LED Advice For 4x4 Tent

I did my own light. 2700K and 3500K alternating. And using two of the drivers. One for each spectrum. OMG is it ever bright. Total cost was 420.00
 

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After a little searching, a pair of 2x288 samsung 561 3000K-3500K would do a 4x4 well, also 2x 240H Drivers, one for each pair.
So (4) panel total....price is between $550-$750 all said and done.

Any thoughts
 
LM301B are more efficient that 561 by 15% if I am not mistaken. Also my setup has 1152 diodes. 96 per strip. Times that by 6 = 576 diodes. My HLG240H-24A will drive that. That is for the 2700K set and then we move onto the 3500K and do the same for it. One driver for each spectrum set up. An HLG480H-48a would drive 1152 diodes. Says me, You will only need one driver and an HLG240H-24a in series wiring should suffice. That's basically how I see it and to be honest. I built my light never having heard about LED drivers until about a month ago. I gave myself an education and reverse engineered an HLG 550 v2. Found out what it had for diodes and drivers and did my own. It is bright enough I need sunglasses to look at it straight on.


On edit I see you say a PAIR of 2 x 288's so are you talking 1152 diodes then. In which case you are on the right track and it would be two drivers in series wiring. One of my drivers is used. Seller on Ebay listed 40.00 and I offered 20.00 saying it's a gamble to work or not. They took it. FYI.
 
Edzzed said:
LM301B are more efficient that 561 by 15% if I am not mistaken. Also my setup has 1152 diodes. 96 per strip. Times that by 6 = 576 diodes. My HLG240H-24A will drive that. That is for the 2700K set and then we move onto the 3500K and do the same for it. One driver for each spectrum set up. An HLG480H-48a would drive 1152 diodes. Says me, You will only need one driver and an HLG240H-24a in series wiring should suffice. That's basically how I see it and to be honest. I built my light never having heard about LED drivers until about a month ago. I gave myself an education and reverse engineered an HLG 550 v2. Found out what it had for diodes and drivers and did my own. It is bright enough I need sunglasses to look at it straight on.


On edit I see you say a PAIR of 2 x 288's so are you talking 1152 diodes then. In which case you are on the right track and it would be two drivers in series wiring. One of my drivers is used. Seller on Ebay listed 40.00 and I offered 20.00 saying it's a gamble to work or not. They took it. FYI.
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Glad to see im on the right track, i did the same, reverse engineer :0)
I just learned about drivers also a few days ago, also.....
I did not know about the LM301B efficiency ;0) Thanx

I know how speakers change the circuits resistance by choosing series or parallel, i havent read yet about these wiring schemes and the 288 boards. If someone cares to explain, it would also impact the driver, im totally in the “dark” hahahaha here :0)

What the hell, lets throw in Heatsinks, i have seen different styles, anyone wanna chime in about that, go for it ! Also is screwing them straight to the sink, do you need one of those sticky “transfers heat” things inbetween. I dont mind fabricating if its worth it, i never add my labor into a final outcome process

Why are there two sets of pos and neg on the 288 boards
 
Do you think two drivers incase there is failure in one so i at least i have one working, so a driver for each pair of 288 boards, whichever i use
 
The70’s said:
Do you think two drivers incase there is failure in one so i at least i have one working, so a driver for each pair of 288 boards, whichever i use
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I am not too sure on that. It would depend on how the diodes are wired in the board itself. If they are wired in series or the same as how the strips I used are wired then yes. Two of the drivers I listed should work. My best guess would go with what you say. Find out what driver the two pairs of boards use or what driver 4 boards use. 4 boards will be 1152 diodes which is what I have for diodes. Two boards will be half the diodes which is what I have for either the 2700K or 3500K whatever the case may be. Were it me. I'd go one HLG240H-24A for two boards so yes 2 drivers for 4 boards. It's also cheaper to buy 2 smaller drivers than one big one. Go figure.
 
So, now that i have decided what lites to use, the (4) 301-288’s.

Can i safely use them for seedlings, im reading about the “Blue” lite needs of seedlings and how CFL lites for the first few weeks would be better, anyone care to chime in :0)
 
The70’s said:
So, now that i have decided what lites to use, the (4) 301-288’s.

Can i safely use them for seedlings, im reading about the “Blue” lite needs of seedlings and how CFL lites for the first few weeks would be better, anyone care to chime in :0)
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I used my 288-LM301b boards throughout the entire grow cycle of my plant from barely sprouted seedling to fully matured flowering plant. I just but the power way down and adjusted the height until it stopped stretching.
 
Gimik said:
I used my 288-LM301b boards throughout the entire grow cycle of my plant from barely sprouted seedling to fully matured flowering plant. I just but the power way down and adjusted the height until it stopped stretching.
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Was all ur work done by eye, or did you use a meter for microMol numbers ? I’m looking forward to my first grow maybe as soon as this summer.
As a new grower im reading way too much, your journal seemed to of ended, how did the GG turn out, they looked damn health in the photo’s you took. I can see they halted their stretch and really fattened out ! So, there wasnt a stretch for the light :0) the 288’s sound super bright.
 
The70’s said:
Was all ur work done by eye, or did you use a meter for microMol numbers ? I’m looking forward to my first grow maybe as soon as this summer.
As a new grower im reading way too much, your journal seemed to of ended, how did the GG turn out, they looked damn health in the photo’s you took. I can see they halted their stretch and really fattened out ! So, there wasnt a stretch for the light :0) the 288’s sound super bright.
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Reading is a good thing however it can get a bit overwhelming because everybody has their own opinions and way of doing things. Use this community to ask questions that's how I learned.
The GG is in Week 5 Flower and is coming along quite nicely although I'm having some issues with the GG x WW. I'm still updating the grow journal if you'd like to follow along! The updates have slowed as there is not a lot going on these days I'm just trying to get control of some issues that have popped up.

As for the light, I went off the PAR reading chart the manufacturing provided. I also emailed them asking about their suggested heights for the various stages - seedling and onward - and they gave me their recommendations. I have to say I'm quite pleased by the results so far considering each lamp was like $70/ea
 

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Gimik said:
Reading is a good thing however it can get a bit overwhelming because everybody has their own opinions and way of doing things. Use this community to ask questions that's how I learned.
The GG is in Week 5 Flower and is coming along quite nicely although I'm having some issues with the GG x WW. I'm still updating the grow journal if you'd like to follow along! The updates have slowed as there is not a lot going on these days I'm just trying to get control of some issues that have popped up.

As for the light, I went off the PAR reading chart the manufacturing provided. I also emailed them asking about their suggested heights for the various stages - seedling and onward - and they gave me their recommendations. I have to say I'm quite pleased by the results so far considering each lamp was like $70/ea
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Yes, i read through ur journal, im biting my nails, this is some nerve wracking shit !!!!
You guys have nerves of steel !!!

Good luck with ur grow, we’re rooting for you buddy, big fat buds are coming ur way
 
Can anyone care to explain LED “lenses”, or the “lack of”, and does it affect their ability to perform.
The 288/301 boards are raw LED’s with no lenses, i was just curious
 
Im getting ready to purchase lites with one more lighting questions....... i can buy one dimmable driver for four HLG 288 panels, why buy more drivers and split it up
 
The70’s said:
one dimmable driver for four HLG 288 panels, why buy more drivers and split it up
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Same reason a person would buy four panels instead of one huge one, I suppose - flexibility. If you're running your lighting at max output all the time, you only need one big driver for all of your panels (assuming it'll handle the load, of course). You'd also not need the ability to reduce the output, so you wouldn't need a dimming option. And if every plant you grow maintains the same height as every other plant in the same space, you can be perfectly happy with one panel/light.

But people's setups vary, they might be growing different strains (or just multiple phenotypes of one strain), might be growing "average" plants along with one equatorial sativa that "wants" all the light you are capable of giving it - and more, might have only one grow space and, therefore, end up placing seedlings in the same area as their more mature plants... et cetera.

And I suppose some people are poor and, rather than save up money for an extended period of time before purchasing everything, try to buy one component every couple of weeks or so but want to start using what they've already purchased as soon as possible. For them, maybe it makes sense (in a way) to purchase the cheapest driver that will drive the component(s) they have, even though they know/hope that they'll be adding more panels in the future and need to purchase another power supply for it/them.
 
The70’s said:
Im getting ready to purchase lites with one more lighting questions....... i can buy one dimmable driver for four HLG 288 panels, why buy more drivers and split it up
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Hi 70’s - its a good question.
Sometimes people do it becasue theyre mixing spectrums and want to control them seperately. That’s not so relevant to you. The other reason can be to do with the power requirements of the boards (or strips), the power delivery capacity of the drivers and how much you want them to draw. The driver will run hotter if you have get one that can provide a lot of power. So you don’t have to split them up, but sometimes it’s a good idea. ALso is flexible for any future changes you might make. It could work either way, depending on the specs. The HLG drivers come either with a built in dimmer that you access with a small screwdriver (A type driver) or with to worse that can be attached to a potentiometer for dimming (the B type driver). I watched a lot of LED Gardener’s videos when I was first starting. He does some good builds and overviews of drivers and wiring etc.
:Namaste:
 
Amy Gardner said:
The driver will run hotter if you have get one that can provide a lot of power.
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Assuming that both the one higher-rated power supply and the multiple lower-rated ones are both quality items that are designed to operate at their respective power levels, is the one really going to produce more heat than the several?

In other words, if a person is comparing a setup with one power supply to a comparable setup that uses four, will the one higher-rated power supply actually produce four times the BTU that each of the four smaller ones do? Or will (some?) people just perceive it as being the case because all of the heat being produced would be coming from one spot instead of four?
 
Wasn’t meaning the heat they’ll produce so much. I’ve just heard that the high wattage units can get hot, as in too hot to touch when pushing lots of power...that’s all ;)

Also, not saying they get toooo hot. Just hot. Weaselcracker recently commented that his was too hot to hold for long.
 
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