2750G Tunable Strip Build - Driver Reccomendations

hominine

hominine

Member
Hello everyone! I've been looking at the tuneable Bridgelux Vesta strips (BXEB-TL-2750G-3000-A-13) and want to put together a small grow to see how they perform. I've read a lot of back and forth opinions over these strips and am not really interested in debating the pros/cons, this is more about pulling the trigger in the best way you think is possible.

The idea is to mount 10 of these for now and I am curious to see how some of the gurus around these parts would go about it.

I'm very grateful to have stumbled over this community, thanks a bunch for your time !
 
Rocket Soul

Rocket Soul

Well-Known Member
hominine said:
Hello everyone! I've been looking at the tuneable Bridgelux Vesta strips (BXEB-TL-2750G-3000-A-13) and want to put together a small grow to see how they perform. I've read a lot of back and forth opinions over these strips and am not really interested in debating the pros/cons, this is more about pulling the trigger in the best way you think is possible.

The idea is to mount 10 of these for now and I am curious to see how some of the gurus around these parts would go about it.

I'm very grateful to have stumbled over this community, thanks a bunch for your time !
Click to expand...
Im mounting mine on 4 mm thick c-channel using double sided tape. Paralell connection with each channel (2700 and 5000) grouped so i can set them to 2700/5000/3850 (both channels on half amp).

The vestas doesnt come with proper holes for screws, just some kinda notches which i find a bit annoying.
 
hominine

hominine

Member
Rocket Soul said:
Im mounting mine on 4 mm thick c-channel using double sided tape. Paralell connection with each channel (2700 and 5000) grouped so i can set them to 2700/5000/3850 (both channels on half amp).

The vestas doesnt come with proper holes for screws, just some kinda notches which i find a bit annoying.
Click to expand...
Oh yeah, that sounds solid.. how many strips in that build? Looking to assemble next week myself and am pretty stoked, tons of aluminum on hand.
 
Randomblame

Randomblame

Well-Known Member
hominine said:
Hello everyone! I've been looking at the tuneable Bridgelux Vesta strips (BXEB-TL-2750G-3000-A-13) and want to put together a small grow to see how they perform. I've read a lot of back and forth opinions over these strips and am not really interested in debating the pros/cons, this is more about pulling the trigger in the best way you think is possible.

The idea is to mount 10 of these for now and I am curious to see how some of the gurus around these parts would go about it.

I'm very grateful to have stumbled over this community, thanks a bunch for your time !
Click to expand...

Do you have a link? For driver recommendations I need to know at least vf and current. Do you plan to run them at half current to play in the same effiency range as the EBGgen2 series? A datasheet would be the best, of course.
 
Rocket Soul

Rocket Soul

Well-Known Member
These strips run on 25V nominal, 26 V max.
How to power these strips: depends on if you want independent gradual control over the spectrum.
If youre happy using one spectrum or an equal mix of the 2 you can do this by paralell conection cnd grouping the 2700k and 5000k separately in wagos. Use a 50ish volt driver with series of 2 strips for vf of 50-52, 5paralell strings. In this case a hlg185-48A with the voltage turned all the way up should be perfect as it gives 53.5 according to DS. Have your driver power both groups thru a wago. Curent will be shared 50-50 over both spectrums unless you unplugg one and send all the current in to the other group. You could get gradual control by having the groups powered by separate drivers.

Or you could connect them in series with the 2 spectrums separated: 250-260 vf, 2 hlg185h-c700 would work quite well, you would even have a little bit voltage left over, maybe some deepred on one channel and UV on the other...
 
Rocket Soul

Rocket Soul

Well-Known Member
hominine said:
Oh yeah, that sounds solid.. how many strips in that build? Looking to assemble next week myself and am pretty stoked, tons of aluminum on hand.
Click to expand...
I have 12 of the 2 foot strips, will be running them in pairs on c-channel. The build is for a friend so not too sure how he wants to run them. The might end up next to 80 CRI boards or on their own, so he can experiment with spectrum control. Probably doing 2x 6 vesta 2' on 2 hlg185-48A.

A lot of people have been talking these strips down for not efficient, which is a bit true, but its the only readily available 90 cri strips, they are very cheap, and they offer some very nice spectrum control. Im a fan of the 50-50 spectrum: its similar to a 3500k 90 cri but flatter. The red region of 600-660nm is all within about 20% of max intensity, with 680 not far behind.
Ok, so you might need more wattage, ill ill run 400w instead of 300, no biggie. Or they might just grow some fine weed at 600 ppfd. But im surprised noone tried them out here yet.
uyr0 (1).png
 
Randomblame

Randomblame

Well-Known Member
I'm pretty sure Bridgelux use the same SMD2835, 0,2w, gen2 diodes as they use on EB gen.1 and 2 strips.
The difference between EBgen. 1 and 2 is only the nom. current. On EB gen.1 the diodes run with 87,5mA and on gen.2 they run with only 43,75mA(2ft. 700mA), 175mA and 87,5mA when overdriven at 1,4A.
The Vesta's at 1amp (500mA per channel) use 83,3mA(almost the same as EBgen.1), twice of that when overdriven at 2A.
The only difference is that the Vesta's use CRI90 instead of CRI80 and have a different 8s6p layout on each channel(8s12p the whole strip) instead of 7s16p on EBgen.2 or 8s7p on gen.1.

Pretty sure when one would drive a 2ft. Vesta strip at only half current, eg. 525mA per Strip(262,5mA per channel, same 43,75mA per diode like on EBgen.2), PAR effiency would be almost the same like EBgen.2.

Although I do not have the time and the possibilities to examine this in more detail, but it is pretty obvious to me. Why should BLX use older less efficient diodes, makes no sense. And a lower luminous effiency is normal for CRI90, at half current maybe 150 and 155lm/w, but the difference in PAR output would be far less, maybe 2,4μMol/j vs. 2,5μMol/j like EBgen.2.
 
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1

1212ham

Well-Known Member
Rocket Soul said:
Im mounting mine on 4 mm thick c-channel using double sided tape. Paralell connection with each channel (2700 and 5000) grouped so i can set them to 2700/5000/3850 (both channels on half amp).

The vestas doesnt come with proper holes for screws, just some kinda notches which i find a bit annoying.
Click to expand...
For even more control, groups of strips could be run at different spectrums with some clever switching.
 
tazztone

tazztone

Active Member
1212ham said:
For even more control, groups of strips could be run at different spectrums with some clever switching.
Click to expand...
i guess the only easy way to get transitionless warm to cold tunability is by using TWO dimmable drivers inversly connected to the same 3 contact potentiometer
 
Randomblame

Randomblame

Well-Known Member
tazztone said:
i guess the only easy way to get transitionless warm to cold tunability is by using TWO dimmable drivers inversly connected to the same 3 contact potentiometer
Click to expand...

Better use 2 dimmers with 2 drivers. This way you can get 100% out of each string.
With just one dimmer you would get only half of the possible output. 100% on the CW side means 0% WW, 50% CW means 50% WW and 0% CW means 100% WW.
With 2 dimmers you can set it to 100% CW and 100% WW and you can get almost twice as much light.
 
Rocket Soul

Rocket Soul

Well-Known Member
Yes. 2 vesta strips on 60mm u-channel times 6-the one run i saw with was ok, but the amount of cabling (2 in and 2 out for every bar, organising them.in groups of warm and cold) was too much. Watts and diodes / dollar is great, but other designs looked better. Wanna put them in vegg now to free up some boards.
 
Rocket Soul

Rocket Soul

Well-Known Member
Rocket Soul said:
Yes. 2 vesta strips on 60mm u-channel times 6-the one run i saw with was ok, but the amount of cabling (2 in and 2 out for every bar, organising them.in groups of warm and cold) was too much. Watts and diodes / dollar is great, but other designs looked better. Wanna put them in vegg now to free up some boards.
Click to expand...
We didnt rreally see anything of whats been said about running 90 cri. Stretch and transition was the same, both in size and time. No early finish time.
 
GBAUTO

GBAUTO

Well-Known Member
mastrmasn said:
Just found these Vestas and they look interesting has anyone completed a build yet?
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https://drive.google.com/open?id=1IgiNE_4yRr945X04mOtXVeeyZNZkTJ4-SA
I retrofit an old King 1200 fixture with 10 of the 1' Vesta's. My unit had 4- 580mA drivers that allowed me to run 5 channels on each driver. I added a second power switch to separate the two spectrums-runs right @290w at the wall and produces almost 50% more light from 10w less power compared to the original diode panel. I knocked off all of the original diodes from the PCB and then riveted the strips to the sheet. Even though I run these at approx. 15% harder than spec, the fixture barely gets warm. Not bad for $60 and an afternoons work.
 
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HydroFood

HydroFood

Active Member
Old thread but I love your insight. There may be more discussion elsewhere so my apologies if this is duplicate.

Do you still feel the same as you did when you wrote this middle of last year?
Very interesting how you figured out the same diode is likely used between Eb Gen1, Gen2, and Vesta. I wonder if they will continue to do this and advancement will slow down?
Remindes me of Taco Bell, everything has the same ingredients.

Gen2 Vesta strips are on the Bridgelux website says DS is coming soon. The pic shows a different form factor so I wonder if that will be the only difference!

Anyway, you ever use vestas or have any insight in their viability?
Randomblame said:
I'm pretty sure Bridgelux use the same SMD2835, 0,2w, gen2 diodes as they use on EB gen.1 and 2 strips.
The difference between EBgen. 1 and 2 is only the nom. current. On EB gen.1 the diodes run with 87,5mA and on gen.2 they run with only 43,75mA(2ft. 700mA), 175mA and 87,5mA when overdriven at 1,4A.
The Vesta's at 1amp (500mA per channel) use 83,3mA(almost the same as EBgen.1), twice of that when overdriven at 2A.
The only difference is that the Vesta's use CRI90 instead of CRI80 and have a different 8s6p layout on each channel(8s12p the whole strip) instead of 7s16p on EBgen.2 or 8s7p on gen.1.

Pretty sure when one would drive a 2ft. Vesta strip at only half current, eg. 525mA per Strip(262,5mA per channel, same 43,75mA per diode like on EBgen.2), PAR effiency would be almost the same like EBgen.2.

Although I do not have the time and the possibilities to examine this in more detail, but it is pretty obvious to me. Why should BLX use older less efficient diodes, makes no sense. And a lower luminous effiency is normal for CRI90, at half current maybe 150 and 155lm/w, but the difference in PAR output would be far less, maybe 2,4μMol/j vs. 2,5μMol/j like EBgen.2.
Click to expand...
 
SSR

SSR

Well-Known Member
Does anyone know which diodes are used on the eb strips and the vesta strips?
 
Randomblame

Randomblame

Well-Known Member
HydroFood said:
Old thread but I love your insight. There may be more discussion elsewhere so my apologies if this is duplicate.

Do you still feel the same as you did when you wrote this middle of last year?
Very interesting how you figured out the same diode is likely used between Eb Gen1, Gen2, and Vesta. I wonder if they will continue to do this and advancement will slow down?
Remindes me of Taco Bell, everything has the same ingredients.

Gen2 Vesta strips are on the Bridgelux website says DS is coming soon. The pic shows a different form factor so I wonder if that will be the only difference!

Anyway, you ever use vestas or have any insight in their viability?
Click to expand...
Yepp, I still stand to it! The only difference was Vesta's use CRI90 and have lower lumen per watt ratio and they are driven two times harder compared to EBgen2.
Digikey should have the Vesta strips and when there is something new in Bridgelux's pipeline I'm pretty sure digikey will sell them too as soon as they available.
For the new series they will probably use new diodes too. Running more diodes but even lower makes no more sense from a certain point. They have done this one time and now its time for something new. Hopefully the new ones will be CRI90 too at hit 180 and 190lm/w(3k and 5k).
 
HydroFood

HydroFood

Active Member
The new ones are only 132lm/w!
90cri 27k & 5k
Their website gives some preliminary specs.
Randomblame said:
Yepp, I still stand to it! The only difference was Vesta's use CRI90 and have lower lumen per watt ratio and they are driven two times harder compared to EBgen2.
Digikey should have the Vesta strips and when there is something new in Bridgelux's pipeline I'm pretty sure digikey will sell them too as soon as they available.
For the new series they will probably use new diodes too. Running more diodes but even lower makes no more sense from a certain point. They have done this one time and now its time for something new. Hopefully the new ones will be CRI90 too at hit 180 and 190lm/w(3k and 5k).
Click to expand...
 
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