4x8 tent led build

hey guys, Im helping my bro get into LEDs and wanted to see what the best approach would be for his 4x8. He's having issues with temps in the australian summer running 2 600s in there even with AC so its time to try something different rather than adding more fans. CMH is also an option but trying to spec and cost an led build first.

Im ok with matching drivers, wiring and building but can anyone recommend a make of strip or COB (or a mix of both) to start building this around? I've only used shorter strips and not sure that would be the best for a build like this. Happy to split these into multiple fixtures if it makes sense to do so as well.

QBs are a bit of a shit for ozzies to get (shipping drops the cost/benefit ratio considerably) but I've seen the sol-skins at cutter and they look good and could be an option too so if anyone has experience with these I'd love opinions on how they stack up.

Im thinking around 8-900 watts of quality strips (samsung F-series maybe?) would be fine but I could be wrong. if I am barking up the wrong tree please tell me, I'm not a precious little snowflake

also, far red. yes or no?

Cheers!

dopeonarope said:

hey guys, Im helping my bro get into LEDs and wanted to see what the best approach would be for his 4x8. He's having issues with temps in the australian summer running 2 600s in there even with AC so its time to try something different rather than adding more fans. CMH is also an option but trying to spec and cost an led build first.

Im ok with matching drivers, wiring and building but can anyone recommend a make of strip or COB (or a mix of both) to start building this around? I've only used shorter strips and not sure that would be the best for a build like this. Happy to split these into multiple fixtures if it makes sense to do so as well.

QBs are a bit of a shit for ozzies to get (shipping drops the cost/benefit ratio considerably) but I've seen the sol-skins at cutter and they look good and could be an option too so if anyone has experience with these I'd love opinions on how they stack up.

Im thinking around 8-900 watts of quality strips (samsung F-series maybe?) would be fine but I could be wrong. if I am barking up the wrong tree please tell me, I'm not a precious little snowflake

also, far red. yes or no?

Cheers!

Click to expand...

I would recommend 44" F series strips from Samsung. The big double row strips are good for 100W each, so may eight to ten of them for the whole 4x8. Single row strips would take 16-20.

nfhiggs said:

I would recommend 44" F series strips from Samsung. The big double row strips are good for 100W each, so may eight to ten of them for the whole 4x8. Single row strips would take 16-20.

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thanks mate. using 100w strips will simplify the build heaps. how about adding far red? overrated or awesome? it complicates things a little but will add it if its worth it

dopeonarope said:

thanks mate. using 100w strips will simplify the build heaps. how about adding far red? overrated or awesome? it complicates things a little but will add it if its worth it

Click to expand...

I'm undecided on the far red thing. Never tried using it. I get pretty decent results with the 3000k-3500k white LED strips I'm currently using.

dopeonarope said:

thanks mate. using 100w strips will simplify the build heaps.

Click to expand...

You got it, the double row strips are great for the larger areas, pretty easy build. If you REALLY need to reduce heat you could water cool. My Bridgelux strips are zip tied to a water cooled frame of 1/2" square tube.

nfhiggs said:

I'm undecided on the far red thing. Never tried using it. I get pretty decent results with the 3000k-3500k white LED strips I'm currently using.

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good to know. i suppose we could always modify the build later on of theres a persuasive argument for the far reds. might leave it out for now. thanks for adding to the convo

1212ham said:

You got it, the double row strips are great for the larger areas, pretty easy build. If you REALLY need to reduce heat you could water cool. My Bridgelux strips are zip tied to a water cooled frame of 1/2" square tube.

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hoping that getting away with a few hundred less watts than are in there at the moment will help keep the temps under control. would love to consider water cooling but if anything goes wrong I'll probably be the one to have to fix it so trying to keep things pretty simple for now. If we need to shave a few more degrees of the running temps I'll look into it. thanks man

This thread is from a Landsman who has done the same like you. He use F- and H-series strips with pretty good success, I would say. You can get the strips from digikey or arrow.
Cutter.com.au's Nichia Sol Strips could also be interesting because they are one step over LM561c effiency wise (220lm/w) and available in 2000°-6500°k directly in australia. Mark/ @welight is member here and has an own thread about his products.

https://www.rollitup.org/t/strip-leds-in-the-garden-of-paradise.954799/

https://www.rollitup.org/t/sol-skin-let-the-journey-begin.943891/

Randomblame said:

This thread is from a Landsman who has done the same like you. He use F- and H-series strips with pretty good success, I would say. You can get the strips from digikey or arrow.
Cutter.com.au's Nichia Sol Strips could also be interesting because they are one step over LM561c effiency wise (220lm/w) and available in 2000°-6500°k directly in australia. Mark/ @welight is member here and has an own thread about his products.

https://www.rollitup.org/t/strip-leds-in-the-garden-of-paradise.954799/

https://www.rollitup.org/t/sol-skin-let-the-journey-begin.943891/

Click to expand...

I checked out the paradise thread and that is a big help. With that in mind I think 2 dimmable 400-450w fixtures would be pretty much perfect for the space. Looked at cutter and it seems all the sol stuff is on back order. Might drop mark a line and see when they are coming in. Pricey with the deep red added + driver requirements though. Much cheaper using the Samsung strips but I'll look into far red a bit more and see if it's worth it. Thanks mate!

dopeonarope said:

I checked out the paradise thread and that is a big help. With that in mind I think 2 dimmable 400-450w fixtures would be pretty much perfect for the space. Looked at cutter and it seems all the sol stuff is on back order. Might drop mark a line and see when they are coming in. Pricey with the deep red added + driver requirements though. Much cheaper using the Samsung strips but I'll look into far red a bit more and see if it's worth it. Thanks mate!

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Yeah, when it comes to budget, Samsung F-strips or Bridgelux EB gen.2 are the way to go. I bet on F-strips myself and complement them with CRI90 COB's for a bit more deep and far-red. CRI90+ is IMO the easiest way to add more deep- and far-red and has already proven that it can shorten the flower circle by a week or more. Unfortunately wether the F- nor the EB-series are available in CRI90.

dopeonarope said:

I checked out the paradise thread and that is a big help. With that in mind I think 2 dimmable 400-450w fixtures would be pretty much perfect for the space. Looked at cutter and it seems all the sol stuff is on back order. Might drop mark a line and see when they are coming in. Pricey with the deep red added + driver requirements though. Much cheaper using the Samsung strips but I'll look into far red a bit more and see if it's worth it. Thanks mate!

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I think you should aim for at least 1000w for the space and probably more like 1200w to maximize the space..

Is it a straight flowering tent or veg + flower? Whats the grow style, how deep a cannopy are you looking for?
Im with Random, a little bit of 90cri or red boost would be ideal for a grow. Cutter has some 2000k strips, they arent 90 cri, too yellow, but have a red peak at around 625 which is more or less the same as 90cri spectrums.
If youre on a budget: go for 3000k (3500 maybe if youre doing lots of vegg) samsungs doublestrips or even bridgelux. 2 hlg480 should be enough to get started, you can allways add more later.
If you want a really cool build, the one id build myself if it disnt mean importing internationally: cutter has some really nice spectrum strips, the 2000k mentioned above and a 5700k 97 Cri, or high noon spectrum which pretty much is a copy of the sun. Adds blue in the 430nm region (UVA?) and fills in sone gaps that normal leds dont cover. Set them on separate drivers to manipulate spectrum, for morphological effects, adding extra blue during finish and or stretch etc. Its the light id like to see grow
Far red: if your doing a budget 80 cri build its probably beneficial for end of day treatment or if you want the plants to stretch out more. If youre using 90cri or 2000k strips: they make up for missing 80 cri farred. See how you like the finishing times and then you can allways add on later if you feel the grow finishes slow. Happy growing

hey rope, we are offering skins in a single channel version 288 leds for a budget board or 576 leds on 2 channel board if the deep red is a step too far, have Nichias here tuesay so can offer skins or strips in 2000k,3000k, 4000k and the new 97cri in 5000k
hit me up up or call in if your in Melbourne, had customer pick up 11 boards yesterday and showed me photos of his Skin v qb shootout, will post on this soon, suffice to say he had his biggest yield he has ever seen in his life

Cheers
Mark

welight said:

hey rope, we are offering skins in a single channel version 288 leds for a budget board or 576 leds on 2 channel board if the deep red is a step too far, have Nichias here tuesay so can offer skins or strips in 2000k,3000k, 4000k and the new 97cri in 5000k
hit me up up or call in if your in Melbourne, had customer pick up 11 boards yesterday and showed me photos of his Skin v qb shootout, will post on this soon, suffice to say he had his biggest yield he has ever seen in his life

Cheers
Mark

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Hey Mark. Single channel 288 skins sound dope, what are the price on those? Will 288 solskins still run with no heatsink up till 100w? 576 seems to give too small foot print with too much hotspot unless you run several on low.
Your web seems mostly not updated, ive never seen any solskin2 in stock but they seem to be around.

And cant wait to see some skin vs qb grow

Rocket Soul said:

Hey Mark. Single channel 288 skins sound dope, what are the price on those? Will 288 solskins still run with no heatsink up till 100w? 576 seems to give too small foot print with too much hotspot unless you run several on low.
Your web seems mostly not updated, ive never seen any solskin2 in stock but they seem to be around.

And cant wait to see some skin vs qb grow

Click to expand...

yes hoping to have the whole skin page updated by end of today, 576 is useful in higher rooms for sure
Cheers
Mark

welight said:

hey rope, we are offering skins in a single channel version 288 leds for a budget board or 576 leds on 2 channel board if the deep red is a step too far, have Nichias here tuesay so can offer skins or strips in 2000k,3000k, 4000k and the new 97cri in 5000k
hit me up up or call in if your in Melbourne, had customer pick up 11 boards yesterday and showed me photos of his Skin v qb shootout, will post on this soon, suffice to say he had his biggest yield he has ever seen in his life

Cheers
Mark

Click to expand...

thanks for dropping in Mark. Love the look of the sol-skins and would be very interested in seeing the results of the skin v qb grow. We can take our time planning this a bit now that summer is on the way out so I'm not going to rush into buying samsung strips just yet. been checking your site a fair bit lately and the sol stuff is always on back order so if you're going to have some available then that changes things (especially if there are a few config options). I'll PM you later on once I've done a few numbers

Rocket Soul said:

Is it a straight flowering tent or veg + flower? Whats the grow style, how deep a cannopy are you looking for?
Im with Random, a little bit of 90cri or red boost would be ideal for a grow. Cutter has some 2000k strips, they arent 90 cri, too yellow, but have a red peak at around 625 which is more or less the same as 90cri spectrums.
If youre on a budget: go for 3000k (3500 maybe if youre doing lots of vegg) samsungs doublestrips or even bridgelux. 2 hlg480 should be enough to get started, you can allways add more later.
If you want a really cool build, the one id build myself if it disnt mean importing internationally: cutter has some really nice spectrum strips, the 2000k mentioned above and a 5700k 97 Cri, or high noon spectrum which pretty much is a copy of the sun. Adds blue in the 430nm region (UVA?) and fills in sone gaps that normal leds dont cover. Set them on separate drivers to manipulate spectrum, for morphological effects, adding extra blue during finish and or stretch etc. Its the light id like to see grow
Far red: if your doing a budget 80 cri build its probably beneficial for end of day treatment or if you want the plants to stretch out more. If youre using 90cri or 2000k strips: they make up for missing 80 cri farred. See how you like the finishing times and then you can allways add on later if you feel the grow finishes slow. Happy growing

Click to expand...

its a flowering tent in the main. sometimes the last week of veg too but depends on timings. I like the modular approach in regards to spectrum and I have a feeling we'll be tweaking things for a while to get it to where it needs to be - the sol range might kill lots of birds with one stone though so I think its worth exploring for sure

We've decided to go with the sol-skin boards so I'll upload some pics when they're up and running. I'll also report on the harvest in case it helps anyone else to make a decision. Thanks @welight and thanks to all who offered advice here, super handy having a such a knowledgeable bunch helping out.

Sounds like a plan, love to see your grow evolve out here, looking forward to this one
Cheers
Mark