Recommend $300 budget light..... For a friend

Prawn Connery

Prawn Connery

Well-Known Member
TurboTokes said:
does anyone recomend any grow lights?
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I'm sorry your thread has turned to shit. I'm partly to blame. And I apologise for that.

However, there have been many light recommendations already and part of the reason this thread has gone off the rails is because, well, you keep asking for light recommendations, people keep giving them to you, and I guess some are getting bored and their attention has been distracted by other petty arguments.

If you're not sold on LEDs, go and buy yourself a 600W HPS and digital ballast. If you want to have some fun, hang it vertically with a floor fan blowing up underneath it to direct cool it and put all your plants around the perimeter - a 3x3 space will allow this. That is honestly your rock-bottom cheapest option.

If you prefer convention, spend some extra money on a hood and set up a horizontal grow.

If you secretly do want to try an LED board, then email HLG and exaplain to them you can't buy the boards you want in Canada because their affiliate retailer in Canada (www.horticulturelightinggroup.ca) has sold out (which they have) and can they ship you something?

Or ask someone in the US if they can forward you something - do you have any friends in the States?

Or, if you don't mind making aluminium frames as you have said, and are competent enough to wire up a few strips, look at building your own strip board using cheap Samsung strips. You can by them from Digikey or Arrow or other places. There are so many DIY threads on RIU that it's a cinch to build one yourself.

Or, when they get back from holidays in a day or two, look at Photon Fantom boards here and see if they will ship to Canada: https://www.photonfantomdesigns.com/#photon-fantom-designs

Or, use a little bit of ingenuity and try to work around things. There is only some much people can do for you - at some stage you have to start thinking for yourself. I'm sorry if that sounds harsh, but that appears to me to be one of the reasons we are 12 pages deep into this thread and you are still asking for suggestions . . .
 
TurboTokes

TurboTokes

Well-Known Member
Yep still asking for suggestions lol, people say buy this board buy this driver, but I have to sell my friend on it aswell as its his money, he likes knowing things like lumen output and coverage, havent found much for that information
 
gjs4786

gjs4786

Well-Known Member
TurboTokes said:
Yep still asking for suggestions lol, people say buy this board buy this driver, but I have to sell my friend on it aswell as its his money, he likes knowing things like lumen output and coverage, havent found much for that information
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So, he's just giving you the money and expects you to do all the research? If you have to "sell it" to your friend, he obviously doesn't know anything about lights, so selling it should be easy. Just say such and such is the best. If he knew already, he wouldn't be asking you to do the research. Let me guess, he wants half the yield too? Do yourself a major favor: Grow on your own. Partners are just bad news, unless you just help each other out on your own grows. I hope I'm wrong, nut sounds like you may be getting taken advantage of.
 
Prawn Connery

Prawn Connery

Well-Known Member
TurboTokes said:
Yep still asking for suggestions lol, people say buy this board buy this driver, but I have to sell my friend on it aswell as its his money, he likes knowing things like lumen output and coverage, havent found much for that information
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That's because someone is too lazy to look. All that info is on HLG's website and elsewhere. Not only that, people have posted links to other sources (Led Gardener etc) in this thread.

Yeah man, I'm looking for a $300 light. Can you do all the research and read all the websites and post everything here that I can't be fucked looking at myself? The more information and trouble you go to, the better. I'll just ignore it when you do and keep asking for more info, but that's OK - you're not doing anything else, are you? Once you've done all that, can you order it for me as well? BTW, I don't have $300 - can you lend me your credit card? And your sister?

Thanks bro!
 
TurboTokes

TurboTokes

Well-Known Member
You guys are taking the scenario a little to seriously, Im just passing information to a friend, and appreciate the help and bickering, I like reading...

The friend (neighbor) likes to grow his own weed, I also grow my own weed, I use an overkill 600mh/hps setup and rock my little 4x2 tent, I have my setup in a cold cellar though so temps are manageable. He grows in a closet in a warm house to begin with, currently using way to many flouros and cfl's and gets poor results and temps are in the low 90's

HLG website does have par ratings on that light in post #33 but numbers were fairly low in the corners, especially as his walls are non reflective. I liked the idea to recomend to him having 4 boards for more coverage but it appears those boards have sold out.

Just trying to help him grow some pot, then smoke his own pot, yay!
 
Prawn Connery

Prawn Connery

Well-Known Member
OK, so let's narrow it down to specifics:

Option 1 - 600W HPS with digital ballast
A digital ballast will take care of noise. Remote ballast and proper ventilation will take care of heat. I grew in a 4'x4' with 1200W of HPS for over a decade in Australia with ambient temps up to 40+C without issues. Not ideal in summer, but manageable and fine for the remainder of the year. 600W in a 3'x3' is pretty standard. Paint the inside cupboard walls flat white - that will avoid hot spots and still reflect good light. Horizontal or vertical (my choice) grow. Noise and heat issues solved. If he's not interested in max yield and is still concerned about heat, a 400W HPS would also work in that space.

Option 2 - LED
In your budget, it comes down to two choices: build you own strip or panel frames, or purchase a HLG or other kit. You've been given lots of links to HLG kits and boards with matching drivers. You can work out how to get them to Canada, I'm sure. They work, I use them, and if anyone tells you LED doesn't work, they've never used them (or haven't used them recently). Nuff said.

I'm not sure if anyone has posted this link yet: https://www.omegalight.net/shop

You could build something like that yourself, or just buy one of the above kits. The guy who sells them is on RIU @nfhiggs and he would be more than happy to look after you.

As for footprints, lumens and all that other shit, you've already been told how many watts you need and what coverage they provide. Don't get caught up in the minor details if you don't fully understand them. A HPS bulb under a hood also has uneven coverage, being very hot in the middle and weaker on the outsides. It doesn't make a huge amount of difference unless you seriously plan to scrog. It sounds to me like your friend isn't the type of person who pays great attention to detail, otherwise he'd be able to work all these things out for himself. Just like the rest of us have.

Now go off and bloody buy something! Or come back here with specifics. But please don't ask us all to repeat ourselves or ask questions to answers that are right under your nose. People are trying to help you, but you are making this more difficult than it needs to be.
 
TurboTokes

TurboTokes

Well-Known Member
HLG Canada does indeed sell the DIY 260w 2 board kit, but while it is I believe $250 for the americans, its about $500 or more up here in Canada on there website

After re-reading some posts, I am getting some conflicting info on which driver to run 4 of the QB-132 boards with, no dimming required.
 
Prawn Connery

Prawn Connery

Well-Known Member
Biggest driver you could safely run in the HLG line with 4x QB132s in series would be a HLG-320H-C1750 at 2000mA (that driver will overdrive to 2.02amps according to the report sheet) so as not to exceed HLG's suggested max board rating here: https://horticulturelightinggroup.com/pages/qb132-board-guide

To get the most out of LEDs it is better to run more of them at a lower current, so the boards will not run as efficiently at full power as they will at, say 60-70%, which is why HLG suggests using a 1.4amp 320 driver (around 230W total) or 1.75amp 240 driver (around 250W total).

Personally, I don't believe 230-250W is enough for a 3x3 space. It will work, but there is no way it will rival a 600W HPS. It may just rival a 400W HPS or MH.

As others have mentioned here, you want at least 300+W - which is why we've been suggesting 2x QB288 or 2x QB324 boards. I run 400W. But I've already said that a few times now :wink:

The HLG-320H-C1750 at 2000mA will get you close to 300W, but the boards will be running at their max rating. That will be fine if you can keep temps under control. You may not get the same board life, but we're still talking about years of use - by which time something cheaper and better will be available.
 
TurboTokes

TurboTokes

Well-Known Member
A 350-400watt setup is likely to exceed $400 I would imagine though, the recomended heights for the higher powerred units is a pretty fair distance aswell, advertising about 20" for most lights for optimal coverage. Takes a good bit of the overall height away from a lower ceiling grow
 
TurboTokes

TurboTokes

Well-Known Member
Why do so many of the drivers mention 230v? Alot of ads and specs say 95% efficient when powered by 230v, can those drivers not be run at 110v? To confusing I shoulda stayed in math class

The omega lighting link you posted has some interesting lights, Im surprised the 400w light literally has no information even on the website, doesn say what strips, overall dimensions, which drivers, umol info etc. Is there a reason you recommended them, possibly over these board setups??
 
K

kindnug

Well-Known Member
Interesting lights, but the person who was opening omegalighting recently died + was an riu contributor.
 
TacoMac

TacoMac

Well-Known Member
TurboTokes said:
Not a single one for under $200 to flower 3x3 I dont think actually. The budget is $300 though...
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You obviously don't bother to read your own damn thread:

ColoradoHighGrower said:
I love my 315lec!
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mastrmasn said:
I am in the process of building a linear strip light using Bridgelux LED strips for the same space. At a cost of 250$. Did a lot of research on these builds and found that there’s a lot of band for your buck.
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TacoMac said:
Here's the Yieldlabs 400 watt HPS with everything you need for 150 bucks.

https://growace.com/ga-optimal-400w-hps-mh-air-cool-hood-reflector-grow-light-kit.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIqL-92aaI3QIVQ0sNCh3qxAOuEAQYASABEgIluPD_BwE

I have the 600 watt version of this light. The ballast is fan cooled but you can barely hear it at all.
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growin-Jables said:
Shit 300 bucks for a 3x3 coverage.....that's a perfect situation for a 315w cmh. The nanolux 315w cmh is a vertically mounted bulb set up for $240. Then your Phillip's 3100k bulb is $60. Boom 300 bucks and perfect foot print for 3x3. And able to use it from veg ti flower . Boom
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InTheValley said:
4 luminus cobs,
1 HLG-480-2100b
$288
Small driver for fans, ACplug,

400watts and would kick ass
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And that's just page one, dumbass. The first 4 are under 200 dollars.
 
InTheValley

InTheValley

Well-Known Member
Prawn Connery said:
OK, so let's narrow it down to specifics:

Option 1 - 600W HPS with digital ballast
A digital ballast will take care of noise. Remote ballast and proper ventilation will take care of heat. I grew in a 4'x4' with 1200W of HPS for over a decade in Australia with ambient temps up to 40+C without issues. Not ideal in summer, but manageable and fine for the remainder of the year. 600W in a 3'x3' is pretty standard. Paint the inside cupboard walls flat white - that will avoid hot spots and still reflect good light. Horizontal or vertical (my choice) grow. Noise and heat issues solved. If he's not interested in max yield and is still concerned about heat, a 400W HPS would also work in that space.

Option 2 - LED
In your budget, it comes down to two choices: build you own strip or panel frames, or purchase a HLG or other kit. You've been given lots of links to HLG kits and boards with matching drivers. You can work out how to get them to Canada, I'm sure. They work, I use them, and if anyone tells you LED doesn't work, they've never used them (or haven't used them recently). Nuff said.

I'm not sure if anyone has posted this link yet: https://www.omegalight.net/shop

You could build something like that yourself, or just buy one of the above kits. The guy who sells them is on RIU [B]@nfhiggs[[/B]/USER] and he would be more than happy to look after you.

As for footprints, lumens and all that other shit, you've already been told how many watts you need and what coverage they provide. Don't get caught up in the minor details if you don't fully understand them. A HPS bulb under a hood also has uneven coverage, being very hot in the middle and weaker on the outsides. It doesn't make a huge amount of difference unless you seriously plan to scrog. It sounds to me like your friend isn't the type of person who pays great attention to detail, otherwise he'd be able to work all these things out for himself. Just like the rest of us have.

Now go off and bloody buy something! Or come back here with specifics. But please don't ask us all to repeat ourselves or ask questions to answers that are right under your nose. People are trying to help you, but you are making this more difficult than it needs to be.
Click to expand...

nfhiggs passed away bro,
 
Prawn Connery

Prawn Connery

Well-Known Member
TurboTokes said:
Why do so many of the drivers mention 230v? Alot of ads and specs say 95% efficient when powered by 230v, can those drivers not be run at 110v? To confusing I shoulda stayed in math class

The omega lighting link you posted has some interesting lights, Im surprised the 400w light literally has no information even on the website, doesn say what strips, overall dimensions, which drivers, umol info etc. Is there a reason you recommended them, possibly over these board setups??
Click to expand...
If you read the specs, nearly all run both 110V and 230V.

Have you contacted HLG yet about shipping those boards? Come back to us when you have.
 
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