Best light coverage for 10x5x6 tent

HardLuck71

Well-Known Member
He must be on vacation for the holidays , Merry xmas!
I figured that, just gonna have to hold onto this money lol. I would order but wanna make sure I get the right shit ya know. So they carry everything, heatsinks and stuff to make the frames? Or do i need to get that stuff elsewhere?
 

1212ham

Well-Known Member
I figured that, just gonna have to hold onto this money lol. I would order but wanna make sure I get the right shit ya know. So they carry everything, heatsinks and stuff to make the frames? Or do i need to get that stuff elsewhere?

What part of the world are you in? Shipping from Australia could be expensive for things like drivers and heat sinks. I suggest aluminum channel or angle for frames to keep the cost and weight down. Look at the other strip builds here for ideas. There's one thread called "show us your builds" or something like that. http://ledgardener.com/diy-led-strip-build-designs-samsung-bridgelux/
 
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diggs99

Well-Known Member

What part of the world are you in? Shipping from Australia could be expensive for things like drivers and heat sinks. I suggest aluminum channel or angle for frames to keep the cost and weight down. Look at the other strip builds hear for ideas. There's one thread called "show us your builds" or something like that. http://ledgardener.com/diy-led-strip-build-designs-samsung-bridgelux/

Ya this is a very good point,

@HardLuck71 if your in the states you may be better off sourcing frame and sinks in country to keep costs down for sure. Heatsinkusa is a good site to use for sinks, digikey.com for drivers. If your deciding to run the strips soft and not use sinks, this obv matters less. Not sure what you ended up deciding here?

Tnutz.com if you wanna get fancy with making your frame. otherwise go to nearest building supply store and get yourself some aluminum angle/channell as @1212ham suggested.
 

HardLuck71

Well-Known Member
@1212ham @diggs99 . Below is my post from back on pg 5 and was my original plan. I was just curious bout sourcing from one place.

so I’m thinking of going with some 10 series 80/20 for my frame, the 1” heatsinks and a Meanwell driver, but also thinking of making four 2’ x 4’ lights to cover my 4’ x 8‘ area and don’t know which driver to go with? Do I need 4 drivers, one for each light or 2 drivers, 2 lights per driver? Gonna use thermal tape and some t-nuts for hanging, mounting etc
 

skinitti666

Well-Known Member
When you say 650w, is that what it says they are or is that what it’s pulling from the wall? I have some blurple lights where one says 1200w & another 600w and the 1200w only pulls like 250w from the wall and the 600w pulls like 140w.
They pull 650 actual watts all together but yeah my 1200 pulls 261w
 

2com

Well-Known Member
@1212ham @diggs99 . Below is my post from back on pg 5 and was my original plan. I was just curious bout sourcing from one place.

so I’m thinking of going with some 10 series 80/20 for my frame, the 1” heatsinks and a Meanwell driver, but also thinking of making four 2’ x 4’ lights to cover my 4’ x 8‘ area and don’t know which driver to go with? Do I need 4 drivers, one for each light or 2 drivers, 2 lights per driver? Gonna use thermal tape and some t-nuts for hanging, mounting etc
So you guys are kinda thinking of making rectangular light "bars", and hanging them across the area spaced out? I like this idea. Trying to hang a huge 4x8(?) fixture and be able to raise/lower sounds like a pain.

The driver options will be yours. One for each light "bar" (or "fixture"), which you can mount to the fixtures or a piece of board somewhere on a wall (remote mounting the drivers). Or you could power two fixtures per driver (and double the driver's power).

Were you deciding between 480w drivers (x2), and 240w drivers (x4)? I like the 240w option, personally. diggs will know based on what you're running LED wise.

Peace.
 

HardLuck71

Well-Known Member

What part of the world are you in? Shipping from Australia could be expensive for things like drivers and heat sinks. I suggest aluminum channel or angle for frames to keep the cost and weight down. Look at the other strip builds here for ideas. There's one thread called "show us your builds" or something like that. http://ledgardener.com/diy-led-strip-build-designs-samsung-bridgelux/
Thanks, I didn’t even think bout them shipping from out of country.
 

HardLuck71

Well-Known Member
So you guys are kinda thinking of making rectangular light "bars", and hanging them across the area spaced out? I like this idea. Trying to hang a huge 4x8(?) fixture and be able to raise/lower sounds like a pain.

The driver options will be yours. One for each light "bar" (or "fixture"), which you can mount to the fixtures or a piece of board somewhere on a wall (remote mounting the drivers). Or you could power two fixtures per driver (and double the driver's power).

Were you deciding between 480w drivers (x2), and 240w drivers (x4)? I like the 240w option, personally. diggs will know based on what you're running LED wise.

Peace.
Yep, that’s the plan lol. I was still debating between four fixtures at 2’ x 4’ or two fixtures at 4’ x 4’, also going with four 240w drivers ( if I go with 4 fixtures ) or two 480w drivers. I’m almost wanting to go with two 4’ x 4’ fixtures but I just wanna go with whatever would be best ya know and with me being new to this and all, I’m leaning on some of the more experienced growers and my new friend @diggs99 lol who has been a tremendous help, as well as a few others! This forum has been great and I never expected this type of response or help! Much appreciated!!!

Edit: Now I’m actually leaning towards 4 fixtures so I can just run each one to its own driver. Just gotta figure out which 240w driver specs I need with the J Series lights.
 
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diggs99

Well-Known Member
Yep, that’s the plan lol. I was still debating between four fixtures at 2’ x 4’ or two fixtures at 4’ x 4’, also going with four 240w drivers ( if I go with 4 fixtures ) or two 480w drivers. I’m almost wanting to go with two 4’ x 4’ fixtures but I just wanna go with whatever would be best ya know and with me being new to this and all, I’m leaning on some of the more experienced growers and my new friend @diggs99 lol who has been a tremendous help, as well as a few others! This forum has been great and I never expected this type of response or help! Much appreciated!!!
Help aint much good tho if you cant get the info you need and order your parts. The waiting always sucks, hopefully Mark will be around after today.
 

HardLuck71

Well-Known Member
Help aint much good tho if you cant get the info you need and order your parts. The waiting always sucks, hopefully Mark will be around after today.
@diggs99 , can I use 4 of the HLG-240H-48AB drivers? A couple differences I see
( well between the watts of course lol ) is the Rated Current, where the 480H is 10A and the 240H is 5A and the only 240H driver that’s also 10A like the 480H driver is the HLG-240H-24AB which has the same rated current at 10A but is only 24V. The other difference I seen is the Constant Current where the 480H is 24V-48V and the 240H-24AB is 12V-24V? This is where I’m confused and don’t know the exact driver specs I need? Lol. I’ve been doing some research trying to figure it out but I just don’t know what I need.

Edit: I did some more research and answered one of the questions above as I can use a 24v as the J Series are 48v, but still need to know if I can use the 240H-48 as it’s also 48v but only 5a and not 10a like the 480H-48?
 
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2com

Well-Known Member
An example of driver naming:

HLG-240h-48a/b

The "HLG" is the "series" of driver. The "240" is the rated wattage of the driver. The "48" here refers to the "rated output voltage", and denotes that this is a constant voltage driver. The "-a" or "-b" (or "-ab") is the type of dimming function(s) the driver has.

HLG-240h-c2100a/b

The "HLG" is the "series" of driver. The "240" is the rated wattage of the driver. The "-c" denotes that this is a constant current driver, and the number that follows is the rated current of the driver in milliamps. The "-a" or "-b" (or "-ab") is the type of dimming function(s) the driver has.
 

2com

Well-Known Member
Usually the deciding factor in "constant current vs constant voltage" driver is are you going to wire in series or parallel, respectively. If you're going to wire in parallel, generally - from what I know, you're going to pick a constant voltage driver. If that is the case (constant voltage driver), you'd need to match the "forward voltage" (FV - or minimum required voltage to power/light up the leds).

So for example, if the "FV" of the lights/boards/strips you're using was 48v, you'd get a constant voltage driver rated at 48v (and the wattage you wanted for the light). So you'd maybe end up with a HLG-240h-48b, in this example.

The datasheets can be confusing, for more than just the fact that there's so much information on them.

If you're on a research stint now, you might check out ledgardener's excellent videos on meanwell drivers; there's a whole series. CC vs CV, a-type vs b-type, how to use a digital multimeter.

(My advice would probably be to get some assistance in picking what you need, from the forums here (and whomever you purchase leds/drivers from possibly, so that you can get going/growing quicker, and in your free time - you could try and get some understanding and learning done on the side. Just a suggestion, I read you do have some free time now, haha.)

Peace.
 

HardLuck71

Well-Known Member
An example of driver naming:

HLG-240h-48a/b

The "HLG" is the "series" of driver. The "240" is the rated wattage of the driver. The "48" here refers to the "rated output voltage", and denotes that this is a constant voltage driver. The "-a" or "-b" (or "-ab") is the type of dimming function(s) the driver has.

HLG-240h-c2100a/b

The "HLG" is the "series" of driver. The "240" is the rated wattage of the driver. The "-c" denotes that this is a constant current driver, and the number that follows is the rated current of the driver in milliamps. The "-a" or "-b" (or "-ab") is the type of dimming function(s) the driver has.
Yeah I was looking to that on Meanwells website
 

HardLuck71

Well-Known Member
Usually the deciding factor in "constant current vs constant voltage" driver is are you going to wire in series or parallel, respectively. If you're going to wire in parallel, generally - from what I know, you're going to pick a constant voltage driver. If that is the case (constant voltage driver), you'd need to match the "forward voltage" (FV - or minimum required voltage to power/light up the leds).

So for example, if the "FV" of the lights/boards/strips you're using was 48v, you'd get a constant voltage driver rated at 48v (and the wattage you wanted for the light). So you'd maybe end up with a HLG-240h-48b, in this example.

The datasheets can be confusing, for more than just the fact that there's so much information on them.

If you're on a research stint now, you might check out ledgardener's excellent videos on meanwell drivers; there's a whole series. CC vs CV, a-type vs b-type, how to use a digital multimeter.

(My advice would probably be to get some assistance in picking what you need, from the forums here (and whomever you purchase leds/drivers from possibly, so that you can get going/growing quicker, and in your free time - you could try and get some understanding and learning done on the side. Just a suggestion, I read you do have some free time now, haha.)

Peace.
That i do as i has surgery a couple weeks ago. I have 6 plants going at the moment under some blurple lights and they’re doin pretty good but would be better under some good quality lights. The strips I’m going with are 48v but are only 5a and a driver the was recommended by @diggs99 is also 48v but 10a hence the reason i was curious if the 48v 5 a would work. Thanks for your replies bud, I appreciate it
 

HardLuck71

Well-Known Member
@2com , thanks for the mention of those videos. I just checked them out and they do explain a lot on how the drivers work but still a little confusing not having done anything like this b4, so I’ll wait to hear from Mark @welight ( owner of Cutter ) and see what he recommends. It was still nice to learn a little tho about driver so thanks again bud!
 

2com

Well-Known Member
@2com , thanks for the mention of those videos. I just checked them out and they do explain a lot on how the drivers work but still a little confusing not having done anything like this b4, so I’ll wait to hear from Mark @welight ( owner of Cutter ) and see what he recommends. It was still nice to learn a little tho about driver so thanks again bud!
I've watched them several times. I know what you mean. There's just a ton of specs and information to take in and try to get.
No problem.
 

HardLuck71

Well-Known Member
Hey brother @diggs99 , I have a quick question and I absolutely mean no disrespect to anyone including Mark @welight, but I was just reading some threads on here and seen quite a few ppl complaining about customer service and especially shipping/delivery times when ordering from Cutter and just wanted to get your view/opinion on it as you haven’t steered me wrong yet nit to mention have helped me out tremendously and I really value your opinion! Have u had any similar issues with an order taking almost a month to ship or just an order taking forever to receive?? I also read where a lot of ppl were saying he doesnt respond to their emails or anything and seeing how I haven heard from him since he asked me for details on what I was looking to build, that has me a little worried. Again, I’m not saying that what I read is true nor am I meaning to be disrespectful in any way at all towards Mark/Cutter! I’m just curious cause I’m really hoping that I wouldn’t have to wait nearly that long for for my order if/when I place it. Thanks and hope this post isn’t taken the wrong way!
 

diggs99

Well-Known Member
Hey brother @diggs99 , I have a quick question and I absolutely mean no disrespect to anyone including Mark @welight, but I was just reading some threads on here and seen quite a few ppl complaining about customer service and especially shipping/delivery times when ordering from Cutter and just wanted to get your view/opinion on it as you haven’t steered me wrong yet nit to mention have helped me out tremendously and I really value your opinion! Have u had any similar issues with an order taking almost a month to ship or just an order taking forever to receive?? I also read where a lot of ppl were saying he doesnt respond to their emails or anything and seeing how I haven heard from him since he asked me for details on what I was looking to build, that has me a little worried. Again, I’m not saying that what I read is true nor am I meaning to be disrespectful in any way at all towards Mark/Cutter! I’m just curious cause I’m really hoping that I wouldn’t have to wait nearly that long for for my order if/when I place it. Thanks and hope this post isn’t taken the wrong way!

Yes i had an issue when i first ordered through cutter, it said on the website the strips were in stock and ready to ship, but that wasnt correct. They had a 3 week lead time that i wasnt aware of. Also true that Mark dont seem to be online responding to emails that frequently, he has always got back to me tho and has always been super chill and easy to deal with. Only other issue i had was the connectors but that was quickly fixed and all new strips have since upgraded connectors.

honestly im pretty surprised he never got back to you and if it were me, id prob already be looking elsewhere at other products by now out of frustration and impatience. Its been 2 weeks.

Do you Want to explore some other strips elsewhere? im around and willing to help you if you do.

Samsung f series or h influx are legit
plc photoboost
Bridgelux just released the new gen3s
 
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