Samsung 5 dollar strip builds

Morbid Angel

Well-Known Member
Better than starting a thread on it, I’ll share a couple pics of my build here. I ordered all my parts awhile ago and just recently received them. This put me in a panic as I was expecting them all to arrive much sooner. I had already ordered all my cuts and had to keep trimming them back while waiting. By the time I got the pieces I was in a rush to slam the thing together forgoing aesthetics for quick assembly. I know it’s a bit of a birds nest up there but in fairness it will get the job done and I didn’t make it to look at.
i have to say I am very impressed with the quality of visible light. Very nice rich warm colour. I’m glad I picked up a box of these because they are so nice I may use them for lighting around the house / shop.


Riveted together
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rough mockup of drivers and bus bars
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finished wiring
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UV in in series
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there are 8 of the White strips driven by Hlg-320-48
3 HLG Q18 strips supplementing reds
4 UV Opulent stars @ 2x 365nm, 2x 385nm
I may add UVB or more supplements later after I get a grow under my belt with this thing. I left a lot of room for more strips or stars.

The UV
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The white strips and reds each have their own dimmers located at the front. Whites on left reds on right.
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I’d also like to say thanks to @CaliWorthington and @Rocket Soul among a few others For their polite sharing of information direct and indirectly. If it wasn’t for this LED community here on RIU I would not have taken the dive into LED. I have been watching the LED section since before my join date, keen on replacing the burdensome chore of other HID systems and all their baggage.

Pics in the post above of mine show the lights on so I won’t repost those.
 

Morbid Angel

Well-Known Member
It’s hard to edit the post above with all the pics in the way.

The hlg Q18 boards are driven in parallel by an hlg-100h-24

The UV driven in series by Recom RACD12-500-LP.

I know I may get some questioning and hating on the UVA choice but I have run UV in the form of reptile fluorescence for many years. I have seen their advantage and since they mostly only emit uva I decided to go with these stars. All the research I’ve done in the past suggested it was these two wavelengths that where most beneficial. There is a lot of newer research on uvb now but I’m not sold and will be watching. I may add some later.
 

Rocket Soul

Well-Known Member
Just finished up. Absolutely gorgeous light.

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*I haven’t read the thread yet. Will do in a bit.
Thats really nice and no doubt shoold give some crazy growth. How bigs your space? I would advice to check with a par meter for evenness of intensity; the whites look evenly distributed (id try to make emphasis on sides as middle allways get extra cross light) but the qb18s look a bit concentrated in the middle. But in the end your plants will tell you. But keep in mind, if you have any problems, that it might be a bit centre focused. If you post your grow tag me
 

Rocket Soul

Well-Known Member
It’s hard to edit the post above with all the pics in the way.

The hlg Q18 boards are driven in parallel by an hlg-100h-24

The UV driven in series by Recom RACD12-500-LP.

I know I may get some questioning and hating on the UVA choice but I have run UV in the form of reptile fluorescence for many years. I have seen their advantage and since they mostly only emit uva I decided to go with these stars. All the research I’ve done in the past suggested it was these two wavelengths that where most beneficial. There is a lot of newer research on uvb now but I’m not sold and will be watching. I may add some later.
Uv seems to have 2 points where its extra plat active: 285ish and 360ish. Its not only for thc, its also good for plant transpiration and general plant health but dont over do it.
 

Morbid Angel

Well-Known Member
Uv seems to have 2 points where its extra plat active: 285ish and 360ish. Its not only for thc, its also good for plant transpiration and general plant health but dont over do it.
for sure. That’s why there is only the four stars. They don’t need much at all. They are timed as I have always timed them. 15m @ lights on, mid and lights off.

the whites are evenly spread at 70mm apart. The reds evenly spread from center. The space is 3x3 and the light is 3x3. There is a slight ~5mm offset where the channeling for the larger driver sits but not enough to really notice.

the uv stars are also at a foot apart on the x/y and wavelengths staggered.
 

Rocket Soul

Well-Known Member
for sure. That’s why there is only the four stars. They don’t need much at all. They are timed as I have always timed them. 15m @ lights on, mid and lights off.

the whites are evenly spread at 70mm apart. The reds evenly spread from center. The space is 3x3 and the light is 3x3. There is a slight ~5mm offset where the channeling for the larger driver sits but not enough to really notice.

the uv stars are also at a foot apart on the x/y and wavelengths staggered.
I think you can probably extend the uv a bit more, its a pity having it and not using it. Ive seen nachoo build up up to 3 hours of uvb and all day uva. It seems you have a lot of wattage in a 3x3.
 

CaliWorthington

Well-Known Member
I’d also like to say thanks to @CaliWorthington and @Rocket Soul among a few others For their polite sharing of information direct and indirectly. If it wasn’t for this LED community here on RIU I would not have taken the dive into LED. I have been watching the LED section since before my join date, keen on replacing the burdensome chore of other HID systems and all their baggage.
You're welcome. That is a really nice build!

The F-series Gen 3 strips are in stock. I might get some for these next 5 heatsinks, and use the other (15) $5 strips I've got for lighting my living room. The lighting in here is awful, and as you pointed out, these actually give off a pretty nice light. I'll have to make the wiring neater than my grow light builds, though. :lol:
 
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Morbid Angel

Well-Known Member
I think you can probably extend the uv a bit more, its a pity having it and not using it. Ive seen nachoo build up up to 3 hours of uvb and all day uva. It seems you have a lot of wattage in a 3x3.
i definitely will build up but these poor cuts I have been holding back light and nutrients and putting them through a lot while waiting to get my light supplies. I’m gently introducing them to the LED’s.

Anyways who else has got these built fully or partially? Let’s see some!
 

BlackmoreRulz

Active Member
OK, this baby has been under the light I built for a little over a month, it was started outside and got bug bit pretty bad so I moved it inside under the light. First time grower(after almost fifty years of avoiding law enforcement I still can't believe I can do this legally now) but this thing is going crazy how bushy it is compared to one of its seedmates that is still outside.

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Running 7 of the influx strips at about 600mA apiece 3500k 190W or so. I was given a driver and would like to add it to the area, maybe supplementing the spectrum some with some more strips but the question is, which ones? Any suggestions?

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There is no cover or anything for the driver, I'm sure I can engineer something, it will be outside the tent sitting on a table.
 

Polyuro

Well-Known Member
Hey @CaliWorthington, I bought six of those Arrow strips when they were in stock. Now that I have some time I want to build a new rack for a 4’x2‘ tent. Which driver would max out the power of each strip?
Also, could you or anyone else suggest supplemental lights to help fill the tent. That would really be appreciated.
poly
 

CaliWorthington

Well-Known Member
Hey @CaliWorthington, I bought six of those Arrow strips when they were in stock. Now that I have some time I want to build a new rack for a 4’x2‘ tent. Which driver would max out the power of each strip?
Also, could you or anyone else suggest supplemental lights to help fill the tent. That would really be appreciated.
poly
Sorry I didn't reply, been logged out for a while I guess. I pretty much built the system that @Randomblame suggested for me. That build uses parallel wiring. If you wanted to do something like that, I would choose an HLG-320H-48B. If one strip were to stop working, 6.7 amps divided by 5 strips is 1.34A, and these strips go up to 1.38A, so the other 5 strips would be safe. If two strips fail it might cook them all.

The data sheet says these strips can go up to 52V. I'm not 100% sure about this, but if you got a 54V driver in an A version, you could adjust the voltage down a hair from 54V and run the strips at 52V. That's as hot as they can go. I believe in that case you'd want an HLG-320H-54A.

The other option is to go with series wiring. I'm not an expert on that, either. I think you want to look at the HLG-320H-C1400A, and adjust the current down a hair from max. Someone more advanced than me should probably verify which C-series driver would be best for you.

You may have already figured this out and bought the driver(s), so again, sorry for being late.
 
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