Supplemental LED Lights (660nm, 730nm etc) for old QB288 v1

Hey guys, I've been reading a bit about LEDs with far red light and other wavelengths (660nm Red, Blue and UV). I've also noticed that most of the new quantum boards come with red lights installed in them too.

So I'm looking to upgrade my garden with some more wavelengths

So far I have 4x QB288 boards for a 2.4 x 1.2 m tent - one of them is a legit HLG and the other a Chinese knock off. They're all 3000k.

I was wondering if anyone had gone this route before and if they could tell me what they used to upgrade.

I've stumbled upon Kingbrite (https://kingbriteled.en.alibaba.com/) on Alibaba which sell fake QB11 boards (the HLG ones are out of stock). They have them in 660nm, 730nm, (660 + 730) emmerson effect boards, 460nm and 395nm UV boards. These boards all appear to have 11 LEDs on them and are about 20w I think.

I've also seen the Rapid LED pucks (https://rapidled.com/) which are about 7w and come in 660 and 740nm.

How many and which boards should I get? Should I get one of each of the kingbrite boards (except the emerson board) or do you think that is overkill? How have other people supplemented their old Quantum Boards with either the pucks or the qb11s?

Any and all help very much appreciated. Thanks

I supplemented Samsung strips by replicating Rapid LED‘S Mass medical Supplemental Light but I separated out the blues and UVA, reds, and far reds on 3 individual drivers. That was before Rapid had that option. Also added Acadia 14% UVB.

Merlin1147 said:

I supplemented Samsung strips by replicating Rapid LED‘S Mass medical Supplemental Light but I separated out the blues and UVA, reds, and far reds on 3 individual drivers. That was before Rapid had that option. Also added Acadia 14% UVB.

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Interesting. I was thinking of trying to replicate HLG 60. Did you just buy the diodes from RapidLED and then solder them together on a bigger board? I assume you run the far reds at the end of the day only or do you run them during the day too? Do you run the normal reds at the start of the day and the whole day? I assume you run the UVA and UVB for an hour or so a day?

Yes i bought individual solderless diodes from Rapid and Mounted them to a heatsink and used their jumpers to daisy chain them. i run the far red 5 minutes pre and post sunset starting the day of flip to 12/12. Then once the stretch is done i run it all day with the other reds plus 5 after sunset. The blue channel with the UVA I run during veg and then again toward the end. I find I have to be careful with that channel. It can bleach buds and damage foliage if I crank it up for too long. Also when I put it on the smell in the tent goes way up like instantly, even with the scrubber running. If I turn it off it goes down. Not sure it the bleaching/damage is the UVA or one of the other spectrums. The UVB I start at the flip at 15 minutes and every few days I add 15 so by harvest it’s on pretty much all day or until I start to see damage. Nirvana’s Maui Waui is one that doesn’t do well with the UVB. Hope that helps.

Merlin1147 said:

Yes i bought individual solderless diodes from Rapid and Mounted them to a heatsink and used their jumpers to daisy chain them. i run the far red 5 minutes pre and post sunset starting the day of flip to 12/12. Then once the stretch is done i run it all day with the other reds plus 5 after sunset. The blue channel with the UVA I run during veg and then again toward the end. I find I have to be careful with that channel. It can bleach buds and damage foliage if I crank it up for too long. Also when I put it on the smell in the tent goes way up like instantly, even with the scrubber running. If I turn it off it goes down. Not sure it the bleaching/damage is the UVA or one of the other spectrums. The UVB I start at the flip at 15 minutes and every few days I add 15 so by harvest it’s on pretty much all day or until I start to see damage. Nirvana’s Maui Waui is one that doesn’t do well with the UVB. Hope that helps.

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Thanks for the info mate. After much research I think I'll just give the far red at sunset treatment a try (with 13 hour day) and then maybe look to add UV in the future. One thing at a time

plebschmo said:

Thanks for the info mate. After much research I think I'll just give the far red at sunset treatment a try (with 13 hour day) and then maybe look to add UV in the future. One thing at a time

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Try going to grow lights australia and checking out the buddies
You could add a string of 660nm that are designed for top lighting and a string of 730nm for EOD and emerson.The kits have 240v drivers so if you are in the us you will just want them alone and buy your own driver. Also you can get more and use them for side lighting as well

Nizza said:

Try going to grow lights australia and checking out the buddies
You could add a string of 660nm that are designed for top lighting and a string of 730nm for EOD and emerson.The kits have 240v drivers so if you are in the us you will just want them alone and buy your own driver. Also you can get more and use them for side lighting as well

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Hey mate, thanks for the suggestion.

From what I've read (really mostly watched on youtube haha), emerson effect stops being effective at higher PPFDs and I'll be running 4 qb 288s for 1 plant at flower, so I don't think the emerson effect will do anything. Also, from what I've read you really need to calculate the amount of far red you give the plants as a % and I don't really have the tools to measure that. I guess I could estimate it from manufacturers specs but not sure I wanna risk giving them too much far red... Also 2 of my qb288s are chinese knock-offs so I have no idea how much PPFD they really produce.

As for 660nm, from my understanding as long as you're within the photosynthetic range 1 photon = 1 photon (with far red being a little different...) so I'm not sure why I would really want to add 660nm to my grow. Is there any reason why I should supplement a string of 660s? Does it really add anything to a grow which another wavelength wont?

Anyway, I've been leaning towards getting a 730nm board from cutter: https://www.cutter.com.au/product/cutter-zge-280-sxp-c/?attribute_pa_led-wavelength=mixed-wavelength&attribute_pa_total-led-quantity-per-pcb=15-leds-per-pcb but I'm not sure which driver I want...

Which drivers are you using? Personally I'd prolly just replace the boards themselves with the new RSpec or Diablo versions. Keep everything else the same (drivers, wiring, heatsinks, etc), and minimize your replacement cost with new boards only. You can add UV with easy T5 fixtures, and supplemental far red is easy to find in many formats.

Mean Well APC-25-700 Driver.

PJ Diaz said:

Which drivers are you using? Personally I'd prolly just replace the boards themselves with the new RSpec or Diablo versions. Keep everything else the same (drivers, wiring, heatsinks, etc), and minimize your replacement cost with new boards only. You can add UV with easy T5 fixtures, and supplemental far red is easy to find in many formats.

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Ive got a Meanwell HLG-240-48 powering two boards and an ELG-240-48 powering two boards.

Not particularly keen to replace the boards as it will still be quite expensive and just add to waste.. besides from what I can see I stand to gain around 10% efficiency and like 2% more PAR. Perhaps the light colour spectrum is way better though?

Still not sure about 660nm light - from what I've read some people say it helps promote flowering but I've also read that when it comes to photosynthesis 1 photon = 1 photon... So does 660nm really give you a "riper" plant?

plebschmo said:

Ive got a Meanwell HLG-240-48 powering two boards and an ELG-240-48 powering two boards.

Not particularly keen to replace the boards as it will still be quite expensive and just add to waste.. besides from what I can see I stand to gain around 10% efficiency and like 2% more PAR. Perhaps the light colour spectrum is way better though?

Still not sure about 660nm light - from what I've read some people say it helps promote flowering but I've also read that when it comes to photosynthesis 1 photon = 1 photon... So does 660nm really give you a "riper" plant?

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I didn't think you could run HLG boards off a 48v driver, I thought they all needed around 54v.

Personally I don't buy the 1 photon = 1 photon position. Spectrum makes a difference in my opinion. More red typically means more flowers.

PJ Diaz said:

I didn't think you could run HLG boards off a 48v driver, I thought they all needed around 54v.

Personally I don't buy the 1 photon = 1 photon position. Spectrum makes a difference in my opinion. More red typically means more flowers.

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The QB 288 V2 (LM301B) run at a lower voltage than the other QB 288 versions.



The voltage on the HLG-240H-48A can be adjusted up to 52.69 volts, so @plebschmo could feasibly be using other version HLG boards than the V2.

Barristan Whitebeard said:

The QB 288 V2 (LM301B) run at a lower voltage than the other QB 288 versions.



The voltage on the HLG-240H-48A can be adjusted up to 52.69 volts, so @plebschmo could feasibly be using other version HLG boards than the V2.

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Yep thats right. 1st ones i bought were legit HLG QB288 v1 (2x boards) with a HLG-240H-48A driver, 2nd ones were from China and has the LM301B LEDs on it.

So im starting to think I may try adding some 660nm to my garden because it can't really do any harm and even if 660nm doesn't have any specific effect on the plant I'm still adding a bit more light so that's fine. Was just wondering how much 660nm I should add. I was thinking I should just look at the new qb288s and just copy the amount of red dioes on those boards.

Thanks for all the advice guys, much appreciated

Hey guys, so I've decided to get 2 boards with Cree XPE-3 Deep Red 660nm x 12 diodes and 1 board with Cree XPE-2 Far Red 730nm x 12 diodes.

I plan to run the 2 x 660nm in series on one driver and the 730nm on another.

The drivers I plan to get are: Mean Well HLG-60H-54A for the 2x 660nm boards and a Mean Well HLG-40H-30A for the 730nm.

According to the board manufacturer the red boards are 1amp, 28.8V and 28.8W. 2 of these in series would be 57.6V, 57.6W, 1A. The HLG-60H-54A is a 60W CC CV driver with adjustable voltage and current which i can set to approximately 57.6V and 1A. The HLG-40H-30A is a 40W driver which I can set to approximately 1A, 28.8V for the 730nm board.

Can anyone please advice if these LED Drivers will be suitable or if I've missed anything? I already own 2 Mean Well drivers and would like to stick with the brand.

Thanks for your help!!

Is 1amp the max or recommended output? If recommended then yes they will work. The A version has an internal potentiometer rather than being able to wire in an external one. so you need access to the top of the driver to adjust it which can make it harder to adjust depending on where you mount it. Initially you’d think the external would be nicer, but I Ike the “A” type better than the B type because a have have trouble with dimming with external potentiometers In B types. The adjustment isn’t linear and I’ve had external pot failures.

Merlin1147 said:

Is 1amp the max or recommended output? If recommended then yes they will work. The A version has an internal potentiometer rather than being able to wire in an external one. so you need access to the top of the driver to adjust it which can make it harder to adjust depending on where you mount it. Initially you’d think the external would be nicer, but I Ike the “A” type better than the B type because a have have trouble with dimming with external potentiometers In B types. The adjustment isn’t linear and I’ve had external pot failures.

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Thanks mate, much appreciated!

I ended up going with the A types like u recommended. I like to keep my drivers outside of the tent to keep heat down, I just run longer wires from the driver to the LEDs. I went with the HLG-60H-48A instead of the 54 as the 660nm XPE-3 have a max amp of 1.5 (the XPE-2 only 1amp) - the 48 driver will do 1.3amp vs the 54 only doing 1.15.

Will post some pics on this thread when its all setup