Looks like they’re doing great, considering. You’re like an umbrella.
Protected from bunnies, moose, mold and mildew, and the rain. I think if I water them pretty deeply Sunday that they’ll stay in good shape for a week. If it was going to be hot, it wouldn’t work, but with temps staying in the 50’s & 60’s, I think they’ll be ok.
Glad they’re still vegging or only in early bloom, b/c this cold wet funk isn’t causing too many problems…yet.
Best of luck. They’re very resilient plants, in general. What do you know about the strains…kush and diesel, no? As far as their tolerance to climate, one way or the other?
The diesel is supposed to be very cold tolerant.
My quantum board kit left Anchorage at 3am! It’s only a few hundred miles away! So close!
It’s here! It’s here! I just have to go pick it up at the post office! Yay! Omfg! Yay!
I just finished setting up the new tent, so perfect timing! Time to go pee, go take a few puffs, then head to the post office!
@dbrn32 As soon as there’s light (or an issue with assembly), I’ll share pics!
Congrats! I’ll make sure to pop in from time to time.
I’ll be following along, for sure! I had one question for you @dbrn32 that I keep forgetting to ask. These builds I see seem like such a great deal, but the technology is so quickly improving, constantly. It’s awesome, really. But my question is about their longevity. I guess it mainly depends on the load you’re putting on the driver, and the cooling on the diodes, or is there more to it?
The puffs led to me cleaning my bong which led to several more puffs. Heading to post office now!
I have to get away from using terms like always, never, everyone, and nobody. Because @Bogleg catches me lol.
So 99% of the time the leds I will recommend will have an expected service life of 50,000 hours. The average loss in performance over that period is about 80%. That’s something like 10 years of running 12/12. Warranty periods vary a little, but 3 years seems to ring a bell on a lot of them. The drivers vary more by model, but a meanwell hlg I think has projected service life of something like 60,000 hours and 7 year warranty.
I’ve been doing this heat for a little over a year. To my knowledge, @Myfriendis410 is the only one that’s had an issue. He had like 2-3 strips drop a handful of diodes almost immediately. He contacted arrow and I’m pretty sure they were legit about sending out replacements. As far as I know he finished complete grow without anymore issues and may even still have those strips in service. I’m sure he’ll see tag and comment. But that’s the only build I know of there being an issue with, and a very minor one at that. As with everything, components can and will fail prematurely. But all of the stuff I’m recommending are usually latest tech from the biggest names in led lighting. I usually recommend mild to mediocre operating currents, if nothing else for the sake of efficiency, with relatively standard to oversized passive or semi passive cooling designs. Sometimes we have to push that because of budget or a number of other reasons, in which case I will generally at least note that we’re doing so before moving forward.
Advancements in technology are another story. A version 2 qb 288 is currently the most efficient platform you can buy to my knowledge. With maybe some argument from chilled tech gen2, but cost at operating current I think the v2 boards win. There’s not a doubt in my mind that there will be something better in the next m 6-12 months, maybe sooner. But we’re usually seeing like 3% upgrades from new generation leds. More than that is usually a shift towards green in light spectrum and doesn’t usually play out as that much in photon efficacy. And, are usually more expensive, which is always worth considering. Kinda like buying a computer right? If you’re growing with amazon blurple panels, an upgrade to just about anything I do will likely be in the neighborhood of 75% or more par per watt. So you have to ask yourself if waiting on something like a 3-5% upgrade is worth continuing to go without that. 75%. That’s assuming of course you’ll be willing to pay top dollar to get it too.
Everything ok with driver & such. How do I get each board lit up? Only one, so far lighting. Far left board & center lined up like a 2 board set-up & 3rd board same direction as far left board. Do I need to flip last board?
No pics, back to sneak mode. Light put away for day, but hope to finish it late-late tonight
320 kit right?
I keep trying to like things, but it keeps not letting me, no matter how hard I try lol
Thank you for the thorough answer. Exactly what I was looking for. That said, I’ll probably be ready to shop in the next couple months, after the move. I’ll probably just expand what I have, slightly, to get going, and then upgrade. Maybe a harvest or two, then upgrade to see the difference.
This is honestly the first time I’m really looking at what’s required…ohmuhgosh…so easy. I used to install stuff like this:

…daily. This will be fun!
Yep. Driver wired fine. Just need to figure out how the boards get wired in a series. Have them hooked up, but only first board working.
Been telling people that for like 14 months lol. Most you can assemble with drill, couple wrenches, screwdriver and wire strippers.
Now I want to go all out lol
Driver output dc positive goes to board 1. The negative from board 1 gets a jumper wire to the positive on board 2. The negative terminal on board 2 gets a jumper wire to the positive on board 3. The driver output dc negative goes to the the negative terminal on board 3.
Did you see in video how he had outer board flipped from center board? That makes it easy to use short jumpers from board to board and not have 3 feet of wire from driver.
The wiring is most intimidating for average cat. As it should be, but using correct stuff and taking your time it can be plenty safe. It’s also the least time consuming. Building a frame to hold heatsinks requires the most thought and time for just about everyone, but is also underestimated because it’s just cutting some aluminum and drilling some holes.