bk78
Well-Known Member
You're a tough sock to figure out. It’s pretty easy usually, but you’re a smarter one than normal.
Chinese versus Western lights
- Thread starter Overgrowtho
- Start date
Sauron
Member
I just not very good at sugar coating and I won't lie to spare peoples feelings. Lucifer was the most beautiful angel. I'm ugly but honest.
just for curiosity, whats your electricity price per Kwh?
VincenzioVonHook
Well-Known Member
Just picked another one of these up a few days ago for the equivalent of $68 USD. 150w, 288 lm281b diodes with 4xIR and UV diodes, 10-100 dimmer, app control and a decent heat sink.
The driver runs so cool compared to the meanwell drivers on the other lights. Like 95f cool. Barely warm to touch.
They have a 300w long board and 450w square board I'm interested in as well...might pick one of each up if it stays at $130 and $240.
$187 for a HLG 100 at 220ppf, $130 for a 300w board that puts out 760umol/s ppf. I know where I'm throwing my money. Over thrice the light for like roughly two thirds of the price.
I would like a higher IR/UV representation on these boards though. 2xIR and 2xUV diodes out of 288 is better than the single IR diode on my 218 diode 301 board, and the 2 on the 436 count long board.
I reckon a 110w board should have a minimum of 3 IR and 3 UV diodes, with the 240w long boards should have double that. I get shitty when I see close to 1k diodes with 4 IR diodes and 2 UV with "far red and UV" all up in the marketing.
The driver runs so cool compared to the meanwell drivers on the other lights. Like 95f cool. Barely warm to touch.
They have a 300w long board and 450w square board I'm interested in as well...might pick one of each up if it stays at $130 and $240.
$187 for a HLG 100 at 220ppf, $130 for a 300w board that puts out 760umol/s ppf. I know where I'm throwing my money. Over thrice the light for like roughly two thirds of the price.
I would like a higher IR/UV representation on these boards though. 2xIR and 2xUV diodes out of 288 is better than the single IR diode on my 218 diode 301 board, and the 2 on the 436 count long board.
I reckon a 110w board should have a minimum of 3 IR and 3 UV diodes, with the 240w long boards should have double that. I get shitty when I see close to 1k diodes with 4 IR diodes and 2 UV with "far red and UV" all up in the marketing.
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PadawanWarrior
Well-Known Member
You're confused. The LM301H HLG gets aren't made in China. This is a touchy subject for a lot of people though,
speedwell68
Well-Known Member
Where then South Korea? Vietnam? Taiwan? TBH I can't see Samsung setting up a specific production just for one OEM.You're confused. The LM301H HLG gets aren't made in China. This is a touchy subject for a lot of people though,
Star Dog
Well-Known Member
Does samsung have a plant in the USA?You're confused. The LM301H HLG gets aren't made in China. This is a touchy subject for a lot of people though,
I was about to say my SF4000 says it was made in China "like most everything in a house these days".
i also have these boards, but im using 6 of them on an ELG 240 watt PSU. Those are SE-rank diodes with A2 voltage bin. so mediocre stuff but not the very worst. For the epistar reds i dont have any data, so i just ignored them when calculating my light. If you use them like they are "meant to be", 120 watt boardpower per board, you end up with 2.1-2.2 sytem efficiency. Thats about 1.8 useable PPFD, maybe 1.9 if you hang them lower. But you cant really hang them lower at that power, because they have very high diode density. So its pretty much on level of a Mars hydro TS1000 or something similar.
If you run them at lower current, great things happen, these diodes gain about 20-21% more lightoutput per watt when going from 150ma to 50ma. So basically trippling the amount of diodes. Actually a little more than that. So with 40 watts boardpower you have 2.6 umol/s systemefficiency. Plus you dont need a heatsink and can hang the light very low and reduce the reflection losses.
Those are the only chinese boards i would go for, the crux with the 301 knockoffs is, its not really a good deal if you look closer. The HLG diablo board costs 129 dollar, 666 diodes all together and they are top bin.
not the most beautiful but efficient for the price.
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VincenzioVonHook
Well-Known Member
I was wondering if I could find these boards bare as apparently they are cheap as piss, but for $68 with the relatively decent heatsink and half decent driver I'm not going to complain. I assumed they were pretty basic binned boards for the price.
I would love to grab a few of these boards bare if they are cheap and make a dual board 150w light with better footprint as I have a few 3x1.6 tents here.
The biggest issue I see with them is footprint tbh.. odd shaped board and tight diode spacing.
well, the footprint and the price are exactly the reason why you want to use lots of these boards and power them lower. I use 6 of them in a 70x70, you can fit 8 in a 80x80 or 90x90 and easily 10 in a 100x100. If you stay at 40 or 50 watt boardpower you dont need heatsinks. I just glued the fixture together with heat-conductive glue and some strong aluminum-profiles. The fron doesnt even get warmer than 45C.
Yeah you can buy them bare, i paid 150eu for these 6 and i even paid a few eu too much. If you buy 10 i think its 220 dollar. Ali baba does show lower prices, but these are not the final prices, they will add taxes and shit.
You can buy them on Ali Express.
edit: yes, like stated above, the efficiency is not great at 120 watt, but with the 281s it works like this: the lower the efficiency is at 150ma, the more they will relatively gain when lowering the current.
Ill give you an example, when you take a high bin LM281B+ or LM301, you lower the current from 150ma to 50ma (which basically means using 3 boards per 120 watt), they only gain abou 10-11% lumen/watt or umol/J.
If you take the bottom bin, like the SA rank, they gain 30-32% efficiency when doing that. In general better diodes can handle higher currents better, they lose less efficiency.
Yeah you can buy them bare, i paid 150eu for these 6 and i even paid a few eu too much. If you buy 10 i think its 220 dollar. Ali baba does show lower prices, but these are not the final prices, they will add taxes and shit.
You can buy them on Ali Express.
edit: yes, like stated above, the efficiency is not great at 120 watt, but with the 281s it works like this: the lower the efficiency is at 150ma, the more they will relatively gain when lowering the current.
Ill give you an example, when you take a high bin LM281B+ or LM301, you lower the current from 150ma to 50ma (which basically means using 3 boards per 120 watt), they only gain abou 10-11% lumen/watt or umol/J.
If you take the bottom bin, like the SA rank, they gain 30-32% efficiency when doing that. In general better diodes can handle higher currents better, they lose less efficiency.
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VincenzioVonHook
Well-Known Member
The efficiency gain with lower bin diodes when It comes to lower driving current is really good info. Cheers. I assumed my other cheap 301b boards were lower binned as well as they were dirt cheap, but aslo have decent meanwell drivers which will come in handy for future builds..good to know I could double up the boards in parallel and reap more benefit than I expected.
Now you have me wanting to run both boards off one driver. And also running four 218 X 301b boards in parallel off the HLG-240-48 driver I have here and consolidate two longboards into one..
The 240w Longboard has a really intense hotspot in the 2x4 as it is.
id run 8 boards of them in a 2x4 in parallel with a 240 or 320 watt driver. Just buy 2 long, strong aluminum profiles, just under 4 feet long, drill holes in the end for hanging gear, and then screw or glue 4 boards on them with equal spacing. Then hang these fuckers in the tent. if you have a little airflow in the tent, they get just barely warm. Im really a fan of high surface area, it has so many benefits. The ELG 240-48 is really good bang for buck. Here in the 240v region, when you reach 60% load it has 94% efficiency. 93% in the 110V region. Paid only 55eu for that thing.
if you buy on Ali, buy from KS Growl or KQO Official. These are bigger shops with "good" reputation. I got mine from KQO. If they are available in US, im not sure.
if you buy on Ali, buy from KS Growl or KQO Official. These are bigger shops with "good" reputation. I got mine from KQO. If they are available in US, im not sure.
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ah its really not a big deal, watch a turorial. Take you time with each step. But if youre in the US; the need to do DIY is not so big anyway. You have so many good deals going on there.
speedwell68
Well-Known Member
This Chinese vs Western thing is a bit of a pissing contest, TBH. I can see why a pro, aka someone that grows for a living, would want/need to go for the top shelf "Western Brand", the aftersales support will be much better and the overall product will be of a much higher standard. Which is great.
However, I am a hobbyist. In the last 2 years I have grown enough weed to last myself and my wife about 3.5 years. Other than a outdoor freebie auto I did for a "bit of fun" in the garden, I haven't grown a thing since February. I have just put a few seeds on this week, but only freebies I had left over, 1 X Skywalker Haze, 2x Critical XXL, 1 x White Widow x Big Bud, nothing special, I am gonna keep them small as I really don't need that much weed, If I got 10oz I'd be happy.
So on that basis, my generic Chinese lamps are just fine. I paid £75 each, they have produced some really nice weed and paid for themselves hundreds of times over. If they only lasted a couple of years I wouldn't really care.
Cut your cloth according to you purse and or need.
However, I am a hobbyist. In the last 2 years I have grown enough weed to last myself and my wife about 3.5 years. Other than a outdoor freebie auto I did for a "bit of fun" in the garden, I haven't grown a thing since February. I have just put a few seeds on this week, but only freebies I had left over, 1 X Skywalker Haze, 2x Critical XXL, 1 x White Widow x Big Bud, nothing special, I am gonna keep them small as I really don't need that much weed, If I got 10oz I'd be happy.
So on that basis, my generic Chinese lamps are just fine. I paid £75 each, they have produced some really nice weed and paid for themselves hundreds of times over. If they only lasted a couple of years I wouldn't really care.
Cut your cloth according to you purse and or need.
Herb & Suds
Well-Known Member
Just like buying a Chevy in my budget versus wanting a Cadillac I don’t really need
