Club Quantum Board

HydoDan

HydoDan

Well-Known Member
Humple said:
I'm a noob in every way (and that includes posting in this forum), so please be patient with me, folks - I have a cab with two 23"w/20"d/48"h grow chambers. I have a 250w HID in the left chamber, and was planning on the same setup for the right side, but then I found myself tumbling down the LED rabbit hole. Any chance the 135w QB kit from HLG could compete with a 250w HPS, yield-wise? I know yield depends on a hell of a lot more than the lights, but assuming all variables are the same, how do you think they would compare? I know just enough about LEDs to know that you shouldn't make a watt-for-watt comparison with other types of lighting, but my knowledge doesn't go much further than that.
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I'm running the 135 watt kit in a 2x2x4 veg tent and am pleased with results so far.. only had it for a month but I think
with the added vertical space you gain by putting it in the top.. It should produce on par with a 250 watt hps.. It pulls 165 watts at the wall..
 
Humple

Humple

Well-Known Member
ttystikk said:
Short answer; 'all signs point to yes'
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Thank you, sir! Reduced power consumption, lower heat, longer life, similar yield... Why the hell didn't I learn up before going HID? Well, I think I'm sold. Now I just need to convince the little woman to let me spend the (little) extra. You know that old favorite of husbands the world over - "I make the money, she spends it"? Well that's not exactly how it works for us... I make it, I spend it, the wife holds the purse strings. I have too many expensive hobbies to be trusted!
 
Humple

Humple

Well-Known Member
HydoDan said:
I'm running the 135 watt kit in a 2x2x4 veg tent and am pleased with results so far.. only had it for a month but I think
with the added vertical space you gain by putting it in the top.. It should produce on par with a 250 watt hps.. It pulls 165 watts at the wall..
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Awesome, thanks! That's the kind of feedback I was hoping for. If you start (or have started) a grow journal, I'd be very interested in your results if you decide to use it for bloom.
 
Humple

Humple

Well-Known Member
Okay, I'm just blabbering now, but... I think the thing that has me most excited is the prospect of better climate control. Dealing with the massive temperature swings from lights on to lights out is driving me up the wall. I'm growing in a challenging environment (unfinished basement with no HVAC), so having a smaller delta between the temps in light and dark gives me more options for warming the space (difficult to do when you have an HPS about to switch on - my poor plants have been the victims of 102°F temps due to a space heater being left on - ouch!!).
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
Humple said:
Okay, I'm just blabbering now, but... I think the thing that has me most excited is the prospect of better climate control. Dealing with the massive temperature swings from lights on to lights out is driving me up the wall. I'm growing in a challenging environment (unfinished basement with no HVAC), so having a smaller delta between the temps in light and dark gives me more options for warming the space (difficult to do when you have an HPS about to switch on - my poor plants have been the victims of 102°F temps due to a space heater being left on - ouch!!).
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Environmental control is at least half the battle. HPS lighting is much more challenging in that regard.
 
HydoDan

HydoDan

Well-Known Member
Humple said:
Okay, I'm just blabbering now, but... I think the thing that has me most excited is the prospect of better climate control. Dealing with the massive temperature swings from lights on to lights out is driving me up the wall. I'm growing in a challenging environment (unfinished basement with no HVAC), so having a smaller delta between the temps in light and dark gives me more options for warming the space (difficult to do when you have an HPS about to switch on - my poor plants have been the victims of 102°F temps due to a space heater being left on - ouch!!).
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I was running 2 x 400 watt hps so I know where you're coming from..I had temps in the 90s.. now they're where I want them.. low 80s.. I've cooked my last plants with hps..
 
9

907guy

Well-Known Member
Getting this new growing method figured out and they are taking off. Nice tight spacing too on the front right one. These seeds were 5 years old or something and were gifted to me (still in Nirvana packaging). The front right has always been a nice bushy no stretch plant and has looked great but does not grow the fastest. Still I think I will veg it extra long and put her in a 7gal pot (it's about due to be potted up already I think).

I had to move one into flower under a measly 200w burple due to lack of room, still waiting on more QB's to get in so I can start up the other tents. Also upptted a clone that was getting pretty root bound.

1st picture taken Sunday, 2nd picture taken today, I moved the front left into flower so it is gone from the 2nd photo

APC_0427.jpg IMG_6628.JPG
 
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Humple

Humple

Well-Known Member
Well, the wife approved the purchase. Looking forward to ordering my kit next week! Any recommendations on distance or power for veg in my space (23"w/20"d/48"h)? How much should I dial it down (I'm assuming that I shouldn't run it full blast from the start)?
 
Evil-Mobo

Evil-Mobo

Well-Known Member
Humple said:
I'm actually planning on the 135w kit. Putting 260 watts in that small a space sounds pretty ballsy to me! I do have a Kill-A-Watt, as I'm a major computer geek.
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Ok listen to me here for a sec and it's just advice based on experience. You can always dim the light you have for free, but you can't add more light for free. Get the 260w kit and dim it down if you need to, when you get a bigger space (you will) the light will light a 2x4 or 3x3 with no problem............buy once cry once (:
 
Humple

Humple

Well-Known Member
Evil-Mobo said:
Ok listen to me here for a sec and it's just advice based on experience. You can always dim the light you have for free, but you can't add more light for free. Get the 260w kit and dim it down if you need to, when you get a bigger space (you will) the light will light a 2x4 or 3x3 with no problem............buy once cry once (:
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You make an excellent point, and you're absolutely right that I'll eventually move to a bigger space; I already have a floor plan for a grow room with a 6x3 flowering space, and I was in fact planning on two of the 260w kits for that. Does anyone know how long the heatsink is? That would be my first concern. If it won't fit, it's a non-starter. My second concern is sweet-talking the better half into letting me shell out that much more than she already agreed to. Ha! Damn. Well, I guess it never hurts to ask.
 
Moflow

Moflow

Well-Known Member
Humple said:
You make an excellent point, and you're absolutely right that I'll eventually move to a bigger space; I already have a floor plan for a grow room with a 6x3 flowering space, and I was in fact planning on two of the 260w kits for that. Does anyone know how long the heatsink is? That would be my first concern. If it won't fit, it's a non-starter. My second concern is sweet-talking the better half into letting me shell out that much more than she already agreed to. Ha! Damn. Well, I guess it never hurts to ask.
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2 ft long
:cool:
 
9

907guy

Well-Known Member
I think too many people get caught up on wattage, throw that out the window.

People move to LED for better effiecieny, more light, less power (which means less heat).

What you should do first is determine how big your canopy area is, lets say 24"x24". Now try to determine how high above that your light needs to be for even coverage. You want this to be as close to the plants as possible while still getting as much light as you can all the way out to the sides and corners of your cannopy (easier done in a reflective tent).

Now that you have your light height propperly set, you should tune your wattage. Bring it up or down to the maximum your plants can take at that distance.

If you do this, you should be able to get the most coverage using the least amount of power. It's super easy to hang it at the top of your tent, crank it up and let it go but what's the point. Why not get the same results with less power and heat?

This is where adding more QB boards comes in, I have 4 boards in a 3x3 and get great even coverage at about a foot above the canopy, at this distance they can only take about 160w total and they are still worn out by the end of the day, worn out from 160w (currently vegging, have not tried the QB rig in flower yet).
 
Evil-Mobo

Evil-Mobo

Well-Known Member
Humple said:
Yeah, that's just a little too long for my space. No biggie; it's not like I can't repurpose the 135w as a veg light when I finally get my proper grow room built. I won't consider it money wasted when I eventually upgrade to 260 watters.
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If you bought an oversized 2x4 tent for a closet it might fit :)

I'm showing you this as an example for the measurements not the price lol........but the 260 w would fit no issue:
http://www.htgsupply.com/products/agromax-2x4-grow-tent

My 3x3's are the same brand and oversized as well..........
 
Stephenj37826

Stephenj37826

Well-Known Member
ManCaver said:
Hey dudes can anybody tell me which version of Mean Well regulated psu can run 14 of these strips ?
https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/samsung-semiconductor-inc/SI-B8U05128HUS/1510-1585-ND/6149750

I would attach them to a heatsink and run each strip at 0.45mH , would they be rather efficient on 75% for a 2x2 area ?

On a side note I think the dudes over Horticulture should limit purchase to 2 per person and save us all thr trouble :cuss:bongsmilie
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Plenty of stock coming in. You should be able to get what you need.
 
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