The Chinese Quantum Board Knock Off Builds

bk78 said:
Mind sharing who the manufacturer is? I’m looking to build a few veg lights.
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It's a company called "Stacked Lighting". I ran into them by fluke on Insta... They were building a few different models but are in the process of revamping their branding and panel designs.

Like I said prior, there is a 480w 4-Bar ($750) and a 660w 6-Bar ($1100). You can also add x2 UV bars onto the 660w for another couple hundo, then she's running at 780w ($1300). I can't remember if it was 3 or 5 year warranties. Shipping is out of Ontario.

I've read that the epistars are junk in a few spots now so that raises a flag. I also inquired as to how they are powered as there is no external driver like there is on everyone else's boards. They look nice, don't get me wrong.
 
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I asked about the epistars and buddy says they can switch to cree xpe2 for $100 more. The 480w do use an external 480h 48b.

Is anyone using Hortibloom panels or heard any reviews on them? I'm looking at the 650w Mega Plus...
 
Oh perfect. Are you running the 650w model? Did you add in any of the UV or IR options?

I'm lost with what panel to go with. My plants under the CMH have stretched too much and are in the danger zone and showing some signs of heat stress. I need to pull the trigger on another panel here asap so I can swap the CMH's out. I'm hoping someone with some knowledge can maybe help me out lol. So far I've narrowed it down to the Geekbeast Pro 650w or the Hortibloom Mega Plus 650w. Both seem to come in around the $950 CAD range but if there's another option I've overlooked I'm all ears.

Hortibloom offers some different UV + IR addon options and utilizes 8 bars compared to 6 with the Geek. Obviously the Geek's based around the separately controlled UV that comes standard. Not sure why they both use the Inventronics drivers VS the Meanwells? I'd like to add some UV but I don't know enough about it to decide if it's worth it or not. I like that Geekbeast can individually control the UV but I'm waiting for a response from them as they say that when the UV is on the watts are just over 590w but advertise its 650w from the wall? Wondering what the panel pushes when it isn't on if that's the case? I asked Hortibloom how their UV works and if they are controlled separately from the others and what the power draw difference is with them on/off.

There seems to be some substantial differences in ppfd readings between the two providers so I'm not sure how to interpret that. The geek only looses like 50 ppfd from 12" to 18" and they have 1000+ in the corners regardless of height. Yet the mega loses 300 in the centers at a 6" difference and goes from 709 in the corners at 12" to low 600's at 18". I figured it would be the other way around with a 6 bar VS 8 bar?

Any advice or input is more than welcome

Thanks
 
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mr4tune said:
Oh perfect. Are you running the 650w model? Did you add in any of the UV or IR options?

I'm lost with what panel to go with. My plants under the CMH have stretched too much and are in the danger zone and showing some signs of heat stress. I need to pull the trigger on another panel here asap so I can swap the CMH's out. I'm hoping someone with some knowledge can maybe help me out lol. So far I've narrowed it down to the Geekbeast Pro 650w or the Hortibloom Mega Plus 650w. Both seem to come in around the $950 CAD range but if there's another option I've overlooked I'm all ears.

Hortibloom offers some different UV + IR addon options and utilizes 8 bars compared to 6 with the Geek. Obviously the Geek's based around the separately controlled UV that comes standard. Not sure why they both use the Inventronics drivers VS the Meanwells? I'd like to add some UV but I don't know enough about it to decide if it's worth it or not. I like that Geekbeast can individually control the UV but I'm waiting for a response from them as they say that when the UV is on the watts are just over 590w but advertise its 650w from the wall? Wondering what the panel pushes when it isn't on if that's the case? I asked Hortibloom how their UV works and if they are controlled separately from the others and what the power draw difference is with them on/off.

There seems to be some substantial differences in ppfd readings between the two providers so I'm not sure how to interpret that. The geek only looses like 50 ppfd from 12" to 18" and they have 1000+ in the corners regardless of height. Yet the mega loses 300 in the centers at a 6" difference and goes from 709 in the corners at 12" to low 600's at 18". I figured it would be the other way around with a 6 bar VS 8 bar?

Any advice or input is more than welcome

Thanks
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Hey. I'm running the regular 650's, no UV or IR. I don't trust Geek beast's par numbers. I looked at them, but decided on Hortibloom. 8 bars are better coverage wise, and free shipping. More diodes too. I think your going to want a par meter also, by the sounds of it. Ive been running mine at 60% and 6 inches and getting 1000umols on my tops.
 
Awesome just the info I was looking for. I don't want to go down in bar count either. I have a hard time believing the Geek's numbers as well.... Its one thing to jack em up a bit to look good on paper, but the differential in 6" height difference says bullshit completely.
 
Speaking of par meters, once I get home off this project I was thinking of grabbing one of these:

shoponset.hoskin.ca

MQ-500: Full-Spectrum Quantum Meter

Important Info The MQ-500 has a hand-held meter, attached via cable, that displays and stores measurements. The sensor incorporates a blue-enhanced silicon photodiode and custom optical filters with a rugged, self-cleaning sensor housing design, anodized aluminum body with acrylic diffuser...
shoponset.hoskin.ca shoponset.hoskin.ca

Is this a good price? If not, anyone know where I can get one cheaper in Canada.

All my research says that the Apogee MQ-500 is an excellent meter, but if someone has any other recommendations that would be helpful.

Not being able to analytically measure my lighting consistently across my various fixtures, so I can apply the data to future grows, has become an unacceptable limiting factor for me.

Especially when a person's monitoring PH, EC, TEMP/Humidity/VPD and run off. An accurate measurement of par seems the next logical choice.
 
Great post and outlook DrKiz. Made me realise how much coin I've dumped into my setup only to play a guessing game with lighting intensities and the effect they have on my own setup. I'm going to put one of these meters on my wishlist as soon as I get my other 2 panels.

Very interested to see what results you get off your panels with one of these!
 
mr4tune said:
how much coin I've dumped into my setup only to play a guessing game with lighting intensities and the effect they have on my own setup.
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Right? It irritates my brain not knowing exactly what's going on between my fixtures, especially when I have everything else dialed in.

We've got the most advanced indoor horticultural lighting on the market right now going on in our grows, if I'm driving a Formula One I want to KNOW FOR SURE I'm being able to utilize maximum horsepower at the wheels, without burning them out before reaching the finishing line.
 
Maybe the wrong spot for this post but didn't want to start another dumb newbie thread so here it goes....current lighting in my 4x4 is blurple and I am looking to upgrade but have to keep it under the bosses budget of roughly 550. I was debating between 2 or 3 meiju 240 kits in 3500 but the more I am reading it seems the bars seem to be the latest and greatest. I jumped on alibaba today and saw they have a 480w bar which would be the same price as the 3 240 kits. so what would the experts do?
 
Xsan said:
Maybe the wrong spot for this post but didn't want to start another dumb newbie thread so here it goes....current lighting in my 4x4 is blurple and I am looking to upgrade but have to keep it under the bosses budget of roughly 550. I was debating between 2 or 3 meiju 240 kits in 3500 but the more I am reading it seems the bars seem to be the latest and greatest. I jumped on alibaba today and saw they have a 480w bar which would be the same price as the 3 240 kits. so what would the experts do?
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Better idea. You pull up your big boy pants and be a man, lol.
 
Xsan said:
Maybe the wrong spot for this post but didn't want to start another dumb newbie thread so here it goes....current lighting in my 4x4 is blurple and I am looking to upgrade but have to keep it under the bosses budget of roughly 550. I was debating between 2 or 3 meiju 240 kits in 3500 but the more I am reading it seems the bars seem to be the latest and greatest. I jumped on alibaba today and saw they have a 480w bar which would be the same price as the 3 240 kits. so what would the experts do?
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Get the strips over the boards. You wont regret it.
 
Be careful with your new par sensors, they arent the most sturdy things. Also be aware that there is a lot more than first impression: how do tthey react to more linear or more diffuse light (some will give low readings if the light source is close and with light coming from all kind of angles rather than straight, if sensor is angled or no).
- The response curve: how much par they measure depends of nm: uv, violets, and reds, 660 and up, will not show up equally , to the rest of the spectrum. The kind of precision youre talking about is high end Licor sensors like cobkit uses. +1000 dollars for the sensor, then you need the actual reader.

Another issue: you put your par sensor under the light and try to hold still, the numbers on the sensor dance up and down quite a lot, like about 50ppfd or more. Thats a lot of variance and makes it hard to draw hard conclusions from the value. I truly think you need to watch the plants more than any meter. I think the values on our meters, temps/rh/par/lux and especially vpd only really indicate in which direction to take your grow. After that its incremental steps towards that direction, looking for praying leaves, with no burnt tips, no deficiencies, tacoing or other weird stuff, fast drinking plants etc.

For the purpose of really getting into nittygritty details id go for datalogging environment, with sensors in cannopy, undercannopy and heck maybe even in the pot, making sure you get something which will spit out vpd values with you not having to do the calculations.

We had a par meter and it served us "well": it was enough to convince my grow bro we can do leds and we started throwing up panels which got a huge ball rolling. But it promptly broke and now we just do a cheap lux meter and push everything until we see signs of unhappy plants.
 
Xsan said:
Maybe the wrong spot for this post but didn't want to start another dumb newbie thread so here it goes....current lighting in my 4x4 is blurple and I am looking to upgrade but have to keep it under the bosses budget of roughly 550. I was debating between 2 or 3 meiju 240 kits in 3500 but the more I am reading it seems the bars seem to be the latest and greatest. I jumped on alibaba today and saw they have a 480w bar which would be the same price as the 3 240 kits. so what would the experts do?
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I would go for the bars man. I run 2 x 240watt Bava boards, which are essentially the same as those Meijiu's in a tent, and a Meijiu bar light in the other. I much prefer the bar light.

The bar light is a MJ-650, otherwise known as an A8... now... it is a little more expensive than your budget... coming in at $650USD.... all in. Maybe slightly cheaper to you, if shipping costs are less.

Start massaging those feet and breakfast in bed, maybe a little muff divin', whatever it takes for the boss and maybe she'll allocate a little more cash for your project. Reason I say go for the upgrade is that once you get that fixture in there you're going to literally have a Ferrari over those plants. $100 bucks to go from a Mustang to a Ferrari is a pretty damn good deal. One time investment, measure twice and cut once. Is that blurple good enough to flip for $100? Probably not, but maybe half way there.

You are going to pay for that light in one good grow.. not sure what you're getting for yield with that blurple.. but with these lights if you aren't at least getting a pound of dank out of it, then you are doing something wrong.

They're dimmable and the nice even spread across the canopy is mint!

Go for the bars! I assume the 480watt bar lights you are looking at are the Majo480's with 4 bars? I have a couple of 800 watt 10 bar Majo fixtures as well. The Majo's are also very nice bar lights.. they are kinda like version 1 Meijiu bar lights. These are going to give you a little more uniformity over the plants than the boards will.... also with the bars you can bring them closer to the plants.

With the boards I have to be way more careful of hotspots, particularily in the center of the tent due to the LED's compressed in a smaller area. The bars allow the center par to match closer to the out edges of the tent.

You're still going to see drop off on the edges with the bars, but it won't be as extreme as the boards

Hope that helps.
 
@Rocket Soul

Thanks for the advice, much appreciated. I haven't dropped the hammer on the meter just yet, and I get what you're saying about reading the plants.

I was thinking of maybe doing a little side hustle with the meter as well possibly, whoring myself out from the local hydro shop to help do a rough map for people trying to get their lights dialed in. Isn't going to be a money maker, probably only charge a guy $40-50 to give him a quick map. But hey, legal side money is side money.

I was looking for that service myself in the area.
 
DrKiz said:
@Rocket Soul

Thanks for the advice, much appreciated. I haven't dropped the hammer on the meter just yet, and I get what you're saying about reading the plants.

I was thinking of maybe doing a little side hustle with the meter as well possibly, whoring myself out from the local hydro shop to help do a rough map for people trying to get their lights dialed in. Isn't going to be a money maker, probably only charge a guy $40-50 to give him a quick map. But hey, legal side money is side money.

I was looking for that service myself in the area.
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Not sure what they are charging for a parmeter nowadays, maybe worth it. But seeing how much people fret over fixture price differences and how much variance and how inexact the readings are it seems much money for quite a little actual purpose and certainty. Id say they are more for blurple, but even as such they would normally not be very well at reading red, unless high end.
Doont knoow about the business side. Cobkits kinda leveraged a very nice par meter into doing reliable comparison tests of cobs, this is kinda what made cree cxb fall of the throne: vero, citizen an eventually luminous just did better at lower prices and cob sales adjusted. Boards and strips came after that, and then the whole ali game...
 
Just got a message back from Hortibloom..

"Currently Samsung lm301b is out of stock,so we use update Samsung lm561c or Sanan led chips,top one use 2560pcs lm561c and 160pcs 660nm,we test it comparing with mega plus 650w top with lm301b,the ppfd is almost same.Sanan led chips is made by famous China horticulture light company,they cooperate with HydroFarm in USA,CREE LED and also other brand led company,here is Sanan website for you reference:https://www.sananbio.com/.Mega Plus 650w top with Sanan（3072pcs white & 160pcs Osram 660nm）have higher PPFD than Mega Plus 650w top with Samsung lm561c. "

I remember reading about a shortage on here I think it was but never had an issue with it with Meijiu not so long ago. Input? Should I go with the lm561c? I've never heard of Sanan until now, but 512 more diodes...

Christopher Jordan, do you know which ones your running in yours?
 
PadawanWarrior said:
Better idea. You pull up your big boy pants and be a man, lol.
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Lol many men wiser than I have
DrKiz said:
I would go for the bars man. I run 2 x 240watt Bava boards, which are essentially the same as those Meijiu's in a tent, and a Meijiu bar light in the other. I much prefer the bar light.

The bar light is a MJ-650, otherwise known as an A8... now... it is a little more expensive than your budget... coming in at $650USD.... all in. Maybe slightly cheaper to you, if shipping costs are less.

Start massaging those feet and breakfast in bed, maybe a little muff divin', whatever it takes for the boss and maybe she'll allocate a little more cash for your project. Reason I say go for the upgrade is that once you get that fixture in there you're going to literally have a Ferrari over those plants. $100 bucks to go from a Mustang to a Ferrari is a pretty damn good deal. One time investment, measure twice and cut once. Is that blurple good enough to flip for $100? Probably not, but maybe half way there.

You are going to pay for that light in one good grow.. not sure what you're getting for yield with that blurple.. but with these lights if you aren't at least getting a pound of dank out of it, then you are doing something wrong.

They're dimmable and the nice even spread across the canopy is mint!

Go for the bars! I assume the 480watt bar lights you are looking at are the Majo480's with 4 bars? I have a couple of 800 watt 10 bar Majo fixtures as well. The Majo's are also very nice bar lights.. they are kinda like version 1 Meijiu bar lights. These are going to give you a little more uniformity over the plants than the boards will.... also with the bars you can bring them closer to the plants.

With the boards I have to be way more careful of hotspots, particularily in the center of the tent due to the LED's compressed in a smaller area. The bars allow the center par to match closer to the out edges of the tent.

You're still going to see drop off on the edges with the bars, but it won't be as extreme as the boards

Hope that helps.
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Thank you, that helps alot. I had a feeling that was going to be the answer. You were spot on with what I was looking at, the majo480s. I checked the A8 and it was up to 740 with the freight. I would probably have to finish this current grow with the blurples to pull off the A8. It took some massaging and diving to get up to the majo...

I might have to give that a go though buying a fiat when you want the ferrari is never a good decision lol. Not waiting on the gavita bugatti though lol, my tent is just for personal use
 
Xsan said:
Maybe the wrong spot for this post but didn't want to start another dumb newbie thread so here it goes....current lighting in my 4x4 is blurple and I am looking to upgrade but have to keep it under the bosses budget of roughly 550. I was debating between 2 or 3 meiju 240 kits in 3500 but the more I am reading it seems the bars seem to be the latest and greatest. I jumped on alibaba today and saw they have a 480w bar which would be the same price as the 3 240 kits. so what would the experts do?
Click to expand...
If youre in no hurry and not afraid of DIY: half a qbs worth of diodes on a strip was recently as low as 2$ at arrow electronics. Its all gone now but they regularly have deals although sometimes its for old gens, read the fine print really well.
6 x qb96 from hlg is about 370, and 2x xlg240-h-ab about another 90 which is a real alternative to strips. Another driver and youre at 750w, another 2 qbs and youll have similar spread to any of these strip fixtures. This all with domestic equipment. DIY is the real money saver, the above mentioned big boy pants can be saved for when the mrs has safety concerns. Id trust my own fixtures more than a cheapo china fixture, though even there the issues some have are over blown. If you got with 240 kits id try to run them around 180-200 rather than to the hilt.
 
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