Calling all DIY LED Gurus: New Challenge(?)

[Medicine Man1]

Annnd here we are 3 months later! After a few delays and disappointments on our end, we've finally gotten LED strips and 2 of the power supplies in, as of a couple days ago!

The HLG-480H-C3500B is still apparently on backorder or something. I've got an email out to Kingbrite to see if they have them in stock or not, and may end up grabbing from him if it's going to be a lot quicker.

I've got the fixtures framed up, the 18/2 solid stat/doorbell wire, some drivers, but I'm looking for advice on a couple parts I'm still chasing.
I know I still need potentiometers of some sort, because these are B version drivers. What should I look for, and where? Without doing it online, within the next couple days? Would a regular wall dimmer work, if I had an extra one sitting around?
Radio shack's site says they have a couple of different kinds of pots, I think for "stereo volume" control? Look like they need to be soldered. Would spade type connectors work? ...
Leading to the issue of connectors...We haven't ordered Wago connectors yet, so are there other acceptable temporary connectors for between the fixture and driver?
The bloom fixture will have the most series of lights, with 5 sets of 6 strips, so I *think* I'd want a 6 port Wago, right? Would regular wire nuts work to test? What about bypassing the dimmer wires to test?
I know that's a bunch of questions, and there will be more, I'm sure, so thanks for any advice beforehand. Please let me know if there's anything else I'm missing before I power these things up!
It's good to have something to update here again, and it should get more interesting in the next few days...
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[AvidLerner]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/6x-100K-OH...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649
I use spade connectors for everything. I use wago's various types available. You can also use connection blocks

 

[Medicine Man1]

Cool, thanks for checking in, Avid!

I see you're recommending basically the same radio shack knob pots, so that's simple enough. I hooked up the 6 strip clone light last night, wrapping the dimmer wires together to bypass, and it worked alright for the few seconds I tested it, so I'd assume a household wall dimmer would work alright for testing too? I probably wouldn't go out and buy one, just because of the price compared to a pot., but I wouldn't mind hooking one up to test, if there's already one laying around.

I seem to recall you having some pretty sweet digital controller/display things on your fixtures, maybe homemade,- What are those, and what did they involve, if DIY?

I should have both the 6 strip horizontal, and 12 strip vert veg fixture running sometime tonight, if I can grab the bits and pieces I need today.

Hopefully I'm not overlooking anything huge!

 

[ReikoX]

No, a wall dimmer will not work for testing. If you read the spec sheets you will realize that you need a potentiometer of a specific ohm rating. The formula is 100k ohm for each driver you want to control with the knob. So if you have three drivers, you need a 300k ohm. Test without dimming until you have the proper potentiometer.

 

[Medicine Man1]

Thanks Reiko- I couldn't find a dimmer around anywhere anyway, so I just tied the dimmer ends together with a wire nut for testing. I just checked out your Ancestral Skunk thread, and am pulling for you! (And the others who grabbed the beans) Those are definitely on my wish list, with/after some more Ace stuff.

Last night, I just laid the 6 strip seed light out bare for a minute or less, wired in series, and it lit up great. Today, I mounted it to an aluminum reflector, powered it up, and only 3 strips lit up. The strip with the initial + lit, and the end - strip lit, along with the strip just before the last, but the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th strip didn't light.

I took it apart, and checked the 3 that didn't light, individually, and they all worked. Wired them back up, nada....

So, moving along, I wired the 12 strip light up, 3 parallel sets of 4 strips, wired in series...only 3 strips lit. These were the + leg of each of the 3 sets.
Anybody have any ideas as to why all aren't firing?

 

[AvidLerner]

You might be talking about these. I use these, they are made for power panels work great for us as well.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/AC-80-260V...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

 

[AvidLerner]

For each additional driver divide 100k in half. For two drives use a 50k pot for four drivers use a 25k pot. Also the resistor has to be resized as well. A 10k resistor for one driver a 5K resistor for two drivers, etc

 

[Medicine Man1]

You might be talking about these. I use these, they are made for power panels work great for us as well.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/AC-80-260V...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

Yeah, that's it! Very nice- I'll have to think of adding them for peace of mind.

So, I went to the only electronic supply I could find in the area to grab a couple of POTs (1 for each driver), but was talked out of it by the sales guy. They were 100k, but the guy said they're only good for like 5w, and I would need a rheostat, even for the smallest fixture, which they were out of stock.

Now, I'm pretty sure the main dimmer I've seen recommended by others here is just a 100k potentiometer, nothing too fancy or detailed...but with my limited electrical knowledge, I just left without any sort of dimmer. A dimmer is about the last thing I need to have these finished, so is there something I'm missing, or would those standard POTs at the electric shop have worked after all?

With help and a meter, we figured out that the issue with the intermittent light was the strips shorting out on the frames, which were screwed together.
(These were the horizontal 6 strip, ~100w seedling light, and the vertical 12 strip, ~200w veg light.)
So, a $20 roll of tape later, I got the strips remounted, and fired them up for testing. They all worked!

Thing is, they don't really seem all that bright...not as bright as I guess I imagined them, or they look in pics here, anyway...and not even as bright looking as some 10w household screw-in LEDs
Could it just be that they look dull because they're 3500k, and the other LEDs and CFLs I'm used to seeing are a cooler white?
Obviously I haven't grown anything under them yet, and don't have a meter to get any numbers, but they just don't seem super bright, even without a dimmer!

I'll try to get some pics up soon, but they're not the prettiest fixtures yet. As I said, they're functionally hooked up, but not finished.

Thanks again for stopping by

 

[Medicine Man1]

I got the POTs wired in today, cleaned the wiring up a bit more, and soldered things together on the clone and veg lights.

Doing this, I found out a few things I had asked about before:
With the dimmer wires wired together, like first tested, the light was definitely dull...about as dull as the lowest setting on the POTs I just installed!

Now they're WAY brighter with the dimmer on at about 75% power or so. With no dimmer, and the dimmer wires disconnected, the light was brightest, but it was only like this for a second.

The plan so far is to run both of these in a 2x4 veg tent, with the 6 strip light over clones and the 12 strip light vertically between 4 plants, in a 2x2x4 or 5...
....Although, just judging by the veg light hanging in a 4x4 tent at about 75% power, their final home will probably need dimmed down even more.
The vert flower fixture should be ready around the end of the month, and should be ridiculously bright in a 4x4 too

They actually turned out pretty decent, and it'll be nice to see live results sooner than later!

I can post pics as soon as I remove any personal data.
Anyone got any good app suggestions?

 

[AvidLerner]

ncie work

 

[Medicine Man1]

Alright, the Patient's lights and tents are finally up and started, and I've got a few pics to show you guys how it's turned out so far.

All lights are dimmed down to about 50-75% of full power, guesstimated, as I have no Kill-a-Watt or light meters.

The flowering tent is 3x3x6, with a 30-strip vertical LED fixture, powered by a MW HLG-480H-C3500B
The Veg tent is a 4x2x4, with a 6-strip horizontal LED fixture, powered by a MW HLG-120H-C700B for clones or seedlings;
Also a 12-strip vertical vegging LED fixture powered by a MW HLG-240H-C2100B

Enjoy the pics, and I'll try to answer any questions anyone may have...

 

[ReikoX]

Looks like they turned out pretty good. Yet another use of these strips.

 

[Medicine Man1]

Yessir, they're really nice so far, and super versatile! You could probably figure out a good answer to just about any lighting problem depending on how you configured these strips.

 

[Ichabod Crane]

You know looking at you picture I though you had attached the LEDs to a carbon scrubber. Seems like that would be great in a doughnut grow.

Clean out the carbon and mount the drivers inside with the strips around the out side. Then hook it up to a blower to draw the air past the strips then the drivers and out of the room..

 

[Medicine Man1]

You know looking at you picture I though you had attached the LEDs to a carbon scrubber. Seems like that would be great in a doughnut grow.

Clean out the carbon and mount the drivers inside with the strips around the out side. Then hook it up to a blower to draw the air past the strips then the drivers and out of the room..

HA! Funny, cuz you're actually close in a couple of ways...

They're actually connected via double sided tape to a 10" duct connecting flange up top, and just plumbers strap around the bottom, with some drop ceiling angle iron as an inner frame, connecting it all for stability... (the vert veg light is even simpler, with the strips just taped to a 2ft piece of 4" aluminum dryer vent)

...But, just last week, I was actually wondering how well it would work to do exactly what you said, except with the filter still being active, kinda killing 2 birds with one stone...filter/fixture combo.

Still not my zaniest idea yet though...I'm still trying to figure out a way to mount a ceiling fan in a tent, blowing up, to see if it'll do the work of intake, circulation, and exhaust in one.

 

[Boyd Crowder]

i considered this type of light build but decided my room which isnt square ,needed a custom type situation
its not completed yet , cause i need another 2x panel under the one up top, but after thats built , ill put casters under these frames and wheel them out for work, that is , after ive got the drip system done...

 

[Ichabod Crane]

Man that looks tight as hell to work in.

 

[Boyd Crowder]

Man that looks tight as hell to work in.

it is;you dont
i have to remove them from the roomand hang them out of the way 3x a day to hand water this mess
lol
didnt think it through did i?
anyways, this is what i have so ima running it, gets me some lessons learned as its my first:
coco dtw run
led run*
mixed medium run
mixed container run

so my first priorities after harvest(or sooner) is a dripper system then build the lower half and attach it to the rear wall vert 6 with some wheels on the bottoms for easy removal

anyways - not jacking your thread, just demonstrating theres lots of ways to skin the cat

 

[Medicine Man1]

it is;you dont
i have to remove them from the roomand hang them out of the way 3x a day to hand water this mess
lol
didnt think it through did i?
anyways, this is what i have so ima running it, gets me some lessons learned as its my first:
coco dtw run
led run*
mixed medium run
mixed container run

so my first priorities after harvest(or sooner) is a dripper system then build the lower half and attach it to the rear wall vert 6 with some wheels on the bottoms for easy removal

anyways - not jacking your thread, just demonstrating theres lots of ways to skin the cat

Yeah, tons of ways to skin the cat with these LEDs, and it looks like you worked out your space pretty damn well! Good to see too, cuz I've seen you trying to deal with other lighting, and flip flop on the whole LED thing through a few threads here and on RIU. I hope they live up to your expectations come harvey time!

No worries, man, no thread jack here- I actually thought about posting in your thread too, but didn't, for the same jacking concern lol

Thanks for stopping by, and feel free to post in the future.

I feel ya on the accessibility issue that a lot of us vert guys find ourselves in. I kept that in mind when designing the system pictured, and tried to keep the plants as accessible and mobile as possible. The system still isn't complete, but it's getting there, as the patient's budget allows.

Most recently added was the PVC drainage system, and the trellises, pictured below. Now the plants are tied to their own trellis, and each individual plant can be taken out of the PVC elbow, and put into a bucket, if they need taken out for accessibility to other plants behind them, or tying / defoliation.

 

[ReikoX]

Do you notice those top LEDs getting significantly hotter than the lower ones? I was advised against mounting vertically like that from one of the strip vendors I'm dealing with.