TOP BIN vs MIDDLE vs BOTTOM bin what does it mean for your plants?

[MackMuurder]

Brand new here with a big question.

So I've got an HPS, CMH, COB\blurple, and a KINGBRITE QB with lm301h diodes all in the same tent

This is my first grow and im trying to educate myself as much as I can my first time

OK, I'm going to ask the question that no-one else has:

How on earth did you end up with a HPS, a CMH, COB and a bunch of fake QBs in one tent if you have never grown before? Where they donated to you by other growers?

I mean, I'm genuinely intrigued.

P.S. Have you tried putting a bad review up on Alibubba? I wonder how long they stay up . . . if they even make it up in the first place.

I'm one of those people that do some online snooping. Think I've learned something. Then buy something. Realize i didn't do enough research. Then buy some more shit thats better later.

Hps was given to me by my sister as my first light.and a 4x4 tent. Within a few months I was about 5 grand invested into equipment

I'm on my 7th grow now. Medical license for 50 plants
I've got
-3x315 watt cmh
-3x240 watt citizen 1212 cob bars (4 cobs per bar)
-1x 480 watt kingbrite qb (samsung lm301h epistar red and ir/uv)
-2x320 watt kingbrite qb ( samsung lm301h cree and osram and lg (far red ir and uv)
-1×240 ×watt kingbrite qb
Between 2 grow tents
I plan on selling a bunch of it and probably settling with DIY stuff as this grow thing has turned into a massive hobby for me.

I've actually replaced the citizen 1212 cobs (kept the bars with the meanwell drivers but replaced the cobs) with
Luminus CXM22 Gen4 3000K 90 CRI

And for the record their not fake QBs. Fake would means not real. Quantum boards are just boards with diodes on them.
Kingbrite is forthcoming that they use medium bin diodes when asked.
Samsung diodes come from? China? Korea? HLG uses Samsung diodes.
HLG doesn't manufacture the diodes in house in the USA. All they do is assemble the boards using samsung diodes and meanwell drivers. That hardly makes HLG real and kingbrite fake. But thats just my opinion

[MackMuurder]

https://www.rollitup.org/t/wasted-my-mo ... ad.997255/

That MMED grower is full of shit. I ordered 2x360 watt kingbrite qbs 2021 versions and when they arrived 2 of the panels had rows of diodes that didn't work.
They sent me 2 brand new panels free of charge and they arrived 7 days later. Only paid a few bucks for import. They usually claim lower prices anyways to get lower import fees. Kingbrite always been helpful that way.
Also you dont have to use PayPal u can just use a credit card.




People talk about kingbrite/alibaba like their all crooks and they all cheat you.
Thats like saying all Asians are good at math and all black people like chicken.
I mean lets be reasonable.


In my experience at least my kingbrite board won me plant of the month over at 420magazine for my "BARNEYS FARM - GORILLA SKITTLZ" And I came in 4th for plant of the year. I got about 1500 usd worth of stuff including another light. And all that accomplished with a alibaba kingbrite quantum board
I couldn't be happier.

Moving forward tho I am looking into alternatives i feel im ready to start exploring your guys world a bit more and would love to do a DIY cob or QB strip build.
I do appreciate your guys input and replies and look forward to your knowledge in the probably soon future when I do go the DIY route.

[MackMuurder]

You'll know after you have spent a year buying shit from aliexpress/alibaba
Some sellers go to great lengths to have positive reviews. I bought plenty things that I'm happy with, but teknik is not wrong.

If all the buyers of some of these lights were forced to review it 1.5 years later, you might get a different picture. Some will turn out to be fine, others will have had parts fail much sooner than they should have. It's not just a trope, I have a chinese board where diodes failed after 10 months. They also are skilled at making failing HID bulbs, which I hope have not burned down anything yet

Hey brother I defibately know where your coming from. As for fake reviews and bots and shit I have no experience with that.

My point was im not talking about any old supplier off alibaba. I'm talking about 1 supplier. 1 thats tried, tested and true by a massive amount of growers.
My KINGBRITES haven't failed and work great.

I also buy Chinese CMH bulbs from a company called 'universeliteco' on alibaba.
They manufacture street lights. Stadium lighting etc as well as every type of hid grow light u could imagine..
They also sell on Amazon under the seller name XAMT
I spent 50 cdn on their cmh bulbs and 120 on phillips bulbs
Did a side by side grow. ZERO difference between the two lights. I actually pulled .25 more an ounce per plant with the Chinese bulb than the Phillips one. (Got a grow journal to prove that one as well)
The internet is vast. If anyone gets burned by a Chinese supplier or company its because they didn't do their due diligence and risk management prior to making a decision.
I also use a milwaukee 3 in 1 ph/ec/tds meter. .
On Amazon its got Horrible reviews. I did my DD and found that milwaukee is used in hospitals.
So I bought one 2 years ago. Never looked back. Never failed on me. I follow the cleaning and storage instructions and it should last me upwards of 4 to 8 years like the site says. I paid 220 for that. Where a blue lab is about 100 to 150 more and breaks down constantly with alot of shit reviews but everyone talks up blue lab.

Alibaba is like the dark web.........if you can't find your way around without getting aids you dont belong there.

[MackMuurder]

Perhaps Tekniks comment on the comments was a little exxagarrated. There are videos advising on how to avoid fake reviewed products on alibaba, and there is no shortage of dishonest reviews. This does not mean that alibaba would have any interest in stopping real reviews. The final product is neither a comment section where everything is true, or a comment section where everything is false, but something in-between.
There are also multiple categories of fake reviews with the worst being generated by bots, and the best being generated by real humans.

Anyway, to your original question, having a 10% lower bin diode should affect you in a few different ways. First, you would have to use 10% more input power to get the same output. Secondly the heat will increase by as much as the light decreased. Thirdly your electricity bill will be that much higher.

When designing a system, different builders face different types of pressures and challenges. When I got my first set of LEDs I simply calculated watts/$ and went for the cheapest setup. By my third round I was in a position where ordering 100 strips is not any kind of problem.

Generally I think HLG made a reputation using top bin diodes, that allows them to charge premium. Right now it would seem you could get 200lm/w EB's at dirt cheap, or 220lm/w nichias for prices similar to HLG's...

We are right at the moment where HLG's special relationship with Samsung is a burden, rather then benefit. When Samsung puts out their next gen, HLG might have a premium product again, but the efficiency that built them reputation last year is hardly impressive right now.

And I guess that goes double for kingbrite. Samsungs rep came from when they were most efficient. Now they are not.

But it seems you already have the lights, so there is hardly any use wondering if there is something 10-20% more efficient out there.

It's all about how you use the lights. I still combine HPS with LED in the colder periods, get crazy swelling, and still dense nugs. I don't compare the HPS efficiency to the LEDs, but to the heating I would need without it.

I have many beginner growing friends who combine QB's, chinese blurples, etc... I feel they learn a lot in the process, one actually just won the public vote in a large cannabis cup... with his second crop.

Thats awsome about your friends success and I appreciate your response. And I couldn't agree more. Its kind of all a stepping stone in the right direction.

I'm about to embark on a build for a 4x8 just planning stages and I would really appreciate the help. I'd like to move away from alibaba and really get into this efficiency and lumen per watt thing.