Best light coverage for 10x5x6 tent

[It.killed.elvis]

foolsin my botany coarse watts mean nothing you can a 1000w incandescent that has a very low photon flux yield and an 50w led with a high photon flux yield so look for a light with around 900 umol/s for a flowering crop that should get you close then add small bulbs for side lighting till she dont like it then back off a little photosynthetic photon flux is PPF in a umol/s rating that tells you how much energy is getting into the plants tissue and doing work watts is just how much you are consuming at the plug not whats hitting your leaf in a useable form. So remember it is PPF .not lumins not PAR not watts/amps or anything else it is photosynthetic photon flux that tells you how much u are giving your leaf so look for highest PPF numbers compared to the watts and that will give you most energy useable by plants with the lost operations cost.

 

[HardLuck71]

Hey chief,

He's using the j series strips from cutter.

8/9 strips per 240w driver

Don’t see how i could do an odd number of strips cause aren’t they 2ft strips? I would need to do 8 or 10. @ChiefRunningPhist this is all new to me so I dont know how hard to drive em, how many watts the strips are or anything

 

[diggs99]

Don’t see how i could do an odd number of strips cause aren’t they 2ft strips? I would need to do 8 Or 10

run strips like this and you can have as many as you want

I I I I I I I

You don't need to run them 2 per heatsink like green gene did, just run them 1 per sink like pic above

 

[diggs99]

Don’t see how i could do an odd number of strips cause aren’t they 2ft strips? I would need to do 8 or 10. @ChiefRunningPhist this is all new to me so I dont know how hard to drive em, how many watts the strips are or anything

You can drive them at 26-30 watts per strip and not even need sinks if you wanted. Nice thing with sinks is the ability to run more power through your strips at a later date if you choose

So 9/10 strips per 240w would work fine, they wouldn't need sinks.

 

[HardLuck71]

You can drive them at 26-30 watts per strip and not even need sinks if you wanted. Nice thing with sinks is the ability to run more power through your strips at a later date if you choose

So 9/10 strips per 240w would work fine, they wouldn't need sinks.

I’ll still most likely get the heatsinks tho. So they way I’m looking at it is if I wanna cover a 4ft area, I have to run strips in multiples of 2, am I correct or am I looking at this wrong?

 

[diggs99]

I’ll still most likely get the heatsinks tho. So they way I’m looking at it is if I wanna cover a 4ft area, I have to run strips in multiples of 2, am I correct or am I looking at this wrong?

edit: i misunderstood you : yes, end result will be an even number of strips over a 4x4

if you build your light with strips running like this I I I I I I I I You can use as many or as few as you want, odd or even number. End result over 4x4 will be even number yes....but each 2x4 light can be odd number of strips

if you run them 2 per heatsink like this, you would need an even number.

----------------------
----------------------
----------------------
----------------------

 

[HardLuck71]

edit: i misunderstood you : yes, end result will be an even number of strips over a 4x4

if you build your light with strips running like this I I I I I I I I You can use as many or as few as you want, odd or even number. End result over 4x4 will be even number yes....but each 2x4 light can be odd number of strips

if you run them 2 per heatsink like this, you would need an even number.

----------------------
----------------------
----------------------
----------------------

I get what ur saying now, I was looking at it ( strips ) as each individual light strip and not the full length if that makes sense. Would 3 strips of 2 2ft strips be enough coverage for 4ft wide area? Seems like 4 strips wide like how he made em in that video would be better.


Thats how I was looking at it

———————
———————
———————
———————

 

[diggs99]

I get what ur saying now, I was looking at it ( strips ) as each individual light strip and not the full length if that makes sense. Would 3 strips of 2 2ft strips be enough coverage for 4ft wide area? Seems like 4 strips wide like how he made em in that video would be better.


Thats how I was looking at it

———————
———————
———————
———————

Ya either or, its basically personal preference. Which ever way you want to build them, will work

 

[DailyBlastin]

I was actually looking at the DIY setups from hgl but it doesnt really save too much money from what I seen and they’re a bit pricier

bit pricier but far more effective and top quality, personally id avoid mars like the plague, i personally would also avoid those spider farmers too but i wont deny i know a few people using them, one of whom also has several HLG boards, and he swears theres almost no difference between them except the spiders run a bit warmer since no heatsink like the hlg's have. Personally im just gonna save up a bit more and go HLG over any chinese knock off. We all love saving money but lighting is not the place to do it.. cheap out on other shit, go top dollar with your lights.

 

[diggs99]

bit pricier but far more effective and top quality, personally id avoid mars like the plague, i personally would also avoid those spider farmers too but i wont deny i know a few people using them, one of whom also has several HLG boards, and he swears theres almost no difference between them except the spiders run a bit warmer since no heatsink like the hlg's have. Personally im just gonna save up a bit more and go HLG over any chinese knock off. We all love saving money but lighting is not the place to do it.. cheap out on other shit, go top dollar with your lights.

Hes actually gonna build his own using Cutters J series strips. Hes gonna have some real slick lights when hes done.

 

[DailyBlastin]

Hes actually gonna build his own using Cutters J series strips. Hes gonna have some real slick lights when hes done.

nice, sorry i mustve missed the part where he decided to go that route lol.

 

[It.killed.elvis]

Walmart has 4ft led grow bulb drop in replacements for t8 or t12 i have 4 of those in a old t8 fixture and she grows great at 318ppf for veg. And i built a 300w at 500ppf out of walmarts 60watt leds screw bulbs in a box with small computer exhaust fan for flower works great cheap and strong

 

[ChiefRunningPhist]

4×4 = 16ft2

30W × 16ft2 = 480W


Get a 480h 48a/b
or
Get (2) 240h 48a/b

***
"A" style drivers have built-in current limiting POTs, "B" style drivers don't have built-in current limiting POTs because they have "dimming leads" that you use to hook up an aftermarket POT to limit the driver current.

Like @diggs99 said just run them in parallel. (8 ) per 240h or (16) per 480h, but (16) total for a 4×4. Parallel means positive to positive and negative to negative (refer to "Electrical graphic" for a visual). Positive of driver goes to each strips positive terminal, neg of driver goes to each strips negative terminal. If you wire in series its no problem, nothing will break, but they just won't light up. If they light up when you turn on your driver, you know you wired it correctly.

Dim with your Io POT.

If you've a kill-a-watt meter ($13) that tells you how many watts are being pulled from the outlet then...

If using (1) 480h 48..
425 wall watts = 25W/strip
425 wall watts is your max w/ out heatsinks if using the 480h, it's ~94% efficient

If using (2) 240h 48...
445 wall watts = 25W/strip
445 wall watts is your max w/out heatsinks if using 240h's, or 222.5W each, they're about ~90% efficient



Electrical graphic...

 

[welight]

Really, they look good for the cheap lights im using? Whatm they somt usually look like that?

thanks to @diggs99 for the shoutout, be happy to help hook you up, literally if you can give me some details on what you need/want to do
Cheers
Mark

 

[It.killed.elvis]

4×4 = 16ft2

30W × 16ft2 = 480W


Get a 480h 48a/b
or
Get (2) 240h 48a/b

***
"A" style drivers have built-in current limiting POTs, "B" style drivers don't have built-in current limiting POTs because they have "dimming leads" that you use to hook up an aftermarket POT to limit the driver current.

Like @diggs99 said just run them in parallel. (8 ) per 240h or (16) per 480h, but (16) total for a 4×4. Parallel means positive to positive and negative to negative (refer to "Electrical graphic" for a visual). Positive of driver goes to each strips positive terminal, neg of driver goes to each strips negative terminal. If you wire in series its no problem, nothing will break, but they just won't light up. If they light up when you turn on your driver, you know you wired it correctly.

Dim with your Io POT.

If you've a kill-a-watt meter ($13) that tells you how many watts are being pulled from the outlet then...

If using (1) 480h 48..
425 wall watts = 25W/strip
425 wall watts is your max w/ out heatsinks if using the 480h, it's ~94% efficient

If using (2) 240h 48...
445 wall watts = 25W/strip
445 wall watts is your max w/out heatsinks if using 240h's, or 222.5W each, they're about ~90% efficient

View attachment 4439779

Electrical graphic...
View attachment 4439781

False that flys in the face of entropy/laws of thermodynamics

 

[HardLuck71]

Thanks for that post of your with all the wiring and stuff @ChiefRunningPhist

 

[HardLuck71]

thanks to @diggs99 for the shoutout, be happy to help hook you up, literally if you can give me some details on what you need/want to do
Cheers
Mark

Hey bud, thanks for replying. So, my new friend @diggs99 has been helping me here figure out what would be best for my 10 x 5 tent and we've came up with 4 fixtures at 2' x 4' covering a 4' x 8' canopy. Looking at going with 8 strips per, using 4 strips of 3000k and 4 5700k. @diggs99 mentioned that you carry everything I would need to build my fixtures. I was looking at using some 80/20, 1" heatsinks from Heatsink USA, but the driver wattage is where I'm lost. @ChiefRunningPhist had mentioned above some drivers to use, wattage and how to wire. This is all new to me so bare with me plz lol. Honestly, I can't believe all the help and support I've received here and I'm truly thankful for all your guys help!! I hope I gave you what you were asking, if not just lmk. I look forward to hearing back from you!

 

[HardLuck71]

I just wanna give a shout out and give a huge thanks to @diggs99 , @ChiefRunningPhist and @welight!! I really appreciate all your help and thank you for your time helping me!! I've never had support like this b4 from ANY forum or from ppl I don't even know lol. Thanks again guys!!

 

[It.killed.elvis]

I just wanna give a shout out and give a huge thanks to @diggs99 , @ChiefRunningPhist and @welight!! I really appreciate all your help and thank you for your time helping me!! I've never had support like this b4 from ANY forum or from ppl I don't even know lol. Thanks again guys!!

You need to keep looking around too dont ever settle for one line of info always cross reference many many growers and use the common points they make. And fyi those leds are no way 94% efficient cause if they where it would be black budget area51 stuff. You cant break laws of physics. 94% would be like growing plants buy running your lights on body heat you produce its called entropy/thermodynamics. Heat loss will be greater then 40% so max is 60% efficient. Soooooo keep gathering knowledge and average your commen ponits of references you find. Be your own master that way.

 

[ChiefRunningPhist]

False that flys in the face of entropy/laws of thermodynamicsView attachment 4439927

Theres a lot of variables that go into determining actual efficiency, and by no means does a blanket statement of "50% efficiency" correspond to all LED's.

Samsung is ~61%-67% efficient. Others are creeping up as well. Horticulture phosphored LEDs are generally between 2.2μmol/J - 2.5μmol/J.

Example:
30W/ft2 × (~2.2μmol/J) = 66μmols·s/ft2

10.76ft2 = 1m2

66μmols·s/ft2 × (10.76ft2/m2)
=
710.16μmols·s/m2; 710.16 PPFD

...

30W/ft2 × (~2.5μmol/J) = 75μmols·s/ft2

75μmols·s/ft2 × (10.76ft2/m2)
=
807μmols·s/m2; 807 PPFD



With LED the light spread is more uniform, between 700 - 800 PPFD will produce great buds, and over 850 PPFD is where you'll start to run into "diminishing returns." This is the reasoning behind "30W/ft2."