ChiefRunningPhist
Well-Known Member
Ya, my QBs were 110v so I didn't find anything cheap, but the AC to DC module works great! And only $2!
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Finally!!QB Build Thread
- Thread starter budman410
- Start date
TEKNIK
Well-Known Member
Providing the wire can take the amps it's fine
ChiefRunningPhist
Well-Known Member
Haha! Ya that should work. Like what @TEKNIK said, just don't use a tiny wire, go at least 16ga if its stranded but solid core is best.
Newbieindogrower
Member
Sorry to hijack your post man, but real quick question can you mix boards say 3000k with 4000k from start to finish?
Good of you to ask I was going to just do it lol, now for the triple F part of the build..Fun frustrating and frame. With y’all having some experience with the light spread how far apart should I space the boards. For my first frame I’m trying to limit a lot of cutting. I have a bunch of 4ft sections and maybe 6-7 3ft sections. This first frame is for the (10)132 v2 boards. The first is the easiest lame way of doing it for a even light spread maybe make the board count up to 12, 4 in each row. Can 1 600 driver handle that many boards
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Rocket Soul
Well-Known Member
You can mix boards of different spectrum if its the same type of board, and if they are the same voltage bin and thus the same voltage. You shouldnt mix 36v chips of different type.
ChiefRunningPhist
Well-Known Member
Wiring Un-Matched Luminaires...
(The following is only a recommendation and only with respect to wiring unmatched lights, otherwise if only wiring the same style boards together, ie the same models together, then I use CC drivers, or use CV/CC drivers as CC sources, and try to wire the luminaries in as many parallel strings as possible)
Parallel Wiring:
Use a CV driver. What matters is if the forward voltage is the same. If your forward voltage ratings are the same you can mix & match and wire any board you desire in parallel if using a CV driver. It means you'll use the "Vo" POT on the CV driver to control the load instead of the "Io" POT. If you're worried about your strings thermal mgmt, put an inline fuse before it (sized to the strings max current rating). Thermal runaway in CV adds more total current to the entire cct.
If operating a CV/CC driver in CC mode (ie your Vo POT is maxed out and your dimming via Io POT) or using a CC driver... and if your 2 luminaires have the same forward voltage rating but flow different amounts of current, you'll want to wire inline fast blow fuses before every parallel luminaire and sized to the individual luminaires' max current rating. That way if your thermal management wasn't sufficient, and 1 of luminaries were to heat up and hog current to the point of failure, your safety fuses would trip and the chain reaction wouldn't destroy anything. It's not likely but just a precaution. Thermal runaway in CC drivers only happens in unmatched parallel wiring and doesnt increase total current to the cct, but flows the same current while being diverted unproportional to design.
Series Wiring:
Use a CC driver. What matters is if both boards can handle the same current. That's the only metric that matters. Voltage doesn't matter in series except that your driver has enough of it to push the current through the string. You can mix & match and wire any combo of boards or strips in series, as long as they can handle the same current as what's before it or after it. CC or CV doesn't matter but CC will be more applicable.
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ChiefRunningPhist
Well-Known Member
It would depend on the area you're trying to cover. At a 120° throw, with every inch you lift the light, it will spread out 2in. Move up 1ft and extend your light boundary 2ft in every direction, with this expanding you will lose intensity fast. So it's a give and take, if you're running the boards soft then they'll probably be pretty close to canopy and thus you'll need to have less spacing between them.
I use (4) in a 4× 4 and they have probobaly close to 10in between them. Though mine are 142w per board and I raise em up to about 16-20in. If I was using low wattage per board I'd drop height, and with more boards they'd have to be closer together too.
Simple math, if I had 12 boards and at full pull 50w per board should be able to keep them fairly low.
ChiefRunningPhist
Well-Known Member
Ya that'd be sweet, ies files will give you a better computer generated model than a simple trig calc. I looked into it when you mentioned it to me last time as I didn't know what they were!
You should throw some models up some time, I don't have access to the files so I can't use the freeware I was checking out.. Is there a place that has the files? Or if I asked the light company would they give me a file so I could see if I wanted to buy their product? It seems like it would be of great value to the consumer especially if they were potentially dropping big $$$..
ChiefRunningPhist
Well-Known Member
Ya sounds like you got it.
TEKNIK
Well-Known Member
I will be getting a data base going of all sorts of horticulture lighting, Most companies will not want me to do this as it takes the bullshit out of things and they will make up excuses to not offer this to people.Ya that'd be sweet, ies files will give you a better computer generated model than a simple trig calc. I looked into it when you mentioned it to me last time as I didn't know what they were!
So far only Cutter is interested in making this technology available to everyone and also having tests done at operating temperatures out of a sphere. The tests I am doing are also quite expensive to do if you need to pay a lab to do it and most companies just won't do it due to the expense or they will do it and not make the information public, I am doing this on my own time so it will be a bit slow to get it all going but it will happen.
I believe that IES files are the next step for DIY horticultural lighting and there are plenty of people here that are smart enough to utilise IES files to set up their grow rooms before making a purchase. Hopefully once I start then other companies will realise the benefits to thier customers to have this information public and it will become a normal part of a data sheet same as it is for architectural lighting and industrial lighting.
This week I will be making a start with Cutters Cree strips as someone has asked me for it as they are doing a build with them.
Knowing precisely what a space need could potentially hurt their business I’m sure my 12 lights packed in a 4x4 space is more then what they are going to need. If I could precisely figure that I only need 6 I would only buy 6.
(Though I’m personally more inclined to want to split wattage across as many leds as feasible)
TEKNIK
Well-Known Member
You are correct, I guess I will be hated and discredited when I make this information available because it may hurt some businesses. But I don't care I'm doing this to help people out and nothing more. I am already disliked on here by people that don't understand that I am only trying to help.
HydroFood
Active Member
When will you be making some of this information available?
Have you done testing for cutter or is it still in the works?
Have you done testing for cutter or is it still in the works?
TEKNIK
Well-Known Member
I have done some quick tests but need to do formal testing, quick tests are just to roughly see performance. Formal testing takes me a while to do as I need to do it under specific conditions to ensure that results remain the same for all tests I do, it's more regarding temperature and stability. This week I will have some results to show everyone
I seen some post of you recommending the 800 board for a 4x4.. I did some pricing and it looks like if I did 12 312 or 3 800s both would cost me 300$z the 312 would have 1,344 more diodes. Both should run cool at full 600w pull and maybe the 312 would have better light coverage. Any thoughts? Only upside I would see if there’s a shipping price diff and less setup time.
Rocket Soul
Well-Known Member
3 fotops have more board realestate than 12 312, will probably run cooler. It will take more time to setup 12 boards than 3.
312 boards at 50w i recommend at least some backing alu sheet.
312 boards at 50w i recommend at least some backing alu sheet.