-boring 'ol 230w 154lm/w led strip build

JSheeze

JSheeze

Well-Known Member
Hairiest_Stamen said:
Took some crude PPFD measurements tonight... using an Apogee SQ-120 and voltmeter.

Highest current setting (@ 200W total), Eight 3k/4k alternating strips in a 16"x24".

Unimpressed with the #'s so far, not sure of the correction factor for the SQ-120, but assuming x 1.0

Roughly center of fixture
Distance | mV | PPFD
20" 96 480
16" 114 570
12" 141 705
6" 226 1130

Numbers on the sides varied ... 15%-30% drops. which is understandable because not much from the edge strips is reflecting off the walls and hitting the sensors.

One factor is definitely the fact that the front of the 2.5' x 4' grow enclosure was open (no reflection), and a large distance to the reflective walls.

I'm going to build a fake 3'x2' tent with some foam board and see what the numbers are, may need to add a bunch more strips.
Click to expand...
Is trying to configure (48 individual 23W TCI strips per (4.33' x 2.25') grow area doable? Is 177k lm overkill for a 10.75sq' area? (16,250lm/sq') I would try to do 3 end to end linear to form a single row and make 16 individual 1.75" wide rows. Open walls.
.
??
.
What's the best efficiency with LEDs, in terms of lumen per watt? How does 154lm/watt stack?
.
How often does he run out of stock? Out atm.. :(
 
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Hairiest_Stamen

Hairiest_Stamen

Well-Known Member
JSheeze said:
Is trying to configure (48 individual 23W TCI strips per (4.33' x 2.25') grow area doable? Is 177k lm overkill for a 10.75sq' area? (16,250lm/sq') I would try to do 3 end to end linear to form a single row and make 16 individual 1.75" wide rows. Open walls.
.
??
.
What's the best efficiency with LEDs, in terms of lumen per watt? How does 154lm/watt stack?
.
How often does he run out of stock? Out atm.. :(
Click to expand...

48 might be overkill in the center... Then again maybe not with open walls. You're going to have to measure with a par sensor. I'm upping my fixtures from 8 to 11 or 12 strips per.. for a total of 33. But I'm going to have 3 reflective screens on 3 out of 4 walls.

154 is pretty good with the samsung B chips. The latest samsung C chips are 200+. I went for these because they are cheap with include the driver.

He runs out of stock occasionally but seems to get more stock regularly. Ask him. .. he'll get right back to you.
 
SonsOfAvery

SonsOfAvery

Well-Known Member
JSheeze said:
Is trying to configure (48 individual 23W TCI strips per (4.33' x 2.25') grow area doable? Is 177k lm overkill for a 10.75sq' area? (16,250lm/sq') I would try to do 3 end to end linear to form a single row and make 16 individual 1.75" wide rows. Open walls.
.
??
.
What's the best efficiency with LEDs, in terms of lumen per watt? How does 154lm/watt stack?
.
How often does he run out of stock? Out atm.. :(
Click to expand...
I have 12 of these strips running in a tent with a 15sqft coverage, and the plants are doing great, using a mix of 3000k & 4000k.
With 48 strips you'll definitely be creating a lot of heat however.
 
JSheeze

JSheeze

Well-Known Member
SonsOfAvery said:
I have 12 of these strips running in a tent with a 15sqft coverage, and the plants are doing great, using a mix of 3000k & 4000k.
With 48 strips you'll definitely be creating a lot of heat however.
Click to expand...
(12) 23W TCI strips for 15sq'? That's only 42,000 lm, 2850lm/sq', and that's enough for your 15 sq' space?
.
I'm shooting for 16,500lm/sq'. Comments on that? What's the range I should be shooting for?
 
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Hairiest_Stamen

Hairiest_Stamen

Well-Known Member
JSheeze said:
(12) 23W TCI strips for 15sq'? That's only 42,000 lm, 2850lm/sq', and that's enough for your 15 sq' space?
.
I'm shooting for 16,500lm/sq'. Comments on that? What's the range I should be shooting for?
Click to expand...
My goal is 900 ppfd minimum for flowering. Barely got there with 8 strips depending on height in a 30x24 fake test box. That's around 5000 to 6000 lumens per sq ft. Reflective walls made a HUGE difference.... made the numbers jump something like 30%.

I think 48 strips would prolly be overkill in a closed tent... but since your open might not be that crazy.

I'll have more numbers this weekend.
 
SonsOfAvery

SonsOfAvery

Well-Known Member
JSheeze said:
(12) 23W TCI strips for 15sq'? That's only 42,000 lm, 2850lm/sq', and that's enough for your 15 sq' space?
.
I'm shooting for 16,500lm/sq'. Comments on that? What's the range I should be shooting for?
Click to expand...
I don't have a way to measure par/ppfd, and I'd rather use those metrics to measure light than using lumens.
But without a way to measure it, then lumens will have to do.
Until I can get some more of these strips, I will be adding my Meizhi in the middle of my frame to help with flowering, but when I get more strips I'll replace the meizhi600(260w actual) with only 3/4 TCI strips. These TCI lights are bright! With all 12 on in my tent I can't even tell when the Meizhi switches on unless I look at the diodes.
Personally i'd say 16,500 lumens per square ft is slightly overkill imo.
A 1000w hps over your same area would supply approx 12000 lumens per sqft so I would assume a similar amount of lumens would be sufficient...this is obviously just my opinion on the matter.

@Humple yeh it's 12 X 23w strips.

@Hairiest_Stamen height above the canopy is roughly 18" at the moment, as they are only about a week or so into flowering. I'lI be gradually lowering it over the next couple of weeks.
I use 3x TCI strips in another small cab (2ish ft tall) and the lights in there are only approx 4" from the tops of the plants. With no issues at all, flowering 2 males in there at the moment.
 
dopeonarope

dopeonarope

Well-Known Member
nfhiggs said:
Pretty overkill, by nearly 3 times. 16-20 should be plenty.
Click to expand...
I've got 10 of these strips in around 7sqft and it is pretty much right. its on the edge of being too much for seedlings even when raised but great for veg and flower.

I haven't calculated lumens per sq foot but it's over 30watts per and that seems to be heaps in my space.

I agree on the overkill statement
 
SonsOfAvery

SonsOfAvery

Well-Known Member
dopeonarope said:
I've got 10 of these strips in around 7sqft and it is pretty much right. its on the edge of being too much for seedlings even when raised but great for veg and flower.

I haven't calculated lumens per sq foot but it's over 30watts per and that seems to be heaps in my space.

I agree on the overkill statement
Click to expand...
154l/w X 23(w per strip) X 10(strips) ÷ 7sqft
Roughly 5k lumens/sqft in that space...if your interested lol.
 
Hairiest_Stamen

Hairiest_Stamen

Well-Known Member
dopeonarope said:
I've got 10 of these strips in around 7sqft and it is pretty much right. its on the edge of being too much for seedlings even when raised but great for veg and flower.

I haven't calculated lumens per sq foot but it's over 30watts per and that seems to be heaps in my space.

I agree on the overkill statement
Click to expand...
Watts per sq ft doesnt mean much. Without par measurements
SonsOfAvery said:
I do it with most the info that people give on here anyway, I like to get a good comparison with what others are doing, so I know where/when I'm going wrong haha.
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I don't understand why people still insist on using watt/sq ft. It's an almost meaningless number at this point. LEDs are anywhere from 75lumens/watt for the cheapo units to over 200+/watt for the upper end samsungs. Too large a range to make even a rough calculation.

I had 8 strips in a closed 2'x2.5' and was seeing 700-1000 ppfd depending on height, so 10 strips is probably close to right on the money for a closed 2x3 ish tent.

Points are moot now anyhow it seems... fella doesn't seem to be getting any more strips.
 
Humple

Humple

Well-Known Member
Hairiest_Stamen said:
Watts per sq ft doesnt mean much. Without par measurements


I don't understand why people still insist on using watt/sq ft. It's an almost meaningless number at this point. LEDs are anywhere from 75lumens/watt for the cheapo units to over 200+/watt for the upper end samsungs. Too large a range to make even a rough calculation.

I had 8 strips in a closed 2'x2.5' and was seeing 700-1000 ppfd depending on height, so 10 strips is probably close to right on the money for a closed 2x3 ish tent.

Points are moot now anyhow it seems... fella doesn't seem to be getting any more strips.
Click to expand...
You don't think watts per square foot can be meaningful when comparing the same light source? Such as LM561C vs LM561C (one person's strip or QB build compared to another's)? I get what you're saying as it pertains to a comparison between one of these TCI strips and a new Samsung strip - if the specs aren't similar, there's little value. But if the specs are similar (or identical) it still seems like it could be a useful metric (though certainly not the best).
 
SonsOfAvery

SonsOfAvery

Well-Known Member
Hairiest_Stamen said:
Watts per sq ft doesnt mean much. Without par measurements

I don't understand why people still insist on using watt/sq ft. It's an almost meaningless number at this point. LEDs are anywhere from 75lumens/watt for the cheapo units to over 200+/watt for the upper end samsungs. Too large a range to make even a rough calculation.

I had 8 strips in a closed 2'x2.5' and was seeing 700-1000 ppfd depending on height, so 10 strips is probably close to right on the money for a closed 2x3 ish tent.

Points are moot now anyhow it seems... fella doesn't seem to be getting any more strips.
Click to expand...
But when were comparing the same lights it's a viable metric surely.
I just try to use the measurements I can, as I don't have a way to measure par/ppfd so comparing the same lights strips using wattage seems ok in this case.
 
Hairiest_Stamen

Hairiest_Stamen

Well-Known Member
identical specs... obviously.

it's the "hey guys, i just replaced my 200W samsung 561c quantum panel with a 400W blurple from ebay. now getting 2x wattage/sq ft!" ... fails to realize his actual lumens per watt fell off a cliff .
 
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