Another First Build

[Tony]

Hi all!

Been lurking here for a couple of weeks and decided to join. I am one Canadian that is going to get a head start before the rush I know nothing about growing anything and have a basic understanding of electricity/electronics.

I want to build something that will just work, standard build that will work start to finish with no change outs. Build it once and use it.

Here is what I am thinking of ordering so far:

25 Samsung SI-B8T05128HUS 4000k
2 HLG-150H-24A

I will wire parallel with 12 strips per driver, strips attached to aluminum u-channel for heat-sink.

Questions:

Is this to much/to little for a four plant limit? How much square feet do I need for the plants? I was thinking 2' X 2'.

Is 4000k a good middle of the road colour temp?

You thoughts on using the two driver setup as opposed to one?

Do I use heat sink plaster to attach strips or thermal tape strips? Does thermal tape allow the strips to be removed if I want to change something? Can they be attached using thermal paste?

Do I need Wagos? If I do what is the model number that fits these strips? Mouser has them and would order with my drivers.

Appreciate any help you can give!

[charsi]

I am also very new to this but so far from what i have gathered is if you are using one light for both veg and flower then 3000k is the way to go maybe mix a few strips of 5000k in there....someone correct me if i have it wrong

[LEDG]

Hi all!

Been lurking here for a couple of weeks and decided to join. I am one Canadian that is going to get a head start before the rush I know nothing about growing anything and have a basic understanding of electricity/electronics.

I want to build something that will just work, standard build that will work start to finish with no change outs. Build it once and use it.

Here is what I am thinking of ordering so far:

25 Samsung SI-B8T05128HUS 4000k
2 HLG-150H-24A

I will wire parallel with 12 strips per driver, strips attached to aluminum u-channel for heat-sink.

Questions:

Is this to much/to little for a four plant limit? How much square feet do I need for the plants? I was thinking 2' X 2'.

Is 4000k a good middle of the road colour temp?

You thoughts on using the two driver setup as opposed to one?

Do I use heat sink plaster to attach strips or thermal tape strips? Does thermal tape allow the strips to be removed if I want to change something? Can they be attached using thermal paste?

Do I need Wagos? If I do what is the model number that fits these strips? Mouser has them and would order with my drivers.

Appreciate any help you can give!

Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, Tony! Welcome!

In terms of lighting, you'll have enough to cover a 3'x3' or absolutely blast a 2x2. I'd go 3x3 with that amount of light.

There's nothing wrong with a 2 driver setup - having the runs split up isn't a bad idea, just in case something goes awry with one of the drivers (although you're getting the good stuff so the chance of one of those HLG's failing is very VERY slim). If you can find thermal tape cheaper than the heat sink plaster, I'd go the tape route. I'm not sure how well it'd peel off if you ever needed to remove the strip, though I doubt you'd need to do this anyway.

Wagos are the best connectors out there for this application. I'd grab a bunch of the 5-slot lever nuts for a parallel setup like this (part number 222-415). I'm thinking if you use this exact part number, you'd need 16 of them for your whole setup. I'll draw up a little diagram shortly.

As for how many plants you can fit, I'm sure one of the experts will chime in on that. I'm thinking the bigger the better though - you could fill out a 3x3 with a single plant if you vegged it long enough. Again, somebody who knows more will answer this though I'm sure.

[secondhandname]

Im using 3k on my cob lights. My plants are growing with closer node spacing then I ever saw. Before I've used powerveg t5s, Various metal halides and hps @ 400w, Hortilux blue 1k, hps 1k. I would stick with 3k if its the only light.


I do have a 6500k cob light i use for moms and some veg and that vegs suuuper fast though


You're pulling 300w right? Id rock a 3x3 and if you dont care about plant numbers drop like 12 smaller plants in that space. I'd think the lower wattage would have trouble penetrating large plants. This is what I did with my 3x3 flood table under 2 315 CMH lights and seemed to work out great. No final weight yet. ( missed your 4 plant limit. Just scrog them in a 3x3 and youll be fine then)

[Tony]

Thanks for the response guys.

@charsi
Well you got me researching, so much info around and is very confusing. I think 3000k with a few strips of 5000k may be the way to go.

@admin
Thanks for the welcome, good to be here.
I found thermal tape here, seems reasonable, would this work?
A diagram for wiring with the wago’s would be great. Also good price for the wago’s.

@secondhandname
On your cob light setup did you use 3000k for veg and flower?
When you said 300w, I was like holly shite! Jumped to the very handy calculator to check. Assuming the two driver setup, At 50% I would be at 83w each for total of 166w, at 75% 128w each for a total of 256w.
Maybe I have been too ambitious for what I need. Would 12 3000k strips and 3 5000k for a total of 15 at 160w/75% be enough for a couple of plants in a 2x2 area?

[Tony]

I have a question about the Parallel Strip Build Tool recommendations for my build. My build will be parallel wired and the tool says cv driver but the drivers it gives me are cc drivers. Eg: HLG-185H-24A. Should I be using a cc or cv driver?


Edit
Never mind, Mouser shows cc on their spec sheet but further reading shows HLG series is both cc and cv with cv the default.

[microgroaway]

@admin
Thanks for the welcome, good to be here.
I found thermal tape here, seems reasonable, would this work?
A diagram for wiring with the wago’s would be great. Also good price for the wago’s.

Hey Tony

I don't want to step on LG's toes here, but the thermal transfer tape is the same stuff I bought and it works well once you get used to working with it.

As far as the Wagos go, I would get https://www.amazon.ca/221-415-LEVER-NUT ... GWHXY&th=1. They look nicer, and they're cheaper. If you're going with 15 strips (just go 16 to make it easier on the numbers) you will need 5 of these per side, so the 10 pack will be perfect.

Edit: Here https://imgur.com/MWChscy is a diagram for the Wagos. You will have to repeat it for the (+) side as well. PS. My artistic skills are extremely sub-par.

[charsi]

I have bought wagos from aliexpress and the shipping was only about 2 weeks, could be quicker for Ca/usa

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-sh ... 0.0.8O9e6H

[kmb]

Looks like you got a great deal, just wanted to throw this out there for others. I got my wago's from future electronics, US and Canadian sites (http://www.futureelectronics.com/en/Sea ... e,Nea:True)

[LEDG]

Looks like you got a great deal, just wanted to throw this out there for others. I got my wago's from future electronics, US and Canadian sites (http://www.futureelectronics.com/en/Sea ... e,Nea:True)

Sweet, I was looking for another place to buy these things.