Light info overload-I want to build one

ok sorry if I’m in the wrong place but I’ve been reading so much about how to buy then things to know about building that my brain went on strike.

I’m trying to come up with a way to spread out my grow foot print without spending more than several hundred $. Looked at all the cheapys on amazon to hlg550 v2 r-spec. What I thought might b good is to buy a qb diy kit or parts and build a 4 Board elongated or spread out a bit. Just trying to get a 4’x4’-4’x6’ in flower witha ceiling height of 5’8”. I have a 2’x4’x5’3” tent with 2 viparspectra v450’s in it but would like at least another 4’x4’ area, I’m thinking that will b good for 6 plants at a time-4’x6’ total area.

Wow all that to ask if someone could help me find “the parts list link” or tell me if the pd134 4 pack on amazon would work and what would go with it like frame, heatsink (says don’t need one) driver specs, where a higher powered board set may be, stuff like that. I can rewrite a house and make custom wiring harnesses for fuel injection on vehicles so I didn’t figure building a light would b to much harder, only a guess tho. Any advice or pointers or links will b greatly appreciated!!! Thanks all!!

Hell yeah, DIY! 30-35 watts/square foot gets it done with the efficient boards, COBs and strips used for DIY.

Lots of good DIY info here....
https://ledgardener.com/diy-led-strip-build-designs-samsung-bridgelux/
https://ledgardener.com/cob-led-basics/
https://ledgardener.com/category/builds/

Your in the right place.

I assume you mean 4 pack of QB132's as in this link?
https://horticulturelightinggroup.com/products/qb132-quantum-board

Not a bad way to go especially with a low ceiling height, on that page you can see suggested drivers and as long as you don't run each over 70w you can just use a basic L profile aluminium for the frame.
3 sets of 4 boards and 3 HLG 240-C1750 to light up 4x6 space.

As far as DIY with QBs , they are like lego,, not much to think about outside knowing the voltage to get the current you need to achieve the wattage you want.

If you want to do this cheaper maybe look at gen 2 EB strips because they on clearance sale at digikey , 1212ham has provided the link for LEDgardener.
You can skip the heatsink and run them on U profile Aluminium to save a lot of cash.
If you go that route you can also save a lot by looking at meanwell LRS power supplies and parallel wiring the strips. Just pick a power supply to match the voltage of the strip.
There is also the option of going with cutter's cree J series strips which have good price breaks.
I can knock up 2x 350w set ups for around £100 a piece that way.

Want to go even cheaper, check out craigslist for a deal and be patient! I just picked a ton of HLG quantum boards for about $.21 to the retail dollar on craigslist (just posted this with said equipment https://www.rollitup.org/t/need-help-in-quantum-board-build-have-7-3k-hlg-diodes-and-4k-meanwell-watts.993676/ ). If you are not a pro, think about second hand grow equipment because there is no resale value in grow equipment. Also when you want to sell it you will not cry from the massive loss that buying it new will cause.

They must have really fast shipping, two hours earlier you asked if they were a good deal!

Hey thanks for all the info!! I’m going thru it still. Read link about strip leds so looked on ebay, only found 16” long 96 diode 40-45 watt each Samsung sun boards. I’m still going thru the other suggestions.
I was thinking about a heat sink and wondered if I took a sheet of aluminum 1/8 inch think maybe, put the strips on it, mark them and then cut thin slots in between or drilled small holes so air can pass thru the sheet. 3.5’x3.5’ sheet for a 4’x4’ area, spread lights out?? Maybe. Guy selling strips sells heatsinks to. Oh I did look at used and I guess everyone is shipping their used stuff from other states and setting up grow shops and not a price break:-/ $400 for a light probly covered 3’x3’. And they had 50-60 of them. Anyway thanks all I’ll get back later

Those aren't Samsung strips, no Samsung part number on the strip or in the listing. Samsung doesn't sell on ebay, they are sold by Digikey and Arrow Electronics. The diodes used may or may not be as stated.

The real deal. https://www.rollitup.org/t/cree-cobs-samsung-f-series-gen-3s-strip-build.980789/

1212ham said:

Those aren't Samsung strips, no Samsung part number on the strip or in the listing. Samsung doesn't sell on ebay, they are sold by Digikey and Arrow Electronics. The diodes used may or may not be as stated.

The real deal. https://www.rollitup.org/t/cree-cobs-samsung-f-series-gen-3s-strip-build.980789/

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It won’t let me upload pic of the boards with part numbers but they’re on there. Would a hlg 480h 24a like u used in that link power all of those strips?
Arrow and Digikey allout of stock or discontinued

I would recommend a 4' x 8' using Bridgelux pairs of 560 mm or 1120 mm strips.
I like the Bridgelux because they do not need a heatsink.
I use their Vesta because they have a row of 2700K 90 CRI and a row of 5000K 90 CRI for a tunable CCT.
Their BXEB cost a little less and work very well. Just a little limited on what is in stock and at what CCT and CRI are available.
For a 4' x 6', I would use eighteen 1120 mm or eighteen pairs of 560 mm every 4" across the 6' length of the grow area.

LEDgardener has good guides to use aluminum to build the fixtures. I use a much cheaper and flexible method.
Basically I just velcro the LED strips to strips of 1x2 (0.6" x 1.5" actual) wood furring strips. 98¢ for an 8' length at Home Depot.
The furring strips are spaced 1' apart for 560 mm strips or 2' for 1120 mm.

Most of my "grow chambers" are 12" or 24" wide as I run a lot of experiments with veggies.

There are vertical strips of velcro on the walls.
Then 1" pieces of aluminum angle brackets with velcro on the outside surfaces.
The wood cross bars have velcro on the under side to attach to the angle brackets and attach the strips.
Shown are 4 week old tomato, 2 week old bell pepper, and a few day old tomato sprouts all grown with a single Vesta strip using only the 2700K row.
The velcro gives me the flexibility to rearrange the position and height of the strips. As the plants grow I can add strips and increase the height. Each pair of strips have a current adjustment.
The tomato and pepper plants are a pair run at 700 mA at 36" and 12" heights. The seedlings are 350 mA at 12".
I would not have this kind of flexibility with the LEDgardner solution.
The walls cost less than $1 per sq. ft.

BigBanks78 said:

It won’t let me upload pic of the boards with part numbers but they’re on there. Would a hlg 480h 24a like u used in that link power all of those strips?
Arrow and Digikey allout of stock or discontinued

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I said SAMSUNG part number. Sorry dude, I've stopped spending time on newbies that won't listen.

It is really easy to build a frame and attach heatsinks and chips. That is the way to go if money is an issue. If not then you will get taxed but it is plug and play. Don't waste your time on a piece of shit LED light.

1212ham said:

I said SAMSUNG part number. Sorry dude, I've stopped spending time on newbies that won't listen.

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What r u 12? I read the reply and nowhere does it say I’m going to buy, don’t remember now but I have 50 windows open and comparing specs and prices. And I did c a listing with SAMSUNG PART #’s

So what u r saying is SAMSUNG will not let individuals sell SAMSUMG products on eBay?? R u sure??

I may b a newbie at building an LED light but I wonder if u can build a car from ground up including building a wiring harness for the fairly complicated port fuel injection system, or rebuild the electronically controlled automatic transmission and tune all that stuff to work together? How about build a house? Plumb it and wire it with just ur wife???

Building an LED light may be one of the very few things I have not done but after making it seem way harder than it is I have looked at specs and can find what goes with what.
But now I have someone wanting me to grow some 1:1 thc/cbd plants for cancer patients and turn the tiny home my wife and I built for my mom that has passed into a commercial grow op. Oh but ur just a newbie u can’t do anything. I have 2.5 acres and have been experimenting with every type of media and fert I can get my hands on. I put up a greenhouse and grew so kill in it, I grew kill in the lil box I made, I grew kill in the 2x4 tent and have 2 big ass golden goats that r growing outside and have pounds of bud. Next season I will have more of a protected area to gro so I will b grow f-ing trees!! I am in a mad dash to get shit straight so I may b going so fast I don’t ask questions right or the right question for what I’m looking for, so maybe u should learn patience cuz some people work from dawn till 1am every day and may be scatter brained atm??!?!? But thank you to all!! I enjoyed looking and reading about ur builds and set ups, I think I learn more from looking at others ideas and how they r using. Again thanks for all the help, love this place

topshelf_sac said:

It is really easy to build a frame and attach heatsinks and chips. That is the way to go if money is an issue. If not then you will get taxed but it is plug and play. Don't waste your time on a piece of shit LED light.

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I’m not trying to buy cheap stuff cuz I don’t want lights failing in middle of a grow. Money was an issue but an old friend is helping me with money for lighting up a 15’x17’ area. Was thinking about building out the lights for that area but I may not have time to do all that cuz I’m trying to get stuff fast so was looking at the 600h diy kits from hlg cuz they r less$ than the 550 and not sure about spending over $1000 a light. I think 3 rows of 3 600h will cover that in veg no prob. Looked at spider farmer lights and probly every other light brand and looks like that 600 is the least $ for area and output, feel free to correct me but tell me how to correct at same time . I’ve looked up almost every brand and u can find a video on every light that says “this the best light for 2019” so all the led lights out there must be the best??? :-/

You can check this week's episode of the GML show, Stephen from HGL agin explained how a large number of chips produced, simply don't meet all the standards.
Now, these are not destroyed, they likely find their way to more shady production lines.
There are two ways to get legit diodes, one is in lowish quantities, maybe a reel at a time from places like Digikey, but it is relatively expensive compared to buying half a million from Samsung.