LED strip Lords. I need your guidance.

anyone know how hard u can run the 2 foot double row f series on heatsinks? Spec says the max current is 1.2A Would I be able to run them harder if their on a beefy heatsink?

@Gond00s are you talking about LT-F564B? their max current is actually 1.8A and their typ is 1.12A (see specs). for thermals you can check some posts here like this, this or this

eLod said:

@Gond00s are you talking about LT-F564B? their max current is actually 1.8A and their typ is 1.12A (see specs). for thermals you can check some posts here like this, this or this

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Thx and yes I was

Hello Lords of the Strips. I see that the SI-B8T521560WW F Strips are back down to @ $8 each.

I am currently using a HLG-80H-C700B driver running 2 V1 QB288 boards in series now for my 2x3' veg area. I want to use the QBs for a new flower tent, but keep the driver and use it with the F Strips if possible for my veg.

I am trying to figure out can I get 3 of these F Strips running in series on that driver? I think I did the math right based on wattage (46V x 0.700a = 32.2W x 3strips = 96.6W total, and the driver puts out @ 90W, so its close enough) but I am also not sure how to calculate how much voltage each strip will actually draw, if not being run at the max amps? If all 3 still draw 46V then that is 138V total, but the driver maxes out at 129V. This is where I get lost sometimes in the serial/parallel world while looking at spec sheets. Smoked a lot of hash spliffs today, so go easy if the answer is obvious

constant current drivers like yours have a few volt headroom, thats the way to "overdrive" them.
not sure if your driver does it, at that price maybe simply test.
there is a open circuit voltge specified in the datasheet, this voltage will prob. be able to be delivered to your strips.
thats the headroom the manufactorer have calced in and you can use.
also check the test report of the driver (extra to the datasheet).
Could also be your strips run a little lower voltage wise the 46v, but i havent looked up and guess one f strip user will know it.

cobshopgrow said:

constant current drivers like yours have a few volt headroom, thats the way to "overdrive" them.
not sure if your driver does it, at that price maybe simply test.
there is a open circuit voltge specified in the datasheet, this voltage will prob. be able to be delivered to your strips.
thats the headroom the manufactorer have calced in and you can use.
also check the test report of the driver (extra to the datasheet).
Could also be your strips run a little lower voltage wise the 46v, but i havent looked up and guess one f strip user will know it.

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@Rocket Soul @Airwalker16 can either of you help with this one? I see on the data sheet for the driver that it goes from 420ma to 700ma and from 89v-129v but I'm still not sure how to determine if the strips draw less voltage if given less than their rated max. I see on the datasheet for the strips they range from 43.7-48.4V and 46 is "typical". I feel like this is electric 101 that I havent grasped quite yet.

the 46v refering to the typical drive current of 1120mA.
youre lower, so your voltage will be, how much, no clue as there is no nice graph showing it (or is it?)

it will be somewhere between 43.7 and 46.0 .
why not doubble the stripcount?
take 2 in parallel each, will lower the current to 350mA and therefore the forward voltage more towards 44v.

cobshopgrow said:

it will be somewhere between 43.7 and 46.0 .
why not doubble the stripcount?
take 2 in parallel each, will lower the current to 350mA and therefore the forward voltage more towards 44v.

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I am trying to follow but as noted I am not expert in these things. The driver will only put out a min of 420ma if dimmed down. Are you suggesting to run it at 700ma but do 6 total strips, with 3 pairs wired in series, but each pair itself is wired parallel? So that way each pair only gets 350ma? Agreed that this would be a pretty amazing spread with 6 of those strips. Seems like a lot of complicated wiring tho. Still not sure this is my best bet for the space. Open to all suggestions tho.

yep that was the idea you got it right.
if space restrict it forget about it, it will lower the voltage of what the strip needs.

put some on the sides! haha.
"lots" wiring, depends on the viewpoint, i mean 6 strips are 5min work, plus 15 for making the wires clean.
do what you feel good with, its still no gurantue your driver will do it, you really will max him out.

cobshopgrow said:

yep that was the idea you got it right.
if space restrict it forget about it, it will lower the voltage of what the strip needs.

put some on the sides! haha.
"lots" wiring, depends on the viewpoint, i mean 6 strips are 5min work, plus 15 for making the wires clean.
do what you feel good with, its still no gurantue your driver will do it, you really will max him out.

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I gotta rethink my plans a bit. Might make more sense to just leave the veg as is and maybe just build a strip light for the flowering tent instead. That way I can buy the driver that works best for the situation... Do they make these strips in 3000k at this price?

ilovereggae said:

@Rocket Soul @Airwalker16 can either of you help with this one? I see on the data sheet for the driver that it goes from 420ma to 700ma and from 89v-129v but I'm still not sure how to determine if the strips draw less voltage if given less than their rated max. I see on the datasheet for the strips they range from 43.7-48.4V and 46 is "typical". I feel like this is electric 101 that I havent grasped quite yet.

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ilovereggae said:

@Rocket Soul @Airwalker16 can either of you help with this one? I see on the data sheet for the driver that it goes from 420ma to 700ma and from 89v-129v but I'm still not sure how to determine if the strips draw less voltage if given less than their rated max. I see on the datasheet for the strips they range from 43.7-48.4V and 46 is "typical". I feel like this is electric 101 that I havent grasped quite yet.

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I dont think its going to work with 3 strips. At nominal youd be almost 10V over and lowering to almost half is not going to drop voltage enough. You can always try but i seriously doubt them lighting upp, and if they do they will run much less wattage than the driver is rated for. Sorry

Rocket Soul said:

I dont think its going to work with 3 strips. At nominal youd be almost 10V over and lowering to almost half is not going to drop voltage enough. You can always try but i seriously doubt them lighting upp, and if they do they will run much less wattage than the driver is rated for. Sorry

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Thank you. That makes sense.

I know these aren't strips, and this is now off topic, but what do you think about a 4pack of the QB132 v1's on that driver? at 700ma they draw 32.7V x 4 = 130.8V. Is that close enough to the 129V max of the driver to make it work? While I love the cheap price and more config options for strips, the idea of the plug and play of 4 of those boards is appealing, and would be pretty awesome coverage still. Especially if I dont have to buy yet another driver.

ilovereggae said:

Thank you. So basically the strips are going to need 46V regardless of how much amps I send to them. That is what I was trying to figure out.

I know these aren't strips, and this is now off topic, but what do you think about a 4pack of the QB132 v1's on that driver? at 700ma they draw 32.7V x 4 = 130.8V. Is that close enough to the 129V max of the driver to make it work? While I love the cheap price and more config options for strips, the idea of the plug and play of 4 of those boards is appealing, and would be pretty awesome coverage still. Especially if I dont have to buy yet another driver.

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The strips will drop in voltage, just not enough. My guess is with wiring it wont fit.

Dont be married to that driver, xlg series is cheap and cheerful.
Also, you can fit 5x 2 foot blux vesta strips on that driver. Thats almost 1000 diodes

Rocket Soul said:

The strips will drop in voltage, just not enough. My guess is with wiring it wont fit.

Dont be married to that driver, xlg series is cheap and cheerful.
Also, you can fit 5x 2 foot blux vesta strips on that driver. Thats almost 1000 diodes

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These guys?

The price is definitely awesome for that many diodes holy shit lol. My only other thought now is this. If I went for the Qb132 v2 those are using 301H now. At 700ma they are 204 lm/w. I know its half the diodes but seems like way better numbers than the Vestas? Altho I just looked and they are out of the 4000k. No data on the Lumiled V1s so not sure how they compare. I would def need to build some type of frame for the strips, so it would be a little cheaper but not that much.

I already have the driver is why I wanted to use it is all. I already have another brand new 60H-54B sitting unused bc of this reconfig. Trying my best to not go overboard on this round bc I already have a nice setup. This will just give me an extra flower tent, a tent just for moms, and free up some veg space so I can do a few trays of microgreens.

Thanks as always for answering my million questions.

Yup, dem guys.

ilovereggae said:

These guys?

BXEB-TL-2750G-3000-A-13 Bridgelux | Optoelectronics | DigiKey

Order today, ships today. BXEB-TL-2750G-3000-A-13 – LED Lighting COBs Engines Modules LED Module series White, Warm / White, Cool Linear Light Strip from Bridgelux. Pricing and Availability on millions of electronic components from Digi-Key Electronics.

www.digikey.com

The price is definitely awesome for that many diodes holy shit lol. My only other thought now is this. If I went for the Qb132 v2 those are using 301H now. At 700ma they are 204 lm/w. I know its half the diodes but seems like way better numbers than the Vestas? Altho I just looked and they are out of the 4000k. No data on the Lumiled V1s so not sure how they compare. I would def need to build some type of frame for the strips, so it would be a little cheaper but not that much.

I already have the driver is why I wanted to use it is all. I already have another brand new 60H-54B sitting unused bc of this reconfig. Trying my best to not go overboard on this round bc I already have a nice setup. This will just give me an extra flower tent, a tent just for moms, and free up some veg space so I can do a few trays of microgreens.

Thanks as always for answering my million questions.

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The 301 is certainly more efficient but not as much as those lum/w makes it out. The samsung spectrum in itself is more luminus, as in more brightness per photon, than the vestas 90cri spectrum which has a boost in not very luminus reds aand far reds which are good for plants but not for brightness. Also factor in: with 700mA divided between the vestas 2 channels (this is a veg light, right?) the vesta numbers perr watt sshould be quite a bit higher. Vesta tested 2.5 ppf/w at 500mA so expect 2.6 at board level compared to around 2.9-3 for samsung.

strips allow for nice spread but 3 x132s would aswell.
lastly; Vesta has (with one driver only) 3 possible spectrum due to its 2 channels: 5000k 90cri(stretch inhibiting), 2700k 90cri (balls to the floor flower, increase node spacing in veg and just generally grows really fast) and 3700k 90cri: both channels half and half: full cycle with good vegg about 10% more light than only one channel spectrum. This makes for a versatile veg light that can help you manage your grow process if you get strains that don't like your veg light spectrum, and also it can flower autos just in case. Per $ you get almost 5 times the diodes (120 $ buys you about 500 samsungs to 2300ish blux diodes)

Edit: sorry that should obviously be 3 separate spectrums, 333.

Rocket Soul said:

Yup, dem guys.


The 301 is certainly more efficient but not as much as those lum/w makes it out. The samsung spectrum in itself is more luminus, as in more brightness per photon, than the vestas 90cri spectrum which has a boost in not very luminus reds aand far reds which are good for plants but not for brightness. Also factor in: with 700mA divided between the vestas 2 channels (this is a veg light, right?) the vesta numbers perr watt sshould be quite a bit higher. Vesta tested 2.5 ppf/w at 500mA so expect 2.6 at board level compared to around 2.9-3 for samsung.

strips allow for nice spread but 3 x132s would aswell.
lastly; Vesta has (with one driver only) 333 possible spectrum due to its 2 channels: 5000k 90cri(stretch inhibiting), 2700k 90cri (balls to the floor flower, increase node spacing in veg and just generally grows really fast) and 3700k 90cri: both channels half and half: full cycle with good vegg about 10% more light than only one channel spectrum. This makes for a versatile veg light that can help you manage your grow process if you get strains that don't like your veg light spectrum, and also it can flower autos just in case. Per $ you get almost 5 times the diodes (120 $ buys you about 500 samsungs to 2300ish blux diodes)

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Ok I'm convinced. Last question since they are rated for 2A and I will be running st 0.700A can I get away with just building an outer frame of angle aluminum or should these still get heatsinked somehow?

ilovereggae said:

Ok I'm convinced. Last question since they are rated for 2A and I will be running st 0.700A can I get away with just building an outer frame of angle aluminum or should these still get heatsinked somehow?

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Get them with minor sinking, 2mm u-channel or angle. The max amps are extremely high and they will melt if you run both channels on max, sinking or no sinking. Trust me, we did it, 200w into 2 vestas dont work well, it completely melted the strips.

the way to connect is to do separate series for each channel, then have a wago where you can connect or disconnect each channel so to get separate effects. Id say both channels is the go to for vegg unless they are very stretchy, then 5000k.

Rocket Soul said:

Get them with minor sinking, 2mm u-channel or angle. The max amps are extremely high and they will melt if you run both channels on max, sinking or no sinking. Trust me, we did it, 200w into 2 vestas dont work well, it completely melted the strips.

the way to connect is to do separate series for each channel, then have a wago where you can connect or disconnect each channel so to get separate effects. Id say both channels is the go to for vegg unless they are very stretchy, then 5000k.

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Awesome thanks again

ilovereggae said:

Ok I'm convinced. Last question since they are rated for 2A and I will be running st 0.700A can I get away with just building an outer frame of angle aluminum or should these still get heatsinked somehow?

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The other alternative is waiting, possibly 6 months, for the vesta thrive range which looks even better, with and extra wide spectrum going all the way into violets. But i can almost guarantee more $ and not a lot of extra efficiency, but maybe nicer plant response. But either way i think youll be happy.