Long or short.. LED bar options

[daddylonglegs]

Hi all,

I am about to pull the trigger on a new LED setup. I was going to go with a larger named brand until I came across kingbrite on alibaba and realised they look to be the same product only about half the price.

Now my space is 4x4 but within this I would like 2x 2x4 lighting rigs so that I can independently move if plants are growing at different heights.

I have narrowed my options down to:
- 8x 70W bars: 560mm and consist of LM301B+CREE XP-E2 660NM 730NM LG UV at $32/bar (https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/ ... 87904.html)

- 4x 140W bars: 1100mm and consist LM301H+CREE XP-E2 660NM 730NM LG UV at $70/bar (https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/ ... 14086.html)

So price is much the same with only difference being the length and that I have the option for LM301B in the longer length bar.

I am leaning towards the shorter bars because it means I can orientate them across the room (as shown in picture) in a way that I believe would provide more coverage. As compared to the longer bars that would span the whole room. Does anyone have an opinion on this? As my thinking is not based on experience!

Drivers:

They say they are 70W/140W bars, so total 560W or 280W/rig. Does anyone have an opinion on whether I should wire all these into 1 driver? Or spread it across two drivers to make them both completely independent. My worry with independent is that it will be harder to have even light intensity across the whole tent when dimming light rigs independently. Though the plus side would be no wiring between rigs, which would make them easier to move independently.

Now I see Kingbrite sell 240W drivers with their 4x 70W bar kits (280W total). Does this mean kingbrite are supplying a driver that would under power the lights?
(https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/ ... 5c6212WNUD)

How would I best drive these rigs (either independently or all together) as it seems the main Meanwell drivers I see are either 240W, 460W or 600W.
Could anyone suggest the most appropriate driver? I am under the impression you want to be at most 10% below your driver max (could be wrong?)

Lastly, a curve ball. There is the quantum board option. I could buy 4x 125w quantum boards to spread around my 4x4 space: lm301h + cree xpe2 660nm LG UV (with an IR switch!!) at $100/QB with again a 480W driver included (so $400 total) as suggested by kingbrite. However, is is this 480W driver under powering the system (125Wx4 = 500W). These boards (https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/ ... 14568.html)

Opinions on QBs vs. quantum bars? I would likely be powering the 4x QBs with either one or 2 drivers. And it seems pretty cool to have a switch for the IR/UV

Thanks

[TEKNIK]

LG no longer make UV LEDs. Just beware that those advertising LG are probably not using genuine LEDs for everything. It is a possibility that they have old stock but this is doubtful as the leds are so expensive that they would not be ordering thousands for stock

[psyweed]

1. if strips i would go for longer ones 110cm and use only one frame and its bit easier to handle and set height, even space between strips.
Light will be even on that space no worries.
https://kingbriteled.en.alibaba.com/pro ... W_Kit.html here is whole set , so u dont need to worry about drivers or frame

2. if QB i rather take this one: https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/ ... 29196.html
They have separated control for 660,730 and UV light , you can turn them on/off as you like.

Currently im thinking to get 2nd frame with QB from BAVA for 150x150cm space so it should be 6x QB panel. I also find the strip panels which might be better in coverage of such area.
With KingBrite i can customize my panel , but huge disadvantage is that im not able to control 660,730 and UV light at all. There is only dimmer and ON/OFF for whole light