Herb Smith
Well-Known Member
It appears that Area 51 may no longer be in operation or is at least gone for a while. I have a few SGS-160 lights and some W90 lights. The W90's seem like an easy upgrade by changing them to Vero29 Gen 7's. If there are better options for the W90's someone please chime in. I am not very savvy with electronics and have very little knowledge about building LED lights. I would really like to upgrade my SGS-160's to meet the possibilities available with today's LED's. If anyone has upgraded a light already or has any ideas of the best way to upgrade them your help is appreciated.Below is information I got from Area 51 about upgrade kits that were going to come available that never did. I am not sure if this information would still be the best option to use. I am hoping all the tech heads jump in on this one. And with companies like Tasty LED and Northern Grow lights ( I own one of the northern Photon 180's great light) ) I wonder if it's worth upgrading or not.
Information received from Area 51:
"RW75 / W100 upgrade kit:
6 x 6 XPG3 S5 + XPE photo red PCBs
1 x LPC-100-700
1x APV-12-12
$175 + shipping
RW150 / SGS160 / XGS190 upgrade kit #1:
12 x 6 XPG3 S5 + XPE photo red PCBs
1 x LPC-100-500
1 x LPC-APV-12-12
$275 + shipping
RW150 / SGS160 / XGS190 upgrade kit #2:
12 x 6 XPG3 S5 + XPE photo red PCBs
2 x LPC-100-700
1 x LPC-APV-12-12
$305 + shipping
The process involves opening up the unit, and removing the heat sinks and
then removing each PCB from the heat sink, followed by cleaning the old
thermal paste off the heat sink with some alcohol. Then remove the power
supplies, those have quick connect plugs. The next step would be to apply
the provided thermal pads to the new PCBs, and then screw those to the
clean heat sink.
Each PCB has 2 solderless wire inputs, - and +. You would take the + from
the power supply and connect it to the + on the first PCB. Then take a
piece of provided wire and connect it to the - on the same first PCB, then
take the other end of that wire and connect it to the + on the second PCB,
then repeat the process until the last PCB, and then connect the - from it
to the - on the power supply.
There's no separate veg and flower modes like the the original RW150s, it'd
be like the XGS all white models, 1/2 power and full power. Except for
those that get the 500mA version, and all 75/100 versions, then it's either on
or off.
The 500mA kit would be about a 15% increase in output, and use 50w less. The 700mA kit would be about a 70% increase in output, and use the same watts. All the wires that are already in the panel up to where they plug into the power supplies, will stay and be used again with the new power supplies. All the wires and PCBs after the power supplies will be replaced, and wired differently. The PCBs are only 1 channel while the old ones were 2 channel, so there's no way to control sections of the PCB. "
Well I hope some of you can help out.
Information received from Area 51:
"RW75 / W100 upgrade kit:
6 x 6 XPG3 S5 + XPE photo red PCBs
1 x LPC-100-700
1x APV-12-12
$175 + shipping
RW150 / SGS160 / XGS190 upgrade kit #1:
12 x 6 XPG3 S5 + XPE photo red PCBs
1 x LPC-100-500
1 x LPC-APV-12-12
$275 + shipping
RW150 / SGS160 / XGS190 upgrade kit #2:
12 x 6 XPG3 S5 + XPE photo red PCBs
2 x LPC-100-700
1 x LPC-APV-12-12
$305 + shipping
The process involves opening up the unit, and removing the heat sinks and
then removing each PCB from the heat sink, followed by cleaning the old
thermal paste off the heat sink with some alcohol. Then remove the power
supplies, those have quick connect plugs. The next step would be to apply
the provided thermal pads to the new PCBs, and then screw those to the
clean heat sink.
Each PCB has 2 solderless wire inputs, - and +. You would take the + from
the power supply and connect it to the + on the first PCB. Then take a
piece of provided wire and connect it to the - on the same first PCB, then
take the other end of that wire and connect it to the + on the second PCB,
then repeat the process until the last PCB, and then connect the - from it
to the - on the power supply.
There's no separate veg and flower modes like the the original RW150s, it'd
be like the XGS all white models, 1/2 power and full power. Except for
those that get the 500mA version, and all 75/100 versions, then it's either on
or off.
The 500mA kit would be about a 15% increase in output, and use 50w less. The 700mA kit would be about a 70% increase in output, and use the same watts. All the wires that are already in the panel up to where they plug into the power supplies, will stay and be used again with the new power supplies. All the wires and PCBs after the power supplies will be replaced, and wired differently. The PCBs are only 1 channel while the old ones were 2 channel, so there's no way to control sections of the PCB. "
Well I hope some of you can help out.
