Looking for diy light ideas

Hello all, I'm new to the led side of lighting and would really like to get some lighting built for a 3x3 tent to replace my 600w hps. I've average around 1.5 to 2.0g/w for about the last 5 seasons growing a variety of strains. Is it possible to do the same with some of these prebuilt ones like the spiderfarmer 4000 or the hlg 550 or whatever....or should I build one that could ultimately make those obsolete...with LEDs new tech is coming out so frequently that i want some great stuff but sticking to a reasonable budget. Anyone have any thoughts or recommendations on build lists I can check out for that size tent that could replace my 600w hps...I just don't want to loose yield just to save at the wall. Looking for quality, quantity and if I can save a little cash I'd be more than pleased. Thanks for any advice.

The lights you mention will do fine. They are overkill for a 3x3, but they have dimming. 30 watts per square foot is good with quality LED, so about 270w for a 3x3. HLG is much better quality than Spider.

For DIY, I'd do a strip build or maybe boards.

Now comes a long discussion of which strips/boards.
I'd look into Bridgelux Vesta strips, cutter strips or boards from growlightsaustralia.com, and there are many others.

The Vesta strips have two rows of LEDs, each with a different color temperature. Use more blue for veg and and more red for flower.

Some links to start getting familiar....

1212ham said:

The lights you mention will do fine. They are overkill for a 3x3, but they have dimming. 30 watts per square foot is good with quality LED, so about 270w for a 3x3. HLG is much better quality than Spider.

For DIY, I'd do a strip build or maybe boards.

DIY LED Strip Build Designs for Samsung H-Series, F-Series, Q-Series, and Bridgelux EB Gen.2 - LED Gardener

DIY LED strip builds have become very popular recently. The mid-power section of our forum is full of threads created by DIYers looking to build their own custom lights, and new builds and ideas are surfacing every day. If you don’t live somewhere where you have easy access to premade lights...

ledgardener.com

Now comes a long discussion of which strips/boards.
I'd look into Bridgelux Vesta strips, cutter strips or boards from growlightsaustralia.com, and there are many others.

The Vesta strips have two rows of LEDs, each with a different color temperature. Use more blue for veg and and more red for flower.

Help me choose a 4x4flowertent light

As for 30% higher efficiency, i believe i said at 660w over a 4x4 but could be mistaken . You said: "The Bar-8 has a 1730 ppf dude. 2.8 UMOL/J set to 660w. 2.7 (2.689) @ 900w." OK, how is 2.8 30% higher than 2.6? And how much higher would the efficacy of the HLG be if dimmed the...

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BXEB-TL-2750G-3000-A-13 Bridgelux | Optoelectronics | DigiKey

Order today, ships today. BXEB-TL-2750G-3000-A-13 – LED Lighting COBs Engines Modules LED Module series White, Warm / White, Cool Linear Light Strip from Bridgelux. Pricing and Availability on millions of electronic components from Digi-Key Electronics.

www.digikey.com

Some links to start getting familiar....

LED's for a 3'x3'x6' Tent

Newbie here, looking to set up a 3x3x6 tent & need advise on what would be the proper led lighting to use to get the maximum potential out of the tent. Been looking at HGL & Spider Farmer & just cant figure out how many / what size to use. Will be my first grow & want to try to get the right...

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New Build with Bridgelux Strips and grow room

Ok I have caught the led grow bug, spent many hours reading about LED strips here, have some technical brain cells (but still make mistakes !) and have come up with a plan for a new grow room lighting. Here is a background on the room and what I am proposing to do. I just got done building a 2...

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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...

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Thanks for the reply. I was highly considering the BXEB-TL-2750G-3000-A-13 strips in a square and fill the middle with a few SL-B8V2N70LAWW strips but a I had a few questions ...1. Which driver(s) would I need to run these? 2. As I'm not the best with math what would the wattage be at the wall with something like this? 3. Would this require heatsinks or could I just get away with using some aluminum sheet metal ..I appreciate your response.

I am looking to kinda go overkill to setup as I can dial it down to perform as needed.

$licc Ricc said:

Thanks for the reply. I was highly considering the BXEB-TL-2750G-3000-A-13 strips in a square and fill the middle with a few SL-B8V2N70LAWW strips but a I had a few questions ...1. Which driver(s) would I need to run these? 2. As I'm not the best with math what would the wattage be at the wall with something like this? 3. Would this require heatsinks or could I just get away with using some aluminum sheet metal ..I appreciate your response.

Click to expand...

The power is determined by the driver(s), you just need to spread it over enough strips. I'm not sure anything at all is needed for heat sinking and alum. sheet or angle should be more than enough, but I'd have to take a closer look at things. For drivers you could use a HLG-100H-24A and a HLG-240H-24B.

You might just use all BXEB-TL-2750G-3000-A-13 Vestas. With a couple switches you could run the 2700k rows, the 5000k or both.
I'm thinking of an HLG-240H-24A or HLG-320H-24A driver. @Rocket Soul ? Will HLG-320H-24B have enough voltage?

Would just one be enough? I'd like to maximize the output without it actually getting to the point of bleaching. If those strips alone would be enough how many would you suggest...I initially thought 4 in a square and fill in the inner space with 6 to 8 1ft strips. I like the idea of the blues on switches tho so I could turn them off mid flower and pump up the output of the rest. I like the idea of the 2700 and the 3000k mix to get a nice range spectrum to suit both early and later flower and resin production.

1212ham said:

The power is determined by the driver(s), you just need to spread it over enough strips. I'm not sure anything at all is needed for heat sinking and alum. sheet or angle should be more than enough, but I'd have to take a closer look at things. For drivers you could use a HLG-100H-24A and a HLG-240H-24B.

You might just use all BXEB-TL-2750G-3000-A-13 Vestas. With a couple switches you could run the 2700k rows, the 5000k or both.
I'm thinking of an HLG-240H-24A or HLG-320H-24A driver. @Rocket Soul ? Will HLG-320H-24B have enough voltage?

Eb gen 2 finally built. Setup questions

So I took the dive and build a EB gen 2 build for my 4x4 tent. Followed led gardener strip builds with 24x 2’ strips at 3000k as it’s going to be a flower only light and not used for veg. And digikey has the 2’ cheap enough I just had to go for it and make the switch from my 600w HPS. I just...

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The Chinese Quantum Board Knock Off Builds

what do u guys recommend for a 3.5x3.5ft (1x1m) upgrade from Blurple Bestvas ? they re too hot :| . I think the best option is chinese qbs?? And if yes, which ones, i read about Meijiu and Kingbrite being the best option, but ive seen other sellers on AliExpress which i know ships to EU and they...

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Guide me to the Light....

Ok brothers and sisters, I've been advised by @Rocket Soul to start my own thread so other noobs like myself can use it as a point of reference for a bit of DIY advice. I was advised tag in @cobshopgrow for pointers, and @maddmango, who has helped me a lot by pm. I'm starting from a point of...

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Click to expand...

For parallel id prefer a 48A and run 2 in series, and separate circuits for each channel. Get your planning right cause it easily becomes a mess of cables. You can use domestic standrad dual cables which means less clutter. 1 cable, 2 wires. Vestas are best run 20w max per strip in total which means you have to run a loot of them. 2 per heat sink works fine for me.
They arent the best spec strip but make up for it in price, versatility, spectrum and diode count. Check the vesta test thread for more info.

Personally, I'd stick with the hps if you are getting 31 - 42 ounces in a 3 x 3

Moflow said:

Personally, I'd stick with the hps if you are getting 31 - 42 ounces in a 3 x 3

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What ain't broke don't fix right. Normally I'd be the same exact mindset but with all the talks of hid replacement over the internet, I wanted to find out if any led overkill could in fact replace hid in it's core. Personally if I can build a light or find one for around 500 to overkill a 600w hid I'll run a side by side direct comparison and if worse comes to worse it'll make for a decent video on YT or something. I saw a thread from a guy who ran a 3x3 tent and ran a framed in ceiling of f strip 564b and he achieved 1.9gpw at close to 900w...which I'll be a little more comfortable with but his tent was a 4x4 so wasn't sure how much affect that would have on me to imitate that style. But I'll read up on some Vesta builds and see what I can come up with. Thanks guys.

So I was scrolling across the cutter website and came across a few strips. And had a couple questions about them.

Ssk-3560br-v2 x4) =3000k 90cri, 365nm, 380nm,660nm

Ssk-1560ge-3590cr x14) =3500k 90cri
1. Can these strips be used together?
2. Which driver would you recommend?
3. Would this be to much blue for flower or enough for veg?
4.im not good with math here but what would approx wattage at wall be like?
5.I would be putting them 2 strips side by side then spaced in a manner to maximize canopy spread .....b=strip, 1234= space in inches between strips example below.

B|B 1 B|B 2 B|B 2 B|B 4 B|B 4 B|B 2 B|B 2 B|B 1 B|B
Hopefully this is enough to follow....

If each strip is approx 2 ft (22"x .9") I could mount them on 2ftx2in heatsink and screw mount them to aluminum frame to secure them all. The driver I'd like to relocate out of the tent if possible to keep temps down... Please lmk what you think....any advice to something that would work better. TIA

Never seen anyone pull 1200g dry out of a 3x3 regardless of what lights were used. In fact your average guy is doing well pulling a 1lb.
What's your method? Got any pics?
Could you also link the youtube vid of the guy with 900w in a 4x4 too. Would like to see that.