noob to the LED game, looking to build multiple 4x4's

[rubegoldberg]

I'm looking to convert one of my rooms to LED. I work in the hydro industry and am friends with the owners of a few LED companies. But unfortunately, my expertise is limited to "oh, well this LED is basically as good as a Fluence Spyder" type talk, rather than a firm grasp. I do have novice enough electrical skills where this should be doable.


I'm looking for a simple 4x4 design that can be built quite cheaply, but still knock out better than 1000w HPS type results. The room control advantage alone will make it worth it for me, although I'd still like to be somewhat close to what the best LED diodes can do.

Should I be looking at the EB Gen 2 lighting for this purpose? any budget minded controllers to look at?




The first room I want to do will be the one below 10x15 ft (ignore the current light spacing, its undergoing an overhaul)
The room currently is a staggered mix of 600w HPS and 315w CMH, the tables fill the entire room on rollers, and are fed via drip lines into coco. Tables pull out for maintenance (leaf pulling, foliar sprays etc)

[unkle_psycho]

Right now the EB's are on discount, so they are probably the bang for buck option in small purchases. The first gen3 model that came out has progressive pricing, so if you plan on getting many, then it might be better to wait for the next gen to roll out over the next couple of weeks.

Lots of strips to choose from in the 80cri range, and most of them are quite cheap. If heatsinks are expensive in your area you might want to stick to EB's and run them at nominal so you can skip the sinks.

If you want something premium, you might want to look at cutter. He was just showing off a 3 way tunable setup with an ultrahigh CRI white channel, a 2000k red channel, and a red pump channel. Perfect all around package for sure.

[rubegoldberg]

Lots of strips to choose from in the 80cri range, and most of them are quite cheap. If heatsinks are expensive in your area you might want to stick to EB's and run them at nominal so you can skip the sinks.

do I lose any light penetration from running more EB's? right now i'm doing around a 2.5 foot high canopy, i'd like to keep my existing logistical flow as far as that goes?'



also: using the cookie cutter sample build page on this website, is using the HLG-480H-42A still my best bet for driver? with the BXEB-L1120Z LED strips? (ideally i'll stagger the different spectrum options)


as long as its a fairly simple design and can get me "good" results compared to HPS/CMH i'll be happy, I can always build better as I climb the learning curve

[TEKNIK]

CMH can be pretty hard to beat, you won't loose alot of penetration spreading out EB strips because the idea of running so many strips is to lower the light closer to the canopy while still maintaining an even spread. There are a number of options around, do you have a budget in mind also how handy are you with basic electrical?

[rubegoldberg]

CMH can be pretty hard to beat, you won't loose alot of penetration spreading out EB strips because the idea of running so many strips is to lower the light closer to the canopy while still maintaining an even spread. There are a number of options around, do you have a budget in mind also how handy are you with basic electrical?

handy enough, i can pretty much wire everything in a house, built my own PCs etc. not amazing or anything, but should be able to handle building and LED (and eventually understanding the theory and customizing)

would really like to do something cookie cutter/ish for my first build though just to get comfortable

[rubegoldberg]

do you have a budget in mind

I know this is vague, but basically the most cost effective option to get close to the performance of brand name pre-made LEDs that would be filling the same space.

if I could basically get the equiv of a fluence spyder or something along those lines, i'd be happy

[TEKNIK]

Nichia strips from Cutter would beat fluence performance, not sure of pricing though.
I would suggest a blend of 4000K cri90 and 2700k cri90.

[rubegoldberg]

Nichia strips from Cutter would beat fluence performance, not sure of pricing though.
I would suggest a blend of 4000K cri90 and 2700k cri90.

pardon my complete need for handholding lol.

searching for cri90 lights comes up with a huge variety of options, any suppliers you'd recommend checking out so I'm at least purchasing the right strips?

[TEKNIK]

I would check with Cutter electronics to see what stock they have of Nichia leds, they custom make strips to order.
Mark from Cutter is on here and should be able to help you out.
They also have Cree leds but the efficiency take a hit with those although the price is really good.
You will need to take some time to build a frame, you can use aluminum angle as heatsinks.

[TEKNIK]

@Welight Do you have any Nichia in stock at the moment of CRI90?