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lighting a 2x3 tent

zappa66

Member
Hi all I had myself pretty much convinced that I wanted a QB but have sort of gone down the rabbit hole and am wondering if there are other ways to go about lighting a 2’ x 3’ area. Looking for the best bang for my buck with quality led. Mainly I’m looking at kits. There are a few rapid led kits that look decent. Main concern here with them is that I have never soldered anything before. Can’t be that hard. Are there any kits that I may be missing in the 200-300w range $200-350?

I am also considering using a (240)130w blurple blackstar panel I have. Does it make sense to add ~100w of QB or COB to that for a similar effect or should I just pony up and replace that wattage entirely?

3 cob (227.50) HLG-240H-C2100B driver + poke in chips
https://www.rapidled.com/vero29-triple-cob-array-kit/

260w qb ($325 ish)
https://growerslights.com/collectio...lighting-group-260-watt-quantum-board-led-kit

https://horticulturelightinggroup.com/collections/diy/products/260w-qb-led-kit
 
Hi all I had myself pretty much convinced that I wanted a QB but have sort of gone down the rabbit hole and am wondering if there are other ways to go about lighting a 2’ x 3’ area. Looking for the best bang for my buck with quality led. Mainly I’m looking at kits. There are a few rapid led kits that look decent. Main concern here with them is that I have never soldered anything before. Can’t be that hard. Are there any kits that I may be missing in the 200-300w range $200-350?

I am also considering using a (240)130w blurple blackstar panel I have. Does it make sense to add ~100w of QB or COB to that for a similar effect or should I just pony up and replace that wattage entirely?

3 cob (227.50) HLG-240H-C2100B driver + poke in chips
https://www.rapidled.com/vero29-triple-cob-array-kit/

260w qb ($325 ish)
https://growerslights.com/collectio...lighting-group-260-watt-quantum-board-led-kit

https://horticulturelightinggroup.com/collections/diy/products/260w-qb-led-kit

Check out GrowGreen 200w boards come in kits with solderless connectors and mounted on heat sinks, two boards would do your area fine https://growgreenled.wordpress.com
 

zappa66

Member
Growgreen looks interesting I'll have to look a bit more into it, thanks. edit* am I correct in thinking that a driver must be purchased separately? its sort of hard to tell
 

zappa66

Member
So I got all set up, cheap grow tent brand grow tent off amazon, shockingly high quality for the price. I got my 260w QB as well, and its bright as hell. Remains to be seen what it can do in practice but seems really well made. Its certainly a nice spectrum for working under thats for sure. I will be interested to see how stuff flowers under it.

Right now I have some Hazeman Mikado and Goldfish seedlings in there. I'm picture shy but I'll try to pop back in once I'm farther along to update on how the QB performs.

Thanks for all the good information.

edit* its a HGL 260 with the 304 boards @ 3000k
 

zappa66

Member
I'd just like to add another thought about the HGL 260. This thing generates heat, quite a bit of it. Prior to receiving it I had a 130w at wall (240w advertised) cheap led panel in there with no ventilation at all and temps were no higher than room temp. The 260w QB generates approximately the same heat my old 150w HPS, I found that surprising. I just wanted to toss that info out there incase it helps someone in their planning.
 

Koondense

Well-known member
Veteran
That's good info.
QBs are in the highest efficency range but still produce some heat.
Every relevant light source has a light/heat efficency ratio, qbs are around 65/35, a 150w hps should be at 35/65 approx. Meaning around 90-100w of heat coming from both sources, almost same figures.

Cheers
 

zappa66

Member
lUw7qI.jpeg


We’ll see if I still remember how to add images, but the qb is performing well. Got two hazeman mikado and one goldfish under the screen. Just went 12/12 five or so days ago.
 

zappa66

Member
update had some heat and lockout issues with the grow. bone dry I ended up with 184g, so I think thats like 1.g per w. Pretty unbelivable considering that I did have some issues. Got to say i was skeptical, but wow, not bad.
 

Pro Headies

Active member
Veteran
Doesn't a 260 kit run at 280w+ at wall? My 240 driver runs 280w but it's on 132 boards. Did you run it dimmed down or full power?
 

zappa66

Member
No idea, thought it was dimmable when I ordered it but never figured out how to do it. Was on full power I guess...?
 

FlaDankster

Active member
Veteran
No idea, thought it was dimmable when I ordered it but never figured out how to do it. Was on full power I guess...?

Do you not have a little hole on top of the driver that you can fit a small screwdriver into?That is for dimming.Don't know what driver you have so don't know if it's able to be dimmed down.
 

Pro Headies

Active member
Veteran
No idea, thought it was dimmable when I ordered it but never figured out how to do it. Was on full power I guess...?
all my drivers came from factory turned up to full power so at 280w at wall you hit .65g per watt by my math
 

zappa66

Member
Beats me I guess, I was running it at whatever it was set at out of the box. Regardless of gpw I am extremely please with the light, harvested plenty to get me through till fall. I appreciate the advice members here gave me. Cheaper lights I had been considering would have been disappointing I'm sure. I'll try another run in the fall, I'm sure I can do better next time.

FlaDankster: thanks a million! thing had no instructions, now I can dim it, really thank you I would have never figured that out on my own.

Anyway I just wanted to pop back in and update, because threads like these never end up being updated with the happy ending. I always found it frustrating.

edit. other thing I'll mention is that when I dried the harvest, I kind of lost track of the time and its crunchy crumble in your fingers type of a situation. probably most here would have left a bit more moisture in the buds (as would I but hey what are you going to do).
 

FlaDankster

Active member
Veteran
Get yourself a killawatt meter.Then you'll know how many watts you're running as you dial your light up or down.
 

zappa66

Member
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Sorry for the sideways pics, back in action with Stray Fox’s Triangle Kush x Iraq.
 

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