Would the "DIY Guide Kits" always have to be run at 100%? Plz help

[TPTB73]

Hi all,

I'm confused. On this site, the recommendation is always to run your Samsung strips at 75% or 50%. However, in the DIY guides on this site, each DIY example has just enough strips to cover 30 watts per sqft when you're running the strips at 100%. Are there enough strips in those DIY uides?

If I make my build exactly like the one in the 4x2 guide, for instance, using the F series LT-564Bs(144 diodes/strip), I would have to run it at 100%, would I not?

As it says in the guide, a 4x2 space requires 240 watts(30 watts/sqft). On the 4x2 guide, it uses the HLG-240H-24 driver which is 240 watts at 100%. If you dial it back, it would be using less than 240 watts and you wouldn't be getting the full 30 watts per square foot on your grow.

I would really appreciate it if someone could clear this up for me. Thanks for reading!

[FarmerLinus]

Hi all,

I'm confused. On this site, the recommendation is always to run your Samsung strips at 75% or 50%. However, in the DIY guides on this site, each DIY example has just enough strips to cover 30 watts per sqft when you're running the strips at 100%. Are there enough strips in those DIY uides?

If I make my build exactly like the one in the 4x2 guide, for instance, using the F series LT-564Bs(144 diodes/strip), I would have to run it at 100%, would I not?

As it says in the guide, a 4x2 space requires 240 watts(30 watts/sqft). On the 4x2 guide, it uses the HLG-240H-24 driver which is 240 watts at 100%. If you dial it back, it would be using less than 240 watts and you wouldn't be getting the full 30 watts per square foot on your grow.

I would really appreciate it if someone could clear this up for me. Thanks for reading!

I haven’t read through the guide completely, but I looked at it briefly to get an idea what you were talking about. The guide I saw on LedGardeners site says to use a HLG240H-48B driver. This is a constant current driver. To run LEDs at less than 100% it doesn’t necessarily mean wattage, although they do relate. To run diodes at 30% of max power each diode has to receive 30% of their maximum current rating. For example, the light strips you’re looking at have 144 diodes. These diodes are wired into 9 groups(wired parallel) of 16 diodes wired in series. So since the diodes have a max mah rating of 200MaH it gives you a max current of 1800mah per strip. So if you wanted to run the strips at 100% power you’d actually have to get a driver that could put out 7200mah. But since LEDGardener recommends a constant current driver of 5000mah and to wire the 4 strips in parallel, you split the 5000mah across all 4 light strips. 5000/4= 1250mah per light strip... this means that each strip is running at 1250 out of 1800(max) which means you’re driving them at just under 70% power. Hope that answers your question!

Farmer Linus

[sdfoster22]

The hlg-xxxh-xx's are constant voltage and constant current drivers. They are mainly used for constant voltage. Once you max out the current, they then become constant current driver. The constant current range is different than the constant voltage range. Using those drivers as constant current drivers without the voltage limitations of the a version is not recommend unless you have inline fuses to prevent thermal runaway.

To answer the op's post. You could always choose a bigger driver and add more strips to get more power. Just make sure you are not going over about 75% of the max wattage of each strip, unless you plan on spending serious money on cooling the lights.