LED Panel F-Series GEN 3 or Bridgelux EB Series Gen 2
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thetr33man
Well-Known Member
Flat bars work for me. Got it as scrap from a local metal shop. They even cut it to strips for me.
thetr33man
Well-Known Member
Aluminum would be great, but Ive been running a F series strip a good bit over max power for a while now with a decent heatsink and it seems to be holding up, so far.isn't the epoxy composite material of the samsung strips effectively insulating the LEDs from any heat sinks we might be adding? should we not shop for strips that use aluminum-PCBs instead for better heat transmission?
That's a handy tip. It definitely would save money and, if they don't actually require heat sinks I guess it won't matter that the metal is rather thin on these - I think about 1/40 inch in your parlance.
isn't the epoxy composite material of the samsung strips effectively insulating the LEDs from any heat sinks we might be adding? should we not shop for strips that use aluminum-PCBs instead for better heat transmission?
I suppose if whatever the strip is attached to is getting warm, it's conducting heat away from it, even if not as effectively as it might with an aluminium PCB. Already got the strips so no more shopping for me. Maybe I should get the cheapest, adequate support that will conduct heat away as suggested by nfhiggs and think more about airflow over them if I want to cool them a little?
nfhiggs
Well-Known Member
Thickness really doesn't matter - surface area is all that really counts.
I posted this in the Quantum boards thread but want to start a new thread for my panel build:
So I'm about to buy some LED stripes.
It is supposed to be used for flower only.
The space is 3.3 x 6 ft. So 19.8 ft²
My favorites are:
samsung f-series gen3
SI-B8U521B20WW
or
EB Series Gen 2
BXEB-L1120Z-35E4000-C-B3
I was thinking of buying 10 of those samsung stripes and running them @450 W.
so that means 46v and 1A for each stripe.
In total they have 1440 LED.
I guess they are not S6 binning like the quantum boards from HLG but S4.
How big is this difference in real world use? at 50% power it seems to be a difference of arround 11% in lumen output. Quite a number but:
The stripes would be more distributed on the space and have more single LED as an lightsource than the Quantum boards. So might this compensate for the worse binning?
In COB threads its all about 1 COB for 1 sqft.
Is this still the better solution?
Is there any data showing that the narrow space of a Quantum board is superior to distributed COB or stripes with S4 binning?
Im also having a hard time finding some data for comparison between Quantum boards vs Stripes vs COB.
Did anyone ever tested this? @CobKits maybe?
Now I also discovered the Bridgelux EB Series Gen 2
One stripe only have 114 LED instead of Samsungs 144, but with the cheaper price I could purchase more of them.
For the same price (little less actually) I could buy 15 Bridgelux Stripes.
In total 1710 LED.
So even more then Samsung with more distribution.
They are slightly less efficient but maybe more LED + wider distribution will get better results?
Basically I just want to know how to build the best bang in the buck panel with good results.
Hard to find any real use case data out there, just a lot of theory
Electricity is very expensive here were I live so better efficiency makes a lot of difference.
But how much more yield will I get with (for example) with 10 of those bridgelux stripes and 15 or Quantum boards ?
Does it justify the greater investement?
Sorry - didn't mean to go off topic and hope the heatsink/flat bar discussion has been of a some small use to you.
I decided on the f-series because, here at least, as the total cost of lighting my little 2x2 space with either was almost identical, I went with the convenience of having to use fewer strips. As I was never going to be in a position to judge if having 10 or 12 EBs as opposed to 5 or 6 fs would increase production, leave it the same, or decrease it, I went with convenience. It may be different over larger spaces but my gut feeling was that it wasn't going to make enough difference, if any at all, for me to get my lazy arse into gear and do the extra work (and possibly suffer the extra cost in drivers, though I only gave that cursory consideration).
It's really hard for anyone to know which makes economic sense for you without comparing the exact initial cost of different systems, cost of electricity each would use plus, crucially, the value of the end product to you. It wouldn't take much extra for me, as a putative example, to recoup $30 extra outlay (providing I could afford it in the first place) and $50 in electricity a year.
However, I don't think there's anything like conclusive evidence of the differences between the two (f series and EBs) in terms of end production. Here though they both work out significantly cheaper to buy than cobs, are at least as efficient lumens per watt wise as cobs (which is a close enough guide for my needs, even if it's not the most useful applicable metric) and are far less hassle to build a light system with. If I was running a 4 acre tomato greenhouse in Holland, I'd be working it out to the 100th decimal point over the next five years. As it is, I chose strips over cobs and samsungs over EBs. But really, deciding on which strip seems to be more about "you pays your money, you makes your choice" than any available hard information about their productivity.
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That speaks to my original question - and confirms my thoughts. Cheers!
Thank goodness - a better reason to do less wiring than me being a slacker.
I have 90cm/3ft height for pots, plants, light fixture, carbon filter, fans. I went with Eb2s to be able to keep plants close to lights
Out of curiosity, which Eb2s are you running and how close to the plant tops have you got them?
Everything arrived but got no time to put it together.
16 strips at 400-500mA each in a 2x3x3ft tent. I suppose I can keep plants close enough
T-Time
Well-Known Member
I'm planning to run one of those strips for my veg . Could anyone suggest a good setup for 600x1000mm (600mm height) space ?
Im thinking to run 5000K 560mm version of one or the other but not sure how far away I would have to space them. I have to get that figured out before I start thinking about the driver.
I would want to run them soft as they will be used up untill 3week veg MAX as I have 600mm height restriction.
Im thinking to run 5000K 560mm version of one or the other but not sure how far away I would have to space them. I have to get that figured out before I start thinking about the driver.
I would want to run them soft as they will be used up untill 3week veg MAX as I have 600mm height restriction.
ANC
Well-Known Member
You need about 6 rows of LEDs for 600mm if you drive them at typical currents, 8 for higher output at same input.
Whether you take those as 3 double row or 6 single row strips is up to your budget. For low ceilings, I would use 6 or 8 the single row strips.And then another 1 or 2 on the last foot or so.
Whether you take those as 3 double row or 6 single row strips is up to your budget. For low ceilings, I would use 6 or 8 the single row strips.And then another 1 or 2 on the last foot or so.
T-Time
Well-Known Member
Ok so about 6 or 8 single row strips will be spaced around 167mm or 125mm apart depending how many strips I'll choose. Thats on 1000mm total length.
I'll be leaning towards bridgelux as I've heard they dont require heatsinks.
So what about the driver for that kind of setup ?
I probably want to stay aroun 150w mark.