Looking for Opinions on Bridgelux EB3 90cri Strip Options

[the Falcon]

I have two lights running 10 Gen3 strips each 320w drivers- I'd say that's a perfect choice - you can always dim them - but at that power its a nice light and doesn't get hot if fans are moving air.

[ganjah]

Thanks, folks. I'm 95% on using the 2700k EB3 strips for my build. Please share those measurements when you get a chance @TEKNIK.

Here's my BOM to build 2x fixtures with 1 driver and 10 strips per. Please check my work:

$233.80 - 20x Bridgelux EB3 90cri 2700k 4ft strips BXEB-L1120Z-27G4000-C-C3
$148.63 - 2x MeanWell HLG-320H-42a drivers
$0 have - Roll of 22awg solid core wire
$20 - 4x terminal blocks (need recommendations)
$0 have - 2x 6ft 16awg PC power supply cables
$20 - Various glans connectors
$100 - 20x pieces of 46" 1x1 angle aluminum for strip heatsinks
$10 - 4x pieces of 20" 1x1 angle aluminum for ends of the 2 fixtures
$25 - Double-sided tape to attach strips to angle alum heatsinks
$0 have - 8x ratchet hangers
$5 - m3 screws & nuts and plastic washers

Total: $545-ish delivered for up to 640w of very high efficiency strips with good far red & deep red output.

Does that look right? What am I missing?

Anybody have a cheap and elegant hanging solution besides just drilled holes in the frame + ratchet hangers?

[TEKNIK]

I thought you were running 20 strips per 320w driver

Your efficiency will be lower than the calculation I gave you it will be at about 2.55 micromouls per joule. That is still good

[ganjah]

Yessir, based on your posted measurements, that 2.55umol/J estimate looks right if fired up to 32w per 4ft strip.
I chose the HLG-320H-42a because of its good efficiency when dimmed, better than the 240h. I'd get the 42ab version but it's unavailable.

Looks like at 120v the 320h is at best efficiency dimmed from 50%-80%, which is the range I'll likely run it. 50% (~16w per 4ft strip) on that 320H should net me about 2.9umol/J if I'm not mistaken.

What would you add to the spectrum for pure flowering? It doesn't look very deficient anywhere. Maybe a little bit more near-UV?

[TEKNIK]

Spectrum is pretty good for flowering on its own
Adding near UV seems to promote trichome production and THC

It won't be long until I have a new near UVA product to suppliment any grow light, I would hold off until I have them ready a few more months for a near UV, my product will simply be better than an alternative and well priced.
You could spend alot of money buying strips that are currently available if you dont want to wait

[ganjah]

Sounds interesting - thanks for the info. I'll look forward to investigating your near-UV supplement board when it comes out.

As a side note, the FutureElectronics site that had those 90cri boards in stock now says that all of their stock was mislabeled and they're not shipping anything until the manufacturer confirms what they were shipped. So it looks like the 90cri build ain't happening for now.

I bought the drivers specific to this 90cri build. I'd use different drivers for different strips. I don't think there's going to be any way to complete this build now. That sucks because I don't have the money for more expensive strips.

Which brings me to the (mostly rhetorical) question - why aren't any 90cri Blux EB3 strips in stock anywhere else? Octopart doesn't list hardly anything anywhere.

[wuwuorganics]

Hey ganjah, I was wondering if you know anything further about the mislabeling of the products? I was looking into buying some of the 2ft 90cri gen3 strips (not sure on K temp yet), but after reading this I am a little weary of trying to purchase anything. I used the chat on their site and spoke to someone who was unaware of any situation, so i sent an email as well.

Any further info or help on how you obtained this information through their site would be much appreciated as I really am only looking for some 90cri strip options at the moment. Hope you can get your hands on some strips though as I'd love to see your build with them.

[ganjah]

I'm sorry @wuwuorganics, I don't have much other information. I spoke to one of the FutureElectronics (FE) chat reps today and asked her when my parts were shipping, since it had been a couple days since I placed the order and they hadn't gone out. She had no ETA.

She said that it looks like the parts were found to be mislabeled when pulled out to ship, and they were asking Bridgelux to confirm the part numbers of what FE was sent so they can be sure what they have without opening electronic packaging (a general no-no).

I don't think the parts were fakes or gray market or anything. I suspect the FE receiving department mislabeled what they were shipped when the received them in stock, and it was only caught when the shipping department started packing up recent orders made by several people on this site. But who knows.

[TEKNIK]

The gen3 product is relatively new, first they make what sells more and that's cri80.
I know cri90 are around as I have tested one of them.

Companies that sell the bridgelux strips will be waiting for a larger order before they have the products produced.
There is very little profit in these cheap strips so noone wants to stock them.

[ganjah]

Yep, makes sense. I read on another forum that the guy who sent you the 2ft 90cri eb3 strip to test had to order 100.

It turns out that non-SLIM eb3 strips are just rare for some reason, 80cri or 90cri. They've been released for 8 or 9 months according to Blux's youtube channel.

Do you have any suggestions for cheap alternatives that can fit well on two hlg-320h-42a drivers and don't need heatsinks? The only thing I'm finding are some Chinese QB knockoffs and I don't really want to go that direction if possible.

My fallback is 3500k EB2 strips from Digikey, but I'd really like something with a better spectrum and higher efficiency.