looking to build a hlg 550 clone

i see a kit that is listed at growerslights.com which is a kit version of the hlg 550 which uses the hlg 600-54b driver what are your guys thoughts on this over using the driver over the hlg 550 one (hlg 480 - 2100a) im looking into building 2 lights and using the lights over a 4x8 area honestly im am thinking i would be better off with the 480 but the differences in the cost of drivers is less the 100 dollars maybe i would be better off with more power .....

https://growerslights.com/products/horticulture-lighting-group-600h-quantum-board-led-kit?variant=42943942538

do you guys think i would be better off with using 4 drivers instead and breaking things up into 4 different lights

cobber said:

do you guys think i would be better off with using 4 drivers instead and breaking things up into 4 different lights

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Its often far cheaper buying individual smaller drivers because they get made in much larger production runs so cost to manufacture drops exponentially.

the cost of the drivers is :
(4) 240H-c2100a 69 dollar each x 4 = 276
(2) 480H-C2100A 129 x 2 = 258
(2) 600H 54A 170 x 2 = 320

so cost are all relatively the same just dont know if its worth it trying to push 600 watts threw the 4 boards obviously its only gonna be 200 extra watts but that does add up and coming from 1000w hps bulbs my actual goal is saving on the power bill

cobber said:

the cost of the drivers is :
(4) 240H-c2100a 69 dollar each x 4 = 276
(2) 480H-C2100A 129 x 2 = 258
(2) 600H 54A 170 x 2 = 320

so cost are all relatively the same just dont know if its worth it trying to push 600 watts threw the 4 boards obviously its only gonna be 200 extra watts but that does add up and coming from 1000w hps bulbs my actual goal is saving on the power bill

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6 boards 2 hlg-320h-54b... Works, drivers $100 each.

any suggestions for heat-sinks, im thinking of fabing something out of 1/8 aluminum plate just so i can have something that looks similar id love to be able to buy a Slate 5 Quad heatsink but im not sure how hard it would be to get my hands on

cobber said:

any suggestions for heat-sinks, im thinking of fabing something out of 1/8 aluminum plate just so i can have something that looks similar id love to be able to buy a Slate 5 Quad heatsink but im not sure how hard it would be to get my hands on

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7.984 profile heat sink from HeatsinkUSA. $17.28 per foot. Only need one foot for each quantum board.

dandyrandy said:

6 boards 2 hlg-320h-54b... Works, drivers $100 each.

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In a 4x8? That seems way too low-powered to me.

no i think that would be the case idk where he came up with that im debating between using the 480w vs 600w drivers, i have a 8x8 room with one hlg 550 unit along side dual 1k hps bulbs

what kinda benafits would i really get over using the higher powered driver seems like there must be a downside as why would the production model not use the stronger driver ?

cobber said:

what kinda benafits would i really get over using the higher powered driver seems like there must be a downside as why would the production model not use the stronger driver ?

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freemanjack said:

Its often far cheaper buying individual smaller drivers because they get made in much larger production runs so cost to manufacture drops exponentially.

Click to expand...

cobber said:

what kinda benafits would i really get over using the higher powered driver seems like there must be a downside as why would the production model not use the stronger driver ?

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600 driver will give you a more PPF but at a lower system level efficacy (umol/j).

Which do you want. More light, or a bit cheaper electric bill?

If you are going to be running 2100mA then you are driving each chip at 116mA so you have room to run them harder and dim them down.

cobber said:

the cost of the drivers is :
(4) 240H-c2100a 69 dollar each x 4 = 276
(2) 480H-C2100A 129 x 2 = 258
(2) 600H 54A 170 x 2 = 320

so cost are all relatively the same just dont know if its worth it trying to push 600 watts threw the 4 boards obviously its only gonna be 200 extra watts but that does add up and coming from 1000w hps bulbs my actual goal is saving on the power bill

Click to expand...

I would go with the two 480H drivers with 2100ma each you could plug both of those into a single receptacle with no problems and control wold be simpler.

cobber said:

do you guys think i would be better off with using 4 drivers instead and breaking things up into 4 different lights

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I suggest building 4 lights instead of two lights for improved distribution of light. Design each light to cover a 4x2 area as evenly as possible. Each light frame about 1 meter long and orient each QB as close to the ends as possible.

If you run full dense canopies you may want more light, 1000 watts isn't quite enough for a 4x8 space with full canopies.

Humple said:

In a 4x8? That seems way too low-powered to me.

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Sry I thought 4x4.

I really like the qb132s
You could save yourself a decent amount of money but would require more wiring
No heatsinks is great lol
I have 3x260w diy kits and 4 qb132s in my 4x8
First grow with this setup and only little past a week since 12/12
The cost for 4 132s is $133 and then 2 drivers I got were $78 which added an extra 300 watts
So many options with qbs lol

WeedSexWeightsShakes said:

I really like the qb132s
You could save yourself a decent amount of money but would require more wiring
No heatsinks is great lol
I have 3x260w diy kits and 4 qb132s in my 4x8
First grow with this setup and only little past a week since 12/12
The cost for 4 132s is $133 and then 2 drivers I got were $78 which added an extra 300 watts
So many options with qbs lol

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In my opinion, QB132s are the best QBs yet. Better spread, no heatsink needed, and affordable.

Humple said:

In my opinion, QB132s are the best QBs yet. Better spread, no heatsink needed, and affordable.

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Agree. Just wish they had been out first lol.
Now they make great supplemental/additional lighting for me. I thought about adding 8 boards at first to this new setup. Looking at it now I think 4 will be enough but I can always add more if I change my mind lol

WeedSexWeightsShakes said:

Agree. Just wish they had been out first lol.
Now they make great supplemental/additional lighting for me. I thought about adding 8 boards at first to this new setup. Looking at it now I think 4 will be enough but I can always add more if I change my mind lol

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Yeah, I kind of wish the same thing. As soon as I finished my second 4xQB120 build, I heard about the 132s! But I can't really complain. The 120s are awesome too!