LED strips vs Quantum Boards for 4x4

[ZzackRaw]

What am i flowering as far as plants, or are you asking about the space i'm flowering in?

Hey. Yeah all this stuff is great kit and will get you there. We could design a combination light with multiple types of emitters mixed in if need be. I think it would mean running multiple drivers. I myself run a lot of the options provided and some in mixed fashion. The Bridgelux EB strips can be some of the best bang for the buck, If you want to focus in on the initial budgeting as low as possible, while still acquiring great efficiency.

Here's some EB Gen 2 strips in mixed temperature veg space:
EBGen2.jpg


An Atreum board with some COB's in a flower tent:
Tester_Tent_Luminaire_Upgrade.jpg


As far as heatsink vs no heatsink, this is all tradeoff. I don't strive to run without heatsinks myself, but you can run certain power levels on boards and strips and keep them within their safe operating temps. Heatsinks and airflow can always help improve performance by lowering the operating temps. Some designs go toward favoring buying more strips or boards and running them lower power than the with heatsink options. This can get you great even coverage. With strips, sometimes good heatsinks can approach the cost of the strips. So it becomes a design decision thing how to go in the end.

I always tend to overpower the drivers slightly for flowering, with proper dimming so the lights can be used adaptively. Sometimes the driver options and their costs and simplicity of the whole design lead to that as well. The 320 didn't seem like enough power for the space in this case. Of course, what are you flowering?

If we are looking at multiple drivers anyway, the max power could potentially more closely get the 400w number.

With EB Gen 2 we can work up a design with them exclusively, or see how they could fit in with a few (I'd probably stick with an odd number in my recs) of quantum boards.

Let me know what you favor most, the upfront cost or the efficiency, and I'll put together some more ideas.

[DaveJonesFan]

Thank you so much for the help. Can't tell you how much this has helped. You're really willing to go above and beyond to help a fellow out and I applaud you for that.

That being said,
I bought 4x Atreum 288.2s with the heatsink combos.
I also got a waterproof connector, 2x wagos, solid copper wire 18 gauge, and the HLG-480H-C2100B. I know the A can be over-powered but i'm more worried about being able to dim them.

Do I have everything right so far?

I'll need to buy some aluminum at the store soon.

I bought 4 of the strips you recommended as well to experiement with an old driver I have. My chameleon enclosure has some plants that dont get enough light...

What am i flowering as far as plants, or are you asking about the space i'm flowering in?

Okay cool, that driver will run them well.

As a constant current design, you will want them wired in series, so the 2-way WAGO's should be all you'll need on DC power side. As far as dimming, you didn't mention a potentiometer, but with that B type driver you'll need to wire in a 100K ohm linear pot to get 'er done. You will have a large differential in power output with the CC with B dimming driver.

So yeah, looks pretty good.

What'd you grab as far as strips? Some EB Gen 2 560mm, or 280mm?

And yeah, was referring to the flowering plant types, as depending on your species and cultivars, you may benefit more from having light levels in the 30-40w per square foot level's that we were planning on achieving here. We could have modified for less powerful setup if it made more sense to do so. Looks like you'll be right in the middle of that on your peak power with this setup, around 35w per square foot. That's well into the luxury light levels for anything you can throw under it, with these extremely efficient LED's you're implementing.

[ZzackRaw]

The strips I bought are BXEB-L0280Z-50E1000-C-A3, so 288mm I believe.

Oh, that's interesting. The seeds I have now are mostly GSC or GSC crossed with Golden Strawberry, and I have some Cherry Slime I wanted to give a go.

I'm not so familiar with potentiometers and ohm linear pots but i'll do some research so I can run these properly.

Will this require more tools?

[sdfoster22]

You'll need to solder the potentiometer to the dim + and - wires on the driver. This will give you 10-100% dimming, or 0-100% dimming depending on if the driver is 1-10v dimming, or 0-10v dimming. You might be able to find a connector that fits over the metal prongs of the potentiometer. Not sure if they make them though.

[sdfoster22]

The a version works good for dimming as well. You get like 50- 110% give or take. No potentiometer required. They come with a built in one.

[ZzackRaw]

Since I already have the B version on the way, I'll just add the potentiometer. I have a soldering gun so I should be good. Will any potentiometer online work, such as this one?

Also is this plug okay at 120V?

You'll need to solder the potentiometer to the dim + and - wires on the driver. This will give you 10-100% dimming, or 0-100% dimming depending on if the driver is 1-10v dimming, or 0-10v dimming. You might be able to find a connector that fits over the metal prongs of the potentiometer. Not sure if they make them though.

[DaveJonesFan]

That pot looks like a 10K ohm rated. You'll want one that's 100K ohms. The way the circuit for the dimming on the drivers works is that when you turn the resistance on the pot all the way up to 100K ohms, you'll be getting 100% output. So 10K ohms will only get you to 10% of the total power.

There is some finicky stuff with the finer details of pots, they are usually rated with 10% tolerances in the spec, meaning the pot you buy may only actually measure 90K Ohms, or 110K Ohms. In the real world they usually stay closer to spec, but still have some tolerance. Some like to incorporate an additional resistor, at 5K or 10K ohms, to ensure the maximum output is achieved. I've heard being able to get to 106K or 108K on some of the meanwell drivers can be their actual max output, as well, but not sure on that one.

I like the Bourns brand if you are going to spend a bit for a nice one.

There is also a prewired, boxed pot available from Rapid LED, that works in a different manner, and can snap into WAGO's without solder. I've used these without any issue, and they scale to multiple drivers well.
https://www.rapidled.com/cased-potentiometer-with-knob/

The power plug looks fine. The driver leads aren't all that long, so keep in mind driver placement with plugs, in case you may need extension.

[ZzackRaw]

True. Would I want to forget this all together and opt out for one with a cord included, so that I have enough length to reach the power outlet? Or should I just use a short extension cable?

Trying to make this as easy as possible for myself since i'm new to electric. I just bought the pre-wired pot you recommended and i'll wait until I test out the current with the multimeter before I purchase a resistor.

Thanks again for you help and happy labor day! Hope you get the day off to relax.
As for me, i'll be working a dbl to afford this project

[sdfoster22]

These cheaper ones should work also. See how they say 100kohm linear taper. You get 10 of them, which is good with the cheaper ones. You can measure the resistance with a multimeter to find one that is 100kohms or above.

[sdfoster22]

True. Would I want to forget this all together and opt out for one with a cord included, so that I have enough length to reach the power outlet? Or should I just use a short extension cable?

Trying to make this as easy as possible for myself since i'm new to electric. I just bought the pre-wired pot you recommended and i'll wait until I test out the current with the multimeter before I purchase a resistor.

Thanks again for you help and happy labor day! Hope you get the day off to relax.
As for me, i'll be working a dbl to afford this project

Something like this would work. Or a 10ft-15ft. If You get the longer ones you might want thicker guage to combat voltage droop. I can't remember the gauges needed, for the length. Maybe someone else can help me out.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Smart-Choic ... /206740199

*Edit*

You can find waterproof connectors to connect that to the driver wires, or solder the wires and shrink wrap them. They also make crimp on connectors with shrink wrap already on it, but soldering them would be the best connection.