Most effecient chips!

ANC

Well-Known Member
I use the 4000K ones, so there's not really any need to add any red or blue. That's just my opinion though based on the look of the spectral chart samsung published for the lm301b. I don't have a ppfd meter to do my own analysis.
The reason I suggested running them at binning current like you're doing is because that's where they are most efficient. since you said you are primarily chasing efficiency here it makes a lot more sense to use two strips mounted on a single heat sink running at binning current than to run a single strip at 900ma. to be honest I reckon if you ran them at 450ma you might even get away with mounting them on something other than aluminium because they just don't produce any heat. even running at 733ma like I'm doing the aluminium extrusion stays cool to the touch.
I agree the test currents are not randomly chosen. They represent the point at which they best represent the power usage, light output and capital outlay. The relative cost of power vs value of output, I always go for what can throw the most photons.
 

oldbeancounter

Well-Known Member
Yeah, purple and UVA wavelength have a strong effect on the taste but also on nutrient content. Antioxidants, vitamins and other medical useful components are also increased. Considering that the nutrient content in tomatoes has practically halved since 1980 that's an important point. I'm pretty sure within the next years more an more professionels will use such wavelengths to get a better endproduct.
Last year I had a basil, a thyme and a rosemary plant for only 4 weeks in my little veg area where I have a 2ft reptile bulb and ~150w LED. All 3 have changed their smell and the tops of the rosemary plant was sticky like hell. If you have touched it you could feel it on your fingers. Not as much as when you touch fresh buds but the smell was incredible; much more like without UV light. The basil turned almost completely into a purple basil and the thyme plant got also a much stronger smell but only the stems got a purple tint.
So, yeah! It works and it seems to be the missing factor in greenhouses.

Thing is can a greenhouse add UV and not get sued if a person who works with the plants gets skin cancer?
I know in Canada it would likely be an issue but then again you could turn on UV source when you made sure grow room was empty I suppose.
Do any use it now, there must be some?
 

welight

Well-Known Member
I need something thats 2 feet but i guess i could do it with 2 strips.

Id be looking for an 9 to 1 output red to blue, about 25 w of output (thats 12ish per 1 footer) and looking for high efficieny reds. Its still in planning though but if you could give some rough details
math dont fall in on a 15 led board so you would need 9 reds and 1 blue on each for 10 leds so 4+ 4 on every 2nd pad, blue centre and one extra red somewhere
Cheers
 

Warpedpassage

Well-Known Member
This is something im deciding on myself. First, this for a very small space so cost is not an issue. I too am thinking about nearly 2 strips per sq ft, close to 200 diodes per sq ft, with additional red monos. My concern is i would be running strips very,very softly, around 6-8 watts per strip. But when i visualize it in mind i imagine the rig would need to be very , vey close to the tops, maybe 6 to 10inches from top of canopy at peak flower. Which would make use of uvb difficult. I could just go with 1 strip per sq ft, and with that i believe the rig would never need to less than 12” from canopy.

What do u guys with hands on experience with strips think?
I meant running 12-16watts per strip not 6-8 watts per strip, with the 200 diode per sq ft example above. My objective is not not the higher efficiency but rather more even coverage. If you guys think the rig would need to be too close to tops running that soft, I can just stick with 100 diodes per sq ft. And run 24-32 w per strip, with with 10-15w of reds. I would like not to have to keep the rig closer than a foot from tops, for sake of airflow and proper uv distance.
I just realized i am muddying up CRPs thread with my nonsense. Apologies. Folks , please free to message me if you like instead of further gunking up this thread.
 

oldbeancounter

Well-Known Member
Yeah but they pack real good density on those middle strips, they are somewhere in the middle of the 3 options in each length when it comes to lumen/dollar.
I honestly don't mind 80CRI, sure, I'd like higher with the same output.... 6 bars will give me about 300W of lm301B in a form factor designed for a 3x3 It should penetrate like a motherfucker.
@ANC
how big a size of area will you put that wattage over?
 

oldbeancounter

Well-Known Member
I use 2x4 trays,
@Oh yes you told me sorry but wasn't sure they were for there or not lol
Makes sense size-watt wise lots of power.
So any closer to hit the buy button?lol
I take months on some products all depends, then again something good
comes at a good price I will give it a shot but not often.
 

TheGreatSouthern

Well-Known Member
@TheGreatSouthern

Likely won't have em much over 350ma most of the time.
Thinking of going with a Meanwell 320 HLGH 48B for all 14 strips.
Any idea how many didods per sq foot you re running I am assuming for veg is this or better yet watts per sq foot for ease for calculation?
good idea, if you're using 5000K qb22a strips and driving them under binning current you ought to make 220lm/w easily. I think that aluminium flat bar you have will sag without something to hold it rigid. I'm not sure so don't quote me on this but I looked over the spec sheet for the lm301b pretty carefully and I seem to recall they don't get any more efficient driving them under binning current like the cree chips do, so 450ma is probably the sweet spot.
diodes per sqft not sure, because I can't remember off hand how many chips on the qb22a, I think it's like 84 or something? check the data sheet. I have 15 strips spaced equally over 4ft so it covers 4x4. that arrangement gets perfect light distribution as far as I can tell provided reflective material is used around the sides. I only have a lux meter to test with but it's within a few hundred lux across the whole 4x4 area with them spaced that way. another handy tip - the lm301b chip on the qb22a is the same chip as the lm301H chip, which they market as their horticultural lighting chip it just has a different coating to prevent reactions from taking place between the solder on the strip and gasses in the air. they call it anti sulpherization i think. anyway the point is they provide the specs for the lm301h in ppf/ppfd etc, where the specs for the lm301b are provided in lumens per watt. so in other words the lm301h data sheet might help you with your design, but at the end of the day if you're running lm301b chips at binning current there isn't much more you can do with today's LED technology to get a more efficient grow light setup.
also those meanwell drivers only hit their 96% claimed efficiency at 100% of their rated continuous output, so you may find if you under drive them thinking the chips will be more efficient you might lose that efficiency in driver losses but again check the meanwell data sheet and run the numbers yourself, i'm just regurgitating possibilites based on what I remember from last time I read the data sheets for those high powered meanwell units - I run my own home made drivers on my lights so I don't have any direct experience with meanwell drivers. my drivers aren't very efficient and I'm saving some pennies to replace them with the meanwell 600H-48A which in my country are $300 each and I need 4 so it's a big expense.
 

ChiefRunningPhist

Well-Known Member
The MW drivers are designed for dimming. Its an LED forum myth that they drop like rocks in effeciency when dimmed. They maintain pretty consistent effeciency (within 2.5% of their max) up to about 50% load. It does drop off rather drastically after that, but I think most aren't trying to run their lights under 50%.
1559358113363.png
The biggest influence on max driver effeciency is input voltage. I'm US and haven't wired a 220VAC outlet so my effeciency will never get up to the 220V levels, so for me or any 110VAC users, the best effeciency is actually noticed when backed off a bit in some models (600h & 320h).

@TheGreatSouthern , Idk if they are sold in your area, and just a suggestion, but I've heard good stuff about the Inventronics drivers?
 

TheGreatSouthern

Well-Known Member
The MW drivers are designed for dimming. Its an LED forum myth that they drop like rocks in effeciency when dimmed.

@TheGreatSouthern , Idk if they are sold in your area, and just a suggestion, but I've heard good stuff about the Inventronics drivers?
Oh yes, I stand corrected. those were the same charts I looked at when I was considering meanwell and I see now they are pretty darned good upwards of 50% load as you said, at least on the 600W 48V ones I need. Sadly Inventronics aren't sold here. Best I can do is use the local digikey site and pay the exorbitant import duties and shipping costs on everything.
 

ChiefRunningPhist

Well-Known Member
Oh yes, I stand corrected. those were the same charts I looked at when I was considering meanwell and I see now they are pretty darned good upwards of 50% load as you said, at least on the 600W 48V ones I need. Sadly Inventronics aren't sold here. Best I can do is use the local digikey site and pay the exorbitant import duties and shipping costs on everything.
I've found arrow to be a bit cheaper but it might not make a difference..
https://www.arrow.com/en/best-price-guarantee/best-price-guarantee
 
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