Question about strip builds
- Thread starter Zackk
- Start date
Viceman666
Well-Known Member
Which strips? And how hard you gonna run them?
Zackk
Member
Some EB Series Bridgeflex strips. They're 1 footers and currently only a little over $4 a piece. I have a mars hydro and I took out the two drivers, they are both 55-86 v at .63-.65 amps. I plan on using these.
Airwalker16
Well-Known Member
You'll be fine running them bare at 600mA but it never hurts to maybe at least throw some thermal tape under them. Gap Pad is even better.
Rocket Soul
Well-Known Member
Generally on EBs: you can run them at nominal without heatsink. At max they need some heatsinking but they dont get insanely hot, a fair bit under their rated max temp. I think 700mA is max on the 1 footers, use some heatsink or get some airflow on them, or run 2 string in paralell for 300mA each string. I think theres a graph with measurements, maybe @Randomblame got it still, he pretty much have all the info on the entire led section. Best of luck
Chip Green
Well-Known Member
I have "ladder" style racks of EB 560mm, run at nominal current (700ma), been running over a year without issue.....
This is worth a look :
https://www.rollitup.org/t/bridgelux-eb-gen-2-thermals.957453/
This is worth a look :
https://www.rollitup.org/t/bridgelux-eb-gen-2-thermals.957453/
projectinfo
Well-Known Member
I had some thin aluminum sheet i cutup on the table saw a bit bigger than the strips and mounted with doubled sided thermal transfer tape, then used self tapping screws.
Then made a wood frame and painted it.
Pay attention to the spacing as well.
Notice they get closer towards the outside . To avoid hotspots
Good luck
Then made a wood frame and painted it.
Pay attention to the spacing as well.
Notice they get closer towards the outside . To avoid hotspots
Good luck
wietefras
Well-Known Member
That does not work though. You just end up putting more light on the walls or in your case blowing it across the room. Either way, it's just more losses.
If you want to improve uniformity, make sure there is some reflective material on all sides of your grow.
projectinfo
Well-Known Member
So my strip spacing doesnt help, at all?
Lol ok.
@Randomblame
@Serva
@nfhiggs i miss you buddy
Who elese was doing the spacing ?
Randomblame
Well-Known Member
I see mainly a wider gap in the center and this indeed helps to reduce the center hotspot. Yes, reflective walls would increase over all brightness probably by around 20% but when I look closer to your fixture I don't think you waste more light just because of the wider gap in the center. You already have the wooden frame you could just stretch a 30-40" wide black&white foil around three or all 4 of the sides. If you use adhesive Velcro tape you can easily remove it and fix it again. Such a foil costs nothing but would help a lot and you really only need walls 30" high from the lid of the res. Airflow should be not a problem because it's still open below and above the walls.
I would staple one side of the Velcro to the wood frame and glue the other side to 4pcs 30" high foil, each for one side, so you can easily open each side for inspection while the others stay closed. There are also 2m adhesive zippers for foils which are usually used on the construction to make foil doors. But velcro tape works probably better and is more durable as zippers. Take at least a 150g/m² foil to make sure there are no light leaks and all the light gets reflected.
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projectinfo
Well-Known Member
He man i love the idea. And i il try it out on one table but really i had air flow issues the last two grows , so im kind of hesitant to put anything up right now but i will definitly consider it .
At the moment my lights have more power than i need, ive got them raised up and turned down the whole grow . So its not a big deal right now.
Thanks for the ideas . Screenshot
Randomblame
Well-Known Member
He man i love the idea. And i il try it out on one table but really i had air flow issues the last two grows , so im kind of hesitant to put anything up right now but i will definitly consider it .
At the moment my lights have more power than i need, ive got them raised up and turned down the whole grow . So its not a big deal right now.
Thanks for the ideas . Screenshot
Hehe, yeah! I've seen your results and I have to say; very good for an open area and your girls loved the stripes. But there is always room for improvement ..
I work literally all day long on improvements in my mind... never ending story..
Randomblame
Well-Known Member
Thats the temps from EBgen1 you can expect even lower temps from gen2. Up to 525/1050 mA they don't need heatsinks only a frame with one or two crossbars to give them more rigidity.
SMT69
Well-Known Member
man those plants/clones look like sh!t, what happened ? ....nice setup tho!
I spaced my strips equally throughout and am getting uniform flux readings across my canopy (tent).
Maybe it depends if your running a tent with walls --versus an open design like urs?
i run my strips 10"-12" high tho (dimming accordingly)....get yourself a flux or par meter to measure and not guess about hotspots, best tool i bought for my grow
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projectinfo
Well-Known Member
Got some rough clones from a buddy lol dont ask
projectinfo
Well-Known Member
Ive tested, no hotspots with three lights next to eachother. This is my fourth grow with these. They work great lol thanks bud
wietefras
Well-Known Member
No it does not. Just do the math. More light lost on the sides and less uniformity in the center.
Yes warn them too.
wietefras
Well-Known Member
There is no center hotspot with led strips. It's more an intensity drop off the nearer you get to the walls, because that's where you lose the light.
To lose less light putting more light on the walls where you actually lose the light? It just doesn't make sense.
That's not the point. He's wasting the light from the strips near the walls. The more light you put on the walls (or in this case throw it away on the open space) the more light you take away from the plants.
Although the center gap actually means the uniformity in the middle gets poorer. It's all incredibly marginal though.
That putting more light on the walls is not a good idea should be obvious really, but I ran several simulations and all came out that indeed you end up with less light overall doing this. The difference is not significant perhaps, but still why bother when it doesn't improve things and actually makes it worse.
Funny thing is that there are also people doing the exact opposite. ie angling their lights closest to the walls away from those walls. They also claim that's an improvement (also not BTW)
projectinfo
Well-Known Member
Im not trying to get more light I have too much.
Im eliminating the hotspot in the middle, its been tested there is a hotspot in the middle and i dont want to hang reflecrive shit. Also i have three lights right next to eachother in the room and i have even readings like this.
Its for ease of access, and to reduce pests, mold. Ive had problems and this is how the grow runs good for me.
not everything need to be labratory grade efficiency You must be an engineer. Everything makes sense on paper eh lol
Im eliminating the hotspot in the middle, its been tested there is a hotspot in the middle and i dont want to hang reflecrive shit. Also i have three lights right next to eachother in the room and i have even readings like this.
Its for ease of access, and to reduce pests, mold. Ive had problems and this is how the grow runs good for me.
not everything need to be labratory grade efficiency You must be an engineer. Everything makes sense on paper eh lol