Need Help

[Tombsy]

I pretty much want to be told what to buy. Maybe a couple options. I live in Canada. Want to keep price reasonable.

Area - Max 2x4 more like 1.5x4.
Plants - Autoflowers
Purpose - Flowering.

I saw Lanes 4 foot shelf build and thought it would work, but instead have all 6 on one rack. Would this be enough? Since the plants are Autoflower they wont be crazy big. (sour crack - mephisto).

If there are any other builds that you guys can link me to that would be great as well. My last build was 21 sockets with 14w LED bulbs. It worked surprisingly well and will still use it for veg.

Thanks!

[Jolly Green Giant]

welcome to the forum pretty much it depends on what your comfortable building. if you can buy LED strips and place them where you want there's always that.. there is always cob builds also. that's half the fun of DIY ing a light.. building and designing what fits your area and skills.

if you want something simple where you plug in a wire or two I would recommend the HLG 260 watt kit. https://horticulturelightinggroup.com/p ... qb-led-kit


I have the 135watt kit over a 36in by 16in geo pot for my mother plants and they love it for vegging. the 135w could flower that space but it would be weak in the far corners... the 260w kit is recommended for 3x3 or 2 x 4 flowering.. if it's to bright just dim it down a little.

again welcome and don't hesitate to ask any questions. plenty of knowledgeable people on here to answer.

[Tombsy]

Thanks. I was getting a bit lost at RIU.

$350 USD is a bit more than i wanted to spend. Plus they never seem to be in stock. I am comfortable building something myself, the confusion sets in with all the different drivers etc...

My original plans was to buy a bunch of T8 LEDs and just make a big panel. Doesn't seem like money well spent in the long run.

[Grower]

I pretty much want to be told what to buy. Maybe a couple options. I live in Canada. Want to keep price reasonable.

Area - Max 2x4 more like 1.5x4.
Plants - Autoflowers
Purpose - Flowering.

I saw Lanes 4 foot shelf build and thought it would work, but instead have all 6 on one rack. Would this be enough? Since the plants are Autoflower they wont be crazy big. (sour crack - mephisto).

If there are any other builds that you guys can link me to that would be great as well. My last build was 21 sockets with 14w LED bulbs. It worked surprisingly well and will still use it for veg.

Thanks!

welcome!
may I ask you why are u going for af?

[Tombsy]

I pretty much want to be told what to buy. Maybe a couple options. I live in Canada. Want to keep price reasonable.

Area - Max 2x4 more like 1.5x4.
Plants - Autoflowers
Purpose - Flowering.

I saw Lanes 4 foot shelf build and thought it would work, but instead have all 6 on one rack. Would this be enough? Since the plants are Autoflower they wont be crazy big. (sour crack - mephisto).

If there are any other builds that you guys can link me to that would be great as well. My last build was 21 sockets with 14w LED bulbs. It worked surprisingly well and will still use it for veg.

Thanks!

welcome!
may I ask you why are u going for af?

I built a room in my attic (12x7). The attic has your typical "attic trusses" so the sides have a lower ceiling height, which is where I grow. I also only have 1 room and figured having 1 light source that can be left at 24/0 or 20/4 would be easier to have a perpetual grow. My first grow was with photos and they turned out great. I tried Auto under a couple CFLs and though they were small the bud was really good. Plus Mephisto genetics stuff looks amazing. I have 5 sprouts right now.

If the autos don't do it for me, I will build a separate mother room in the basement or something. Since this is more of a hobby for me, I am sure I will try many different ways to grow at some point.

[Jolly Green Giant]

Thanks. I was getting a bit lost at RIU.

$350 USD is a bit more than i wanted to spend. Plus they never seem to be in stock. I am comfortable building something myself, the confusion sets in with all the different drivers etc...

My original plans was to buy a bunch of T8 LEDs and just make a big panel. Doesn't seem like money well spent in the long run.

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=66

check out Ted's strip build. similar space and idea but lm561c diodes over T8's. if I was more confident with my skills I would go strip build.. but for now I use pcb's.

I understand about the prices. taxes and shipping don't help also.. you could always buy a board and driver then add another board later for a better spread. you could also check out photon fantom's boards https://www.photonfantomdesigns.com/shop/ the boards are a little cheap and can run lower wattage without a heat sink. 2 boards and a driver would be around 200 dollars (u.s.)

I'm sure more people will chime in also

[Ted]

I pretty much want to be told what to buy. Maybe a couple options. I live in Canada. Want to keep price reasonable.

Area - Max 2x4 more like 1.5x4.
Plants - Autoflowers
Purpose - Flowering.

I saw Lanes 4 foot shelf build and thought it would work, but instead have all 6 on one rack. Would this be enough? Since the plants are Autoflower they wont be crazy big. (sour crack - mephisto).

If there are any other builds that you guys can link me to that would be great as well. My last build was 21 sockets with 14w LED bulbs. It worked surprisingly well and will still use it for veg.

Thanks!

Hi there! This kit on Rapid LED http://www.rapidled.com/vero29-triple-cob-array-kit/ has a 3x2 coverage area, which is close to what you have going on. If you get the 2100ma driver, you're pushing 265 watts of power for $220. It also has the benefit of coming with all the crap you need to put it together in one easy to purchase package. It also comes with instructions to put it together as well. I think for the money its hard to beat COBs, given how much light they produce for the price.

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[Tombsy]

Thanks for replies.

If I were to go with 7 4' Samsung strips. What driver would I need? I noticed a calculator for cobs but is there one for strips?

If I were to go with cobs? 1 per plant (4 total). What would you guys recommend? I am assuming that if I have 1 cob per plant they wouldn't need to be the most powerful ones. Pretty clueless.

[Ted]

Thanks for replies.

If I were to go with 7 4' Samsung strips. What driver would I need? I noticed a calculator for cobs but is there one for strips?

If I were to go with cobs? 1 per plant (4 total). What would you guys recommend? I am assuming that if I have 1 cob per plant they wouldn't need to be the most powerful ones. Pretty clueless.

The Samsung H series strips are wired to work at just under 24 volts, and any mean well HLG-XXXh-24A/B driver will work. Substitute the XXX for how many watts you want.

[Tombsy]

How do I figure out how many strips per driver? OR what is ideal?
HLG-185H-24A vs HLG-240H-24A