Led Strip Light Spacing

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arzeo

Member
I am creating a bridgelux eb gen 2 strip build, and I was wondering what the optimal spacing in between the strips should be. I would have 2ft strips and run them at 1 AMP each. Could I put them side by side or would that make the light too intense?
 
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arzeo

Member
I am not completely sure, I am going to be using a 2ftx2ft frame for the lighting. With a .5 inch spacing, I could fit 15 strips. Only using 9 for now, but I could place them where I could upgrade to 15 in the future.
 
graying.geek

graying.geek

Well-Known Member
arzeo said:
I am creating a bridgelux eb gen 2 strip build, and I was wondering what the optimal spacing in between the strips should be. I would have 2ft strips and run them at 1 AMP each. Could I put them side by side or would that make the light too intense?
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One of the many great things about using strips is you can spread out the light source to get an even distribution of photons over the entire canopy. Much better -- especially if you scrog -- than a concentrated point source that focuses light in the middle and quickly diminishes to unacceptable levels at the edges.
 
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arzeo

Member
Also, while I'm asking, I am using 1/8 inch aluminum L channel, since my pieces are 2ft in length, one of my sides will come out to 24 1/4 inches. Is it really worth cutting to 23.75 inches to get a perfectly square frame?
 
Chip Green

Chip Green

Well-Known Member
arzeo said:
Also, while I'm asking, I am using 1/8 inch aluminum L channel, since my pieces are 2ft in length, one of my sides will come out to 24 1/4 inches. Is it really worth cutting to 23.75 inches to get a perfectly square frame?
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I wouldn't worry about it, I have run these BXEB strips at 1A for eons, without any substantial frames.....
 
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arzeo

Member
Would using a 2x2 frame in a 3x3 space be detrimental to light spread? I think half-inch spacing will probably work fine and would allow me to upgrade to 15 strips on the same frame in the future if necessary. ~176 W -> ~300W 2x2 to 3x3
 
Chip Green

Chip Green

Well-Known Member
arzeo said:
Would using a 2x2 frame in a 3x3 space be detrimental to light spread? I think half-inch spacing will probably work fine and would allow me to upgrade to 15 strips on the same frame in the future if necessary. ~176 W -> ~300W 2x2 to 3x3
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Detrimental, not really. I've rarely been in tents, but the 2x2 frame at the 185 level is pretty much the base build.
Once, I had a 4x4 tent, with 440W of EB Gen1, that was too much for my genetics.
Light stress. Had to run it at 70% or they would get pissed.
 
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arzeo

Member
As for the spectrum of the strips, I heard 3500k is pretty much what everyone recommends. Would it be more beneficial for me to have a couple of different color temperatures though?
 
Chip Green

Chip Green

Well-Known Member
Most of mine are 3500K. I did get some 3000K somewhere along the road, they ended up mixed into a rack somewhere, never really noticed much of a difference, I'm not that detailed.
The 3500K were always a few bucks cheaper per strip, and I like maximum flexibility.
I've vegged lotsa areas with BXEB 3500K with great results.
 
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arzeo

Member
Ah, ok. Also, I was viewing this recent thread https://rollitup.org/t/samsung-f-strip-build.1007017/ He is powering his strips in parallel, and I would be too. Is it really worth the time to add in fuses for each strip? I figure I shouldn't have too much of a problem in the short run with a strip failing on me, and at $4.82 per strip, it seems like wiring fuses could be more expensive for me.
 
Chip Green

Chip Green

Well-Known Member
arzeo said:
shouldn't have too much of a problem in the short run with a strip failing on me,
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I would not, in any way question the decision to use fuses... can't possibly be a bad move. I've never used one.
I built my first BXEB "lamp" in 2017. Many more have followed. Hundreds of strips.
Not a single diode has failed.
Built, taken apart, rebuilt, re-taken apart, re-re-built.
 
Bignutes

Bignutes

Well-Known Member
arzeo said:
Ah, ok. Also, I was viewing this recent thread https://rollitup.org/t/samsung-f-strip-build.1007017/ He is powering his strips in parallel, and I would be too. Is it really worth the time to add in fuses for each strip? I figure I shouldn't have too much of a problem in the short run with a strip failing on me, and at $4.82 per strip, it seems like wiring fuses could be more expensive for me.
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Only use fuses when your running just a few parallel legs. The more parallel you have to distribute the remaining current the.better. I only put fuses on my one build when I ran a combination circuit of 2px 4 series. My other build is 4px4s with no fuses, one leg goes down I’m still below max rating
 
Bignutes

Bignutes

Well-Known Member
arzeo said:
As for the spectrum of the strips, I heard 3500k is pretty much what everyone recommends. Would it be more beneficial for me to have a couple of different color temperatures though?
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I run the vestas and can change colour count on light, have flowered at 2800k 3200k and 3500k, now I flower with the colour count that rises and falls just like the sun rising and setting everyday, I like this the best, plant stretches, fattens, seems like it gets a little of everything
 
M

Mrgoodsusa

Member
Bignutes said:
I run the vestas and can change colour count on light, have flowered at 2800k 3200k and 3500k, now I flower with the colour count that rises and falls just like the sun rising and setting everyday, I like this the best, plant stretches, fattens, seems like it gets a little of everything
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Could you seed under these
How many strips and driver do you need for a 4x4?
 
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