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Samsung hard strips - Anyone ever seen any small length ones?

Seshwan

Member
Hi all,

Looking to use some Samsung hard LED strips in my PC grow case. Length of the case is 17 inches but ideally would like 12 inch strips if possible.

Only ones I can see are like 1 meter strips.. Would there be any way for me to shorten them DIY?

Thanks
 

Arf

Member
Just started my first run with some of these yesterday, they are from Bridgelux, (the people that make the Vero 29 COBs).
https://www.cutter.com.au/products.php?cat=EB+Series

I used the 11" (280mm)version 3500K.

Running them at their nominal settings. 350mA 22.1v which is about 7.7Watts per strip.
Probably crank them up to 10Watts per strip as the grow progresses.
 
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Arf

Member
Ahh nice they look decent. What are you driving them with may I ask?

You got a PC ase too?

I am doing a micro grow but it's more like 3sq. ft. not a PC case. You need 3-5 strips per sq. ft. about 25-30w

My light meter says the spread is very even, much better than the 3 Cree COBs I was using which gave obvious hot spots and dim areas unless you put them very high up.

I am driving them with a 12v 10 amp power supply stepped up to 22.1 v using a $5 boost converter off eBay which lets me adjust volts and current.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/DC-DC-boos...ower-supply-250W-10A-LED-Driver-/181940997254

I just soldered all the strips in parallel for ease. I don't believe in buying expensive high voltage power supplies and soldering everything in series. 22.1v is nice and safe to work around.
 

Seshwan

Member
I am doing a micro grow but it's more like 3sq. ft. not a PC case. You need 3-5 strips per sq. ft. about 25-30w

My light meter says the spread is very even, much better than the 3 Cree COBs I was using which gave obvious hot spots and dim areas unless you put them very high up.

I am driving them with a 12v 10 amp power supply stepped up to 22.1 v using a $5 boost converter off eBay which lets me adjust volts and current.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/DC-DC-boos...ower-supply-250W-10A-LED-Driver-/181940997254

I just soldered all the strips in parallel for ease. I don't believe in buying expensive high voltage power supplies and soldering everything in series. 22.1v is nice and safe to work around.


Ahh nice man!

That is reassuring as I started trying to work out how many I would need last night and my calculations showed that 5 of those would give me around 6000 lumens/sq ft which is bang what you want from what I have read
 

Arf

Member
Ahh nice man!

That is reassuring as I started trying to work out how many I would need last night and my calculations showed that 5 of those would give me around 6000 lumens/sq ft which is bang what you want from what I have read

With decent LEDs most people got for around 25-30W per sq. ft. I made a mistake in my calculation and didn't order enough strips, I left a 3" space between the strips, so on nominal current I am only getting 19W per sq. ft. (it was my first attempt) I can turn up the current to compensate, but that wasn't the plan. I figure I should only have left a 1" gap between the strips, so I have ordered some more to fill the spaces. Probably under run each strip at 6 watts which should take them up to 160 lumens per watt.
 

Seshwan

Member
Yeah due to space in my case I may have to have the strips almost touching each other if I am going to fit 5 in there. Will have to come up with some creative way to mount them somehow
 

Arf

Member
Yeah due to space in my case I may have to have the strips almost touching each other if I am going to fit 5 in there. Will have to come up with some creative way to mount them somehow

I made a rectangular frame out of "L" shaped aluminum from the hardware which I cut and pop riveted together in about 10min. Then to mount the strips I just used a self tapping screw at the each end of the strip, there are holes in them for that purpose in what looks like a silly position close to the edge. Apparently is something called the "Zhaga" standard, which I totally fail to see the logic of, but it works.
 

Arf

Member
https://www.digikey.com/products/en?FV=ffecd481

nearly 30cm long. (12'' or something).
it's the same smd used for the quantum board.
240mA 22.5V. no need for an heatsink with those value.

That link says they only have the 5000K in stock and they are $9.94 plus shipping which makes them more than twice the price of the Bridgelux version from Cutter $4.37. https://www.cutter.com.au/products.php?cat=EB+Series

The Samsung data sheet doesn't tell you the output when you drive them more than 240mA.

The Samsung specs claim 10% more lumens per watt, which sounds good but in reality it means a savings of only 4cents/mth. in electricity per strip, meaning it's going to take about 10 years to claw back the price difference.

But you change your strips every 3 or 4 years because the LEDs wear and loose output, that's why I never use a constant current source, must adjust current as they wear using light meter.

More importantly you only need 4 x Bridgelux strips per sq. ft to get around 5,000 lumens per sq. ft., but you need 5 x Samsung strips to get the same. That equates to 4 x $4.37 = $17.48 vs 5 x $9.94 = $49.7 per sq. ft.
 
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Arf

Member
I just finished watching a couple of videos on DIY builds using the Quantum boards, which essentially use the same LEDs as the Samsung strips, but they have shoved a few hundred of the LEDs on the same PCB, similar to what you get if you join the strips side by side with no gaps to make a little panel. Then they stick a heatsink/fan on the board, hang it in the middle of a much larger grow space, typically 18" or higher, drive it hard, resulting in uneven light spread concentrated around the middle of the grow space. You have to ask why didn't they just use COBs?

The whole point of using the Samsung and Bridgelux strips, is to cover the entire canopy with them, just far enough apart so they still passive cool without heatsinks, like they were designed to do. If it's done it properly, you should be able you move your light meter around the grow space and get a nice even reading.
 
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Seshwan

Member
I think due to space requirements I may have to have them pretty close to each other unfortunately. Won't make much difference with regards to light spread I don't think as 5 of them right next to each other will basically cover the whole width of my case. Although I haven't actually measured it properly just yet but I do know they will fit someway or another.

Those Samsung ones aren't in stock so am just going to go with the bridgelux.

I will probably order them later on today but the total comes in below what is needed for free delivery so to save me having to order anything else at a later date would anyone recommend any accessories I may need for the actual build?

If you could provide links as well for example thermal compound etc? There are literally 60 pages for some of those things so if anyone has experienec with the good ones to choose it would be much appreciated!

To clarify, I will be buying these - https://www.digikey.co.uk/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&itemSeq=240847447&uq=636434540419892565
 

Arf

Member
The 24 LEDs on each strip are 3 groups of 8 LEDS in series. If you hold them up to the light you can see the PCB tracks, there is a chance that you could cut the board into 3 strips of 8 LEDs to fill the gap in you 17" long space. I am only guessing that it could be cut into 3, you would have to examine properly to be certain, but it's something worth looking into.
 

Douglas.Curtis

Autistic Diplomat in Training
I have a space which would leave about 6" between these and the plants. Would these strips be appropriate to light it? Plant width will be 18" wide at maximum, what do I need to know to design the arrangement most likely to work?
 

Seshwan

Member
That is a great call Arf, I am hoping that I get lucky and they all fit nice and snug without any modifications
 

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