Blossom21
Active Member
After getting my first quantum boards that are just full of "basic" 3000k white lm301b's led's, i've been eyeballing to add some extra red to my existing setup. So here i am looking for knowledge what would be the smartest choice with a smaller budget. Bought my QB's from Kingbrite since they were easily the cheapest option at the time with pretty cheap shipping, and so many people were giving thumbs up too that i couldn't resist. So far haven't regretted that choice.
Since i already have 1152pcs of 3000k lm301b's (~500W) in a 4x4 tent, i probably won't need that many extra lights, just a smart amount of extra supplemental lights to give extra boost and coverage to the whole tent. Of course adding more lights means i could run my QB's at lower power too.
I'm not sure if i would need to buy more blue or go UV/IR since they seem to be even more expensive, but i'm open for suggestions.
So i was looking around Alibaba (i know i know, "the cheap knockoff site") and Kingbrite seems to be one of the only cheaper companies selling boards/strips of 660nm & 730nm CREE XP-E2 along with Epistars, which seem to be over 2 times cheaper than CREE's. I looked around a couple other bigger suppliers and tried to search around the site, but there didn't seem to be much other "red only" board/strips around.
The only other companies i know that sell these are HLG & Cutter, BUT keeping in mind shipping to northern Europe most likely limits my options to Alibaba or some European site, and i don't know any European sellers. I checked HLG's site and they were sold out on these lights, like they seem to be with most stuff every time i've checked
. Cutter seems to have much bigger arsenal of choice, but being an Australian company they might be out of my league in terms of price/shipping. Correct me if i'm wrong in this, so far Alibaba has been the only option with their unbeatable prices. I would pay a little extra for other than Chinese sellers if i got warranty and all that jazz, but they're just selling the same stuff with up to 2-5 times the price i get from Alibaba.
So Europeans fill me in with good suppliers that have reasonable prices (if there's a single one), there's no way in heck i'm gonna spend twice as much money on lights that come from Chinese producers anyway with added bonus for the importers
, i will always go straight to the producer if possible, unless it's not convenient.
I would need a driver too along with the boards/strips, at least Kingbrite sells of both those. And i'm sure they're willing to customize kits too, dealing with them was rather easy when i wanted different drivers for my kits. I looked up a couple of examples from their catalogue, there's much more too:
660nm CREE XP-E2 20pcs board w/ MeanWell APC-35-1050 driver ($41.5)
660nm CREE XP-E2 11pcs board without a driver ($14.5)
730nm CREE XP-E2 11pcs board without a driver ($17.5)
730nm + 660nm CREE XP-E2 20pcs strip w/ a MeanWell APC-35-1050 driver ($45)
660nm Epistar 52pcs board w/ MeanWell APC-35-350 driver ($29.5)
730nm Epistar 52pcs board without a driver ($32.5)
I know some other brands exist too but i don't have knowledge about those. Pretty much everyone on Alibaba sells Epistars along with their QB's, but how are their quality compared to CREE's and others?
And lastly what would you suggest to buy in my case? My budget would be between $100-200 for the lights and a driver (or drivers, maybe just 1 is enough), i'm sure that would fill my needs at least with those Alibaba prices. I just don't know what/how much to buy and should i mix 660's with 730's too? Cheers
Since i already have 1152pcs of 3000k lm301b's (~500W) in a 4x4 tent, i probably won't need that many extra lights, just a smart amount of extra supplemental lights to give extra boost and coverage to the whole tent. Of course adding more lights means i could run my QB's at lower power too.
I'm not sure if i would need to buy more blue or go UV/IR since they seem to be even more expensive, but i'm open for suggestions.
So i was looking around Alibaba (i know i know, "the cheap knockoff site") and Kingbrite seems to be one of the only cheaper companies selling boards/strips of 660nm & 730nm CREE XP-E2 along with Epistars, which seem to be over 2 times cheaper than CREE's. I looked around a couple other bigger suppliers and tried to search around the site, but there didn't seem to be much other "red only" board/strips around.
The only other companies i know that sell these are HLG & Cutter, BUT keeping in mind shipping to northern Europe most likely limits my options to Alibaba or some European site, and i don't know any European sellers. I checked HLG's site and they were sold out on these lights, like they seem to be with most stuff every time i've checked
. Cutter seems to have much bigger arsenal of choice, but being an Australian company they might be out of my league in terms of price/shipping. Correct me if i'm wrong in this, so far Alibaba has been the only option with their unbeatable prices. I would pay a little extra for other than Chinese sellers if i got warranty and all that jazz, but they're just selling the same stuff with up to 2-5 times the price i get from Alibaba.So Europeans fill me in with good suppliers that have reasonable prices (if there's a single one), there's no way in heck i'm gonna spend twice as much money on lights that come from Chinese producers anyway with added bonus for the importers
, i will always go straight to the producer if possible, unless it's not convenient.I would need a driver too along with the boards/strips, at least Kingbrite sells of both those. And i'm sure they're willing to customize kits too, dealing with them was rather easy when i wanted different drivers for my kits. I looked up a couple of examples from their catalogue, there's much more too:
660nm CREE XP-E2 20pcs board w/ MeanWell APC-35-1050 driver ($41.5)
660nm CREE XP-E2 11pcs board without a driver ($14.5)
730nm CREE XP-E2 11pcs board without a driver ($17.5)
730nm + 660nm CREE XP-E2 20pcs strip w/ a MeanWell APC-35-1050 driver ($45)
660nm Epistar 52pcs board w/ MeanWell APC-35-350 driver ($29.5)
730nm Epistar 52pcs board without a driver ($32.5)
I know some other brands exist too but i don't have knowledge about those. Pretty much everyone on Alibaba sells Epistars along with their QB's, but how are their quality compared to CREE's and others?
And lastly what would you suggest to buy in my case? My budget would be between $100-200 for the lights and a driver (or drivers, maybe just 1 is enough), i'm sure that would fill my needs at least with those Alibaba prices. I just don't know what/how much to buy and should i mix 660's with 730's too? Cheers
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I don't mind some DIY stuff, but if i can get by with easy to assemble "style" products without wasting money, then i'm going with that. But just like PC's, i love to choose and assemble all the parts myself to get the best fit for myself.
. Well i can get more later tho.
Honestly these companies are missing a massive market because they only focus on USA.
