noob to the LED game, looking to build multiple 4x4's

[unkle_psycho]

I don't know if others would agree, but I think you can get strips and drivers for about 60-70c/ watt if you go for bridgelux strips. You might loose 10c/w going for samsung or something, but its all in the same range.

Getting from cutter your looking at a great range of options, from efficiency to all kinds of exotics, so you really also have the option of building something way better then what you could buy in a ready fixture, with price probably going towards 1$ per watt (for drivers and strips), at least with their more special products. Their Cree and Nichia strips might actually compete with the generic whites for price.

It will all grow great dank, and yield well. Not sure if the modern CMH lamps still put out UV like the old mercury vapor lights did, that might be a quality issue. People are starting to add various forms of UV to their led setups for a bump in THC. Most of those solutions cost $$.

You will find people here are glad to advise, but everyone here has personal interests they might try to steer you towards, so its up to you if you want a clear build solution or if your out to understand things for yourself.

[JayKell]

Nichia strips from Cutter would beat fluence performance, not sure of pricing though.
I would suggest a blend of 4000K cri90 and 2700k cri90.

pardon my complete need for handholding lol.

searching for cri90 lights comes up with a huge variety of options, any suppliers you'd recommend checking out so I'm at least purchasing the right strips?

Go to cutter.com.au hit the menu icon in the upper left and search for 2790 and 4090. Just ordered a bunch of these myself, waiting on them to come in...

Edit: 2790nic and 4090nic. I got the Cree strips.

[Gweedo]

Im in the same boat, ive done diy cob fixtures before but am now trying to plan out basically the same thing as you lol needing to cover 4 4x4 scrog setups, just trying to piece together effecient strip lights found this site in the process too much knowledge to pass up, i was leaning towards 4 4ft samsung strips but am up in the air on doing 8 of the single diode strips over the same area so many roads to the same end lol

[TEKNIK]

4 strips is not quite enough, 6 is needed minimum for spread, I usually suggest 10 4 ft strips.
Even a cheaper option of bridgelux strips will do best if many are run soft rather than 4 run hard.
Strips are the easiest most effective builds to cover a 4X4.

[rubegoldberg]

so I ended up getting excited and jumping the gun, decided to replicate the brightlux 4x4 build on this website.

for parts I ordered

1 x HLG-480H-42A

14 x BXEB-L1120Z-35E4000-C-B3 (the build called for 12, but read some places that a few extra might be better if not running heatsinks?)

Everything should arrive tomorrow, quite excited to get it built and placed in the grow, as I just flipped to flower a few days ago.



If this goes well, I'd like to ideally bang out maybe 5-10 more while the LED strips are so cheap. Do I have any more budget oriented driver options? (would be okay splitting it into a large number of 2x4's due to how the room is setup)

[unkle_psycho]

so I ended up getting excited and jumping the gun, decided to replicate the brightlux 4x4 build on this website.

for parts I ordered

1 x HLG-480H-42A

14 x BXEB-L1120Z-35E4000-C-B3 (the build called for 12, but read some places that a few extra might be better if not running heatsinks?)

Everything should arrive tomorrow, quite excited to get it built and placed in the grow, as I just flipped to flower a few days ago.



If this goes well, I'd like to ideally bang out maybe 5-10 more while the LED strips are so cheap. Do I have any more budget oriented driver options? (would be okay splitting it into a large number of 2x4's due to how the room is setup)

What electricity do you have in your location? ELG series is great if you use 220v. XLG series is cheap if you can get one of the models to pair well with your setup.

The slimline is the first of the gen3's to hit digikey, and they have progressive pricing. Other models should be in soon, so if you buy all your strips at once you might get the next gen for rather similar prices.
Also if your planning on doing many fixtures at once,

[rubegoldberg]

What electricity do you have in your location? ELG series is great if you use 220v. XLG series is cheap if you can get one of the models to pair well with your setup.

The slimline is the first of the gen3's to hit digikey, and they have progressive pricing. Other models should be in soon, so if you buy all your strips at once you might get the next gen for rather similar prices.
Also if your planning on doing many fixtures at once,

each room has about 30 amps of 220, Will look into the ELG series.

would 2 x ELG-240-24A work out to about the same as 1 x HLG-480H-42A ?

Also thanks for a heads up on the slimline, with the price break, they're really not much more per strip, 2-3 dollars which is pretty nominal, all things considering.

[TEKNIK]

If you are buying the longest strips then you will need to stick to the 480-42, not sure if there is an ELG 42V.
The other thing to note is if you are purchasing the slim type strips I would suggest you heatsink them as they are alot thinner and won't dissipate the heat the same, a bit of flat aluminum will do. No need to spend alot on heatsinks.

[rubegoldberg]

If you are buying the longest strips then you will need to stick to the 480-42, not sure if there is an ELG 42V.
The other thing to note is if you are purchasing the slim type strips I would suggest you heatsink them as they are alot thinner and won't dissipate the heat the same, a bit of flat aluminum will do. No need to spend alot on heatsinks.

would 2 foot strips solve that issue? i've kinda fallen in love with the ELG pricepoint now haha.

good to know about the heatsinks, trying to source some cheap aluminum. although c-channel is about 7 dollars per 4 foot length, which isn't bad at all.

[TEKNIK]

C channel will work great, the cooler you keep your LEDs the more efficient they are and the longer they will last for. ELGs are pretty cheap, the XLGs are even cheaper but they only got to 24V or to a constant current system and you don't want that for your build.
The HLG drivers are better all round and more robust as they are an old and proven model.
The good thing about a strip build is you can always add on extra to upgrade things easily, get your first build done and see what you think, later this year things are going to change rapidly as efficiency is about to jump a bit more so you may choose a different strip build next.