First thing i noticed when i opened the cardboxes was that it wasnt the standard white box with the hlg logo on it but didnt think much about it except that i notoced it. I took out all the parts, opened all the boxes and quickly noticed that i didnt get the much talked about drivers ”hlg-240~etc” which hlg ceo Stephen always praises and refers too as the best driver there is. I got some kind of copy called elg.. Ive heard him talking about companys that stole and copied his products countless times and he also says that none of them has the same quality so i was pissed that i didnt get the real stuff when i ordered from a company that hlg is partner with. Even the chinese meiju boards use the hI continued opening everything and There was not a single hlg driver from 6x kits all of them were the ELG kind. I had been doing some research and looking at diy hlg kits assemblys on youtube and instructions. It looked really simple and nothing hard at all even though i dont have any experience with it and it was alot cheaper too. I startes building it but my wires werent the same colors as everyone elses on videos and other guides but i managed to find which one to use where by listening and the ELG driver had a sticker with which color was + and etc. But when i aassembledit exactly as the youtubers with the only differense that most of them used 4x wagos instead of the waterproof thing. (I only got 2x wagos instead of 4x in all the packages) it didnt work and i thought it was the driver. I assembled anorher one and found another way to wire them in series on the hlg website (both were series i know i cant do parallell) but it didnt work either. I have no idea what to do and feel pretty helpless since i dont know any electricians that can help me or tell me whats wrong :/ You guys have any ideas?

I bought the HLGs cause i wanted to know what i was getting and be sure of the quality. I like i was scammed :/.

Sent a Mail to hlg and asked about it and they responded with ”
The kits get plain brown packaging, not the white boxes like the HLG 550, HLG 100, and HLG 65. Some of our international distributors just purchase our Quantum Boards and put their own drivers to save on shipping and customs fees. If you want our kits, you can always order direct from HLG, but be aware you will have to pay customs and taxes levied by your country.” How can they do this?

the website i ordered on ishttps://www.todogrowled.com/gb/
You did not get HLG 260 Rspec's. But some knockoff. Here's the real deal.

I take that back. It looks like they sell the real HLG's too. My bad man. Never mind. In my defense I am stoned, lol.
 
Last edited:

mrpopo93

Member
First off HLG didn't scam you bud no one ever told you to read the fine print before you buy something on the Internet is a wondrous but also dangerous thing.

Never trust any website that pop's up whether it be direct partners or not just to save a few bucks. Just some advice for your future endeavor's !
It didnt just pop up ? I clicked on the retailers link on the original hlg website, i dont know how its like where you live but in Sweden when we order something from a well known company with a good quality product we expect to get the original. Its not a black market product, they are even partnered with samsung and the product has the HLG name on the shop its called the 260 r spec v2 kit just like on the original website. When you buy a iPhone from a retailer you never read the fine print. An iPhone PRO is a iphone PRO even though you but it from a retailer and you Will get the original not a samsung phone with some iPhone parts..
 

mrpopo93

Member
So Todogrowled is still shipping products? I ordered their TLG 240 fixture 10 days ago but haven't received any information on shipping yet. Spain is having a hard time with the corona virus so I figured they'd stopped shipping orders.
I ordered this weekend and got it 2-3 days ago :o
 

mrpopo93

Member
You did not get HLG 260 Rspec's. But some knockoff. Here's the real deal.

I take that back. It looks like they sell the real HLG's too. My bad man. Never mind. In my defense I am stoned, lol.
i know and i do feel scammed even though they work now.
 

Attachments

ilovereggae

Well-Known Member
I dont think you got ripped off or scammed. Actually the Todogrow website actually lists exactly what comes with that DIY kit. It says specifically that it comes with ELG series drivers. Its not the same DIY kit that HLG sells on their website but nothing wrong with it.


One thing to note. The drivers that HLG uses are not HLG brand. They are Meanwell brand. Its is just a coincidence that Horticulture Lighting Group (HLG) uses Meanwell HLG series drivers in most of its DIY kits on their own website.

Meanwell makes a bunch of different drivers series that start with prefixes like HLG, XLG, ELG, etc. In your case you got Meanwell ELG-240H-C2100 drivers. These drivers are Constant Current drivers that work in series only.
 

Barristan Whitebeard

Well-Known Member
i know and i do feel scammed even though they work now.
Would you still feel like you were scammed if you had taken the time the read the product description on Todogrowled.com where you bought the products?

The description states right near the top the
driver included with this kit is the Mean Well ELG-240-C2100A-3Y



You sent an email to HLG and then received one back, and they explained that this is a common occurrence on their international resellers market.

By the way Horticulture Lighting Group doesn't even sell their 260 watt kits with the HLG-240H-C2100A anymore. They have moved to the XLG series. The specific driver included with the 260 watt kit is the XLG-240-M-AB
 

Barristan Whitebeard

Well-Known Member
I dont think you got ripped off or scammed. Actually the Todogrow website actually lists exactly what comes with that DIY kit. It says specifically that it comes with ELG series drivers. Its not the same DIY kit that HLG sells on their website but nothing wrong with it.


One thing to note. The drivers that HLG uses are not HLG brand. They are Meanwell brand. Its is just a coincidence that Horticulture Lighting Group (HLG) uses Meanwell HLG series drivers in most of its DIY kits on their own website.

Meanwell makes a bunch of different drivers series that start with prefixes like HLG, XLG, ELG, etc. In your case you got Meanwell ELG-240H-C2100 drivers. These drivers are Constant Current drivers that work in series only.
Oh no... I've been Ninja'd!
Oh well, not the first time.
 

PadawanWarrior

Well-Known Member
Would you still feel like you were scammed if you had taken the time the read the product description on Todogrowled.com where you bought the products?

The description states right near the top the
driver included with this kit is the Mean Well ELG-240-C2100A-3Y



You sent an email to HLG and then received one back, and they explained that this is a common occurrence on their international resellers market.

By the way Horticulture Lighting Group doesn't even sell their 260 watt kits with the HLG-240H-C2100A anymore. They have moved to the XLG series. The specific driver included with the 260 watt kit is the XLG-240-M-AB
Yep, I was excited to see it come with the XLG with included potentiometer. I wasn't expecting that when I ordered it.
IMG_3939.JPG
 
Top