driver for 10x LT-FB25B in 4x4 tent ?

[Storman]

This is my first DIY LED build and grow tent. I'm very 'green', still learning.

I'm considering building a grow light for a 4x4 tent using the 10 of the Samsung F-series GEN3 4-foot double line LED (LT-FB25B) with heatsinks. Drivers outside the tent. Adding Co2 in the future.

I would like to use 5 four foot strips of double LED (LT-FB24B) 4000k - use for veg
Plus 5 four foot strips of double lines of LED (LT-FB24B) 3000k - turn on during flowering (in addition to the 5 x 4000k strips)
A total of 10 strips of LT-FB24B.

Is this too much light ?

Am I correct to use two HLG-600H drivers total? one driver for 5 strips? How is this calculated ?

My goal is to build the best quality, even if it's more expensive. I'm open to ideas and constructive criticism.

[unkle_psycho]

Hi

Since your looking for the best, check out the H-influx series from samsung, it uses the newer slightly more efficient diode, but I also think it has improved heat characteristics.

1200w is quite a lot of power, even with co2, though 600 seems pretty crazy for veg too. Not that it cant be done. My suggestion would be to have a look at what the best systems out there use, and if you want to go over that then sure. I think Fluence, HLG, and Gavita go for around 650w for a reason. I read some conversations saying that even in a dialed setup you need about 4w for each extra gram at those light levels.

If you use 80cri diodes (like the ones your looking at) you can look into adding 660nm diodes to give a slight bump to your system. You can also add some 730nm diodes for sleep initiation.

In some other sections there are guys working on controllers, perhaps you can hook your system up with sunrise and sunset or other controllers.

[Storman]

Thanks Wizard! I've read a lot of your advise in this forum. I appreciate your time to share your experiences.

I'll have look a closer look at the H-influx series.

Amazon has a 'Sonoff' smart switch for light control, but more research is needed. Any suggestions ? What is a sunrise/sunset controller ?

I read in one of your replies where you were recommending Bridgelux Vesta LED, is that what you use? why? I noticed they have 90cri with 'turnable' spectrum. How many 2' strips would be ideal for a 4x4 tent? using which driver?

Does the plant respond to 80cri vs 90cri ?

Why does 80cri need a slight bump with 660nm diodes and 730nm diodes?

I find it very difficult to compare apples to apples because I don't know enough to make confident evaluations of different LED systems. Finding this forum has enabled me to learn about growing with LED, wow!

What is the "best" system? If you were to build a new Wizard LED from scratch for a 4x4 tent which components would you choose for your build? I trust your experience.

I'm trying to 'pimp' my 4x4 tent to make it thump. Its only for personal gratification It's my first tent and first grow. I'm in Alberta, Canada.

[Professor Xavier]

I'm in Alberta as well. Our electricity is dirt cheap compared to the rest of the world so Vestas make a bit more sense. Your price per lumen on the Vestas is dirt cheap and they are only slightly less efficient than lm301b diode driven strips. You will save on operating costs with those h influx strips eventually, but 90 cri is nice, as is spectrum tuning.
Personally, I just grabbed some atreum 144 301b boards to save myself oodles of time I would have invested with strip wiring and heatsink assembly. I might add Vestas for high cri spectrum tuning and supplemental light.

[unkle_psycho]

Thanks Wizard! I've read a lot of your advise in this forum. I appreciate your time to share your experiences.

I'll have look a closer look at the H-influx series.

Amazon has a 'Sonoff' smart switch for light control, but more research is needed. Any suggestions ? What is a sunrise/sunset controller ?

I read in one of your replies where you were recommending Bridgelux Vesta LED, is that what you use? why? I noticed they have 90cri with 'turnable' spectrum. How many 2' strips would be ideal for a 4x4 tent? using which driver?

Does the plant respond to 80cri vs 90cri ?

Why does 80cri need a slight bump with 660nm diodes and 730nm diodes?

I find it very difficult to compare apples to apples because I don't know enough to make confident evaluations of different LED systems. Finding this forum has enabled me to learn about growing with LED, wow!

What is the "best" system? If you were to build a new Wizard LED from scratch for a 4x4 tent which components would you choose for your build? I trust your experience.

I'm trying to 'pimp' my 4x4 tent to make it thump. Its only for personal gratification It's my first tent and first grow. I'm in Alberta, Canada.

I've grown a long time but still new to leds. I chose the Vestas because I was on a budget, concidering chinese stuff, but I really wanted to do experiments. I was scared I woudn't get the diodes they promise so all my calculations would be bunk.

Vestas were cheap, they have different color temperatures so possible to affect node length and stretch. (even now I have some slow indicas vegging with 2700k and some sativas under 3800k)
I have a lot of tests in mind for greens and strawberries etc. and will be testing light levels in different setups. The colors will be useful there too.

Perhaps theres a magical aspect to my thinking, I plan to have maybe 15w per square foot or even less on the top, and have most of my lighting on the walls. For now I'm thinking three circles of leds pointing down in a 45deg angle. In my last grow I did one circle of side light and got 70cm where the bottom nugs were as big as the top. For my next grow I want at least 1m plants, maybe taller.
The magical thinking part is that the emerson effect should be in effect at low light levels, and seems I'll spread my leds in a way that supports that. Don't know, probably tripping.

Finally I live in scandinavia, I tried some heaters and I'm convinced there is something magical about using HID's as heaters Vestas are about 7% less efficient on the macree chart, that inefficiency is radiant heat which I admit to have a slight fetish for. My plants smile after 25c, but there is a crazy difference getting closer to 30c.

[Hydrofood]

What is the "best" system?
I'm trying to 'pimp' my 4x4 tent to make it thump.

Thing is, there is no true apples to apples comparisons. So don't beat yourself up.

There's also no true "best system". There's millions of different components and millions of ways to configure them.

Just start reading and learning. Pretty soon you'll have data sheets semi memorized and you'll be able to start truly understanding what the best system for you is. You could read every thread on this forum and you won't find an overall best setup for a 4x4.

If you do the research and understand the fundamentals, you'll be able to pimp your ride how you wanna pimp it. That's what DIY is all about.

If you want standard and proven build blueprints, read this post by LEDG. Than you can use that as a base and begin pimpin it out how you see fit!
http://ledgardener.com/diy-led-strip-bu ... bridgelux/

I was in the same boat your in when I first started, trying to find the "best setup possible". than I got bit by the bug and now have 4 builds under my belt. Each one unique, specialized and experimental!

Stay pimpin pimpin.

[unkle_psycho]

Yeah exactly as said above, there is no best system, only best for your needs. Think car markets with a top of the line ferrari, rolls royce, and offroad lambo. Each will shine in its own environment.

For growing weed I think there are universal parameters that usually need to be controlled for best results. You need temperature. 30c will deliver crazy results compared to 25c, as long as VPD is dialed in.

For light quantity you can think about it like this. With low light levels you can get crazy gram per watt figures of low quality bud. As you increase the power yield increases, but the higher you go, the more power you need to throw at the system for visible returns.
I saw a thread where a professional grow doubled ppfd and increased yield by 30-40%. They estimated that to get any more from their setup they would need to add 4watts per gram of increase. diminishing returns.
This is why i started thinking about the sidelighting, hitting the plant with a maximum of light, but spreading that light. This way I might use high power levels, like 400w in a 9sqFoot space, but still only 15w/sqF hitting the plants. Honestly I have no idea how it will play out, but I do have expectations.

[Zilphus]

Since your looking for the best, check out the H-influx series from samsung, it uses the newer slightly more efficient diode, but I also think it has improved heat characteristics.

If you had to pick new strips for yourself today, assuming you'd have a good budget, what would you go for?
Vestas, Samsung, Osram?

I'm considering getting additional H series to go along with what I already have been using (good price point and offer flexibility that suits my current needs), but they're from 2016. I'm afraid to be losing out on newer tech.

[unkle_psycho]

If budget was not an issue I would go for h-influx. It has the best diodes and heat characteristics. I havn't seen any evidence for or against 90cri at this point. On paper the 90cri 2700k spectrum is quite perfect, but for 80cri it can be adjusted by adding a little 660nm.

But if the question of perfect setup goes any further then strip model, I have to emphasize that I expect the way leds are used to change drastically. In my view since were coming from HIDs there has been an unhealthy obsession in cramping all the leds together in a HID size/ style fixture. Strip builds are the natural evolution from there, but I think the evolution will continue with strips moving to the sides like the sun cloak system.
Scrog/SOG, the entire problem of 30-50cm penetration is really a HID era problem. In a system like "sun cloak" you just stick your plants in, and get solid buds from the floor to the roof. Your floor space stays the same, but the cubic volume you grow in triples.


Relating to vestas:

I have planned on trying to get some of the korean 97cri strips and doing some side by sides comparing 80, 90, and 97cri.

Also as my experience with leds increases I expect to develop a better understanding on how heat characteristics affect my grows, since i'm not in a position to make a sealed room (sealed room could be heat-isolated so it looses so little heat that the source does not matter). I want to get close to 30c, and my first impression on using electrical heaters didn't impress me.

I just flowered a round with Vestas and while I was impressed with the penetration, I was not in a tent so their heat was unnoticeable. For my next round I will have a tent or small room so I'll get a better idea on how much heat I can get from them.

[Storman]

Hello!

I was away for a couple of weeks, but I'm back with renewed energy to build my hobby 4'x4' sun tent.

Thank you for all of your input and ideas, it is much appreciated. It's helping me to understand the technology better. I haven't heard of a 'sun cloak' before, I'll research it. Where do I find 660nm and 730nm diodes to give the 80cri a slight bump to the light output ?

Here's the parts for my LED light build that I've collected so far:

12x H inFlux_L09 3000k these are 22" long
4x F-Series Gen.3 3000k these are 22" long

1x HLG-480H-48A LED driver
1X HLG-240H-48A LED driver
2x HLG-120H-C1400B LED driver - use with F-series strips, I have the potentiometer for dimming.

16x 2" wide by 24" long Aluminum Heatsink

I still need to build the frame. This week I'll pick up the aluminum 3/4" 'L' frame. Then have it welded to the heatsinks for an overall size of 46" x 47" (the tent frame measures smaller than 48").

The reason so many different drivers is mostly because I don't know what I'm doing lol, I've been following the DIY build from LED Gardener. I'm going to make it work by having more control of how many LED strips are running at one time. It's going to be a full cycle tent from veg to flower starting from seeds, so I can turn on more lights as the plants grow.

I'm using one 22" LED strip per one sq' foot. I arrived at this value by looking at the Luminous Flux Rating of the H inFlux, typical 3000k is 7910 lumens. A quick google search for optimum light levels is 7500 lumens per sq' foot to grow plants. I'd rather have too much than too little. I'm hoping to introduce Co2. I could build a 12 strip light for the tent, but I don't think that's enough light?

I'm concerned about total power consumption at peak operation. A typical residential circuit is 15A or 20A. The Max operating current per 22" LED strip is 1600mA. Is my understanding correct that I can only run EIGHT 22" LED strips per 15A circuit safely ?

I'm trying to use Amazon smart switches 'Sonoff' to control the power to the LED drivers. any experience with smart controls? http://a.co/d/5FKnOU5

ALL ideas and constructive criticism are welcomed Thanks for your help.