I can get this LED light tomorrow, used(1 yr old), for $180. it retails for $595 and has good reviews from what i see

Pparker88 said:

i already have a 6"fan with 460cfm and a 6" carbon filter. and how big should intake hole be? and should i screen it as to try and keep out pests?

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Almost all tents have screened passive intakes that you can open flaps for around the bottom of the side walls. The only issue with these is they can sometimes allow in light during lights off. Two options to get around this: A) You can build some kind of light baffling around the passive intakes on your tent. B) You can leave them shut and use other ports on the tent as intakes, by running a short piece of ducting through them in an S-shape to baffle the light and a screen/stalking on the end to keep out dust/pests. Two 6" intakes would be good. Keep intakes low and exhaust high so air moves naturally through the tent. Also an oscillating fan in the tent to blow air around will help.

You need like 35w/sq ft if your gunna run LED, or maybe that applies in general, not sure. You'd need like 3200 watts to cover that area efficiently. I run Spider Farmer 2000's, I use 4 in a 5x5 (roughly 840 watts), ran me $1200 for that. For 3200w you'd be looking at like $4500. lol. You could do like 500-600 watts in a 4x4, but thats still going to run you like $6-700.

pulpoinspace said:

Almost all tents have screened passive intakes that you can open flaps for around the bottom of the side walls. The only issue with these is they can sometimes allow in light during lights off. Two options to get around this: A) You can build some kind of light baffling around the passive intakes on your tent. B) You can leave them shut and use other ports on the tent as intakes, by running a short piece of ducting through them in an S-shape to baffle the light and a screen/stalking on the end to keep out dust/pests. Two 6" intakes would be good. Keep intakes low and exhaust high so air moves naturally through the tent. Also an oscillating fan in the tent to blow air around will help.

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With my garage door closed and the garage light off, I don’t think light coming through intake would be much of an issue.

I really think the QB 120s are your best best. The setup is dead simple. You would have better spread vs an HPS, and only running 480w instead of 600w. You are going to spend more your first month on extra AC than you save on the HPS setup. Plus factor in replacing your bulb once a year.

Alibaba fixtures are definitely an option, but you are going to be waiting a lot longer to get it. Warranty claims w HLG vs China should be considered too if u go that route.

ilovereggae said:

I really think the QB 120s are your best best. The setup is dead simple. You would have better spread vs an HPS, and only running 480w instead of 600w. You are going to spend more your first month on extra AC than you save on the HPS setup. Plus factor in replacing your bulb once a year.

Alibaba fixtures are definitely an option, but you are going to be waiting a lot longer to get it. Warranty claims w HLG vs China should be considered too if u go that route.

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Who would I go to , to put it together?

Pparker88 said:

Who would I go to , to put it together?

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We can walk you through it. There is also wiring diagrams on HLG's site, and prob lots of youtube videos.

In fact check this thread. @GrassBurner took my advice for a similar setup. I am sure he will be willing to help answer any questions!

ilovereggae said:

I really think the QB 120s are your best best. The setup is dead simple. You would have better spread vs an HPS, and only running 480w instead of 600w. You are going to spend more your first month on extra AC than you save on the HPS setup. Plus factor in replacing your bulb once a year.

Alibaba fixtures are definitely an option, but you are going to be waiting a lot longer to get it. Warranty claims w HLG vs China should be considered too if u go that route.

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It took 6 days from placing my order with Alibaba for my Kingbrites to arrive in California.

Here is the HLG page w specs on driver options and some wiring diagrams.


I would recommend either 2 Meanwell HLG-240W-C2100b drivers with 4 boards per driver, or 1 HLG-480W-c2100b for all 8. Those are both dimmable. 2 drivers would give you a little redundancy in case one fails your plants aren't in the dark. But you could save $50 by just getting a single driver.

NukaKola said:

It took 6 days from placing my order with Alibaba for my Kingbrites to arrive in California.

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Cool good to know I thought they were still backed up. Ordering preassembled is definitely a plus.

On other hand the QB120s would still be a nicer spread than the Fotop 480W or 2 of the 240W fixture. Plus it will allow for more flexible layouts if he decides to change it up later.

NukaKola said:

It took 6 days from placing my order with Alibaba for my Kingbrites to arrive in California.

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Did you order pre or post pandemic?

ilovereggae said:

Cool good to know I thought they were still backed up. Ordering preassembled is definitely a plus.

On other hand the QB120s would still be a nicer spread than the Fotop 480W or 2 of the 240W fixture. Plus it will allow for more flexible layouts if he decides to change it up later.

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On a scale of one to ten...how difficult is it to put it together?

Pparker88 said:

Did you order pre or post pandemic?

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Are you in SoCal?

Pparker88 said:

On a scale of one to ten...how difficult is it to put it together?

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Hmm. Id say its a 3 on level of random home projects.

Those QB120s are about as simple as it gets. If you ran them serial its just one wire between each board and then the first and last hook up to the driver.

If you have never done something like this before there is a slight learning curve. Plan to have to spend a weekend or two figuring it all out.

You can go super simple for hanging them and hang each board individually. Maybe easier long term to buy some 1/4" aluminum angle and screw it together to make a simple frame to hold 4 boards. Or you could do what GrassBurner did and make a frame out of wood. Aluminum would be a lot lighter tho and around the same cost as 2x4 if u just get 1/4" angle. Use eyebolts in the corners where the side braces would go, and u have a hanging point for each corner.

If this all sounds too complicated, don't stress it Grab a pre-built Alibaba fixture or HPS and call it a day. Your time is valuable to you I am sure, and its easy to fall into a trap of wasting 8 hrs trying to save $20. Figure out what makes sense for your needs long term, and go for that. But I have every bit of confidence you could build a nice QB120 setup, and Imo its by far the cheapest/best option if you were trying to stick to your original $2-300 budget.

ilovereggae said:

Cool good to know I thought they were still backed up. Ordering preassembled is definitely a plus.

On other hand the QB120s would still be a nicer spread than the Fotop 480W or 2 of the 240W fixture. Plus it will allow for more flexible layouts if he decides to change it up later.

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I ordered the 240w’s on double heatsinks and fabbed up some little brackets for better light spread. I also mounted the driver on its own plate in between the boards for better heat dissipation, I don’t like the idea of the driver sitting right on top of the heatsink.

Pparker88 said:

Did you order pre or post pandemic?

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Ordered Jul 30th, got here Aug 5th.

It’s super simple to assemble, you literally pop some wires into some clips.

Yes, I’m in SoCal.

I had Lego sets as a kid that were harder to assemble than my (4) qb120s and driver. It sounds like a daunting task, but you'll laugh once your finished. My plants absolutely love them, ive got them in a 2x4 flower cabinet. For the price you really can't go wrong. HLG is right here in America, available for technical support, and they have great customer service. I've ordered drivers from 2 places, and they have both went above and beyond. They both gave follow up calls to make sure I didn't have any technical questions once I received my products.
I was overthinking it in the beginning. HLG's website has diagrams to show you how to wire everything up. 2 wires come from the driver, they go to the clearly marked positive and a negative on the board. The board has connectors that you simply push the wire into once the end has been stripped. From there, 2 wires go from board to board, as specified on HLG'S website. If you can read and operate a pair of wire strippers, you're in business. I went with the HLG-320H-C2800A. Maximum power per board is 70 watts, so I run the driver around 85%-90%. There is a tiny plastic Phillips head screw recessed in the driver that adjust the brightness. Its really simple.

DIY is a whole 'nother decision.

but if you go down that road i would recommend 4-6 q96s from hlg and an hlg-480-54b from meanwell. probably cost like $400 for the four board config or $540 for the 6 board config. I can guarantee it kicks ass in 4x4.

The best budget option for a 4x4 is 480W driver with 5 double row 4ft F series strips.
Still far from cheap. but not impossible to DIY

It is ok if you steal some ideas for DIY off my site www.leonled.co.za

ANC said:

The best budget option for a 4x4 is 480W driver with 5 double row 4ft F series strips.
Still far from cheap. but not impossible to DIY

It is ok if you steal some ideas for DIY off my site www.leonled.co.za

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sick. i like the website. lights look legit. i like the choice between hlg and xlg.

NukaKola said:

3000K - Better for flowering
3500K - Better for full cycle
4000K - Better for vegging

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are there any other sites that sell these boards? they're out of stock of the 3500k :/