DIY with Quantum Boards

Federucci

Well-Known Member
If they're talking about the HLG kits, yes. How long in the past has it taken for HLG to "re-up"? I assume it's random.
 
Last edited:

ilovereggae

Well-Known Member
Very interesting seeing them out into a frame, oriented that way. Quite different from most the builds you see around here.
I kind of wish I just did that, bought a bunch of slates and then used angle to line them up long ways like that instead of using the giant heatsinks I used. Would have been a little more expensive but given me more options to adjust spacing between boards, and I wouldn't have had to manually drill/tap everything. Plus the big heatsinks are kind of heavy.
 

daveybc

Well-Known Member
In my 4x8 tent they are mounted the 4' span as seen here.

Since there was an angled roof and limited hanging height we figured not to go longer than 22" max on the design. My buddy was replacing the ViperSpectra600 he had. We installed 3 of those 260 fixtures so far, my buddy is blown away and the driver was set to about 2/3 power. Once all is done, ill be sure to put up a pic.

Very interesting seeing them out into a frame, oriented that way. Quite different from most the builds you see around here.
 

Attachments

Last edited:

jHands

Active Member
Just ordered some QB’s from KingBrite in China off Alibaba. Upon inspection, everything looks to be of high quality. I am in the midst of hooking them up this week. Question: can I mount the drivers remote and then run the + and - wires to the boards? Seems a lot of people do it with no issue. Is there any harm in running, say, 3 feet of wire between the driver and the boards, so long as the connections are high quality and soldered?
 

Airwalker16

Well-Known Member
Just ordered some QB’s from KingBrite in China off Alibaba. Upon inspection, everything looks to be of high quality. I am in the midst of hooking them up this week. Question: can I mount the drivers remote and then run the + and - wires to the boards? Seems a lot of people do it with no issue. Is there any harm in running, say, 3 feet of wire between the driver and the boards, so long as the connections are high quality and soldered?
No issue at all. I have like 5ft of 18awg running from driver to boards. Also, your boards will have connectors so the only soldering done would be at the bare wires of the drivers if you want, but wago levers work absolutely fine.
 

jHands

Active Member
No issue at all. I have like 5ft of 18awg running from driver to boards. Also, your boards will have connectors so the only soldering done would be at the bare wires of the drivers if you want, but wago levers work absolutely fine.
So, theoretically, I could mount all of the drivers outside my rooms and just run the +- and dimmer lines into the room to connect to the boards and mount dimmers?
 

pop22

Well-Known Member
Although they may be fine, this thread is only for genuine Horticultural Lighting Group Quantum boards. There are threads on this forum for these copycat boards, you should post in one of them. Those of us with real QB boards feel that these Chinese companies have stolen HLG's intellectual property ( personally, i feel ALL these Chinese tech companies are thieves ).

Just ordered some QB’s from KingBrite in China off Alibaba. Upon inspection, everything looks to be of high quality. I am in the midst of hooking them up this week. Question: can I mount the drivers remote and then run the + and - wires to the boards? Seems a lot of people do it with no issue. Is there any harm in running, say, 3 feet of wire between the driver and the boards, so long as the connections are high quality and soldered?
 

pop22

Well-Known Member
Use 18 guage stranded from the driver to just short of the light, then use Wago's or other wire connectors to transition to a short piece of 18G solid wire to the board. Wire losses in stranded are minimal for runs under 25ft.

Is there any limitation to how long the wires from the driver to the boards can be? I don’t want to push it too far, but having the drivers outside of the room seems nice. Also seems nice to keep them in the room to heat the room as well, tough call.
 

jHands

Active Member
Use 18 guage stranded from the driver to just short of the light, then use Wago's or other wire connectors to transition to a short piece of 18G solid wire to the board. Wire losses in stranded are minimal for runs under 25ft.
Thanks for the information brother, and I apologize,
I did not know this was reserved for the HLG guys.
 

nc208

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the information brother, and I apologize,
I did not know this was reserved for the HLG guys.
The Quantum Boards were HLGs product so it's like saying iPhone or iPod and knowing its belonging to Apple. Alibaba and other ripoff companies stole the name making it confusing for people to understand Quantum Board means HLGs product specifically.
 

nc208

Well-Known Member
Question regarding the HLG 225 or qb96. Is the qb96 what's in the hlg 225? And is 1 really needed for a 3x3 Veg?
I'm looking at upgrading my Veg light and wondering if 1 would work or I'd need 2?
 

X6xsilverx6X

Well-Known Member
Question regarding the HLG 225 or qb96. Is the qb96 what's in the hlg 225? And is 1 really needed for a 3x3 Veg?
I'm looking at upgrading my Veg light and wondering if 1 would work or I'd need 2?
You probably could flower with the hlg 225 on the lower end. You could get away with a hlg 100 for a 3x3 space. I think you only need 8-15 watts per sq ft in veg
 

Federucci

Well-Known Member
Is there any limitation to how long the wires from the driver to the boards can be? I don’t want to push it too far, but having the drivers outside of the room seems nice. Also seems nice to keep them in the room to heat the room as well, tough call.
It depends on the wire and how long you run it. I have a run of about 15 feet (est). I am using a 14/3 power cord to input and 14/3 on output until just before the unit where I switch to NTE 18 gauge solid. It's not necessary, but it will save about .2-.25 volts. I will run the green conductor of the 14/3 as a ground with an M4x6mm button head where the bolt hole is on the slate 2 where you typically mount the driver to is. I might as well do it, even if it's not necessary.

I used this calculator to help make my decision on what to run: https://www.calculator.net/voltage-drop-calculator.html?material=copper&wiresize=8.286&voltage=120&phase=dc&noofconductor=1&distance=10&distanceunit=feet&amperes=2&x=59&y=24

Speaking of unnecessary, I will be trying "high end" thermal paste on the back of the QB648 boards as each bank of 2 will be connected to a 320H-C2800AB driver, even though I will probably be running them at around 125w max with a 140mm fan on each individual board. I wonder if I can take these boards to the driver limit of about 175w/board as they are rated 56v at 6amps.

"Looks like she put a lotta mustard on that one!"
 

pop22

Well-Known Member
With fans on the heatsinks, 175 should be doable.


It depends on the wire and how long you run it. I have a run of about 15 feet (est). I am using a 14/3 power cord to input and 14/3 on output until just before the unit where I switch to NTE 18 gauge solid. It's not necessary, but it will save about .2-.25 volts. I will run the green conductor of the 14/3 as a ground with an M4x6mm button head where the bolt hole is on the slate 2 where you typically mount the driver to is. I might as well do it, even if it's not necessary.

I used this calculator to help make my decision on what to run: https://www.calculator.net/voltage-drop-calculator.html?material=copper&wiresize=8.286&voltage=120&phase=dc&noofconductor=1&distance=10&distanceunit=feet&amperes=2&x=59&y=24

Speaking of unnecessary, I will be trying "high end" thermal paste on the back of the QB648 boards as each bank of 2 will be connected to a 320H-C2800AB driver, even though I will probably be running them at around 125w max with a 140mm fan on each individual board. I wonder if I can take these boards to the driver limit of about 175w/board as they are rated 56v at 6amps.

"Looks like she put a lotta mustard on that one!"
 
Top