[Question] DIYing LED panels/boards

Hi there,

I've been reading up and trying to start a new project on making my own lighting fixture using either

Bridgelux Vesta Thrive Tunables - https://bridgelux.com/sites/default/files/resource_media/DS139 Bridgelux Vesta TL Gen 3 Thrive 2 Rows Data Sheet 081320 Rev A.pdf

LED - https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/bridgelux/BXEB-TL-L1120Z-2750S4000-A-C3/13181813
Driver - https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/bridgelux/BXDR-60LT-U220P-01-A/12317848
WiFi Controller - https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/bridgelux/BXCS-12Z-N2P-A1-A/12318203

Or

Cree J series 2835 HE 95 CRI -


My question is do I need to use a Bridgelux driver for their LED board? It's quite a hefty price but I haven't done research on other drivers so I'm not sure if that's just the price I'll be getting. As for the Cree J Series, how do you get those in strips/boards or are all projects with them DIYing their own boards/strips?


Edit:
I'm also taking suggestion for other full spectrum LED. I'm taking my suggestions from https://www.rollitup.org/t/what-are-the-best-diodes-on-the-market-right-now-anything-on-the-horizon.1040664/. If I'd like Tunable whites, is it better to get the Bridgelux tunables or buy a 2700k and 5000k and DIY a driver to mix the two?

Cheers,
rK

Is this a diy thing or are you making a board/strip from scratch? (As the crees you linked is diode only, not on a strip).

If this is still for a veg setup, and you dont have too much efficiency needs (95 cri is inherently inefficient) then id probably go for the thrives. They have better coverage of blue. If it was up to me id probably just go for standard vestas though, gen3 if you feel extra spendy. I dont think theres that much difference between 90 and 95 cri as far as the plant, but the extended blue on the thrice might be nice for veg.

If you mix and match: id use 4000k instead of 5000k: good enough for veg but also means that you can use both at the same time and still have a spectrum nice enough to flower with. Id love to see 4000/2700k vestas

Drivers: you dont need to use blux drivers, they are expensive and not special in anyway afaik.
Last vesta build i did was with 4 strips in series for around 100V. You can also do series of 2 with a 50ish V driver (meanwell xxxx-48A usually works fine). Standard parallel gets very messy due to all the cabling.

Maybe check out @ilovereggae s setup.

I’m pretty handy but
With advancements in LED technology I find it to easy to justify buying white light boards plug and play on the cheap