https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07527N1F7/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_Mw7zBb33FB4A4
I reached every review I could find on led lights for weeks and decided on this light, 2nd one on the way for a 4×6 room and 6 ww autos ilgm. Sprout under a 5t florescent 10 days and moved to led room ,this is at 20 days.
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One of the things that makes a Cree good is the bin assignment. Looking at the specs, 12,000 lumens from 65 watts is like 185 lumens/watt. I sense some bullshit somewhere. They’re binned at 100 watts, and any of color temps you’d actually want don’t hit flux levels of 12,000 lumens there. If you jump to the 6500k on 72v cob it may be in the neighborhood of 12000 lumens at 60 watts, but who wants to grow with that lol. Back to where I was going, I seriously doubt they’re top bin diodes anyway.
If that’s not enough, they list as 380nm to 780nm. That’s 100% false if it’s a cxb 3590.
Anyway to answer your question about cost. You could build single cxb 3590 with 140mm pin sink and hbg driver for little over $100. Estimate based on having to buy something like 25’ spool of wire when you need about 3’ lol.
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Just to stick on the cost side, you could.do two of these cobs for, effectively, the cost of one of these fittings, especially running both off one driver? That was what I was talking about regarding the price being “QB territory”, it seemed to be a hell of a price for a cob in a box.
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What kind of coverage would I get with that size light you are talking? @dbrn32 I don’t wanna spend more than $150 a light, is that possible? If not, what is the realistic price range for the size lights I need with a 5x5x5? If it’s more than I planned I will save for better if needed.
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Which light specifically? I feel like we’ve talked about different lights.
We have, sorry. Something like the one you mentioned in the thread above as an example? You mentioned a cxb3590?
Just because it’s advertised in the light linked above. It’s probably the last led you want right now, paying too much for name. There are equally performing leds available for half the price.
Don’t think of your budget as per light so much, look more at the big picture of what you’re trying to accomplish. You could put 6 $150 lights in your tent and call it pretty good. Or, you could get similar light levels from one $800 light. There’s a lot of variables that come into play when deciding which way to go. I would agree that multiple fixtures is probably a good choice. But going with something like $150 you’d need a lot of them.
There of the qb 260 kits would be really good in a 5x5 with low ceiling. I think they’re $350 each.
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The cxb3590 really cost effective anymore and you can get just as good of performance out of COBs like the luminous cmx 22 or even the Citi COBs
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@dbrn32 what I want specifically is to be able to pull off my light set up and with as few of the actual light fixtures as possible and stay LED. so if I could get one light on each side mounted at the top I would be super happy if it’s adequate light for UP TO 10 plants max and no less than four, in flower. The price is my hopeful price at $150 lol. I am totally willing to make the investment, just want to make sure it’s a good one. That’s y I stopped looking at the lights on Amazon. They don’t have or want to openly give the specs u told me to ask about when it comes to watts etc. And I know man…this guy again lol. Sorry for all the questions with some of those being repeaters…no thanks to GG#4
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No problem! It’s just too big of a space to light with two $150 lights. The three qb 260 kits is a best bang for your buck type setup. You could go with a single hlg-600 kit that would run a little hotter for less money, it wouldn’t be too bad for something like $750. Every other 5x5 solution in quality lights is going to be more money.
Going diy you could save a little money. But not much cheaper than the hlg-600.
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Thanks guys @dbrn32 @Aolelon. How hot would the hlg600 run? Would it be so hot I will have to get ac? That’s one of my reasons for wanting to run LED. I have been maintaining great control of my temps and humidity so I wanna keep it manageable preferably without the ac. My tent with only a fan on low will hold at 66 degrees Fahrenheit with no lights. Not sure with the heater going because I haven’t taken the heat away without the lights until now while hanging.
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So I checked out the light options and I think I will go will a few of the 260”s. The one thing I’m seeing and not sure what the difference is would be the term V1 or V2 quantum boards? What are they? What’s the difference between those two and should I avoid one vs the other?
I like I could move the 260’s around to accommodate plants if they grow at different heights. However, It would be nice to have just the one fixture though…gonna have to make some choices coming up, thanks again guys!
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Pretty much the V1 boards are HLG original boards. 288 LM561C S6 diodes with an efficacy of 210 lm/w. Samsung also has another chip the LM301B with 223 lm/w efficacy. So Samsung started producing the V2 models of the board for them.
Pretty much the v2 boards have about a 6% increase in efficacy over the V1 version of the board, they use a different solder mask. The voltage of the boards is slightly lower. I have a couple of them and they look pretty nice.
I don’t know if you would notice a huge difference between the two to be honest. Unless you’re trying to absolutely maximize the lighting.
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I agree. You can save a few bucks going with version 1 boards and have a damn nice light. A 6% increase is more along the lines of something us light nerds would get excited about. The version 1 boards are still about 80% more efficacy than typical amazon panels.
Another option for some savings would be to grab the components and assemble a frame and the boards yourself.
I would probably be able to do a homemade light but I have no clue how, what, to even get. Is there any kind of list if that makes sense?
I am in Michigan so I shouldn’t have a hard time getting the items. I just wouldn’t know where to start and what exactly to get. I have no clue by looking at the led light what ones are better vs others quality wise. I’m not worried about actually building it but building it with inferior products.
However, if I can’t figure it out or think it is too much I will go with these options. I couldn’t see the difference in top room between the lights. I think I’m gonna go with the big boy if I have to buy. will I be able to get away with a small fan blowing over the light? Really don’t wanna do ac. Thanks guys.
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They can all be built with dimming functions, so you would have some adjustment to avoid using ac. Whether or not that solves all environmental issues is hard to say, but at least you’d have some tools to combat it.
As far as building with quantum boards, the main components are the boards, heatsinks, and drivers. You could buy boards and individual heatsinks and then build a frame to mount them. Aluminum angle is most popular for that, but you could build the frame out of anything really. Depending on where you source aluminum price can vary a lot. You could also buy the boards and something like 2-3 slate 2 triple heatsinks. Going with two of those heatsinks you would be replicating two of the 3 board 320 kit, going with 3 heatsinks would be replicating 3 of the xl 260 kits.
Other than that stuff, like $30-50 on amazon can get you the wire, cords, and connectors you would need.
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What about the led themselves. I think you said strips would be my best bet but can I use strips? Where are some good places to buy them from (trusted/ reputable)? Also, how do I know why intensity or by looking at specs, what diode is the best?
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I have a K-5 LED 1000 with adjustable dials I turned all the Reds off and turn the light to 35% noticed a little stretching going on turn the light up to 50 would this be a reasonable setting
Right now the best diodes on the market are the nichia 757 and Samsung lm 301b. I think You’d have to go to cutter to get anything using the nichia, and the qb 288 version 2 uses the Samsung. The Samsung diode is also available in a strip, but to get the 301b I think it was a little more cost effective to go with the qb’s. @Aolelon is more in tune with that market than I am, he would probably know better.
You’re probably better off not being as picky about specific diode performance, and look more at the packages available. One of the reasons the qb’s are as popular as they are, is the ease of use. You can put any of the kits together with a screwdriver and wire strippers. Going to building a frame makes it more similar to what a strip build would be, but still less in order of components to source. A lot of that comes down to mechanical and electrical aptitude, what you may already have laying around, and your ability to substitute parts at lower cost. Otherwise in terms of like a Samsung strip build, the f series and I believe the h series strips use the same diodes as the qb version one. And the h series an hinflux use the same diodes as version 2. Then you have the bridgelux competitor in that line, gives up a couple % in terms of performance but is quite a bit cheaper.
Do strip build vs qb build is just a matter of being a little more labor intensive in having more components to work with. If you can get on a really good sale or have a bunch of aluminum laying around, then maybe a different story. Like right now arrow has 30% off for new customers, which I expect to expire shortly if it hasn’t already. But they’re pretty well cleaned out on a lot of the stuff you would want.
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