Quantum Boards or COBS?

Looking at grow light for my 4x2 tent. Following suggestions from other members I have narrowed my choices down to timber lights 3VL and 3saml. It appears the 3saml is using Samsung led boards and the 3VL is using COBs and apparently the only big difference is suggested distance between the light and plants. So which is better or does it not matter? I know the 3VL is $100 cheaper.

The 3saml, using the V2 QB's, is more efficient. Both lights are 300W, but the 3saml produces 738 μmol/s and the 3VL is 675.
The 3saml can be run closer due to a little better distribution. 30 watts/ square foot gets it done with these efficient lights, so the 24saml would also be a good choice.

I don't recall if anyone posted this... http://ledgardener.com/diy-led-strip-build-designs-samsung-bridgelux/

cobs will give you better coverage than a couple boards

Heisengrow said:

cobs will give you better coverage than a couple boards

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could you explain how? To me it seems the coverage would be very similar and timber lights says both lights cover the same amount fo square footage...

wil2279 said:

could you explain how? To me it seems the coverage would be very similar and timber lights says both lights cover the same amount fo square footage...

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Usually when people use COBs they opt for more cobs ran lower to increase efficacy, which in turn creates more sources of light giving you better coverage. But in this case you have 3 COBs vs 3 boards. I think the 3 boards would outperform the COBs no problem

wil2279 said:

could you explain how? To me it seems the coverage would be very similar and timber lights says both lights cover the same amount fo square footage...

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I personally like rapid led,I think timber is a little overpriced and they use the expensive heat sinks that are over kill.if you price out the parts that timber uses you'll see what I'm talking about.
You can build a 6 cob setup for less than 300 dollars out the door and will be super efficient.

449 for a 3 cob setup and 1 driver,they are out of there minds.theres less than 160 dollars of parts there.these things are super easy to build.heres one I built and wired up for a 4x5,
Cost me 900 dollars out the door plus a 100 in aluminum.the veros come with molex connectors you just wire red to black.
3, 5 cob light bars from timber would have set me back almost 2 grand.no thanks.

Heisengrow said:

449 for a 3 cob setup and 1 driver,they are out of there minds.theres less than 160 dollars of parts there.these things are super easy to build.heres one I built and wired up for a 4x5,
Cost me 900 dollars out the door plus a 100 in aluminum.the veros come with molex connectors you just wire red to black.
3, 5 cob light bars from timber would have set me back almost 2 grand.no thanks.

View attachment 4172388

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Nice setup... Way more than I need for my grow area

wil2279 said:

Nice setup... Way more than I need for my grow area

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Whats your grow area?

Heisengrow said:

Whats your grow area?

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2ft x 4ft

Nevermind i see it,For a 2x4 i would get 6 Vero 29 80CRI D series and wire them to a Meanwell 320H 1400mA driver.easy as hell to build a frame out of angled aluminum and wire it all up.It would knock the dick off anything you can buy pre made and would be around the same price.Youll get 6 cobs instead of 3 and the light will be evenly distributed.
Alot of these cob builders are using higher amp drivers to use less cobs to give you big wattages.It saves them money on parts to build these rigs so they can make a profit.You would be 10 times better off building your own to get way more for your money
Cobs lose alot of par outside of there downward footprint so more cobs running less watts would run cooler and way more efficient not to mention better light distribution.I use the same setup to get my clones off the ground covering a 3x5 area in veg and works real good,These in a 2x4 tent would kill it.

rapid led sells the 41 inch canopy rails,I would get 2 of those already built and include the 3 heat sinks per rail if you dont want to build the frames.use the Vero29s and the molex wire connectors.Connect right to the cob and you can screw the cobs right onto the heatsinks.set them on the rail and wire red to black with push in 2 port connectors.
I wired all mine to harness that just plugs into my drivers.No different than plugging a hid into a ballast man.Easy shit.You just have to wire the cobs all together.
Easier than putting a model airplane together

For a 2x4 get a four pack of QB132s ($133) or QB120s ($124) from amazon.
You can run the four QB132s with either the cheap LRS-350-36 driver ($40) or the more expensive, but more efficient and dimmable HLG-320H-36A ($85) driver.

With the four QB120s, you can run them with the cheap LRS-350-24 driver, or the more expensive, efficient, and dimmable HLG-320H-24A driver.

$40 for some red and black 18 awg solid core wire and wago connectors and you are good to go.

Best quality and most efficient lights you can buy for a total of $210-260