Adding EB strips as side lights

Hello. I am currently trying to get my new cabinet set up and I have added an HLG QB96 V2 Elite overhead and want to surround the plants with some strips. I need something that can run very close to the plants and has a high efficacy. I am considering either LT-Q562A strips or BXEB-L0340U-40E0750-C-C3 Bridgelux EB gen 3(340mm). I think the EB strips are what I'll probably be going with so I guess my next step is determining how many to get and what driver. I need to keep this affordable, but I really want to do this right.

The floor space is approximately 2x2 for each chamber(only one is in operation currently). The chamber is slightly more than 2ft deep but not by much. I built a panel to mount the driver, timer, and timered outlets on. Its basically like a wall mount, but the wall was too far back to reach easily. I want to eliminate the under-canopy shadows, and would like to place at least one of the strips on each side of the plants(so 4 minimum). I figure either put them 1 in each corner, or maybe one horizontal row of them(or maybe 2?). So 4 or maybe 8(if 4 wouldn't be enough), and I need to drive them soft enough that the plants can be close. I probably also need to put some sort of guard over them. What do you guys think?

I think the QB 96 is plenty by itself for a 2x2. It gets good penetration and you have it on a 185w driver which is more then you need for 4 sq ft.

How many watts did you want to add?

It’s a shame the 2’ M series strips I just used for a build aren’t on sale anymore. They were $0.60-0.85/ea depending on spectrum. Could of ran them soft at 5-8w each. I would just wait for another sale to pop up and use the QB 96 by itself in the meantime.

The strips you mentioned are too expensive IMO for the minimal amount of wattage you intend to add.

Thanks for the reply. I am running the QB96 at 52V right now(so about 90-100W), and honestly I don't like this heatsink. It really isn't as good as it should be for this. I am going to add a reflector soon that will significantly expand the radiant cooling area, but its just a bit annoying that at 52V it feels hot on top of the heat sink in a cold room.

Its less that I want to add a specific wattage, so much as I want to eliminate shadows. I think maybe no more than 20W per side would really liven things up a bit. The plants I prefer to grow tend toward the taller side(I really like sativas especially), and I want to maximize the use of the space from top to bottom. Right now I am growing a unique Summer Breeze trifoliate, a Black Triangle, a Killer Orange(thin leaf pheno), and an OJSDKB in that chamber with another veg crop not far behind.

KlompenOG said:

Thanks for the reply. I am running the QB96 at 52V right now(so about 90-100W), and honestly I don't like this heatsink. It really isn't as good as it should be for this. I am going to add a reflector soon that will significantly expand the radiant cooling area, but its just a bit annoying that at 52V it feels hot on top of the heat sink in a cold room.

Its less that I want to add a specific wattage, so much as I want to eliminate shadows. I think maybe no more than 20W per side would really liven things up a bit. The plants I prefer to grow tend toward the taller side(I really like sativas especially), and I want to maximize the use of the space from top to bottom. Right now I am growing a unique Summer Breeze trifoliate, a Black Triangle, a Killer Orange(thin leaf pheno), and an OJSDKB in that chamber with another veg crop not far behind.

Click to expand...

Did you adjust the current (IO)? Or just the Voltage (VO)?

It is a 3.45A driver so 52V would be ~180w if you only adjusted voltage. I would Dim using the current (IO).

You only need 120-160w for a 2x2.

I would consider dimming your QB 96 down to ~100w. Mount 12 of these 2' strips vertically running at 5w/ea, 3 on each side for a total of 60w using this LNE-24v-120WAAA driver dimmed 50%. These strips were 1/4 of this cost last week but they are still the cheapest option and a hell of a lot cheaper than $7-10 per strip.

I dialed down both all the way and then adjusted IO first and then tweaked the vo a little bit. Maybe I need to recheck things! Still will be really nice once I get my reflector/heatsink added. That should add a lot of surface area for heat dissipation. I thought about mounting this on a big copper sink but just don't have time yet....

I will check all that out thanks. How do those strips compare to the EB strips aside from the way lower price? The price on all that looks way more affordable though. I have a bunch of rectangular aluminum tubing I was planning to mount them on. 12 of them should be no problem.....

In your opinion how does Arrow compare to DigiKey? I haven't really used Arrow yet.

KlompenOG said:

I dialed down both all the way and then adjusted IO first and then tweaked the vo a little bit. Maybe I need to recheck things! Still will be really nice once I get my reflector/heatsink added. That should add a lot of surface area for heat dissipation. I thought about mounting this on a big copper sink but just don't have time yet....

I will check all that out thanks. How do those strips compare to the EB strips aside from the way lower price? The price on all that looks way more affordable though. I have a bunch of rectangular aluminum tubing I was planning to mount them on. 12 of them should be no problem.....

In your opinion how does Arrow compare to DigiKey? I haven't really used Arrow yet.

Click to expand...

The lowest voltage adjustment for the driver would be 49V. I run mine at 54V and just dim using the IO. I have 2 QB 96 on a 320h driver and made a frame out of angle. It definitely helps dissipate the heat a bit even though I didn't build it for that purpose.

The M series strips use the LM561B diodes and are about 30% less efficient at 141 lm/w vs the EB gen 3 which is 200 lm/w. For a higher wattage build that is a significant difference but not for the small amount of watts you are going to use. At $2.72 a strip compared to $7.13 per strip it would take a couple years to break even on the difference in cost running the light 18hrs a day. It's up to you if that is worth it or not. When I bought them a few weeks back they were only $0.86/ea which is a steal.

I've placed several orders from Arrow with no problem. Shipping was extremely fast and everything was packaged very nicely. They have crazy deals sometimes if you keep your eye out. I've gotten 6' AC power cords for $3.50 and Delta 54v 185w drivers for $12 that I am going to use for more QB 96's.

Here is my QB 96 and M series strip builds.

What is the plan for making sure your leaves and diodes dont touch? Are you going to cover tge diodes?
@Grow Lights Australia has the buddy system that comes covered from the start.

Rocket Soul said:

What is the plan for making sure your leaves and diodes dont touch? Are you going to cover tge diodes?
@Grow Lights Australia has the buddy system that comes covered from the start.

Click to expand...

I was thinking about using those acrylic tube guards made for fluoro tubes. I might cut them in half and attach them over the top. Otherwise I may put some steel grid wire around them(if I can't get the tubes to work).

Thanks for your help so far NukaKola(I love Fallout!)

Those Delta drivers look fairly nice but I don't know how they compare to Mean Well. I'm still getting crap for calling them "ballasts" lol... I can't help that I'm old school and worked with ballasts for decades.

I still haven't gotten around to the side-lighting yet, but I finally got my reflector-heatsink done:











It is a little rough because I literally used no measurements during the entire production of it, but I am still happy about how it turned out. I can't overstate how ridiculously tough that anodized coating on the pan was! I could not even scratch it with aluminum oxide sandpaper. Instead I needed to use zirconium oxide or silicon carbide paper to even scratch it. I probably shouldn't say how many hours this took.... My GF will be happy not to have aluminum and non-stick dust/grime all over the place while we're smoking lol

I have decided to go with the BXEB-L0280Z-35E1000-C-B3, but I am still figuring out what driver to run it with. I am probably doing 8 of these, but I might do 10 if I can find a driver that is reasonably priced and can run all of them. Each says it can handle 700mA max, so I was thinking of running them at no more than 500mA each, or around 4amps for 8 strips or 5 amps for 10. So I need a 75-100W driver yeah?

They run about 19.5V, but I am guessing 20V drivers should generally work on them yes? Would it be better to run them in 2S 4P or should I run all 8-10 parallel? It seems like the HLG-80H-20A might be perfect, but its pretty expensive...... Anyone have an alternative to that specific driver that costs less?

I just realized something... the BXEB 280mm modules are rated at 19.5V, which appears to be right in the middle of their allowable voltage window. I just so happen to have a significant supply of laptop power supplies including one that is 19.5V and 8amps(I also have a 10A unit but that's in use). I am pretty certain this thing is a constant-voltage supply. If this thing locks in at 19.5V, will the LED's self-regulate at the expected current at that voltage? The EB series Gen 2 data sheet says that at 19.5V, the strips will run at a current draw of 350mA; which outputs between 1000-1100 or so lumens. These boards are just diodes and no resistors so with constant voltage drivers would there be some sort of current runaway? I'm not educated enough on this to be certain yet. It sure would be slick if I could run 8-10 of these strips off the power supply I already have. I'm really having a very hard time getting my partner to sign on to getting these strips after having a really hard time talking her into getting the QB96. I tell her it will make better weed than what we were using, but she's the responsible one so she has to question all the spending lol.

Speaking of my old lights, I was using Chinese "driverless" blurple COB lights. 300W of them on an aluminum griddle and 150W of them on a home made aluminum fixture. Lets see here if I can dig up a pic or two...









As you can see, the QB96 is a big step up and I look forward to doing great things with it. I'm excited to get the surround lights in soon too. I really think the 11" EB strips at just under $3 each are a good size, price, and efficiency(175lm/W). If I can make my existing supply power them, I could get this wrapped up for 30-40 dollars depending on how many I go with.

I'm also interested in getting a power display meter. On eBay I have seen little displays that you put on your circuit and a backlit display shows voltage and other power data. Some of them are pretty cheap, but I want one on my QB96 and one on my surround driver output.

Here is the EB Gen 2 data sheet for reference: