Total Newbie Strip Light build

[H0m3B0Y]

Hi

New to this forum, so please take it easy on me if I start asking dumb stuff.

I very very new to indoor growing, but have some experience with garden (vegetables) and one balcony experiment with growing bag seeds. I have some experience with electronics, can solder quite well, handy with tools, etc.
I would like to grow my own stuff for smoking and the balcony option will not work due to nosy neighbors, so here's my plan:
- I will grow in 60x60cm (2x2ft) tent, probably gorilla tent classic line (space is very limited and this is more of a hobby grow). I plan on having one plant in there, possibly SCROGed if I ever get that far with growing knowledge and experience
- I will use DIY strips for lighting (one light for both veg and flower)
- I don't live in US so HeatsinksUS is out of question, I haven't found any EU based heatsink supplier. The goal is to drive strips soft enough so that excess heat can be managed by aluminum U profile
- tent will be placed in a building, where indoor temperature never climbs above 25°C (winter indoor around 20°C, summer indoor around 23°C)

So here's a list of questions:
1. According to internets I will have to drive my strips at about 50% of their max (700mA) to make sure I don't get too much heat (please comment if this is correct). How many strips (I'm leaning towards Bridgelux BXEB-L0560Z 2ft strips) would I need to get at least 30w/sqft?
My best guess (based on this article): it says strips in these builds are driven at around 75% of their max; for 2x2 it lists 6 strips and for 2x4 it lists 12 strips (driven at 75%). If I drive them at 50% (and assume linear wattage relationship) this should amount to 9 strips? Lets round it up to 10 for redundancy sake.
2. I understand driver should be constant voltage driver at around 20V (strip has 19.5V forward voltage) and must be able to put out at least 7A. HLG-240H-20B ticks all the boxes so it should be OK? I plan to have it dimmed for veg and then bring it up to 50% for flower (140W in total if my calculation are correct)
[a side question on "driving at 50%": how/where do I decide/select at what current the lights will operate? Is this achieved with potentiometer/dimmer, or is there a setting on driver/strips to select the current? Will driver work at 100% (of max rated current of the strips) if dimmer is not connected?]
3. Total watts or watts/sqft: If my (very rusty and dusty) knowledge of electricity still serves, total power for the above mentioned setup (7A @ 20V) should be around 140W, or 35W/sqft. Internets say this is a very good number of watts for strip lighting. Is this correct?
4. If at a point in future I decide to get a bigger tent (2x4ft), I understand the same hardware can be expanded up to 12A (max output of the driver) if strips remain the same (20V ones)?
5. Is driver usually placed in the tent close to the lights? Is it placed in the tent but away from lights (heat source)? Is it placed outside of the tent?
6. On ventilation/odor control: I understand I will need a fan in the tent just to stir the air and move the plant a bit, to help with healthier grow... but for odor control I was just planing on finding a couple of "grow room kits", see what type of fan/filter/ducts/etc. the include and go with that.
Alternatively, I would very much appreciate the most quiet odor control solution. Is there such an option? Like very quiet intake/outake fan that will still move enough air through the same diameter duct and good odor filter?
7. on odor specifically: are all carbon filter created equal? Or is there something I should look out for?

Is there any other major hardware point I missed?

[Grower]

Hi

New to this forum, so please take it easy on me if I start asking dumb stuff.

I very very new to indoor growing, but have some experience with garden (vegetables) and one balcony experiment with growing bag seeds. I have some experience with electronics, can solder quite well, handy with tools, etc.
I would like to grow my own stuff for smoking and the balcony option will not work due to nosy neighbors, so here's my plan:
- I will grow in 60x60cm (2x2ft) tent, probably gorilla tent classic line (space is very limited and this is more of a hobby grow). I plan on having one plant in there, possibly SCROGed if I ever get that far with growing knowledge and experience
- I will use DIY strips for lighting (one light for both veg and flower)
- I don't live in US so HeatsinksUS is out of question, I haven't found any EU based heatsink supplier. The goal is to drive strips soft enough so that excess heat can be managed by aluminum U profile
- tent will be placed in a building, where indoor temperature never climbs above 25°C (winter indoor around 20°C, summer indoor around 23°C)

So here's a list of questions:
1. According to internets I will have to drive my strips at about 50% of their max (700mA) to make sure I don't get too much heat (please comment if this is correct). How many strips (I'm leaning towards Bridgelux BXEB-L0560Z 2ft strips) would I need to get at least 30w/sqft?
My best guess (based on this article): it says strips in these builds are driven at around 75% of their max; for 2x2 it lists 6 strips and for 2x4 it lists 12 strips (driven at 75%). If I drive them at 50% (and assume linear wattage relationship) this should amount to 9 strips? Lets round it up to 10 for redundancy sake.

Are you definitely sold with EB2 strips ?
If we aim for 30w/sqft, in a 2x2 tent you would need 120-150watt total.
Your math seems allright.
10strips * (20v * 0.7A) = 140watt (should be a bit more than 20v at 700mA)

2. I understand driver should be constant voltage driver at around 20V (strip has 19.5V forward voltage) and must be able to put out at least 7A. HLG-240H-20B ticks all the boxes so it should be OK? I plan to have it dimmed for veg and then bring it up to 50% for flower (140W in total if my calculation are correct)
[a side question on "driving at 50%": how/where do I decide/select at what current the lights will operate? Is this achieved with potentiometer/dimmer, or is there a setting on driver/strips to select the current? Will driver work at 100% (of max rated current of the strips) if dimmer is not connected?]

If dimmer is not connected the driver will work at full power yea.
If you want to dim your light you need a "A" version (meanwell) driver and use the built in screw. 50-100%
With a B meanwell driver you have 3 option to dim down your light, most common is using a 100k linear potentiometer. 10-100%
You can find more info on articles and videos from mr. LedG.

Why are you going to use the 240H driver?
Look at the 150 or 185H, I wouldnt run more than this wattage in a 2x2 tent + driver efficiency decreases if not working near full power (wait for more informed people btw).
Btw you probably need the 24 version of the driver.

3. Total watts or watts/sqft: If my (very rusty and dusty) knowledge of electricity still serves, total power for the above mentioned setup (7A @ 20V) should be around 140W, or 35W/sqft. Internets say this is a very good number of watts for strip lighting. Is this correct?

Yep you're right

4. If at a point in future I decide to get a bigger tent (2x4ft), I understand the same hardware can be expanded up to 12A (max output of the driver) if strips remain the same (20V ones)?

I would build 2 separate aluminium fixtures anyway...
As soon as I have the time I'll check the driver datasheet
(still thinking you need the 24 driver, not the 20)

5. Is driver usually placed in the tent close to the lights? Is it placed in the tent but away from lights (heat source)? Is it placed outside of the tent?

Whatever you want, I decided to keep drivers outside the tents for example.
There is not a given rule.

6. On ventilation/odor control: I understand I will need a fan in the tent just to stir the air and move the plant a bit, to help with healthier grow... but for odor control I was just planing on finding a couple of "grow room kits", see what type of fan/filter/ducts/etc. the include and go with that.
Alternatively, I would very much appreciate the most quiet odor control solution. Is there such an option? Like very quiet intake/outake fan that will still move enough air through the same diameter duct and good odor filter?
7. on odor specifically: are all carbon filter created equal? Or is there something I should look out for?

You can maybe get an additional fan to blow over your strips.
I don't know much about ventilation since there are different kind of extractors. Btw you dont need a fan pushing air into the tent, negative pressure from air extractor placed at the top of the tent will suck air into.

Is there any other major hardware point I missed?

Maybe a kill-a-watt meter could be useful

[H0m3B0Y]

Thank you for the reply, really appreciate it.

Are you definitely sold with EB2 strips ?

Actualy my first thought were COBs, since Kingbrite has so lovely packages on alibaba. Then I read LEDG articles some more and found out COBs are sooo last week and QBs and strips are all the rage. After some further reading I figured out QBs from quality companies are mostly available in US, while ordering them into EU would mean extra shipping, customs changes + very unfavorable consequense of some customs officer knowing I ordered hardware mostly used for growing stuff that is still illegal for some reason.
So I researched DIY strip approach, which seems to be highly praised these days, and has an advantage over other options as far as efficiency is concerned, at least on paper. Among strips my first choice was samsung F series, but then I read through LEDG articles a bit and even though samsung F are most efficient right now, they are also quite densely packed, from which I assumed would require more cooling than H or Q series or Bridgelux. LEDG claimed that bridgelux is very good choice if F series is no-go.
So currently I'm planning to go with Bridgelux, but I'm very much opened to other suggestions.
Priorities still remain the same: low heat (so ALU U profile 2mm thick will be enough of a heatsink), even spread of light (that's the second reason I chose Bridgelux over f series: lower LED density on the strip so more strips can be spaced out as evenly as possible).

If you want to dim your light you need a "A" version (meanwell) driver and use the built in screw. 50-100%
With a B meanwell driver you have 3 option to dim down your light, most common is using a 100k linear potentiometer. 10-100%

I know I want "B" driver with 100kOhm potentiometer, that is my current plan. Other options for dimming "B" sound really nice (like arduino or RPi controling dimming and timing), but for first build I can live with manual dimming

Why are you going to use the 240H driver?
Look at the 150 or 185H, I wouldnt run more than this wattage in a 2x2 tent + driver efficiency decreases if not working near full power (wait for more informed people btw).

I went with 240 because it was selected for 2x4 build in this article. Also, price difference between 150, 185 and 240 is very small (40-53EUR), so is going smaller really worth it?
From data sheet I understand that driver should work at at least 50% to get decent efficiency... also I expect the driver will remain quite cool during operation, so no major losses because of heat are expected.

still thinking you need the 24 driver, not the 20

Regarding this one: If forward voltage is 19.5V, is it safe to go with 20V driver or is it better to get a driver that has forward voltage of the strip in the middle of interval (for parallel wiring of the strips)?

Maybe a kill-a-watt meter could be useful

Do you know if there is a timer that has electricity meter integrated?

Please note that all my decisions are based on a quite small pool of knowledge with no practical experience to speak of. I did try to figure thing out, but if anything seems weird, please let me know.

[Grower]

[...]
So currently I'm planning to go with Bridgelux, but I'm very much opened to other suggestions.
Priorities still remain the same: low heat (so ALU U profile 2mm thick will be enough of a heatsink), even spread of light (that's the second reason I chose Bridgelux over f series: lower LED density on the strip so more strips can be spaced out as evenly as possible).

below 700mA per strip (eb2 2ft) a proper heatsink is not needed, use common aluminium profiles and you are good to go!
I chose EB2 for the same reasons.

I know I want "B" driver with 100kOhm potentiometer, that is my current plan. Other options for dimming "B" sound really nice (like arduino or RPi controling dimming and timing), but for first build I can live with manual dimming

on the datasheet you can read about the 3 dimming options

I went with 240 because it was selected for 2x4 build in this article. Also, price difference between 150, 185 and 240 is very small (40-53EUR), so is going smaller really worth it?
From data sheet I understand that driver should work at at least 50% to get decent efficiency... also I expect the driver will remain quite cool during operation, so no major losses because of heat are expected.

Regarding this one: If forward voltage is 19.5V, is it safe to go with 20V driver or is it better to get a driver that has forward voltage of the strip in the middle of interval (for parallel wiring of the strips)?

Is it worth going smaller? I do not know. For me a 50eur save is quite a bit.
Will you use the additional power? If you want to go bigger in the future you could make the purchase now.
http://www.meanwell.com/webapp/product/ ... d=HLG-240H
Looking at the 240h datasheet I see the -20 constant current region is 10-20v while the -24 is 12-24v.
Check the EB2 datasheet and look at what the voltage is at 700mA. Imho a 24 is safer but LedG is far far more knowledgeable than me

Do you know if there is a timer that has electricity meter integrated?

I really do not know. I use sonoff TH10/TH16 and 4ch as timers and there should also be a sonoff power meter product but I don't know if it is also a timer.

Please note that all my decisions are based on a quite small pool of knowledge with no practical experience to speak of. I did try to figure thing out, but if anything seems weird, please let me know.

My experience is really restricted too, let's see if someone jump in with his 2cent

[sdfoster22]

The constant current region would only apply if you added way to many strips and the voltage dropped so low it goes out of the CV range.

[Grower]

Hands up!

[H0m3B0Y]

Is it worth going smaller? I do not know. For me a 50eur save is quite a bit.
Will you use the additional power? If you want to go bigger in the future you could make the purchase now.

Actually the price for 150W is around 40 EUR, while 240W is around 53 EUR. A bit more than 10 EUR difference. (digikey prices, I think tax will be added after I order so it will cost me a bit more )

But I take your point: sometimes I really really like to over-plan things for future, over dimension them for "planned growth", etc. I think I'll just go with smaller driver from the start. Strip planning tool says that HLG-185H-24B will be a good match for my setup, and datasheet says it works in 12-24V range with 7.8A max current.
Also I re-checked datasheet for the strips as suggested and it turns out max forward voltage can be up to 21.6V (+/- 0.10V tolerance) when driven at 700mA, so 12-24V sounds like a much better option now

How hot do 185W drivers get when you run them at almost 100%? (room temperature will be 25°C max)

Also I did some searching for quiet inline fans and I have couple more question regarding ventilation:
1. What should be the frequency for air circulation, ie how many times per minute should all air in tent be exchanged? On internets I found some blogs claiming from 2 per minute to 1 every 2 minutes, but I think those numbers were for "older" HPS growrooms, where heat was a real issue. What is the recommended exchange frequency for strip lighting?
2. While looking for quiet fan I again discovered how lucky you guys over the see are. It turns out that in US you can get some really nice fans for small tents, running below 30dB (practically inaudible), with thermostats, temperature probes, humidity sensors and so on for about 100USD. Not cheap, but basically silent fan with a lot of goodies.
Now on this side of the pond I could only find some cheap _very_ loud toilet fans, some 100EUR-ish a bit less noise fans (mostly made by a check company; seems everyone sells those) and some super expensive fans from Switzerland with integrated carbon filter and silent operation, but the price tag is from Switzerland too.

So... does anyone know of an inline fan, which runs really really quiet and is available in Europe? I'm thinking for the small gorilla tent (2x2.5x7ft, volume of 35cuft) I can get away with 100CFU operation considering the most "agressive" exchange frequency which I think was for HPS builds. So possibly I could go even lower (50CFU). With such low air movement getting quiet or even silent fan should be possible. If Noctuas PC fans can be almost silent...

3. Also on odor control: I plan to have 1 plant in the tent (maybe I will ad second one later), so there _shouldn't_ be too much odor (strain selection pending), but just to be sure I'd still like to play it safe and keep exhausted air odor free.
What should I look for in carbon filter? Situation on internet is about the same as with any other hardware, with most sites focused on US market with some really nice product, long filter life, etc., while in EU it seems we're on more basic level with some generic filters available and that's it.
Any suggestion on the filter is appreciated. Again, priorities are low noise, low heat.

I guess I will also need 2 oscillating fans, so again, if anyone knows of a very quiet model, please let me know.

Thanks for all the help so far!

[sdfoster22]

Seriously if you plan on running the gen 2 strips. The 20v driver is the correct one. You are looking at the cc range of that driver. Look at this spreadsheet ledg made for the CV drivers.
http://ledgardener.com/driver-reference-sheet/

Follow That link and click on the constant voltage link.

Constant current doesn't apply unless you try to run strips out of the cv range.

The 185h-20 has a voltage range of 17-22v.

The 185h-24 has a voltage range of 22-27v

The strip build tool was made for the gen 1s

[unkle_psycho]

You can keep the driver in or out of the tent, but if the distance from the driver to the lamp is over 5m, you might start getting issues.

[sdfoster22]

The 24v driver will work because each strip will try to pull 19.5v, which is out of the 22-27v range. It will then kick into constant current mode(which runs 12-24v,) which is not ideal for these drivers. The better option would be the 20v driver that has the correct range for constant voltage at 17-22v.