Quantam Board build

[ChaosHunter]

Hello all ! As many may know I've been chomping at the bit to replace my Mars 600 in my little 2x2 grow tent. Things have come along way since 20 years ago when I last grew using MacGyver'ed street lights.

I would like to say that the build is exotic as I've seen on here but its super simple plug and play excluding the aluminum angle. Its such a sweet setup for this grow space. First thoughts are light, thin, silent, not hot "yet", running less than half the power of the Mars, anyone with a drill and a tape measure can do this.

 

[ChaosHunter]

Just showing different parts of the build in pics above. Sorry for the crappy pics and lame posting as I'm still leaning to get around on the site. Below is the light finished. I opted to have the driver mounted outside of my tent but there are holes on the heat sinks for mounting. These heat sinks are very well done, no burrs and all threads were taped nicely.

 

[BuddyColas]

Just showing different parts of the build in pics above. Sorry for the crappy pics and lame posting as I'm still leaning to get around on the site. Below is the light finished. I opted to have the driver mounted outside of my tent but there are holes on the heat sinks for mounting. These heat sinks are very well done, no burrs and all threads were taped nicely.

Looks good...very clean and simple. And the driver for those 2 boards?

 

[ChaosHunter]

Looks good...very clean and simple. And the driver for those 2 boards?

120H C1400A I just use the internal pot to dim/power. Thank you sir ! Now I need to figure light distance, watts at what stage and figuring out a way to add a little heat lol. I have a Johnson A419 controller hooked up to a brew heater under the catch floor for now.

 

[BuddyColas]

So assuming 95% eff., you are 100 watts at the wall and 95 watts to the boards and about 47ish watts to each board...so about 185ish lumens per watt (if I read the front end of the DIY with Quantum Board thread right).

I have found this thread very helpful. With a plain old LUX meter you can know the PPFD to your plants.
https://www.rollitup.org/t/par-multiplier-thread.928907/

So if you have a LUX meter, inquiring minds would like to know the readings.

 

[BuddyColas]

So assuming 95% eff., you are 100 watts at the wall and 95 watts to the boards and about 47ish watts to each board...so about 185ish lumens per watt (if I read the front end of the DIY with Quantum Board thread right).

I have found this thread very helpful. With a plain old LUX meter you can know the PPFD to your plants.
https://www.rollitup.org/t/par-multiplier-thread.928907/

So if you have a LUX meter, inquiring minds would like to know the readings.

So using that PAR Multiplier Thread...I'm saying you have about 682 PPFD in your 2x2 foot tent at a modest 100 watts at the wall. And that would be about 1000ish PPFD at full throttle! I think you have a great light!

 

[ChaosHunter]

I haven't stepped up to the higher end light testing stuff yet. Have just been using a light intensity meter on a cheap moisture meter and by feel lol. The COB game feels like a completely different animal when you look at a incandescent bulb. I think I can get a lux app for my phone to get a ball park. At this very moment I'm trying to get the temps up lol.

 

[ChaosHunter]

So using that PAR Multiplier Thread...I'm saying you have about 682 PPFD in your 2x2 foot tent at a modest 100 watts at the wall. And that would be about 1000ish PPFD at full throttle! I think you have a great light!

Buddy is there any online resources that talk about optimum PPFD ?

 

[BuddyColas]

Buddy is there any online resources that talk about optimum PPFD ?

That's like bringing up politics or religion in a mix group...everybody has a strong opinion! And so it is with optimal PPFD.

I have had great results with about 800 ppfd. I don't have any need to go higher. I have got 1.5+ oz per square foot with 800 ppfd...and I am not totally dialed in yet for sure.

Check out the graph on this site. http://www.tastyled.com/

And check out this thread and grow: https://www.rollitup.org/t/nextlight-mini-150w-grow.904028/
He just kills it with under 600 ppfd!

And Captainmorgan has had great grows in the 600ish range also.

You will get many opinions!

 

[ChaosHunter]

Sweet stuff and thank you for the help Buddy C ! I'm stoked with this setup so far from battling heat, buzzing ballasts from HPS/MH years ago. I feel like I'm relearning all over again but I knew when I saw the QB it would be perfect for my setup. Thank you again !

 

[Budzbuddha]

Very nice .... That space between boards ....

Was there a certain space required for light footprint ?

 

[BuddyColas]

Sweet stuff and thank you for the help Buddy C ! I'm stoked with this setup so far from battling heat, buzzing ballasts from HPS/MH years ago. I feel like I'm relearning all over again but I knew when I saw the QB it would be perfect for my setup. Thank you again !

Sweet stuff and thank you for the help Buddy C ! I'm stoked with this setup so far from battling heat, buzzing ballasts from HPS/MH years ago. I feel like I'm relearning all over again but I knew when I saw the QB it would be perfect for my setup. Thank you again !

You are at the forefront of lighting technology now. I will be watching your grow.

 

[ChaosHunter]

Very nice .... That space between boards ....

Was there a certain space required for light footprint ?

Robin suggested 6-8 inches for my 2x2.5 tent. 6 inches put a board over each 2 foot section. There is a thermal image showing the light foot print of the boards somewhere. One board could have been enough but two running at a lower wattage appealed to me. I feels like growing with a flashlight =0)

 

[ChaosHunter]

Is it normal for the driver wattage to move a few watts up or down ?

 

[ThaiBaby1]

Is it normal for the driver wattage to move a few watts up or down ?

yes of course

 

[Stephenj37826]

Is it normal for the driver wattage to move a few watts up or down ?

As temps fluctuate the Voltage slightly changes. This is normal for all leds. Temps go up Voltage down.

 

[frica]

Buddy is there any online resources that talk about optimum PPFD ?

Between 600-900 is fine.

Above that it takes a lot of extra power for very small improvements.
Below that you'd need a lot more space for the same amount of weed.

For personal use and if you consume less marijuana than you can grow, 500 PPFD is fine too.

 

[ChaosHunter]

Its been 48 hours since I switched out my Mars 600 to the 2 Quantum board build. I've noticed quite a bit of difference in my two tester Autos. They seem to be more happy with the QB than the disco light.. time will tell.

I really like this setup all in all so far, super simple to build and not that much more than what the Mars 600 cost now.

 

[coolj]

whats the max heat watts those heatsinks will take passive?

 

[Yodaweed]

Any reason you choose to grow autos? You said you been growing 20 years, always growing autos?