So better efficiency wise to just go with 2 anyway correct?
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@dbrn32 where is the best place to order strips from?
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I think it makes more sense to go with two drivers anyway.
What strips do you want? Sometimes more a matter of who has the ones you want in stock.
I would like to fill a 2x4 tent for veg. So maybe a mixture of 4-5k and 3k is what I kinda had in mind.
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There’s not really any reason to mix them in my opinion. Arrow probably has decent price on eb gen 2.
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Ok just stay with the 3k or?
If you plan on vegging with it, I would check pricing on 4000k and 5000k and get whichever is cheaper
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Is there benefits with going with the strips over the boards?
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Not really. The one benefit maybe that you dont need quite as big of light to justify buying a 4 pack of boards, you could maybe save a couple bucks building strip light.
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Okay I’m learning how little I know about drivers. The driver you recommended is the HLG-480H-2100. If I understand correctly this is a 480w driver that can be adjusted from 240-480w. It is a 2100ma or 2.1a driver. If I use the suffix B I will need a pot to adjust the watt out put. How big of pot will I need? This driver will also allow my 4 boards to be run in series. Is that the most efficient wiring plan?
The driver is also capable of using 120v or 240v for incoming power. Is the driver capable of adjusting to the correct incoming voltage without changing a setting? ie. I could plug light in a 120v outlet one day and then switch to 240v the next just by changing the outlet I plug (with correct adapter) the next day.
If I use an aluminum plate, similar to the HLG light, would that be enough of a heat sink.
I know your busy and I am always appreciative of your help. Thank you.
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Just got the QB 120 fixture rebuilt. I grew my two WWA with just the 4 boards. After they finished I took the light down, rebuilt the frame and had it tig welded. I added 4 of the cutter strips with an HLG 100H 36A.
They are 660nm deep red, which will be used once plants go into flower.
BEFORE
AFTER
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You need a 100k pot, that reads at least 100k.
They will have to be run in series. 2.1 amps per board will have same efficiency no matter how its wired. I’m not sure if you’re asking a really simple question here, or a really difficult one.
Yup, that’s how they work.
Probably. But if you’re worried about efficiency I would definitely run them with heatsinks. A piece of plate big enough probably isn’t much cheaper. And heatsinks will keep junction temps lower and boards running more efficiently.
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That made me laugh.
Thanks again.
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Man that come out great! Awesome job bro!
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I wasn’t trying to be shitty there or anything. But we generally look at efficiency as amount of power in vs amount of light out. The board efficiency is all about how hard they are running and temps. So how you wire them doesn’t really matter provided in every scenario you are considering the total power is the same. But if you take a 150 watt driver running two boards will be more efficient than 1 board running at 150 watts. Two boards would be 75 watts per board right?
The drivers are different story. The hlg-480 is a smidge more efficient than hlg-240 I believe. And running it at 240v would also gain another small amount. So the best you can do in that scenario is going with hlg-480 and running at 240v. But it’s only couple % more efficient on driver that way, so not a huge loss to go with 2 smaller drivers and run at 120v.
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Oh gosh I never thought you being off color. It made me laugh because I did not know I had asked a question that could be easy or difficult to answer. I know enough about electricity and designing circuits to me trouble. I do appreciate learning about the application of lights and drivers.
Thanks for your help. I’ll be going with the 480
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Happy Cake Day @dbrn32, thanks again man!
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Thank you!
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Same here dude!
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