DIY with Quantum Boards

SMT69

Well-Known Member
New to qb’s....trying some qb120s in 5K in one of my veg tents...,impressive ,
i think the thickness of my whole light is 1" ...........see all the space you save !

very light .....
they do run warmer than strips...
the drivers get HOT, so if u run a tent they need to be ouside it......
ALL wire needs to be as short as absouletly possible....alot of loss of power when running long cords....i had to rewire twice :bigjoint:
















peace :leaf:
 
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Humple

Well-Known Member
New to qb’s....trying some qb120s in 5K in one of my veg tents...,impressive ,
i think the thickness of my whole light is 2" ...........see all the space you save !

very light .....
they do run warmer than strips...
the drivers get HOT, so if u run a tent they need to be ouside it......
ALL wire needs to be as short as absouletly possible....alot of loss of power when running long cords....i had to rewire twice :bigjoint:
















peace :leaf:
Some of us keep the drivers in the tent by design because we need the heat!

Nice setup!
 

pop22

Well-Known Member
I run 18 gauge stranded twinlead from the driver to the board. Near the board, I transition from 18Ga stranded to 18Ga solid wire as it works better with the QB wire connectors. I use wagos to connect the wires but crimp connectors, etc work fine also. The twinlead strand is flexible and makes running the run to where you need it easier, and makes it also easier to raise and lower the lights rather than having solid wire kinking up every time.

wire losses are much lower than with 20Ga solid also


New to qb’s....trying some qb120s in 5K in one of my veg tents...,impressive ,
i think the thickness of my whole light is 1" ...........see all the space you save !

very light .....
they do run warmer than strips...
the drivers get HOT, so if u run a tent they need to be ouside it......
ALL wire needs to be as short as absouletly possible....alot of loss of power when running long cords....i had to rewire twice :bigjoint:
















peace :leaf:
 

Black Thumb

Well-Known Member
@Stephenj37826 @robincnn
When will the QB 132 4k Be available on site or amazon.

Thanks

I ordered a QB120 4K to play around with some clones and I about shit myself how fast the plants where growing under 4k
Want to convert all my veg lights to at least 4k now that i have seen the difference.




Anyone here seeing a difference between 4k and 5k ?

P.S. Stephen or Robin Will 5k ever be something available in QB 132 ?
 

CoB_nUt

Well-Known Member
that's not how drivers work. you get the max Amperage to each board that the driver is rated for. If its say, a HLG320H-C1400, each board gets 1400 ma, at the board rated voltage, a QB288 running at 1400 ma uses 47.7 volts, giving a watt consumption of 66.8 per board.

HLKG has a chart with all this info for each board.

Simple answer, the watt rating of a driver only indicates its maximum potential, not what it will supply to your boards. This is why its a good Idea to read the info HLG provides so you can make the best match with a driver for your set up. You need to read the driver data sheets also. They are easy to read and help you determine how many boards/cobs you can run on it.
Yea I understand now(again).It's been a while since I built my cob bars. Also, I misread some info on HLG's site. Wasn't even pertaining to my boards specifically. When @shimz broke it down, it all came back to me. Thanks @pop22 much appreciated.

Most Meanwell HLG series drivers give 5-10% more current than they are rated at. Just an FYI.

It is also a good idea to leave a few volts on the driver. 95% utilization is about the most one should try for. Running them at full utilization can lead to premature failure depending on driver case Temps.
Gotcha, Thanks! @Stephenj37826
 

Dave455

Well-Known Member
@Stephenj37826 @robincnn
When will the QB 132 4k Be available on site or amazon.

Thanks

I ordered a QB120 4K to play around with some clones and I about shit myself how fast the plants where growing under 4k
Want to convert all my veg lights to at least 4k now that i have seen the difference.




Anyone here seeing a difference between 4k and 5k ?

P.S. Stephen or Robin Will 5k ever be something available in QB 132 ?
3500 great also!
 

Stephenj37826

Well-Known Member
@Stephenj37826 @robincnn
When will the QB 132 4k Be available on site or amazon.

Thanks

I ordered a QB120 4K to play around with some clones and I about shit myself how fast the plants where growing under 4k
Want to convert all my veg lights to at least 4k now that i have seen the difference.




Anyone here seeing a difference between 4k and 5k ?

P.S. Stephen or Robin Will 5k ever be something available in QB 132 ?

Once the Smt line is in by the end of the month all options will always be in stock. So hopefully mid October.
 

Frank Nitty

Well-Known Member
New to qb’s....trying some qb120s in 5K in one of my veg tents...,impressive ,
i think the thickness of my whole light is 1" ...........see all the space you save !

very light .....
they do run warmer than strips...
the drivers get HOT, so if u run a tent they need to be ouside it......
ALL wire needs to be as short as absouletly possible....alot of loss of power when running long cords....i had to rewire twice :bigjoint:
















peace :leaf:
If you keep a fan pointed at it, it will be cooler...
 

shimz

Well-Known Member
Most Meanwell HLG series drivers give 5-10% more current than they are rated at. Just an FYI.

It is also a good idea to leave a few volts on the driver. 95% utilization is about the most one should try for. Running them at full utilization can lead to premature failure depending on driver case Temps.
I have heard this batted around before. According to the datasheet I should be able to run at max voltage (and then some, but now I'm outside the CC mode) and as long as I stay within recommended Tcase I should be able to play all day like that. Would you agree? I sure hope so because I have one rig right at max on a HLG480H-C1750B.

Thanks for your reply in advance and for all you do for us.
 

topher73

Active Member
Well after reading about how efficient the quantum boards are and seeing some of these lovely colas. I ordered 10 of the QB 288-301b 3000k. I have an idea of running 4 and 2 vero 29-v7-C 3500k in the middle of the 4 quantums in a 5x5 with Co2. Right now I am running 9 Clu58,1825 ,3 vero 29 all 3500k 12 total. I also added 12 far reds to the frame. I am super loving this light. It maxes out at 888 watts but I only run it around 422 watts or so. I thinking of running 4 of the QBs at 1.4 amps I have to check my pile of drivers and figure what efficient and still putting it down. Love the info here, Peace
 

HitemwiththeHine

Well-Known Member
Well after reading about how efficient the quantum boards are and seeing some of these lovely colas. I ordered 10 of the QB 288-301b 3000k. I have an idea of running 4 and 2 vero 29-v7-C 3500k in the middle of the 4 quantums in a 5x5 with Co2. Right now I am running 9 Clu58,1825 ,3 vero 29 all 3500k 12 total. I also added 12 far reds to the frame. I am super loving this light. It maxes out at 888 watts but I only run it around 422 watts or so. I thinking of running 4 of the QBs at 1.4 amps I have to check my pile of drivers and figure what efficient and still putting it down. Love the info here, Peace
That sounds nice.
 

Jqwerty1

Well-Known Member
Has anyone tried active cooling with their quantum boards? i just ordered some thermal grease and a fan and it seems to be doing a lot better now. The heat sink and driver used to be just barely too hot to touch for more than a second, id estimate that to be 70c. Its still pretty damn hot but now its ok to hold on to, probably 55c. the plant i had under it wasnt doing well the past week but as soon as i turned the fan on, the tent heated a bunch and the plant perked up to my surprise. Supposedly, we could get some very small efficiency gains with this as well as heating up your grow area will speed up photosynthesis because LEDs dont produce radiation or whatever. I went with a 120mm "Blower" type thats on amazon for 15.99$. It seems very durable, has a long cable, daisy chain, adjustable and fits my 135w kit perfectly.
IMG_20180917_204719.jpg IMG_20180917_204318.jpg IMG_20180917_204645.jpg IMG_20180917_204829.jpg
 
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