Skybound
Well-Known Member
Nonsense! Just cut a contractor bag in half and line your fabric pots, then you have plastic pots again. Happy Thanksgiving Tead!
Tead's Indoor-ish, Winter, Hempy, OGK, SOG
- Thread starter Tead
- Start date
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- #5,482
Test successful!
Came in yesterday. Easy to hook up. Almost as easy as the HLG drivers. They do have a fan in them... fans similar (or exactly) to computer case fans. I read about noise from the fans, but the words were very overstated and the units are quite quiet. They have a good bit of that "new electronics" smell whey you first power them up. Built in dimmer.
All in all, they seem to work great. Time may tell a different story, but they're great right now. At $30 each vs $180 each, I'm a pretty happy camper. Already placed an order for more.
Skybound
Well-Known Member
That's awesome that they worked out and are so cheap. Are the ones you ordered now going to be for redundancy/backup? How many COBs does each new driver drive?
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- #5,484
I ordered one to test and see of they worked. They're 600w at 48v. They accept 110v or 220v on the input side with a switch on the side to change it. They have 3 output lugs for 3 different light sets, but mine consume 300w each panel with 2 panels hooked to the unit. One could hook up 3 panels if you had 200w panels.... you get the idea.
Differences....
Not a sealed unit/not weatherproof.
Internal cooling fan.
Input voltage changed via switch instead of the HLG's universal input.
Lugs instead of pigtales. Dunno which is better.
I'm sure there are nuances in the power conditioning and whatnot... but that's beyond my pay-scale.
Differences....
Not a sealed unit/not weatherproof.
Internal cooling fan.
Input voltage changed via switch instead of the HLG's universal input.
Lugs instead of pigtales. Dunno which is better.
I'm sure there are nuances in the power conditioning and whatnot... but that's beyond my pay-scale.
Skybound
Well-Known Member
I'm still in transition of building out my new room, but just from this pic, you can see why I'm not a fan of the pig tails and would rather have the clean terminals/lugs to connect to. I presume @48V, you would have to keep everything in parallel rather than a series circuit. Each COB/QB would need their own wires to and from the driver which might cost a bit more to setup, but no biggie. You could probably even get away with 1 long run of thicker gauge POS and NEG, then pigtail out from the ends to the lights. Actually, I just talked myself into some, so after the new year when my finances are right, I will order a couple. I wish these big drivers also had built in potentiometers. Oh well.
Drive-by;;;;
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- #5,487
Of course I could. Why didn't I think of that?!?! Thanks!
Perhaps I'll do something better than this....
The HLG drivers come in 3 or 4 different variations of every drive model. One of the models (I think the 'AB' models) have built in pots. I lamented that I should have got the model with the built in pot. The $30 driver has a built in pot.
Love your little plastic mounts! Did you make those yourself?
Skybound
Well-Known Member
Yeah. This is why I often urge growers to buy a 3D printer. Having one is just too useful and a printer only costs around 200-350 for a decent one. I shared most of my grow related designs to my Thingiverse acct and would happily help design things for growers that have ideas for grow stuff.
Skybound420's Thingiverse Profile
I think the heat sink mounts are very functional.
No point (other than OCD) to rewire it all. If it's not broke, don't fix it.
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- #5,489
Hmmmm.... let me dine on those words for a moment.
Driver died one week in. Pulled it apart to see if I could find any obvious issues. I see no obvious burning or exploded components.... and that's pretty much the limit of my electronic skills. It's got a tiny glass fuse in it... but it looks OK. I'd test the fuse but it's soldered in. Might clip it off just to check.
Meh.... ignore any previous words of happiness regarding the cheap drivers. Too bad.
Dankman_420
Well-Known Member
Sorry brother! Some of the stuff coming slow boat nowadays is really no good. Hopefully you will have better luck with the rest of them
Skybound
Well-Known Member
Sorry to hear about the lack of luck. What happened to the drivers, did they work for a short period, or not at all?
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- #5,492
About a week. Waste of pennies. Lesson learned... again.
So, a little birdie told me it was January. I'm just not so sure.....
View media item 1744989
Had to break out shorts and turn the AC back on for a few days. Life in the Big Easy.
Skybound
Well-Known Member
Damn that's moist, moist moist moist moist! Up here, it's like the jet stream took a vaycay because we're at about a constant 30%, so maybe you got it all. How do you manage? I bet you need 1 fan per plant.
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- #5,494
Dehumidifier dumping into a 50gal tank that gets emptied every 2 or 3 weeks. Lots of fans... no plant branch gets to stand still.
It's a crazy world south of the jetstream baby!
The puck tops out at 90... it was probably higher and it's been that solid for about 2 weeks. The cold air will battle it's way back in this evening and I suspect it will be down in the 70% range for the rest of the week with the nights bounding up to the 90% range.
Betwixt the high humidity and extreme summer heat, I really wouldn't recommend this neck of the woods for growing purposes. Plus, outdoor growing faces an extremely active bug environment and a bloom season that's gonna be above 90f day and night for the vast majority.
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- #5,496
Ha!
Like I have that sort of bandwidth.
Let's enjoy a fun photo instead....
Like I have that sort of bandwidth.
Let's enjoy a fun photo instead....
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- #5,497
Just some porn.
A couple of views on the sea as a whole.....
A buddy sent me some impressive snow shots recently. This is the only version of snow that I ever get to enjoy. His were more impressive.
Here are some fun root shots. The pyrex measuring cup is a 2-cup one.
A couple of views on the sea as a whole.....
A buddy sent me some impressive snow shots recently. This is the only version of snow that I ever get to enjoy. His were more impressive.
Here are some fun root shots. The pyrex measuring cup is a 2-cup one.
Dankman_420
Well-Known Member
Nice jungle 
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- #5,500
White Fly residue after a pyretherin bug-bomb.
A view across the jungle. Yawn.
A view across the jungle. Yawn.