Making a Bridgelux Gen 2 320w build for flower ~

the Falcon · Sat Feb 15, 2020 10:10 pm

Greetings all,
I have been lurking here a while and have been bitten by the DIY LED bug. My first was 2 QB Elites on a 240w driver and that works awesome. I then I got a 2 QB kits from alibaba and that works good too - wish I had sprung for the cree reds but oh well... I then made a Red booster board with 16 660nm and 8 730nm on separate channels to put em to sleep using the newest Cree stars and get more red in there. Finally I just made a veg/side light out of 6 Bridgelux Gen 3 3500k strips on a 120w driver - it is very efficient and barely gets warm. I want to get rid of a HPS unit and replace with LED and I like these Bridgelux strips - the gen2 ones now are at a ridiculous price and are actually still pretty efficient it seems ? The 1120mm strips in 35k are now only 8.49$ ea. !!! I am going to use 6 strips on a 320w driver - going to make a frame from alu I will scrounge at a metal recycling facility - the pieces for my last light were 1.50$ !!!! LOL - I will have to buy some good wire and screws and I am going with wagos to keep stress down ...-but the rest I will scrounge or have. I think I will be at 200$ all said and done - but I already have thermal tape so should add a few $, great deal I think for 200$.

I am curious if anyone has flowered with these and would they show a few pics of what they grew and their thoughts on them. Second if you have - would you recommend trying to add some red booster and maybe blue strips to the fixture to get a better spectrum or is it good enough as is. I do a mixed lighting of HPS and LED with 660nm so there is some other spectrums flying around. If this works out I'm going to copy it and lose a HPS unit. With it I will turn the HPS down a bit - one of the biggest benefits I feel is the lower amount of electricity needed - saves a lot of wiring and set up cost.

Driver I will use is : ‎HLG-320H-42A‎
and six : BXEB-L1120Z-35E4000-C-B3‎

Thanks for any input and hope to see some pics of grows using these !

Labgrown · Mon Feb 17, 2020 11:22 pm

I'v vegged with 3500K gen2 bridgelux with great success. I have also Flowered under just the 2700k side of 90CRI Vesta strips with great success. I realize this isn't exactly what your asking for but It might offer some perspective. If you do a little searching there has to be Gen2 grow logs on here or Rollitup if your really interested.

Labgrown · Mon Feb 17, 2020 11:34 pm

here is one
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=5368

HomerPepsi · Mon Feb 24, 2020 8:21 am

Also not quite what you are asking for, but I've done 200w of gen 2 3500k 80cri with 200w of additional deep and far red. Great results. For the price the bxeb's are a great light.

Mon Feb 24, 2020 4:45 pm

the Falcon wrote: ↑
Sat Feb 15, 2020 10:10 pm
Driver I will use is : ‎HLG-320H-42A‎
and six : BXEB-L1120Z-35E4000-C-B3‎

53 watts into each strip seems like a lot, that puts them very near their maximum 1.4A.

EpsomSalt · Tue Feb 25, 2020 11:16 am

Can I make a suggestion? Run them soft, and buy a couple of extra strips.. its totally worth it. They won't run as hot, which means you don't need any heatsinks. I have two fixtures, I run my first @1050ma and the other @715ma, and tbh, I wish I went with 715ma from the start. If you do the math and buy the extra strips needed to reach the wattage you want, then you'll still get the same amount of light. But it will be more efficient, and the strips will last longer. One of the LED-chips biggest benefits are their efficiency! Just my two cents

.

But I digress: I've flowered with my first fixture a couple times, first time I ever tried my 480w i got about half a kilo, organically grown Reserva Privada's Skywalker Kush in my 4x4 from a SOG-run, not accounting the larf. In other words well over a gram per watt. And my run was far from optimal! I had pests and other issues. Flowering with these lights are amazing, the light-distribution from strips is second to none imo! You won't be disappointed :3

I thought I'd share some pics of the end result! You know, for reference

Unfortunately, the pics that I had of the grow itself has been lost..

Best regards,
/Epsom

the Falcon · Fri Feb 28, 2020 4:55 am

I got it all together and it works great. If running 6 on 320w driver is near max then I'm confused as then run just warm. Maybe that is running them bare...? I have them attached to alu server rack bars I bought from a recycling center ( about 30 ft for 7$! ) I cut them up and used for frame/heatsink - 2 strips on each bar. Going full blast with the fans in room running its just warm - you could touch the leds. I have heard their specs are misleading and I'm now a believer. Right now it's in my veg room but I do have a nice auto going under it and its doing great ! I'm torn whether these or the QB V1 boards with Lumileds are a better bang for buck. They are the two most economical possibilities that are efficient. Are there other options I've missed??????????? I'll try to get a pic up. Thanks for input and the pics.

the Falcon · Fri Feb 28, 2020 5:43 pm

Here it is in all its glory lol ~~~ I'm really happy with it. I think I might try to make another using the EB slim Gen 3 strips - doesn't seem we can get the regular Gen 3 strips.... as they are a bit more efficient. It really is a nice quality of light and using recycled metal to make it made it extremely affordable.