Pictures of fake boards and drivers please?

NeWcS

NeWcS

Well-Known Member
There are so many people in this sub forum always dissuading others from ordering from Ali/china, as everything from there is fake. Pay 3 times the price for an HLG550 so you know you're getting what you've paid for. But I have yet to see anyone post any real proof of fake boards and/or drivers.

Since there are so many experts out there on counterfeit Chinese gear, maybe you guys can post some info as to how we can know if we're getting fake gear.

I have yet to see ANY testing, specs, pictures, videos etc of anyone receiving boards that aren't made from real Samsung diodes and/or meanwell drivers. Its funny how things are junk till a westerner touches it. Then that same shit is worth more and made better.

I think its all programming. We(US) were taught to believe that ALL things from China are junk, Until a big company puts its name on it. Than it's ok.

Put-up or shut-up already.
Thanks :)
 
NeWcS

NeWcS

Well-Known Member
Budzbuddha said:
Read this .... June 2019 ( recent )

Defective QB Quantum Board LED by Rita/ Shenzhen Meijiu & Warranty Refused

What Happened? I bought 2×800 FOTOP V1 full kits from Meijiu and received them in July 2018. In March 2019, I purchased 1×800 FOTOP V2 kit and 2×25W Supplement Red Bars Important to note that I drive my boards at only around 50% of max power. With heatsinks no less. So they should last longer...
www.rollitup.org
Click to expand...
Good read. Thanks.

I was going to say in my initial post, that I am well aware of the horrible warranty reputation these companies come with. But that doesn't make the parts fake because the company has poor customer service.
 
Prawn Connery

Prawn Connery

Well-Known Member
Mean Wells are already made in China.

There is plenty of evidence of fake Mean Wells from the company itself - you shouldn't even need to ask: https://www.meanwellaustralia.com.au/news/watch-out-fake-mean-well-power-supplies

As for Samsung LEDs, unless you have a decent sphere or gonio and reflow the LEDs off the PCB without damaging them to test, how is the average punter going to know the difference between flux bins? Almost every LM561C, for example, is advertised as "S6" - so what happened to all those S5 and S4 chips?

You get what you pay for - if you're lucky - it's as simple as that.
 
coreywebster

coreywebster

Well-Known Member
NeWcS said:
There are so many people in this sub forum always dissuading others from ordering from Ali/china, as everything from there is fake. Pay 3 times the price for an HLG550 so you know you're getting what you've paid for. But I have yet to see anyone post any real proof of fake boards and/or drivers.

Since there are so many experts out there on counterfeit Chinese gear, maybe you guys can post some info as to how we can know if we're getting fake gear.

I have yet to see ANY testing, specs, pictures, videos etc of anyone receiving boards that aren't made from real Samsung diodes and/or meanwell drivers. Its funny how things are junk till a westerner touches it. Then that same shit is worth more and made better.

I think its all programming. We(US) were taught to believe that ALL things from China are junk, Until a big company puts its name on it. Than it's ok.

Put-up or shut-up already.
Thanks :)
Click to expand...
If you go back a few years you would find some of the first clone boards were tested in spheres to show the diodes were not performing as they were supposed to.
There is also at least one thread where people took very close up photos of the package and the diode wasn't what it was supposed to be.
There were all sorts of boards been sold claiming top bin Samsung that were not even Samsung diodes.

Move on a few years and the more reliable companies are the ones been recommended (of the Alibaba ones) the others didn't get the repeat business.
 
Prawn Connery

Prawn Connery

Well-Known Member
Yes, but even amongst the Chinese companies that are still around, nearly all of them advertise "top bin" diodes - whatever they are. I mean, they could be top flux bin with highest voltage bin - which is not the same as highest efficiency.

Suffice it to say, the top flux and lowest voltage bins of each run of diodes may only make up 5% of total yield, so simple maths tells you there are an awful lot of middle and lower bin LEDs out there - many of them (most likely) being sold as "top bin".

I know that is not the same as "fake" Samsungs (or whatever), but it is still a dishonest claim.
 
Rocket Soul

Rocket Soul

Well-Known Member
NeWcS said:
There are so many people in this sub forum always dissuading others from ordering from Ali/china, as everything from there is fake. Pay 3 times the price for an HLG550 so you know you're getting what you've paid for. But I have yet to see anyone post any real proof of fake boards and/or drivers.

Since there are so many experts out there on counterfeit Chinese gear, maybe you guys can post some info as to how we can know if we're getting fake gear.

I have yet to see ANY testing, specs, pictures, videos etc of anyone receiving boards that aren't made from real Samsung diodes and/or meanwell drivers. Its funny how things are junk till a westerner touches it. Then that same shit is worth more and made better.

I think its all programming. We(US) were taught to believe that ALL things from China are junk, Until a big company puts its name on it. Than it's ok.

Put-up or shut-up already.
Thanks :)
Click to expand...
One of the first tell tale signs brought to the forum was re S5 and S6 bin of lm561c:
S5 seems to have a dark dot where the zenner diode is. S6 (higher bin) does not have this dot. But even this is not a 100%, it was based around sone photos of a couple of diodes so its hard to know.

You can also see it like this: buy twice as many china boards than what you need and put them at half power. The efficiency you gain (along with lower temps, better coverage and easier thermal management) is worth it, in my opinion.

When people talk about fake boards is generally more like boards without genuine top bin diodes. The process of making leds means there are tons of non optimal leds made for every true top bin. China is brimfull of these diodes and tend to stick it on boards and call them top bin.
Also worth noting is that some of these "reject" leds might be just as bright as top bins but failed somewhere else in the qc process.

Ive been happy with my purchases (guestimating over 20000 diodes worth of board, all still working) and i believe the truth is somewhere between the 2 camps.
Depending on where you are located (Us, euro or somewhere else) it makes more sense to use one or the other. However it is very clear to me that HLGs longstanding partnership with samsung gives them access to leds which you wont get on any china board
 
Prawn Connery

Prawn Connery

Well-Known Member
No worries. Don't get me wrong - the Chinese knock-offs still grow great plants in the hands of decent growers - but the main issues are quality control, warranty issues and false bin advertising. Shipping can also be expensive from China and I'm not sure what the tariff situation is like in the US. But in all honesty it's not that much more to buy recognised US products like HLG Quantum Boards etc and just save the hassle.

The obvious disclaimer is that we, ourselves, produce LED boards in Australia, so of course we have a vested interest in all this. I would never tell people not to buy Chinese boards, however they do need to be aware of the potential pitfalls. And personally, I don't like dealing with dishonest companies out of principle. That's just me.
 
OLD MOTHER SATIVA

OLD MOTHER SATIVA

Well-Known Member
i have no idea about anything

here are some china panels..my design

these are real meanwells and chinese non meanwells

sorry to all the dos si fruity cake cookie sherbet people if this looks wrong to them..

yeh it takes more work

left 5000k right 300k

still a few weeks to go

cbh#1IMG_4391.jpg
 
Prawn Connery

Prawn Connery

Well-Known Member
OLD MOTHER SATIVA said:
i have no idea about anything

here are some china panels..my design

these are real meanwells and chinese non meanwells

sorry to all the dos si fruity cake cookie sherbet people if this looks wrong to them..

yeh it takes more work

left 5000k right 300k

still a few weeks to go

cbh#1View attachment 4415968
Click to expand...
Noice - what's the strain? They look a little bit like the Swazis I grew out many years ago that were gifted to me by a very nice Saffa named "Bedlamatic". :D
 
OLD MOTHER SATIVA

OLD MOTHER SATIVA

Well-Known Member
thanks..they are cuban black haze s1's

..i grew swazi up here out doors years ago..it was peppery and i liked it.
ps
your grow shot is bang on
 
NeWcS

NeWcS

Well-Known Member
So I just spoke with Rocky with Canna and asked him if they can prove top bin diodes are used with their boards. He sent be a bunch of pictures and numbers showing they are top bin, assuming the pics are real. Which I guess is what this entire disscusions is about. :) :) :)
 
PadawanWarrior

PadawanWarrior

Well-Known Member
Prawn Connery said:
Yes, but even amongst the Chinese companies that are still around, nearly all of them advertise "top bin" diodes - whatever they are. I mean, they could be top flux bin with highest voltage bin - which is not the same as highest efficiency.

Suffice it to say, the top flux and lowest voltage bins of each run of diodes may only make up 5% of total yield, so simple maths tells you there are an awful lot of middle and lower bin LEDs out there - many of them (most likely) being sold as "top bin".

I know that is not the same as "fake" Samsungs (or whatever), but it is still a dishonest claim.
Click to expand...
Ya, and I hear HLG buys up all the good ones.
 
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