New style Samsung LM561C Board

[EmeraldØsiris]

Yeah... Screw that... Unless you are bringing in the cash trees and don't care about money out the window go with HLG. Still, I don't think it's far and few between the apples here, and it's definitely not comparing apples to oranges. I agree, those morons are nimbwits for jacking on bins, if they do that... But honestly, I think this whole thing is hyped up by egos.

 

[Prawn Connery]

Actually, it's about people sharing information so that we can all make informed choices.

Most of us care about money. Just like most of us care about their health when potentially playing with 200+V.

Strangely, I also care about ethics and supporting companies that deserve it while denying my money to those proven to have engaged in unethical conduct in the past.

I refuse to buy Chinese knock-off boards on principle. The money I save growing my own pot more than compensates for the few lousy dollars I "save" by buying authentic Samsung strips or HLG boards instead of encouraging unscrupulous behaviour.

BTW, I lived in China for 12 years. I can tell you a few things about what goes on in that country. Red brick dust mixed in with chilli powder; dredged sea sand mixed with cement; white rocks in rice bags; melamine mixed with milk formula; international wine bottles re-corked with Chinese wine; Nikes sold out the back door of the official manufacturer with no royalties paid to the parent company. That type of thing. You really have no idea what they're capable off until you live it day-to-day. Even Chinese people have to be careful about what they buy.

Conversely, there are some honest Chinese companies out there, and I have no qualms about engaging their services or buying their products. But sadly, the market is so big, the scammers have no incentive to stop their behaviour. As I said in another post, "a sucker is born every minute", and in a country of 1.5 billion, there is always another unsuspecting customer. Scammers don't rely on repeat business, they rely on a turnover of gullible, naive and trusting people - and there is no shortage of them!

Good luck with your purchase. As long as you are happy, that's all that matters, right?

 

[legalcanada]

few lousy dollars I "save" by buying authentic Samsung strips or HLG boards

what are you talking about 'authentic' HLG boards??? HLG is essentially a middle man for a chinese company, its literally the same board from the same factory, they're just a reseller with a 500% markup (probably more if getting bulk discounts). it's the same thing as Optic LED... marked up chinese boards. but i've always preferred open source over proprietary.

1: yes, quantum boards use superior super top bin diodes= lowest voltage bin and highest flux bin for best lum/w.
2: Meijiu, at least on what i tried, use top flux bin (for lm561c) but mid voltage bin. Means the boards have a slightly higer voltage so spend a little bit more energy to get the same amount of light.

are you basing these statements off any actual readings or measurements or is this just how you 'feel' lol? once i motivate myself to do it i'll do a 2board comparison and document it in this thread ... 2 HLG qb304 561c 3500k w/ HLG-H320-C1400A vs 2 meijiu 304 3500k '561c' 3500k and i'll use the exact same driver.... i'll set all 4 boards up on a slate 5 first so i just have to move the wires over w/o fucking around moving the heatsink etc

 

[Prawn Connery]

No, it's not the same board from the same factory. It used to be. But not any more.

Which kind of proves my point: why did HLG cease production in China and move assembly to the US?

And I doubt they are making a "500% markup" or more. Do you think design, testing, warranty work, marketing etc comes for free?

HLG designed and built up the Quantum Board brand, and now everyone else is getting a free ride. It's the same as every other product the Chinese have ripped off. They spend very little on design and research, because all they do is reverse-engineer a product and then - in most cases - substitute quality components for cheaper items.

There appears to be a distinct lack of knowledge on these boards about how these things work, but those who are doing it know exactly what I am talking about.

 

[legalcanada]

No, it's not the same board from the same factory. It used to be. But not any more.

Which kind of proves my point: why did HLG cease production in China and move assembly to the US?

And I doubt they are making a "500% markup". Do you think design, testing, warranty work, marketing etc comes for free?

they didn't move production to the US, there's a couple boards made in US and they cost 2x more even than HLGs chinese boards!! and all the 'US' boards are sold out, probably only made one order. and yes, it's easily 500% - that's only 5x .... i built a '550' for 1/4 of the price and my board has two drivers instead of 1

 

[Prawn Connery]

are you basing these statements off any actual readings or measurements or is this just how you 'feel' lol? once i motivate myself to do it i'll do a 2board comparison and document it in this thread ... 2 HLG qb304 561c 3500k w/ HLG-H320-C1400A vs 2 meijiu 304 3500k '561c' 3500k and i'll use the exact same driver.... i'll set all 4 boards up on a slate 5 first so i just have to move the wires over w/o fucking around moving the heatsink etc

The problem with all of that is there are so many variables in growing, it is almost impossible to mark a 5-10% difference in efficiencies - even when growing side-by-side using the same strain under the same conditions. You have to be an exceptional grower to level the field, and even something as simple as room position in relation to heat, ventilation and/or separate reservoirs can make a difference.

I'm all for empirical evidence. And I don't doubt the Chinese boards can grow. But it's not always about the practicalities - sometimes its about the ethics and getting what you think you are paying for.

 

[legalcanada]

The problem with all of that is there are so many variables in growing, it is almost impossible to mark a 5-10% difference in efficiencies - even when growing side-by-side using the same strain under the same conditions.

dude i'm not doing a side by side i'm going to measure lumens and voltage etc ... boards are same CRI/spectrum/diode count/etc ... no par meter tho, maybe the hydro shop will loan me one.. i'm not rich enough to throw away my money so i somehow feel better about myself... actually i think i'd just feel like an idiot

and i'm not sure how much r&d really goes in to it, i guess we'll see if there's any innovations other than watching what new comes to market, but i e-mailed meijiu and robin 2 years ago about boards with LM301B - i just didn't have money

 

[Prawn Connery]

they didn't move production to the US, there's a couple boards made in US and they cost 2x more even than HLGs chinese boards!! and all the 'US' boards are sold out, probably only made one order. and yes, it's easily 500% - that's only 5x .... i built a '550' for 1/4 of the price and my board has two drivers instead of 1

You are correct. The new boards are made by Samsung in China under Samsung's QC - not exactly the same as having them made by a Chinese knock-off shop and marking up 500%.

The V1 QB288s are assembled in the US and I am not going to speculate why assembly was moved from China to the US, but obviously there was a reason.

 

[legalcanada]

The V1 QB288s are assembled in the US and I am not going to speculate why assembly was moved from China to the US, but obviously there was a reason.

i doubt they will ever re-stock those... they probably started all that FUD themselves

 

[Skiball]

16- 288 lm561c boards + heatsink + driver= 800$ (including shipping, taxes, everything) Why in the world wouldn't you buy direct from China?

 

[legalcanada]

16- 288 lm561c boards + heatsink + driver= 800$ (including shipping, taxes, everything) Why in the world wouldn't you buy direct from China?

how many drivers? are you powering 16 boards with 1??

 

[Skiball]

how many drivers? are you powering 16 boards with 1??

Yup, 80$ on eBay https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=66169&p=995128#p995128
Comes factory set at 54.5 volts 37.5 amp 93% effecient

 

[Hot Diggity Sog]

Actually, it's about people sharing information so that we can all make informed choices.

Most of us care about money. Just like most of us care about their health when potentially playing with 200+V.

Strangely, I also care about ethics and supporting companies that deserve it while denying my money to those proven to have engaged in unethical conduct in the past.

I refuse to buy Chinese knock-off boards on principle. The money I save growing my own pot more than compensates for the few lousy dollars I "save" by buying authentic Samsung strips or HLG boards instead of encouraging unscrupulous behaviour.

BTW, I lived in China for 12 years. I can tell you a few things about what goes on in that country. Red brick dust mixed in with chilli powder; dredged sea sand mixed with cement; white rocks in rice bags; melamine mixed with milk formula; international wine bottles re-corked with Chinese wine; Nikes sold out the back door of the official manufacturer with no royalties paid to the parent company. That type of thing. You really have no idea what they're capable off until you live it day-to-day. Even Chinese people have to be careful about what they buy.

Conversely, there are some honest Chinese companies out there, and I have no qualms about engaging their services or buying their products. But sadly, the market is so big, the scammers have no incentive to stop their behaviour. As I said in another post, "a sucker is born every minute", and in a country of 1.5 billion, there is always another unsuspecting customer. Scammers don't rely on repeat business, they rely on a turnover of gullible, naive and trusting people - and there is no shortage of them!

Good luck with your purchase. As long as you are happy, that's all that matters, right?

I think you nailed it in this post. I encourage everyone to read this. And then read it again.

 

[Cannabuds88]

View attachment 4079707 View attachment 4079708 So we can all agree we can differentiate B from B+/C.. as for those 2.. from all ive read in here and many other forums the only difference in B+ and C is about 5-10% at most.. so even if you get B+ no big deal still pretty much as efficient as COB and much more efficient than hid.. and at that price!! You cant complaint! Altough I respect the others.. I cant understand why someone would buy any blurple LEDor even any other big brand LED when you can order at a fraction of the price those board with a +\- 10% closest to whats best in the market.. to each their own.. but hopefully newer grower like me will read post like this and realized how good those lights are at that price.. took 3 days even 2 days and a half to deliver to canada from china and cost me 370$usd for 4 board with heatsink and drivers shipped (just shipping was a little over 100$) but got em fast they look great now ill set up my tent amd get ready to roll

Edit : just added the 2 pictures of mine that I got today

Edit 2 : they come from Meijiu

Do you have a link to the exact ones you bought from them? I'm dealing with them now (rita or sophie) and am quoted $350 for the 4 board (28 setup plus 130 shipping and plus processing fee, bring it to $500 US + any candaian taxes i get when sipped here. does that sound right?? thanks!

 

[Viceman666]

Do you have a link to the exact ones you bought from them? I'm dealing with them now (rita or sophie) and am quoted $350 for the 4 board (28 setup plus 130 shipping and plus processing fee, bring it to $500 US + any candaian taxes i get when sipped here. does that sound right?? thanks!

What I got is :
2x FOLITE-240H-2 which are the lm561 304 boards (4 boards, 2 drivers, 2 double heatsink) it was 130.63$ each plus shipping which came out to 372.40$usd (I dont have their dimmer which is part of their package now at 10-15$ a piece)

My final cost was about 400$usd and with customs (ask that they declare lower value like 50$) brought total cost to 500$cad

They may not offer it anymore as i purchased in January 2018.. but let me know if there is anything I dealt with Rita

 

[OLD MOTHER SATIVA]

first samsung panels...http://nextlight.com

 

[PSUAGRO.]

first samsung panels...http://nextlight.com

You wanna start this again?............no one knew sammy made efficient leds till the mega came out, that 2.1 ppf/w raised a lot of eyebrows in here yrs ago.

 

[ChiefRunningPhist]

So if you can NOT see the ESD device then they're high quality?

@Randomblame , @Prawn Connery , what would you say these are?

From my scope, its only like 2.5MP...

 

[Stephenj37826]

what are you talking about 'authentic' HLG boards??? HLG is essentially a middle man for a chinese company, its literally the same board from the same factory, they're just a reseller with a 500% markup (probably more if getting bulk discounts). it's the same thing as Optic LED... marked up chinese boards. but i've always preferred open source over proprietary.


are you basing these statements off any actual readings or measurements or is this just how you 'feel' lol? once i motivate myself to do it i'll do a 2board comparison and document it in this thread ... 2 HLG qb304 561c 3500k w/ HLG-H320-C1400A vs 2 meijiu 304 3500k '561c' 3500k and i'll use the exact same driver.... i'll set all 4 boards up on a slate 5 first so i just have to move the wires over w/o fucking around moving the heatsink etc

You really don't know what your talking about...... Samsung literally produces the qb288 V2 for us. It's not the same board from the same Chinese manufacturer. Our qb288 V1 was made in the USA. The V2 are made in South Korea currently. It has to say made in China as the LEDs are the biggest cost on the item..... That will change next month as well as the LEDs will be made in South Korea as well. No manufacturer can buy the bins we have on the qb288 V2 as there isn't enough of them to even sell as top bin. We get the top 1-2% ....we pay out the arse for them as well.....

I love how the guys that actually designed, and named the Quantum Boards are called resellers lmao..... We are just as much a reseller as Apple is with the iPhone..... Foxconn makes the iPhone for Apple... Apple isn't a reseller..... Foxconn is a contract manufacturer. We will be making most of our boards on the same equipment that makes the iPhone.

Seriously why would you make public assumptions about something you apparently know little about?

Here is the Datasheet from Samsung

 

[Stephenj37826]

So if you can NOT see the ESD device then they're high quality?

@Randomblame , @Prawn Connery , what would you say these are?
View attachment 4259428
From my scope, its only like 2.5MP...
View attachment 4259433 View attachment 4259435
View attachment 4259436 View attachment 4259437
View attachment 4259438

Those are not 561C or Lm301B.......The LEDs you have pictured cost about 1/4 the cost of lm301B ..... Or 1/3 the cost of lm561C. Where did you get thrse and what led did they claim to give you?