QB96 Elite V2 w/ SSTX heatsink question

I don't understand how a heatsink rated for 85-100w can handle 200w
How is it that this heatsink can manage 200w with this board but only 100w with a cob?

is it simply cause the surface area is better? or the diodes don't get as hot? or does it just got hot as hell but thats okay?
i thought watts were watts.

If someone knows I'd appreciate an explanation.

https://horticulturelightinggroup.com/collections/quantum-boards/products/qb96-elite-v2-quantum-board-engine

I think the guts is
When cranked up higher you point a fan at the heat sink
When HLG bloke first mentioned these new lights he listed 300 max
Vaporize retinas?

so you think anything above 100w requires active cooling?
i wanna place a pre-order for these i just wish i had more info on em. they look bad ass

pulpoinspace said:

so you think anything above 100w requires active cooling?
i wanna place a pre-order for these i just wish i had more info on em. they look bad ass

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Only a recommended operating temp & ir thermometer could answer that
Or some punk who cranks them up until they melt & brags about it on here

"max 4200mA with SSTX Heatsink and Thermal Pad"

to me that implies that it can run at 4200mA with SSTX and thermal pad AND no added fans

guess we'll have to wait for someone to test one or clarify how this is possible

pulpoinspace said:

"max 4200mA with SSTX Heatsink and Thermal Pad"

to me that implies that it can run at 4200mA with SSTX and thermal pad AND no added fans

guess we'll have to wait for someone to test one or clarify how this is possible

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I was thinking this exact same thing. How is this possible? I know splayed sinks can dissipate more heat but 200watts??? Damn..

that heatsink has always been advertised as 85-100w. doing 200w without active cooling.... kinda hoping someone will come a long and explain what i'm missing here

pulpoinspace said:

I don't understand how a heatsink rated for 85-100w can handle 200w
How is it that this heatsink can manage 200w with this board but only 100w with a cob?

is it simply cause the surface area is better? or the diodes don't get as hot? or does it just got hot as hell but thats okay?
i thought watts were watts.

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Heat is spread over a larger area, meaning it is spreading into the heatsink from multiple points of less heat instead of one hotter point. Just by mounting your room fans above the lights and aiming down to the canopy, can drop Tc a bunch.

They can handle 200 watts passively due to the more even spread of the heat across the entire heatsink. At 175 watts they run around 52C. No air movement. Even with a 10mm thick base the heat from a relatively small source such as a cob doesn't spread across the sink evenly. The max you can run the board actively is actually 6400 ma we are just being conservative. The lumileds are rated at 800ma. The monos are rated to 1500ma. 8 strings total.

So 5200 MA is doable. Holy shit

Stephenj37826 said:

They can handle 200 watts passively due to the more even spread of the heat across the entire heatsink. At 175 watts they run around 52C. No air movement. Even with a 10mm thick base the heat from a relatively small source such as a cob doesn't spread across the sink evenly. The max you can run the board actively is actually 6400 ma we are just being conservative. The lumileds are rated at 800ma. The monos are rated to 1500ma. 8 strings total.

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thanks for the info. pre-order confirmed.

Stephenj37826 said:

They can handle 200 watts passively due to the more even spread of the heat across the entire heatsink. At 175 watts they run around 52C. No air movement. Even with a 10mm thick base the heat from a relatively small source such as a cob doesn't spread across the sink evenly. The max you can run the board actively is actually 6400 ma we are just being conservative. The lumileds are rated at 800ma. The monos are rated to 1500ma. 8 strings total.

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I think this product direction is brilliant.

For me personally, I like building arrays of low wattage cobs. Have you considered smaller versions of this? Like 70w nominal range? Something I could underdrive by 50% and achieve 3 or >3 umol/j? Something like that might convince me to move away from cobs in the future.

I'm a fan of HLG (especially the QB120/QB132), but honestly, I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the use case for the QB96 Elite. At even the suggested power of 175w per, in such a small footprint, it seems like you would need a good deal of headroom, which would necessarily result in wall losses, no? Adding active cooling and pushing them to astonishingly high power levels means even more headroom would be required. Perhaps in a warehouse style grow? Maybe it isn't making sense to me because I'm a tent grower?

What I'd really love to see is a Mk.2 QB120/QB132 with added reds. Or fully 90 CRI versions of existing boards.

Humple said:

What I'd really love to see is a Mk.2 QB120/QB132 with added reds. Or fully 90 CRI versions of existing boards.

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^ or strips

SMT69 said:

^ or strips

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Or strips. Though the ease of setup and low cost of no-heatsink boards is pretty great.

Yupp, four 2ft strips, max. 1,6amps, 24 diodes each, still 96 white, red, deep red diodes, same max. output but no heatsinks required. One could invest in more diodes/strips instead of in expensive heatsinks. 50w strips would work like 2ft F-strips and c-channels would work pretty well to keep them cool.
But I could imagine they have something like this already in their pipeline..

I can see these working in single plant grows (one QB96 per plant) where plant numbers are limited by legislation and growers can't be arsed scrogging too much. It's good to have that penetration in the middle. But I'm trying to figure out how to make these work in a 3'x3' for growing 1.5lb plants now the QB324s are out of stock.

I liked the QB324s - will there be any more?

Prawn Connery said:

I can see these working in single plant grows (one QB96 per plant) where plant numbers are limited by legislation and growers can't be arsed scrogging too much. It's good to have that penetration in the middle. But I'm trying to figure out how to make these work in a 3'x3' for growing 1.5lb plants now the QB324s are out of stock.

I liked the QB324s - will there be any more?

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Shopping for your buddy's small commercial grow, I presume? Yeah, you might have some difficulty finding something that fits the area and grow-style as well as those 324s. A single QB96 at absolute max would be what? About 320w? Enough for a 3x3 for many of us, but I know you're shooting for around 400w. Besides, they probably need a LOT of cooling at that power level.

Hopefully HLG isn't done with the QB324!

Yeah. We've got fans blowing all through the room and aircon, but the panels have a decent surface area to dissipate heat and spread light while still offering a good concentration of light in the middle of the footprint for single-plant penetration. He's just not into scrogging, so while he uses nets, he's not really training each bud to within an enth degree.

Has anyone seen HLG state their recommended coverage area and hanging height for the QB96 Elite? Perhaps it's in a thread that I missed, but I don't see anything about it on their website.