DIY F-Strip Build - Sanity Check!

bajunio

bajunio

Member
Howdy, folks!

Thanks in advance for taking the time to review this.

After a handful of exciting months researching LED tech, I’m nearly ready to pull the trigger on my first DIY LED grow light project. Please review the environmental details and project goals I have listed below.

Environmental Details:
  • Tent Size - 24” x 30” x 85”
  • Grow Style - ScrOG (1-2 Plants)
  • Grow Medium - Top Fed DWC or Coco/Perlite Hydro (undecided, sway me?)
Project Goals:
  • Completely saturate available canopy of 5 sq/ft
  • Provide a quality spectrum for healthy, full cycle development
  • Individual control over warmer and cooler light spectrums
  • Run as cool and efficiently as possible
  • Provide me with a deep sense of accomplishment
After I recovered from the heart attack I received upon viewing Takeshy’s magnificent light, I fell in love with the idea of using Samsung LT-F564B 80 CRI 22” strips for my build.

Samsung LT-F564B:
  • 43.7Vf (min)
  • 46.0Vf @ 1120mA
  • 48.0Vf @ 1800mA (max)
Core Part List:
  • 3 x LT-F564B 80 CRI 3000K (SI-B8V521560WW)
  • 2 x LT-F564B 80 CRI 5000K (SI-B8R521560WW)
  • HLG-120H-C1050 powering the 3x3000K
  • HLG-80H-C700 powering the 2x5000K
Config:
  • These will be evenly spaced down the long side of my tent
  • 3K - 5K - 3K - 5K - 3K
The sweet spot for the Mean Well HLG driver series, in regard to dimming efficiency, seems to be around 75%. The combined max output of the HLG-120 and HLG-80 drivers is ~245 watts. This should average out to ~49 watts per square foot in my tent. When dimmed to 75%, it will be closer to ~184 watts or ~37 watts per square foot.

LED Questions:
  • Am I under-powering my strips correctly, but still providing enough juice for my canopy?
  • Should I be using even lower current drivers?
  • Will my target of running the listed gear at 75% capacity still overpower my grow space?
  • Should I mix 5000K and 3000K? Should it be 3000K and 3500K? All 3500K?
General Grow:
  • Can you tip the scales on Top Fed DWC versus Coco/Perlite Hydro given my described environment?
Thank you once again for taking time to read through my madness. I really appreciate it!


Cheers!
 
bajunio

bajunio

Member
GBAUTO said:
24x18 cookie sheet with 5 3500k F564B strips and a HLG-240H-48B driver. The added complexity of dual drivers and dimming circuits aren't needed-you will probably get the same results using the 3500's.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the response! That light looks like its doing just fine by that girl under it.

My thought was that I'd be able to turn off my 3000Ks and tune just the 2 5000Ks while I'm bringing up some seedlings / clones through veg. And when I put them into flower, I'd be able to balance out the warmer 3000Ks with the 5000Ks.

If I went all 3500Ks, would you suggest running them in parallel rather than series? I see you have linked a driver that would suggest such.
 
D

Dave455

Well-Known Member
bajunio said:
Thanks for the response! That light looks like its doing just fine by that girl under it.

My thought was that I'd be able to turn off my 3000Ks and tune just the 2 5000Ks while I'm bringing up some seedlings / clones through veg. And when I put them into flower, I'd be able to balance out the warmer 3000Ks with the 5000Ks.

If I went all 3500Ks, would you suggest running them in parallel rather than series? I see you have linked a driver that would suggest such.
Click to expand...
3500 for veg and flower ok !
 
Rocket Soul

Rocket Soul

Well-Known Member
Bridgelux vesta strips offers a lot for setup that is geared towards spectrum control.
They are double strips with 2 channels: 5000/2700k both 90cri: you could tune your spectrum both towards colder and warmer light, aswell as adding 90 cri. They are cheap and available aswell.
But they are not as efficient as sammie sammie strips and would need separate drivers
 
GBAUTO

GBAUTO

Well-Known Member
bajunio said:
Thanks for the response! That light looks like its doing just fine by that girl under it.

If I went all 3500Ks, would you suggest running them in parallel rather than series? I see you have linked a driver that would suggest such.
Click to expand...
Because the strips have essentially all the same electrical characteristics, using parallel wiring keeps the DC voltage your exposed to at a much safer level.
 
bajunio

bajunio

Member
Rocket Soul said:
They are double strips with 2 channels: 5000/2700k both 90cri: you could tune your spectrum both towards colder and warmer light, aswell as adding 90 cri.
Click to expand...
Interesting idea! It would seem that when you are tossing in far more LEDs than "required," you can run higher CRI values as the lack of photons will be made up by the extra fixtures. Plus, the added bonus of a higher red spectrum output.

GBAUTO said:
Because the strips have essentially all the same electrical characteristics, using parallel wiring keeps the DC voltage your exposed to at a much safer level.
Click to expand...
Safety first! : )

I suppose my thought to run in series comes from something I had read during my research that spooked me. While running in series, if you encounter a failure, the circuit dies and that's the end of it. While running in parallel, if one of your components dies, the overflow of power is distributed to the remaining components and could create a some sort of cascading failure where you lose your entire setup.

I believe an option for preventing runaway failure would be to add something alone the lines of fuses between each of the components. This way, if we see a load of X on the line, it will burn and kill the circuit rather than simply passing the current down the line.
 
GBAUTO

GBAUTO

Well-Known Member
Just remember that any added complexity to a circuit is another potential failure point. I had zero hesitation to use parallel circuitry with the F-strips because they are all virtually identical electrically. Even if a complete strip failed, the other strips will still be able to handle the added current. I've been running that cookie sheet for over a year and have had zero issues. I run series on my Vero fixtures-150Vdc so it will kill you if it bites. Parallel lets me use a 48v driver-lets me know if I touch it but it won't kill me.
 
Randomblame

Randomblame

Well-Known Member
I see no problem with using two different drivers.
The HLG-120H-C1050B maxed out at +155w, maybe more(up to 170w). You could switch the HLG-80 completely off and still have more than 30w/sft, which is IMO perfect with F-strips. The 5000k side can be used for vegging but it would also help to keep the stretch under control. A useful feature if your are a haze/sativa fan.
Pretty sure it would work well!

But why not using a HLG-150H-48B and a HLG-80H-48B and parallel wiring? Output would be the nearly the same but it's a lot saver with only 48volts. 148v goes easily thru the skin, 48v not(only when the skin wet).
 
S

Serverchris

Well-Known Member
It's not the voltage that kills you it's the amperage, 48v can kill you if your conductive enough and the electricity flows from one arm out the other across your chest (heart). Anything above one milla-amp can kill you. With that being said I'd still run parallel because I don't see any advantages in series wiring and if it does zap you 48v does feel a lot better than a few hundred volts.
 
Randomblame

Randomblame

Well-Known Member
Serverchris said:
It's not the voltage that kills you it's the amperage, 48v can kill you if your conductive enough and the electricity flows from one arm out the other across your chest (heart). Anything above one milla-amp can kill you. With that being said I'd still run parallel because I don't see any advantages in series wiring and if it does zap you 48v does feel a lot better than a few hundred volts.
Click to expand...

Yup, already some sweat conducts electricity very well, so that even 48v can be dangerous. But I would still call it the saver way..
 
ANC

ANC

Well-Known Member
lol, I love throwing charged capacitors with a 35V charge to unsuspecting friends....
The look on their faces when they catch it on the pins and get shocked is priceless.
 
ANC

ANC

Well-Known Member
35VDC in a 10000uf cap gives just the right amount of jolt.

I've shocked myself plenty on high voltages building valve amps and preamps.
 
Randomblame

Randomblame

Well-Known Member
Hehehe..
Just imagine ... Ouch, ouch, ouch, fuck man, wtf, ouch...

Ignition coils are also a nice toys to play with...
 
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