DIY with Quantum Boards
- Thread starter robincnn
- Start date
Jonesfamily7715
Well-Known Member
Yes and yes, you can replace the diodes individually even using just a higher temp soldering iron, and yes a row out on your board can force the other rows in that section to "overdrive" not usually a problem but can cause issues over time, like premature failure.
pop22
Well-Known Member
My QB 304s have been running almost non stop for 8 years now!
Rocket Soul
Well-Known Member
Those 561Cs have really good thermal handling, iirc their thermal coefficient is even lower than the 301Cs.
Last edited:
Budzbuddha
Well-Known Member
Yep - mine too. Had driver take a shit before those boards did. 304’s still working fine- no burned diodes.
ianc4990
Well-Known Member
They were unsure of the cause. My drivers would only give about 120 watts per board at 100%, so idk how I would have over driven them. I did have issues with the boards doing this while dimmed, and now that I say that I may wire some boards to a driver with no dimmer and see if they stay the same.
I was able to just order some replacement boards (the last of their r spec and the remaining 3k non r spec) and they said they had no plans on restocking the qb288, and only other place I can find them is cobkits.com or something for 90 dollars a piece. So that sucks for all us qb288 users. Is there another board that uses 54v drivers?
ianc4990
Well-Known Member
Mine are from when the r spec launched, so I think 2019, can't really complain too much. They've got tons of hours on them
FmSwayze
Well-Known Member
Do you have any other LEDS in mind to replace with?
pop22
Well-Known Member
part of HLG's problem, and actually the most of the horticultural light indistry, is that Samsung no longer is in the LED business! I believe production stopped a couple months ago. So HLG has to go to a new supplier, maybe Nichia. No more QB 288, no more Diablo boards... Glad I have a couple spares!
( I still have a couple QB 304 boards, new in the box! )
**** Was just on HLG site, they have refurbed QB288 for $29.00 and Diablos for $40.00!!
Last edited:
Diode.Dude
Member
Too ridiculous a statement and easy to check to let slide here...
301b's thermal resistance is almost 2X as good as the 561c's. In each datasheet.
301b=7.5c/w
561c=12c/w
last time buys end of june 25, last deliveries dec 25
Cree has the one drop in for the odd 301 footprint. Otherwise is the time for everyone to move to quality 2835's. Flip chip 2835's are here already too.
Nizza
Well-Known Member
damn
I need to save my money but it would be nice to get some backup boards
Rocket Soul
Well-Known Member
Thanks for keeping me straight here, many of these datasheets i havent looked at for some time
Do you know any manufacturer making a replacement alternative for the lm301h evo? To the best of my memory the dropp in cree version is using a 450nm photon pump.
Diode.Dude
Member
Yep. No one rocking the 437nm die I know of. That is only the 301H evo. Rest of the 301's, B, B Evo, H are 450nm and where the market is for demand. Even in just hort, the evo never took even close to 50% share. Cost prohibitive mostly but still. Double the cost of a 301b/h.Thanks for keeping me straight here, many of these datasheets i havent looked at for some time
Do you know any manufacturer making a replacement alternative for the lm301h evo? To the best of my memory the dropp in cree version is using a 450nm photon pump.
For the specialty style horti white kind of stuff, Cree has their photophyll select, and have done some "mint" comparable blends with it.
Osram has their own "horti white" for whites and is similar in lacking red to pump white efficacy and let the high power 660's take the load on the other end of the SPD.
Pretty sure HLG is working with cree now as it pertains to the actual Quantum Boards.
pop22
Well-Known Member
I hope HLG actually does a comparison study on available LEDs. HLG made some boards using Nichia LEDs, the QB 324 ( I still have a couple ) So it should be interesting to see what way they go. The biggest problem with Cree is their pricing.....
Diode.Dude
Member
Says who? Cree is a competitive as anyone if you're actually buying LEDs to run a business. If your relying on digikey/mouser for scraps and to rip you off...sounds like channel issue, not a manufacture.
Want to talk expenise...nichia is as expensive as it gets. Good stuff, but ain't cheap.
As for what white they use...no difference betwen. nichia, samsung, cree, lumileds...whoever. PC white is PC white within margin of error. and even if there was an extra .1µmol gained, no noticeable difference to 95% of all users.
cdgmoney250
Well-Known Member
I believe he was referencing their pricing in the context of what’s available to us cannabis growers, be it a for DIY project or what’s available for use in a commercial fixture.
None of these grow light companies are ever going to be ordering diodes in quantities to get the price breaks you keep hinting at that “real businesses” can command. And MOQ eliminate a very large selection of the available LED Chip market for us growers. So what channels do you recommend for us not to get ripped off for left over scraps?
Jonesfamily7715
Well-Known Member
Group buy of strips/boards built here in the US, is about the best chance of getting a good deal at this point. Cree, nichia, osram, all of em have office locations in the US and purchasing reels is where the savings are at. I bet if you try contacting them directly they can lead you in the right direction. You know the tariff bs is gonna fuck China supplied strips/boards gotta find a way around it, quality has been an issue from foreign supply anyways hit or miss, ive come out ahead in that area before as well, not all bad. Kinda hard to do returns to china when burnt tho, just stuck making it work.
Diode.Dude
Member
Two different things. DIY looking for individual diodes, has never been cheap, and has never been comparable an actual company buying and building at scale. And that was the question, samsung leaving, who becomes the official supplier to the real quantum board, HLG. Again, pretty sure they announce a partnership with Cree.
The thing I think he's actually after is not individual diodes, but a company making horti style boards/strips. And when samsy is done, or before, people will switch to different brands. Don't think anyone will have the name equity and blind following samy's did. But thats a good thing. Make a quality affordable product, not a cheap product with questionable marketing claims and quality. Too many piss poor lights/bpards with "samsung's", being low ranked 2835's not even 301's.
Anyways, if HLG is going to keep selling DIY boards, then they will come with Cree and be a good way to get cree diodes.
Others will use Nichia, like GLA does a lot. Some will go to all osram. And some may use ,multiple and mix brands.
In the end, will get the same if not slightly improved boards as we have seen for years. Only not there yet and not sure if someone will step in is the EVO with 437nm. Will have to see, but all other CCT's, colors, and general SPDs all easily achieved with other than samy.
Octopart the part number, find a realistic baseline.
Always hard to get a consensus on what a group wants.
Plain white, your right find them locally at a CM. Adura, New energy, whoever is local to you.
"horti style" is near impossible to find. Sometimes some highpower, but rarely a midpower high power mix.
Rocket Soul
Well-Known Member
Have you had any experience ordering directly from manufacturers as Samsung or osram? What type of MOQs do they offer on white midpowers and red high efficiency monos?
Agree on samsungs; it went from buyers being very detailed oriented, trying to figure out physical signs on the diodes to distinguish not only model but which bin. There was a thread back in late 2000-teens about it naming "the black dot" as a sure sign of your 561Cs were actually S5 rather than S6 which would trigger universal rejection over a couple of missing decimals. Then all of a sudden led and midpowers became validated and any samsung diode of any tier was apparently good enough. Were a fickle bunch, lol
Now samsung has established themselves as the go-to brand, i can hardly count on one hand lightmakers using different brands. Nichia in GLA but theyre very small scale. Osram in Sanlight but its a very Euro light that never gets any play here on RIU. HLG uses seoul semi for their cheapo boards (or used to? Im nor entirely sure havent checked recently and my memory is not always great). And i think GML uses Ledestar.
It will be interesting to see what happens when samsung is done and all supplies run out.
