mathewscott
Active Member
RS is right. DIY builds can become quite addictive.
4x8' grow tent, need some LED DIY guidance
- Thread starter everest_dope
- Start date
Airwalker16
Well-Known Member
Voltage droop happens at like 50'+. You'll be fine
everest_dope
Active Member
Well, I did it. Parts are ordered. I am waiting on a response to my offer from Atreum but everything else is on the way. Hope they will accept $70 a board/heatsink. I am buying 8, hoping I get a volume discount. We shall see. One way or another I'll get the boards. They have them for $75 on their website if it comes to that. AW16 can you tell me more about the frame? Or is this design from a build thread somewhere you can link me?
everest_dope
Active Member
Offer was accepted on the boards!, everything is ordered. 
everest_dope
Active Member
The only reason not to build is to avoid getting addicted to building lightsyouve been set up sweet by AW16, all great advice. Great gear at a low price.
I am into DIY projects in general, but it is my hope that these lights will do me for a long time and I won't HAVE to build more for a while. Like my old man always told me, 'do it right, one time'. I get that they eventually burn out, just like bulbs but 50k hours is a long time.
everest_dope
Active Member
Well, the last of my parts are coming today. I should now have everything I need to start building my lights. I just did a ballast bypass for LED tubes on my t8 veg light fixture. 2200 lumens @ 18w in 4k color temp. Anyhow, 1 light down and the big ones left to go. I'll be posting in here as I go.
Growmau5
Well-Known Member
Hey @everest_dope thanks so much for checking out my videos. I don't post much here, but I happened to see your thread.
You have to be a little careful around here sometimes, there are a few folks that TalkAir with little understanding of what they recommend.
If you use 18AWG wire on HLG-600H-54 on a 10FT run, the voltage drop will be approx: 2.6%, or ~1.4 volts lost to resistance/heat in the wire.
At 50ft, with these parameters, its a 13% drop or ~7 volts lost. Not sure what that other guy is talking about
"Voltage droop happens at like 50'+. You'll be fine" This is absurd & clearly made up on the fly for whatever reason.
Any voltage lost across a remote driver run is a loss in efficiency. The cost difference between 14 AWG and 18 AWG is negligible compared
to having 2.6% of your dick chopped off at birth.
NET NET, go with 14AWG, the losses will be 1% vs 2.6% at the cost of a few extra bucks.
Cheers & best of luck with the build.
You have to be a little careful around here sometimes, there are a few folks that TalkAir with little understanding of what they recommend.
If you use 18AWG wire on HLG-600H-54 on a 10FT run, the voltage drop will be approx: 2.6%, or ~1.4 volts lost to resistance/heat in the wire.
At 50ft, with these parameters, its a 13% drop or ~7 volts lost. Not sure what that other guy is talking about
"Voltage droop happens at like 50'+. You'll be fine" This is absurd & clearly made up on the fly for whatever reason.
Any voltage lost across a remote driver run is a loss in efficiency. The cost difference between 14 AWG and 18 AWG is negligible compared
to having 2.6% of your dick chopped off at birth.
NET NET, go with 14AWG, the losses will be 1% vs 2.6% at the cost of a few extra bucks.
Cheers & best of luck with the build.
everest_dope
Active Member
Thanks for the info. I had already ordered 14g wire for the run from the power supply to the control box where I have my pot and an on/off switch. From there it will be 18g to the boards but runs are short, 2-3 feet at most. I should be ok, yea?
Growmau5
Well-Known Member
Yessir, you will be above & beyond. If ever in doubt, check out this online voltage calculator if you really want to get down to some reasonably accurate estimates.
everest_dope
Active Member
Started to build what I can, got one of the control boxes set up. No wires yet but it looks like what I had planned will work.
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everest_dope
Active Member
So my build continues... I made my kick panel for the power supplies, cut my aluminum L channel to size and got heatsinks mounted to the rails and secured with bolts. The last photo is a mockup of what I want this thing to look like when I am done. No boards or wires yet, just wanted to get the frame cobbled together to verify what I have planned is gonna work. So far, so good. In my amateur opinion.
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OneHitDone
Well-Known Member
Hey bro, is your boss man still running the basement food garden? Any chance for some updates?
Would be curious to see if he's still producing jurassic leather leaf greens or got a handle on leaf texture
everest_dope
Active Member
So I saw something from ledgardener last night that has me asking questions. In one of their QB videos, he says they do not require and thermal compound to work with the heatsinks made for the 288.2 boards. I bought a jar of that stuff to make sure I get max thermal dissipation. Is it worth the mess and hassle of applying the thermal paste to the whole board?
Axion42
Well-Known Member
From what I understand it's not needed but I'm sure it'll help, especially if you have the driver mounted on top, I'm sure it has to make some sort of difference. I ordered the thermal pads for mine, I'll be receiving my 288 boards tomorrow and ill assemble them this weekend.
everest_dope
Active Member
Good luck with your build @Axion42. Drivers are mounted on a kick panel that will live outside of the tent to reduce heat around the plants. I am also using fans to cool the board heatsinks. It seems that even if it is a mess to apply thermal paste over each board, I will only have to do it once. It was just shocking for me to hear I possibly didn't need to apply thermal compound.
HydroFood
Active Member
I’m no QB expert although I have several Atreum boards.
I believe the vast majority of QB users don’t use any TIM/grease/paste.
I believe the vast majority of QB users don’t use any TIM/grease/paste.
Rocket Soul
Well-Known Member
Thermal paste is unnecessary for boards. If you want to so something good for thermal management then airmovement over the heatsinks is your friend.
everest_dope
Active Member
Boards are attached, each piece is assembled.. I need to cut out a spot in the L channel for these to lie flat and bolt those up then run the wires.
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everest_dope
Active Member
I do plan to use a fan for each heat sink. I am wondering how best to orient the fans, though. I am using 12v computer fans, do I just screw them down to the fins of the heat sink? Blow the air at or away from the heatsink? Mount it so it blows over the heatsink from the side?