Tire Kicking for an LED solution for my Tent

[Budzbuddha]

Thats the beauty of HLG offerings no limits on fab up design. You can run a custom setup with boards and 96s or design it as bars using 96s or boards with cobs ( my other rig ) .

My 225 is sitting in a box unfortunately because i am not a fan of where dim is. Almost like a high bay light. Dont get me wrong its a god damn tank. Bright as shit. Maybe i will use as some kind of static supplemental light…… when i did use it , plants would be light with risers or by distance since i hate that internal adjustment pot.

 

[LeastExpectedGrower]

Thats the beauty of HLG offerings no limits on fab up design. You can run a custom setup with boards and 96s or design it as bars using 96s or boards with cobs ( my other rig ) .

My 225 is sitting in a box unfortunately because i am not a fan of where dim is. Almost like a high bay light. Dont get me wrong its a god damn tank. Bright as shit. Maybe i will use as some kind of static supplemental light…… when i did use it , plants would be light with risers or by distance since i hate that internal adjustment pot.

I bought it because it seemed like a good option as a starter $300 was a good price point and its seemed to make more sense than a pair of the 100rspecs in terms of 'center brightness' when it came to having just a handful of plants to work with.

Part of my initial error and why my plants top out under 2' was that the light is powerful enough to have blasted the crap out of them, even at 18-20" but I'd also gotten some advice to be running 20/4 (the person assuming only about 100w or less of light). Things normalized once I realized my mistake and moved to 18/6 and raised up my lights a bit.

At this point I'm under a 'you're not spending any more $$ on this project now' law, but patiently waiting for a bit of an IRS refund with enough zeroes on it to make a few hundred in extra lighting to be invisible to the casual viewer.

 

[GoatSoup]

With your odd shaped footprint, making a strip light with 1-2 foot light strips and space them in apart across the width of your space. Use two drivers with dimmers linked and drive alternate strips with each, this way if one blows up you only lose half the intensity, not one whole side of the grow!
I've heard of low cost strip lights costing very little right now as MFGs are changing LED generations.

Using light L or U channel alum, for a frame and heat sink. might even mount the drivers remotely if the wiring isn't too messy. Ty-Wraps are your friend. Just make sure the connections are all insulated.

 

[PJ Diaz]

It looks like if I were to do 2x the QB96 in parallel with a MW HLG-320H-54 I'd reasonably expect outputs of somewhere north of 150w per board. With the raw materials being about $270 for the main hardware (not including any additional needed hardware or supplies).

You can get a bit more juice than the driver is rated for when using the "A" type drivers with QB96's. I connect three QB96's in parallel to one HLG-240H-54A driver, and it peaks out close to 300watts total.

 

[LeastExpectedGrower]

You can get a bit more juice than the driver is rated for when using the "A" type drivers with QB96's. I connect three QB96's in parallel to one HLG-240H-54A driver, and it peaks out close to 300watts total.

Thanks for pointing that out... I just realized that the HLG 320H - C2800b has an output amperage of 2.8 (thus the name I realize) rather than the 54A which has an output current of 5.95A Since I'll have the original 225 in the middle, a pair of QB96's to each side pushing 151-16? watts would I think do what I was looking for. While dimming is a nice feature, I can veg. competently with the 225 then turn on the others for flower when they get big, or I can just back off the QB's a good amount given my 6.5' tent height (minus ventilation).

 

[PJ Diaz]

Thanks for pointing that out... I just realized that the HLG 320H - C2800b has an output amperage of 2.8 (thus the name I realize) rather than the 54A which has an output current of 5.95A Since I'll have the original 225 in the middle, a pair of QB96's to each side pushing 151-16? watts would I think do what I was looking for. While dimming is a nice feature, I can veg. competently with the 225 then turn on the others for flower when they get big, or I can just back off the QB's a good amount given my 6.5' tent height (minus ventilation).

The "A" version drivers are both Io and Vo dimmable. In my mind, a QB96@ 120watts covers a 2-foot by 2-foot area well. I run mine a lot lower than that though, so that I don't need to run them so high above the canopy. I originally started with 4 QB96's in a 4x4 @ 480watts total, which worked ok, but when I added two more QB96's and kept the total wattage the same, the plants seemed happier.

 

[LeastExpectedGrower]

The "A" version drivers are both Io and Vo dimmable. In my mind, a QB96@ 120watts covers a 2-foot by 2-foot area well. I run mine a lot lower than that though, so that I don't need to run them so high above the canopy. I originally started with 4 QB96's in a 4x4 @ 480watts total, which worked ok, but when I added two more QB96's and kept the total wattage the same, the plants seemed happier.

In this case it would be closest to them all having 2x2 squares (but with overlap). The good news is that I could dim them all and match the outputs fairly closely. I've been using Photone to set my PPFD and DLI fairly closely so I think this would be a good option. Really looking at doing ~4 plants regularly and when they're seedlings and earlier veg, they can remain under the 225 then as things move along I can respace them out and open up the other lights as needed. Theoretically, anyway.

If I were intending to stay with autos (which I'm not) then just having the 225 would probably be just fine since they can stay in 18/6 and really not need the same PPFD intensity.

 

[PJ Diaz]

In this case it would be closest to them all having 2x2 squares (but with overlap). The good news is that I could dim them all and match the outputs fairly closely. I've been using Photone to set my PPFD and DLI fairly closely so I think this would be a good option. Really looking at doing ~4 plants regularly and when they're seedlings and earlier veg, they can remain under the 225 then as things move along I can respace them out and open up the other lights as needed. Theoretically, anyway.

If I were intending to stay with autos (which I'm not) then just having the 225 would probably be just fine since they can stay in 18/6 and really not need the same PPFD intensity.

With the QB96's, you can just hang them individually with cheap wire hangers attached directly to the heatsink with the included hardware the QB96s come with. That way you can push them to each end of the tent, which will both reduce your LED overlap, and also your lumen drop-off at the ends of the tent.

Excuse the mess..

 

[LeastExpectedGrower]

With the QB96's, you can just hang them individually with cheap wire hangers attached directly to the heatsink with the included hardware the QB96s come with. That way you can push them to each end of the tent, which will both reduce your LED overlap, and also your lumen drop-off at the ends of the tent.

Excuse the mess..
View attachment 4987842

This was exactly my intent/hope/plan. So this sounds like a very possible win.

By square footage and rough estimates give over 38w per square foot.

 

[perramas]

From reviewing some of their notes on other boards it looks like doing 2 or three in parallel would be the neatest wiring solution in a tent. Are there negatives to consider in doing that? Also are there standard connectors that people are using when doing their wiring harnesses for these types of projects?

I apologize for the questions but it always ends up being better to ask first.

Thanks everyone again.

I just got back home. It looks like you are all set from the replies.

 

[LeastExpectedGrower]

I just got back home. It looks like you are all set from the replies.

Always happy for more input. Leaning towards two of the 96's in parallel so that I can keep the 225 in the middle and ride them left and right to fill the 'wings'. Probably better to build a wiring harness and have the transformer/power supply outside of the tent?

 

[PadawanWarrior]

Always happy for more input. Leaning towards two of the 96's in parallel so that I can keep the 225 in the middle and ride them left and right to fill the 'wings'. Probably better to build a wiring harness and have the transformer/power supply outside of the tent?

Don't forget to use promo code "RIU10" for 10% off.

 

[LeastExpectedGrower]

Don't forget to use promo code "RIU10" for 10% off.

Planning on it...Though the QB96's are 'on sale' these days anyway, so who knows if it'll work. That would drop the price down to about 64$ each. Which would be pretty sweet if legit. 90ish for the power supply and I'm solidly under $300 even once I buy parts to construct a wiring harness.

 

[PadawanWarrior]

Planning on it...Though the QB96's are 'on sale' these days anyway, so who knows if it'll work. That would drop the price down to about 64$ each. Which would be pretty sweet if legit. 90ish for the power supply and I'm solidly under $300 even once I buy parts to construct a wiring harness.

It worked with the 20% off deal on Black Friday. I got 6 and it was $363 shipped. $82.80 discount total. I couldn't resist.

 

[LeastExpectedGrower]

It worked with the 20% off deal on Black Friday. I got 6 and it was $363 shipped. $82.80 discount total. I couldn't resist.

Just checked...two boards knocked down to under 130$. Going to bump this up on my priorities for the next couple weeks.

 

[perramas]

Always happy for more input. Leaning towards two of the 96's in parallel so that I can keep the 225 in the middle and ride them left and right to fill the 'wings'. Probably better to build a wiring harness and have the transformer/power supply outside of the tent?

Have you seen how cobshopgrow uses strip lights? They are a great option, Here is there thread on strip light build

modular overkill led striplight build

i rebuilded my striplight, containing 56 EB3 slim bridgelux strips, 3000k 80cri. Killed some connectors during this action, their release mechanism can be a pain. Anyway, it works! The new frame is 80x80cm (31,5x31,5 inch) 20x20 t-slot profile, hung on all 4 corners. Its for a 3x3 and/or a...

www.rollitup.org

 

[LeastExpectedGrower]

Have you seen how cobshopgrow uses strip lights? They are a great option, Here is there thread on strip light build

modular overkill led striplight build

i rebuilded my striplight, containing 56 EB3 slim bridgelux strips, 3000k 80cri. Killed some connectors during this action, their release mechanism can be a pain. Anyway, it works! The new frame is 80x80cm (31,5x31,5 inch) 20x20 t-slot profile, hung on all 4 corners. Its for a 3x3 and/or a...

www.rollitup.org

That's a really cool thing, and I appreciate you posting it. I'd definitely consider this moving forward if and when I decide to do a ground-up rebuild, and it being here allows me an easy place to come back and re-read/review the concept. Looks like a half-build of this would be about 300$ in strips plus the cost of any wire-harnessing & the driver...and of course whatever it would take to fabricate the frame. After that, the incorporation of the colored red/deep red components. It's probably the most even lighting solution out there.

But for now it's out of my build-comfort zone, as well as me looking to incorporate my current 225.

 

[perramas]

You can go much smaller than a full board for supplemental lighting or side lighting with those type of strips.

 

[1212ham]

From reviewing some of their notes on other boards it looks like doing 2 or three in parallel would be the neatest wiring solution in a tent. Are there negatives to consider in doing that? Also are there standard connectors that people are using when doing their wiring harnesses for these types of projects?

I apologize for the questions but it always ends up being better to ask first.

Thanks everyone again.

They can be wired parallel or series. You don't need a harness, just a power cord and a cord to each light. You could use an extension cord, cut off the length you want for the power cord and use the rest to wire the lights.

Wago 221 connectors are very popular and available many places including Menards. I don't know how friendly the qb96 connector is, you might want to add wagos or some kind of plugs at the lights.

Here's a weatherproof connector for power cords.... or use crimp connectors or solder etc.

2PK Junction Box Waterproof IP68 Electric Cable Wire Plug Connector Protection | eBay

Protection Grade: IP68, water depth 4m. Very tidy design outdoor electrical junction box, connection of 2-way cables, easy to install and DIY tools, interference protection. Waterproof Electrical Cable Connector IP67 Solar Outdoor Plug Landscape lighting.

www.ebay.com

 

[LeastExpectedGrower]

They can be wired parallel or series. You don't need a harness, just a power cord and a cord to each light. You could use an extension cord, cut off the length you want for the power cord and use the rest to wire the lights.

Wago 221 connectors are very popular and available many places including Menards. I don't know how friendly the qb96 connector is, you might want to add wagos or some kind of plugs at the lights.

Here's a weatherproof connector for power cords.... or use crimp connectors or solder etc.

2PK Junction Box Waterproof IP68 Electric Cable Wire Plug Connector Protection | eBay

Protection Grade: IP68, water depth 4m. Very tidy design outdoor electrical junction box, connection of 2-way cables, easy to install and DIY tools, interference protection. Waterproof Electrical Cable Connector IP67 Solar Outdoor Plug Landscape lighting.

www.ebay.com

Ah, thank you!

Yeah these look easy enough to work with, not unlike the Neutrik Speakon or Powercon connectors I've often wired. Is there a gauge for these that is recommended, something like a 16ga would be about what most houses are wired with though I've previously used 14 or 12 for super high wattage applications in music.

Looking to start compiling parts in the next couple weeks. Of course just when the buyin's getting fun I had a laptop brick then today the appliance guy took a look at our dishwasher and promptly started advising us as to the best crop of new dishwashers. Either way, there's always a way to make things happen.