Hlg elite 96 wiring help

[pulpoinspace]

yes i agree 480 is too much in a 3x3 and will need a potentiometer and dim it.

i run 400w in a 3x3 at peak flower, more commonly 300-350

Driver selection depends on OP's future plans and if he ever wants to upgrade. Buying a 600h now and dimming it to 400w will be cheaper than buying a 320h now and another 320h later when he decides to upgrade to a 4x4.

 

[NanoGadget]

yes i agree 480 is too much in a 3x3 and will need a potentiometer and dim it.

i run 400w in a 3x3 at peak flower, more commonly 300-350

Driver selection depends on OP's future plans and if he ever wants to upgrade. Buying a 600h now and dimming it to 400w will be cheaper than buying a 320h now and another 320h later when he decides to upgrade to a 4x4.

And the driver will run cooler.

 

[ChiefRunningPhist]

You guys dont think 480 watts in 3x3 is a tad over kill. That's 53+ watts per square foot. 270w in 3x3 will flower very nice. 325-375 is way more than enough. Going with the 480 being new to LEDs it will b wide open bc that's what people.new to led do most of the time. Bc they are use to running HPS. So they think they need to get as close to the wattage as the HPS they switched out. 480w in a 3x3 of qb96E's o bet bleaches the shit outta plants. The light will have to be higher. I'd rather run like 40+ watts per sqft and run em soft and get really good efficiency out of the light. Get em closer to the plants. Just my theory anyway. Running that way seems to work for me. 6+ zips from a 2gal soft pot. And it costs pennies a day to run.

For a $30 difference you might as well go for the 480h, given that you can dim to 360w or whatever brightness you'd like.

It gives more versatility if you ever wanted to add another light, or change tent sizes ect. Being a new grower he will probably change things up often.

I totally agree that 480w in 3x3 at the QB96 elite efficacy is bright. But running 40w+/ft2 in a 3'x3' is 360w+, and would be running the 320h pretty hard. Its capable of doing it but if there's only $30 difference I'd recommend going with the bigger more versatile one.
@NanoGadget is right also, it's like driving 75mph in 3rd gear vs 5th gear? What tranny guna last longer? The one that doesn't have to work as hard to maintain the speed you want. Will run cooler to have a bigger driver that's dimmed down.

@Fluffyhead22, if I didn't make this clear already, what @whytewidow is saying is true, you'll want to either hang them high in your tent, or you'll want to dim the 480h 54a driver down a tad (using the built in dimmer) to hang them lower. I'd go down to about 60-75% on the driver and then adjust the height of your lights to what your plants like. If you don't dim them you'll just have to hang them higher and will be using more wattage than would be technically necessary, although ultimately any change of technique will have a little learning curve and you'll get the hang of it quick. If your plants start to bleach raise the lights or turn them down, its that simple.

@pulpoinspace, the 600h ($200) is a lil more of an added expense than the 480h ($145) that's why I suggested the 480h, but your train of thought was essentially where I was at, the bigger the driver the more versatile should plans change or tent sizes increase...

 

[ChiefRunningPhist]

@Fluffyhead22
All these drivers will work...



Bare minimum for the 3'x 3'...
($115) 320h-54a

Will need to dim or raise height for a 3' x 3'...
($145) 480h-54a

Will need to dim for a 3' x 3'...
($200) 600h-54a


Others are recommending a "b" style driver which would require you to wire in an extra pot. The added pot is nice, but not necessary. This is also true with a driver bigger than a 320h (for your 3'x 3'), they are nice and give options for future changes, but not necessay.

A 480h will give you limited future options as its slightly underpowered to run a 4'x 4' area (but could do it, would run hot and would have to max it) and that seems to be your next tent size up. So for an added $30 (480h over the 320h) you're pretty much getting a driver that's not going to work as hard and possibly give you the ability to flower an additional 2'x 2' if you bought another light to go along with it. (3 lights in the 3'x 3', 1 light in the 2' x 2').

The more I think about it, if you got the cash go even a size bigger, go for the 600h (but it'll cost twice as much as a 320h). The 600h will give you all the versatility I was talking about, and would be able to move up to a 4'x 4' tent with more ease than the 480h.

Ultimately I'm just trying to give you some info so you can make your own decision, personally if on a budget I'd compromise and go with the 480h (only $30 more than the 320h, but not as much as the 600h) but if I had the funds I'd swing for the 600h. If cost is paramount I'd go with the 320h.

No matter the driver size you go with, 320h, 480h, 600h, they all need to be either 54a (built in dimmer) or 54b (wires left hanging off driver to add a pot yourself), they all need to be 54v. Good luck!

 

[whytewidow]

Oh yeah I absolutely agree about spending the extra 30 bucks for the bigger driver. For future. If he plans expanding. He jus need to keep it down. As long as he keeps in mind that he doesnt need 600 watts of led bc he had 600 watts of hps he will b good. And makes room for adding later on down the road. Or as long as he has a 8ft tent and keeps them high. Those 96 elite are super bright.

 

[ChiefRunningPhist]

Anyone got a spec sheet for the QB96 Elite? Efficacy?

Edit: nvmd I see.. 2.35umol/j @ 170w, so about 100umol/s/ft2, that's pretty dam good eh? What you guys shooting for?

 

[pulpoinspace]

Anyone got a spec sheet for the QB96 Elite? Efficacy?

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1538/8585/files/L091803001.pdf?3465180659183162725

for HLG 360 which uses two 96elite on a 320h-54

 

[ChiefRunningPhist]

@pulpoinspace , @whytewidow , @NanoGadget , @trojanvirus , @Airwalker16
Just can't stop thinking about this lol, could you honestly get by with (1) QB96 Elite, and (1) HLG 320h-54a for a 3'x 3' if you were to treat it like COB (and wanted the very cheapest way), just run it max and hang it higher? Would want a fan to help keep it cool. The reflective surface area to grow volume makes it distribute the light more evenly, while keeping losses minimized??
.
What you guys think?

Estimate..
2.0 umol/j @ 325 w ??

2 x 325 ÷ 9 = 72umol/ft2/s??

 

[pulpoinspace]

Yeah I agree in theory that would be sufficient, right up there at the absolute max current the board can take but knowing HLG it would run fine. Thats what makes these boards so impressive to to me is their versatility. Being able to run them so hot really opens up a ton of flexibility for initial startup costs.

 

[Airwalker16]

@pulpoinspace , @whytewidow , @NanoGadget , @trojanvirus , @Airwalker16
Just can't stop thinking about this lol, could you honestly get by with (1) QB96 Elite, and (1) HLG 320h-54a for a 3'x 3' if you were to treat it like COB (and wanted the very cheapest way), just run it max and hang it higher? Would want a fan to help keep it cool. The reflective surface area to grow volume makes it distribute the light more evenly, while keeping losses minimized??
.
What you guys think?

Estimate..
2.0 umol/j @ 325 w ??

2 x 325 ÷ 9 = 72umol/ft2/s??

You'd need massive cooling. Like a 12" wide, 24" long 10mm thick based heatsink with 3 big 200mm fans.
But more so, you're going to have bleaching and scraggly outer growth. It can't be hung high enough in a 3X3.

 

[NanoGadget]

I think they can work well as a cob analog, but i agree that if you ran them at the bleeding edge of their power handling capacity you probably wouldn't be best utilising them. I feel like the sweet spot for the 96 is probably how HLG runs them on their HLG 360 fixture.

 

[pulpoinspace]

Yeah everything i've seen seems a sweet spot is 150-170. plenty of people seem to like pushing them at 240+ tho