2x4' lm561c Strip Build w/ additional red

[Grower]

Nice setup! I would have used a different reflective material, like mylar.
If you open a thread about ur grow send me a link! BTW you will run out of space once flowering stretch is over.

[Ted]

Thanks, I'll start a grow journal here in a few days, once I work out the kinks of this lighting system.

[Ted]

Currently, the lights are operating at 15.5 amps and 23.63 volts for a total output of 366 watts. With a max amperage of 1.2 amps for each strip, (therefore 28.8 amps total) the system is currently operating at 54% capacity. The 187 lumen per watt efficacy on the manufacturer's data sheet was performed at 480mA and 22.5 volts, and I'm currently above that at 646mA per strip.

I did run into some issues with heat, however by dimming the amperage potentiometer, I capped the amperage at 15.5 amps, so then the driver turns into a constant current driver and caps the runaway effect of parallel wiring.

I did notice that some lights are brighter than others, and the brighter ones are the lights not daisy chained, but the first strip to get electricity, with subsequent lights becoming slightly dimmer. I would have figured the lights would split the current equally. I'll have to do some more testing to see what is going on.

[LEDG]

Hmm, there may be some voltage drop through the trace in each strip or something. The sure fire way to fix this would be to take the home run out of the first strip and do a pigtail onto it with a positive and negative for each strip instead of using the strip connectors to go from strip to strip.

[LEDG]

Oh - forgot to add - I noticed a similar problem on mine at first as well, but I bumped up the size of my wire and that seemed to fix it for me. What gauge are you using?

[Ted]

Does it matter that I used larger than recommended wire? I am using 14 gauge solid for the whole thing, cause thats what I had laying around.

Your solution should solve it, however in your build, did you notice a voltage drop between the strips you daisy chained in parallel?

I guess either way I'll have to rewire it. Should I get some wago connectors and make 48 separate connections (24 positive and 24 negative)? Or can I get a giant terminal block and split the wires at once ?

[Ted]

Oh - forgot to add - I noticed a similar problem on mine at first as well, but I bumped up the size of my wire and that seemed to fix it for me. What gauge are you using?

Using 14 gauge, maybe its too large for the connector? Its going to be a pain in the ass to back those out each connector.

[LEDG]

Oh you're fine then for size.

I would make a splice at each group of 6 with 4 home runs back to the driver. Forgive me for this abomination I'm about to share. Those black things are your strips. I'm only showing the positive connections so it doesn't look too cluttered but you'll have to do the same with your negatives.

IMG_6832.JPG (4.32 MiB) Viewed 1358 times

My strips look uniformly bright to my eye but maybe it's because I'm running so much power that I can't tell.

[Ted]

Oh you're fine then for size.

I would make a splice at each group of 6 with 4 home runs back to the driver. Forgive me for this abomination I'm about to share. Those black things are your strips. I'm only showing the positive connections so it doesn't look too cluttered but you'll have to do the same with your negatives.

IMG_6832.JPG

My strips look uniformly bright to my eye but maybe it's because I'm running so much power that I can't tell.

Thanks for your help! I'll take some pictures when I'm done.

[LEDG]

Did you get time to rewire yet?