Bridgelux Vesta super tuneable strip build

it's finally done.

8 Vesta 2ft strips. Each channel has its own 185W 24V driver that will run up to 975ma.

this let's me run either 2700k or 5000k on its own or in combination to get anything in between. While these strips can technically take full blast on both channels, I will only run 975ma max between both channels so it always going to be run @ 185W or less.

rails are those $1 led channels chopped in half to be 2ft each. 500mm crossbar/housing for the terminal blocks is from my aluminum supplier.

rails are attached to the crossbar using m6 allen head machine bolts that have a hollow 3.2mm center and allow to pass wires through them.

used a 4 conductor cable as my extension so that I only had one cord to run. if I decide later to only use 1 driver, I can easily swap to our normal Vesta setup and just add another parallel set of wagos to connect either or both channels as needed.

total cost was @ $150 since I got a deal on the rails and drivers.

it's 3am and I need to wake up for work but hopefully will get this hung tomorrow night. this is going into a 2x3 tent.

@Rocket Soul @GrassBurner @Pparker88 @SBBCal @MidnightSun72

Nice! Veg or flower? What are the dimensions of the light, 2x ? ?
Also, assuming gen1?
Ppf calculates at 415 which means around 700 ppfd for a 2x3 for single channel, add about 10% for both channels at half. But since you have extra power you can go about twice as hard!

Slick AF. Love those through hole bolts. LOL what's this $1 heat sink think you got going on there???

ilovereggae said:

it's finally done.

8 Vesta 2ft strips. Each channel has its own 185W 24V driver that will run up to 975ma.

this let's me run either 2700k or 5000k on its own or in combination to get anything in between. While these strips can technically take full blast on both channels, I will only run 975ma max between both channels so it always going to be run @ 185W or less.

rails are those $1 led channels chopped in half to be 2ft each. 500mm crossbar/housing for the terminal blocks is from my aluminum supplier.

rails are attached to the crossbar using m6 allen head machine bolts that have a hollow 3.2mm center and allow to pass wires through them.

used a 4 conductor cable as my extension so that I only had one cord to run. if I decide later to only use 1 driver, I can easily swap to our normal Vesta setup and just add another parallel set of wagos to connect either or both channels as needed.

total cost was @ $150 since I got a deal on the rails and drivers.

it's 3am and I need to wake up for work but hopefully will get this hung tomorrow night. this is going into a 2x3 tent.

@Rocket Soul @GrassBurner @Pparker88 @SBBCal @MidnightSun72

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Loving the wire management , nice job

SBBCal said:

Loving the wire management , nice job

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+1
I like those 12 way wire blocks, please drop a link if you can
My first Vesta build was with 12 strips and all I had was 4 way wagos, It was beyond messy. One nice hack for these builds is going 2 strip per sink in series and going for a 48V driver with A-type dimming, it halves the connections in your parallel circuit.

Rocket Soul said:

like those 12 way wire blocks, please drop a link if you can

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Likewise, I'm about to wire one up and I've got 2-3-5 slot wagos(although they work) i feel they look like I'm building legos with my nieces. I wouldn't mind mounting a couple of those instead

Man that looks professional!! You nailed it

Rocket Soul said:

Nice! Veg or flower? What are the dimensions of the light, 2x ? ?
Also, assuming gen1?
Ppf calculates at 415 which means around 700 ppfd for a 2x3 for single channel, add about 10% for both channels at half. But since you have extra power you can go about twice as hard!

Click to expand...

Thanks! This will be used for a full cycle grow in a 2x3 tent. I just flipped said tent to flower last weekend so it will only be on flower duty at first.

Gen 1 strips yes. I actually had 5 of them from my previous Vesta build and only had to buy 3, otherwise I would have splurged and got the Gen 3. If this one works out as expected I will go ahead with my plan to build one for a 4x4 using gen3 4ft strips.

overall size is 24" x 19.5" (it's a 500mm segment for the cross bar housing.. so whatever that works out to).

MidnightSun72 said:

Slick AF. Love those through hole bolts. LOL what's this $1 heat sink think you got going on there???

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@babybud found a legendary deal on these 4ft segments last year for $1 each w free shipping. I only bought 20, wish I got 100.



been keeping my eye out every so often but haven't found any this cheap since.

Rocket Soul said:

+1
I like those 12 way wire blocks, please drop a link if you can
My first Vesta build was with 12 strips and all I had was 4 way wagos, It was beyond messy. One nice hack for these builds is going 2 strip per sink in series and going for a 48V driver with A-type dimming, it halves the connections in your parallel circuit.

Click to expand...

Here are the terminal blocks. Big up to whoever found these in the Samsung H strips thread. I prefer these over regular wagos any day!





they come in a bunch of colors if you don't like my choices

Here are the hollow machine bolts if anyone is interested. I used M6x10

That's a "KILLER VESTA" Fixture! I love the "Tuneable Spectrum" feature!
Very nice job on the fab & wiring!

I was going to ask about the hardware but you already provided
the link, thanks!

Did you use 18 ga. solid wire for the strips?

I always enjoy reading your informative post's!
Thanks for posting the all the details, links & pics!

OSBuds said:

That's a "KILLER THRIVE" Fixture! I love the "Tuneable Spectrum" feature!
Very nice job on the fab & wiring!

I was going to ask about the hardware but you already provided
the link, thanks!

Did you use 18 ga. solid wire for the strips?

I always enjoy reading your informative post's!
Thanks for posting the all the details, links & pics!

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Thanks! Was a fun build and thought you would all enjoy. Almost everything about this fixture is RIU intel that I found or learned about here. Couldn't have done this without all of you! Special shout out to the original don dada @Rocket Soul for all of his knowledge and advice!!!

Also, This one isn't actually technically a Thrive version, those strips are a bit newer. Someday soon though!

I used 20AWG solid for all of my strips to terminal connections

I used 18AWG for my lead wire from fixture to driver. normally i used 2 wire, but figured 4 wire would be better in this case so I only need one cord.

OSBuds said:

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haha! i think we may need shirts of this now

ilovereggae said:

Special shout out to the original don dada @Rocket Soul for all of his knowledge and advice!!!

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What a great resource & help he is!!

@Rocket Soul advised me to wait until the thrives were available &
now they are available, I like the specifications on the
Vesta Thrive 2 SMD Rows.

For winter time project I need to fab a LED strip fixture
for a 4 x 4 foot print, so I hope to be joining the
Bridgelux "VESTA THRIVE" club soon!

Cant' wait until your 4 x 4 LED strip fixture build!

Thanks for the wire info & links!

Lmaaaao. Make one that says "Strip Club". Haha

ilovereggae said:

i think we may need shirts

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What a great idea, I would be in!

Rocket Soul said:

+1
I like those 12 way wire blocks, please drop a link if you can
My first Vesta build was with 12 strips and all I had was 4 way wagos, It was beyond messy. One nice hack for these builds is going 2 strip per sink in series and going for a 48V driver with A-type dimming, it halves the connections in your parallel circuit.

Click to expand...

I spotted those in a build someone posted last summer and I did some digging, Phonenix Contact has the goods!
Arrow carries many versions of those distribution blocks and I found smaller versions than the one the guy used in his build. He posted a cad file for the large aluminum heat sink that was water jet or lazer cut and had bends around the perimeter etc.

1212ham said:

I spotted those in a build someone posted last summer and I did some digging, Phonenix Contact has the goods!
Arrow carries many versions of those distribution blocks and I found smaller versions than the one the guy used in his build. He posted a cad file for the large aluminum heat sink that was water jet or lazer cut and had bends around the perimeter etc.

https://www.phoenixcontact.com/online/portal/us/pxc/product_list_pages/!ut/p/z1/tZNLc-IwDMc_Sw8cHdt5GDiGbGYpy7alAUpyydiOYMzmRR6k7aev0-5hO9Mlhw4-2NKM9LMl648jvMNRzs_qwBtV5DzVfhixeD1b-_6Dyej9ypmR2x-O5y_tRzpf2niLQx-Hx61vkhV-uhjtUhxdhn3kk_8slwzlhzp_HE_MX978p01_k-2tR1bW_cK9WzqmZzH8dFbQ4U1eVJkuLsARjkqpEhwK4hDKGUU02e-R7TALTTilyEoIm3LB-DSReE6GbnC-ecMAfnxV_OK6-Nl1m_NoXxf_3dcvhoZXS00dT6fIxZEs8gaeG7xra8hHpAMxIhlX2iyrImllU49IquomLvkBtJ1ou1Ki7UUbi7SQf-r4kLYQZ0WbNyo_xCWiDqIWIuaITBiXEmCMTEoksqfgIGGDibjeLOoIZoHUUowuPrgX83vABbUGkMebIH7YeZtgaPbY34Y-S6PkFc-MvrTKqODUQt1AYlRFZ8i-HBxS8jm0LqrGSFQFsm8ADt3A-4pVQ6ojNKp3NcX8grJXkOof7e1_eobLLH9RKFycu269zzwx-Xy8WORoc_EK4tW9eQOtM4PU/p0/IZ7_82KCHG41M0VIC0Q3OJANL52CJ6=CZ6_TBTEEP261OQ5B0ID5CEL4R1HL4=MEpxc.param.sort.direction!ASC=pxc.param.pager.requested.row.count!10=pxc.param.pager.selected.page!1=pxc.param.sort.field!sort_p-15-13-02==/#Z7_82KCHG41M0VIC0Q3OJANL52CJ6

https://www.phoenixcontact.com/assets/downloads_ed/global/web_dwl_promotion/52008509_EN_HQ_PTFIX_LoRes.pdf

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yup they are dope. I like working with the push in connectors rather than the wago lever nuts. winds up being a smaller footprint vs multiple wagos as well.