...........hfhfhhdzdzd.
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Fat Freddy's Cat
- LED-Curious
- Reactions:
- Posts: 9
- Joined: Mon Aug 05, 2019 7:53 pm
I'm new, but have been exploring this whole scene closely recently.
TLDR: If heat and flexibility are important to you, go with a parallel setup using the appropriate driver. If you don't care about heat at all, the C2100 would give you the highest output of photosynthetic light. Check your required area and put it into the calculator link below to ensure optimum light levels.
Deciding on the right driver is something I discovered a lot about by buying slightly wrong drivers! They work fine, but don't cover the areas that were most important to me - there is too much heat when run at full tilt, and I cannot add more boards to the same driver.
The correct drivers will dictate a few things, the ones of main interest to me were
Photosynthetic Brightness (PPF)
Power Draw
Heat
Future needs
Brightness
For non CO2 enriched environments sufficient levels are
Seedlings 200-400 umols/m²/s
Veg 400-600 umols/m²/s
Flower 600-900 umols/m²/s
For CO2 enriched environments with a CO2 PPM of 750 or more, levels can be pushed to 1500-2000 umols/m²/s
To calculate your brightness from each set of lamps, you simply look on the spec sheets of a single board for the efficiency per joule, and then multiply that by the wattage draw of each board. This gives you your PPF number. Then you plug that detail, along with your room size, into the PPFD calculator over at HLG, and then you know if you are getting the luminosity levels you want. Recommended hanging height of QB is 45cm means about 75% light loss in a target 2x2 area, so that's the percentage I use.
So for instance, if your room size was 4" x 2" you would get
HLG 320H-C1750
PPF 229 (85 watt draw x efficiency(umols/joule) of 2.7) x3 (you have 3 boards on each set) = PPF 687
becoming a PPFD 695 umols/m²/s for your target area (at 75% for a 45cm/18" hang)
Check out the QB288 spec sheet and do the C2100 yourself.
Power draw
Total wattage = amps x voltage so if you are using 2.1 amps instead of 1.75 amps at a constant voltage of 54v, you will use more power. This can be of concern to some, but primarily based on available limits of electricity and/or cost and heat.
You can also consider using a fixed Voltage driver like the HLG-320H-54 which means each board (2 minimum) gets the correct voltage of 54v - but the dimmer controls the amperage. Full whack would give each board 107W each(ish) which is the same as a C2100 option. Dimming would reduce brightness but increase efficiency (less power/heat).
You can also add more boards to the same driver, increasing efficiency and total PPFD while lowering heat.
You need to parallel wire for the voltage drivers - series wiring for C versions.
Heat
Temperature control can be important, especially in low ceiling rooms (me!) so this also affects your choice. Higher efficiency (higher umols/joule rating) means less heat produced by the board. Thus, you are sacrificing brightness for better heat control when you move from C2100 to C1750. To achieve the same luminosity, you would need to add more or bigger boards. This can be achieved by switching to a Parallel setup as detailed above.
Driver efficiency ranges from 92% to 95% also - so check the drivers as this can mean as much as 10 watts of heat per driver adding to your grow room!
Future needs
Based on the factors above, using parallel wiring instead of series, for flexibility, seems a better way to go.
Hope this was helpful! Forgive any inappropriate terminology - I am neither an electrician or a phototromitist (sic!)
I would welcome someone saying I am talking shit, as I only learning myself, but I bought the same drivers you are looking at and now I want to change to the 54v versions (which I think is constant voltage vs. constant current of the C series ones, but I didn't want to use confusing terminology if I was wrong).
Can someone verify amirite?
Sources
The Ultimate lighting guide to Cannabis cultivation.
Horticulture Lighting 101
And of course, this forum and the @LEDG himself!!
TLDR: If heat and flexibility are important to you, go with a parallel setup using the appropriate driver. If you don't care about heat at all, the C2100 would give you the highest output of photosynthetic light. Check your required area and put it into the calculator link below to ensure optimum light levels.
Deciding on the right driver is something I discovered a lot about by buying slightly wrong drivers! They work fine, but don't cover the areas that were most important to me - there is too much heat when run at full tilt, and I cannot add more boards to the same driver.
The correct drivers will dictate a few things, the ones of main interest to me were
Photosynthetic Brightness (PPF)
Power Draw
Heat
Future needs
Brightness
For non CO2 enriched environments sufficient levels are
Seedlings 200-400 umols/m²/s
Veg 400-600 umols/m²/s
Flower 600-900 umols/m²/s
For CO2 enriched environments with a CO2 PPM of 750 or more, levels can be pushed to 1500-2000 umols/m²/s
To calculate your brightness from each set of lamps, you simply look on the spec sheets of a single board for the efficiency per joule, and then multiply that by the wattage draw of each board. This gives you your PPF number. Then you plug that detail, along with your room size, into the PPFD calculator over at HLG, and then you know if you are getting the luminosity levels you want. Recommended hanging height of QB is 45cm means about 75% light loss in a target 2x2 area, so that's the percentage I use.
So for instance, if your room size was 4" x 2" you would get
HLG 320H-C1750
PPF 229 (85 watt draw x efficiency(umols/joule) of 2.7) x3 (you have 3 boards on each set) = PPF 687
becoming a PPFD 695 umols/m²/s for your target area (at 75% for a 45cm/18" hang)
Check out the QB288 spec sheet and do the C2100 yourself.
Power draw
Total wattage = amps x voltage so if you are using 2.1 amps instead of 1.75 amps at a constant voltage of 54v, you will use more power. This can be of concern to some, but primarily based on available limits of electricity and/or cost and heat.
You can also consider using a fixed Voltage driver like the HLG-320H-54 which means each board (2 minimum) gets the correct voltage of 54v - but the dimmer controls the amperage. Full whack would give each board 107W each(ish) which is the same as a C2100 option. Dimming would reduce brightness but increase efficiency (less power/heat).
You can also add more boards to the same driver, increasing efficiency and total PPFD while lowering heat.
You need to parallel wire for the voltage drivers - series wiring for C versions.
Heat
Temperature control can be important, especially in low ceiling rooms (me!) so this also affects your choice. Higher efficiency (higher umols/joule rating) means less heat produced by the board. Thus, you are sacrificing brightness for better heat control when you move from C2100 to C1750. To achieve the same luminosity, you would need to add more or bigger boards. This can be achieved by switching to a Parallel setup as detailed above.
Driver efficiency ranges from 92% to 95% also - so check the drivers as this can mean as much as 10 watts of heat per driver adding to your grow room!
Future needs
Based on the factors above, using parallel wiring instead of series, for flexibility, seems a better way to go.
Hope this was helpful! Forgive any inappropriate terminology - I am neither an electrician or a phototromitist (sic!)
I would welcome someone saying I am talking shit, as I only learning myself, but I bought the same drivers you are looking at and now I want to change to the 54v versions (which I think is constant voltage vs. constant current of the C series ones, but I didn't want to use confusing terminology if I was wrong).
Can someone verify amirite?
Sources
The Ultimate lighting guide to Cannabis cultivation.
Horticulture Lighting 101
And of course, this forum and the @LEDG himself!!
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Fat Freddy's Cat
- LED-Curious
- Reactions:
- Posts: 9
- Joined: Mon Aug 05, 2019 7:53 pm
Oh - and the answers were yes and yes for your drivers - the reasons are above!
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Fat Freddy's Cat
- LED-Curious
- Reactions:
- Posts: 9
- Joined: Mon Aug 05, 2019 7:53 pm
well that was a total waste of fucking time 