Samsung F564B Linear Strip Build

Takeshy said:

UPDATE

Light completed.

If anyone have any questions or suggestions please feel free to leave a post.

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That is a brute of a light! Well done! And a great bed-a-buds to try it out on.

You built that for a 5x5 and shooting for about 30ish watts a sq/ft. I have had great results using "warm" cobs and now strips at that same power level.

Takeshy! Wow! You did it! So many people asked questions about my builds but most will never follow through, and then you design and build an insanely beautiful and efficient system that I'm still in shock over. Your execution is amazing! Very, very nice system. You should be proud and very happy.


My own grow kind of took on a life of its own and outgrew the 4x8 tent so I did a quick build of a 7x11 grow room to give it room to breathe. I had to press my old Cree CXB3590 system into use! I have all the pieces to do two more FB24B builds like you see here, but I'm hesitant to be messing with changing out lights over the grow. I know too many people who have destroyed plants by dropping lights.

What height are you hanging them?
I am a little behind on my build after sticking my fingers in the table saw.

Just going to slap it together until I can do woodwork again to make the ends of my fixtures.
Little too painful still.

One thing I'd recommend to everyone is to spend a few dollars more on a timer that can easily handle the turn-on surge of a ballast load. The Intermatic and Tork type timers may be rated for 40A at 120V but are derated to 20A when used with ballasts. Consider the risk of fire if you're using the small timers typically sold for handling home lighting. The home lighting timers don't have contacts rated for the inrush current of a ballast load.

Takeshy, I am blown away. Seriously.
I hope you don't mind but I'm going to share your creation with a few friends.

Rider509 said:

Takeshy, I am blown away. Seriously.
I hope you don't mind but I'm going to share your creation with a few friends.

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Thanks The light is awesome. Uniformity, penetration and intensity is remarkable.
Feel free to share with anyone you would like.

Rider509 said:

One thing I'd recommend to everyone is to spend a few dollars more on a timer that can easily handle the turn-on surge of a ballast load. The Intermatic and Tork type timers may be rated for 40A at 120V but are derated to 20A when used with ballasts. Consider the risk of fire if you're using the small timers typically sold for handling home lighting. The home lighting timers don't have contacts rated for the inrush current of a ballast load.View attachment 4073379

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I found this timer (Legrand Omnirex T) from a reliable company, legrand. It's rated at 16A.
http://docs-europe.electrocomponents.com/webdocs/0b84/0900766b80b846fc.pdf

Do you think it could do the job?

Timer specs usually indicate their load capacity with a resistive load and then somewhere in the fine print they mention derating for use with ballasts. The problem with trying to run near the rated resistive load capacity when you're actually running ballasts is that the inrush current can arc across the contacts and burn them or fuse them. To be safe, derate your timers by half when used with ballasts, either HID or LED.

Here's a good example. The Tork 1103B is advertised as a 120-277VAC DPST 40A timer switch. But as this is a more commercial unit the deratings are listed right inside the door so you have no one to blame but yourself if you burn it up. You can buy a number of smaller timers to keep loads within the derated specs, or buy a meatier, beefier, prime hunk of timer switch like the Tork. One beneficial aspect of numerous small timers is that they can be staggered for turn on so that you don't pop breakers when all of the lights come on at the same time on your poor overworked 15A breaker. I see that you use a Schuko plug which puts you at 230V 50Hz, and I don't know if either Tork or Intermatic make timers for that market. I'm sure there's something similar in capacity wherever you live. I would have never guessed that English wasn't your native language!

Important note: Burnt contacts are resistive. Resistance causes heat. Heat causes fires and plastic burns really well and drips melting globs of burning goo. If you suspect that your timer isn't capable, toss it.

ANC said:

What height are you hanging them?
I am a little behind on my build after sticking my fingers in the table saw.

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Are you asking me or Takeshy?
Mine are about 12" off the main canopy and are set to produce 800-900ppfd. Even the buds down on the lower left corner are still seeing 450ppfd. I have to keep it higher because of the CXB3590 COBs. Some of the taller colas are on the outer edges of the coverage which keeps them from being burnt. I'd seriously love to have two of the @Takeshy builds for this room! The man is an artistic genius!

Note: Fingers and table saws don't mix! I'm glad you didn't lose any.

Yeah you, thanks, that more or less fits with my calculations.

I lost a pretty gnarly piece of meat though and a nail.

I was going for keeping things light as possible while carrying the driver onboard
I prefer keeping the wires between driver and LED strips as short as possible, rather than run a long DC output to the LEDs.
You need quite thick wire to counter DC losses over distance. There are several online calculators to this end that will tell you what your losses are, or you can specify 1% etc... and it will tell you the thickness required for the length. This helps to prevent wasting energy as heat in the cables.
Why not add a simple contactor to your timer circuit?? You could probably get one at the hardware store.

ANC said:

Yeah you, thanks, that more or less fits with my calculations.

I lost a pretty gnarly piece of meat though and a nail.

I was going for keeping things light as possible while carrying the driver onboard
I prefer keeping the wires between driver and LED strips as short as possible, rather than run a long DC output to the LEDs.
You need quite thick wire to counter DC losses over distance. There are several online calculators to this end that will tell you what your losses are, or you can specify 1% etc... and it will tell you the thickness required for the length. This helps to prevent wasting energy as heat in the cables.
Why not add a simple contactor to your timer circuit?? You could probably get one at the hardware store.

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I used 14ga wire to carry the DC current but will likely upgrade to the Wago 873 series disconnect which is capable of 12ga on the supply side since I now have some long runs. I went with the drivers in one location to make it easier to set lighting levels and to keep the heat out of the grow room. I figured that either way I was going to have heavy wiring to the lights, either AC to the drivers or DC from the drivers.

A contactor would def work, but a heavy-duty timer is so much more simple.

OUCH! Losing a chunk of meat would hurt but having your nail ripped out must have been hell! The nail should grow back but it may come out looking a little wonky. LOL

My grow is reaching the end of flower. This is week 6.
Next time I might grow only one strain instead of different strains. Those hazes are really tall!

I love the explosive growth under the strips. I'm blown by how large my leaves got in this last week since I swapped over.

Hello guys!

These LED's are great! I did 1763g with 900W, that's 1.9g/w!
This was my 2nd grow. I still have much to learn.
Definitely 900W is too much, plants suffered from light stress. I will dimm it to 750W in my next grow and maybe buy a PAR meter.

Thanks for all the support!

(pictures taken 1 week before harvest)

great Job Takeshy!! Looks awesome bro,

Wow Takeshy!!!
You created a blanket of diodes. Love it. That’s beautiful!!
What strains did you end up running?

Stunning is the word we are all looking for.
Lights are excellent and your growing skills are top.
Hats of to you.

Takeshy said:

Hello guys!

These LED's are great! I did 1763g with 900W, that's 1.9g/w!
This was my 2nd grow. I still have much to learn.
Definitely 900W is too much, plants suffered from light stress. I will dimm it to 750W in my next grow and maybe buy a PAR meter.

Thanks for all the support!

(pictures taken 1 week before harvest)

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Looking good! I would suggest to use more cal/mag and less nutes next round. You can also try aleo vera spraying if also heat or low humidity may be a problem, not only light.

Warpedpassage said:

Wow Takeshy!!!
You created a blanket of diodes. Love it. That’s beautiful!!
What strains did you end up running?

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(4x) Tutankhamon from Pyramid Seeds
(2x) Super Lemon Haze from Greenhouse Seeds

Takeshy said:

(4x) Tutankhamon from Pyramid Seeds
(2x) Super Lemon Haze from Greenhouse Seeds

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I just popped king tut, hoping for fire !!!!