Hello everyone,
I am in the midst of planning a stealth grow box build using 2ft Bridgelux Gen. 2 strips as my base. I think I figured everything out and mostly need help picking the best driver for my situation. This is my first build so I'm hoping someone would be kind enough to check my work.
Grow Space:
74cm x 41cm x 90cm (~30" x 16" x 36")
IKEA Brimnes cabinet
https://www.ikea.com/ca/en/p/brimnes-ca ... -40300662/
Area:
m^2 = 0.30
ft^2 = 3.23
Assuming I want to hit 35W per sq. ft, I would need to run about 113W, so I rounded up to 120W since that seems to be where there is more driver selection. I plan to get a dimmable driver so I don't fry the plants in veg. I have gathered that 3500K is a good all-around strip for veg/flower - I haven't been able to find a straight answer on this but my understanding is that colour temperature doesn't matter as much as intensity.
This gives me 37W / sq. ft when the driver is at full power.
I plan on mounting the lights on aluminum flat bar or square tube (if I have to hide lots of wires) and using the shelf holes to hang the frame in the cabinet, with the driver mounted outside of the grow area to avoid heat issues.
Lights:
Bridgelux 2ft EB Gen. 2
6x BXEB-L0560Z-35E2000-C-B3
https://www.digikey.ca/en/products/deta ... B3/7907663
These lights run at 700mA nominal, with a max of 1400mA. I am planning to run them at 1050mA (75%) with dimming down to 50% or less.
Looking at their data sheets, they require 20V at 1050mA, which puts us at 6 x 20V = 120V and 126W. I picked these lights for their affordability (price/watt) over the samsung strips.
Driver:
HLG-120H-C1050B
lights wired in series, this would be 6 x 20V = 120V, which is within the operating range of 74V - 148V from the datasheet
https://www.digikey.ca/en/products/deta ... 0B/7703902
or
HLG-120H-20B
lights wired in parallel, this would be 6A / 6 strips = 1A / strip
https://www.digikey.ca/en/products/deta ... 0B/7703882
I have seen recommendations both ways on this site, for series or parallel, and I'm wondering if it's up to preference or not. Would there be any difference in the ability to dim either of these drivers (i.e. can they both dim as effectively)? The C1050B can dim to 525-1050mA according to the data sheet, and the 20B can do 3-6A (so 500-1000mA) according to the sheet.
I plan to control these with an esp32 chip (will get a 100k pot as well), but I couldn't find a 0v-10v dimmable driver in this range, so I'm fine with controlling on/off with a relay.
Lastly, if I were to add another strip (5000K) for veg, or far red (would be DIY) in the future, would it make sense to upgrade to a better driver (maybe HLG-185H-20B)? The HLG-120H-C1050B Vmax is 148V, so would I be able to run an extra strip if I needed it? At 37W/sq. ft on Max, I am hoping that I won't need any more light and will only be able to use the maximum in flower (this isn't too much light for the space, is it?)
Thanks in advance!
Stealth Grow - BXEB-L0560Z Gen. 2 Build Questions
From what i have read the max voltage for Gen2 strips is 60 volts (please check)
i have built a light using a meanwell i used a clg 150 20c as i found it cheap on ebay for 10 strips but i used the ppf calculations instead of watts this works well for me
36 PPF per strip
20 PPF (Cuttings)
40 PPF (Veg)
60 PPF (Flower)
80 PPF (CO2 Enhanced)
for yours it would be
3 * 60 PPF (Flower) = 180 PPF /36 PPF/Strip = 5 strips / run at 75 watts
at that would be at 700mA each with what your going to run 6 at it will be to much @PeteR_1 did my calcs for me and i have used his method for this
you could use 6 strips and run them a lot lower so not as much heat have a look at this viewtopic.php?f=32&t=5819 for more info
for turning on/off i use a sonoff POW R2 programmed with tasmota and can use the timers and watt to set up driver
i am looking in to far reds atm but not got that done yet will be DIY like your looking at viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5993
all of mine are used with openhab running on a PI and is working well so far
i have built a light using a meanwell i used a clg 150 20c as i found it cheap on ebay for 10 strips but i used the ppf calculations instead of watts this works well for me
36 PPF per strip
20 PPF (Cuttings)
40 PPF (Veg)
60 PPF (Flower)
80 PPF (CO2 Enhanced)
for yours it would be
3 * 60 PPF (Flower) = 180 PPF /36 PPF/Strip = 5 strips / run at 75 watts
at that would be at 700mA each with what your going to run 6 at it will be to much @PeteR_1 did my calcs for me and i have used his method for this
you could use 6 strips and run them a lot lower so not as much heat have a look at this viewtopic.php?f=32&t=5819 for more info
for turning on/off i use a sonoff POW R2 programmed with tasmota and can use the timers and watt to set up driver
i am looking in to far reds atm but not got that done yet will be DIY like your looking at viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5993
all of mine are used with openhab running on a PI and is working well so far