I had problems with light stress when trying to raise it up to that point but if you start a seed under high watts it seems to be able to cope… Unless mine are defective.
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I have 10 strips in my 2x2x about 5 tall… on it’s lowest setting (about 45 watts) it wont let a plant stretch lol. I’ve got one that is 3 nodes and a bit over an inch tall
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10 strips with a 100w driver? Also what spectrum? I want that 
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[quote=“Grease_Monkey, post:765, topic:22468”]it wont let a plant stretch lol
[/quote]
That’s what happened to the white diesel x ghost rider on my last lot I had about 5 nodes in 2 inches, couldn’t work out what was happening lol, first time with the light and the strain, and the plant got burned fairly bad as well.
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150 watt driver, I’ve had no issues with larger plants. I don’t know if this lack of stretch is an issue yet lol these are the first seedlings I’ve done with the light. But I’m sure I could do with 100 watts easy enough lol.
edit 3500 K and 560 mm strips
@Shadey i havnt had any burn issues yet, but I’ve typically been able to stay 6-10 inches above the canopy on the bigger plants
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I dont know if this has been asked yet, but how do you “compare led to hps” I’ve talked to a few HPS buddies that wont even think about LEDs especially when you say its only 150 watts and they are using 600 or whatever.
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I think there were other issues going on as well, but they didn’t correct until I raised the light to 18 inches. I might see if I can get it closer with the autos.
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Is yours not adjustable?
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Hmm so do 10 strips at 19w each match up nice with the 150w driver without a dimmer?
My bad that’s 19v (I’m a dimwit today)
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One of my flowering lights is, I broke the dimmer on the other one, I didn’t bother with the veg and I didn’t think a 150w veg light would burn them up lol. If I order any more stuff from digikey I will get some petentiometers for all of them.
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I would attempt to compare with lumens or umols
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You could probably find a pot at the source, maybe auto parts store or even an old appliance with variable speed or volume. As long as the resistance is similar.
@Bob13 without a dimmer you’ll be stuck at what the driver is putting out. The sonof timer I wired into my light shows wattage. So I can adjust my lights while watching my phone to see what I’m putting out. It’s not necessary but I like to tell my self it is, and it satisfies the OCD knowing where I’m set at lol
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Is there a calculation for how to match strips up with drivers? I know the strips can be run anywhere from 75% to 200% so they don’t seem that dangerous to run a little off and I’m happy to put a dimmer in.
I just checked and mr sparkle is running 10 strips at 75w but that must be dimmed using a 100w driver I assume?
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That’s above my pay grade lol… I’ve seen it somewhere in this thread near the top.
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Yeah he used more up the top of this thread then took a few out if i remember correctly and posted it somewhere in the mass of posts on another thread.
@Mr.Sparkle to the rescue? 
whenever is good of course
Couldn’t help it 
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Ordered 3 items from Future, thanks @Mr.Sparkle
Needed something to keep me busy.
1 - 20pack 560mm strips
2 - xlg-150-L-ab drivers
With my grow shutdown for summer, plenty of time to learn. Plan to wire and test different configurations. If you see smoke rolling out the windows of the Torino, run!
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So doing more reading and hoping my calculations are on it, an xlg 100w L-AB driver works paired with 7 560mm eb2 strips? I don’t want to balls up
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This is a great thread @Mr.Sparkle, I’ve decided that it’s about time I start dipping my toes in the led water and this option is by far the most cost effective way I have seen.
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Feel like im posting too much but to hell with it, for my own knowlege as im befuddled with the rest of the posts though quite a few do provide me with a bit of knowlege but not the whole idea (to keep it safe and all)
Using the same 56cm strips for all potential builds so its 19.5v and they say to run them 700ma. Im not sure how to calculate what i will be making the strips run at ma wise which is kinda my problem. My current light also uses a something resistant potentiometer (i think) twiddly nobble but im not sureif thats a requirement to help it run at a certain ma, anyway onto the drivers!
100w xlg lab driver:
Max current output 700ma
voltage output = 71 ~ 142V
so i take the higher number and divide that by the 19.5v for the strips and it gives me 7.28 strips and more numbers but im assuming they dont matter as much as the .28. what do i do with the remainder or do i even count that as the driver efficiency is only 92% so i might be pushing less through the strips than the numbers actually say but it also says i can run the strips at up to 200% also its not like there is no air circulation as plants want that too so cooling them a tad is relatively easy even if im driving them over the 700ma if that is what the extra .28 V is doing.
150w driver:
120 ~ 214V output
Max current output 700ma
214 ÷ 19.5 = 10.97 (thats basically another strip?)
200w driver:
Same as others but 142 ~ 285v output
285 ÷ 19.5 = 14.61
240w driver:
178 ~ 342v output
342 ÷ 19.5 = 17.53
This one is my only point of real world reference i have as im using 17 strips on a 240 driver with the resistor but im such a dunce that i wouldnt even know which one to order to be safe to match with whats needed.
Im not a total dunce outside of this and am able to do basic testing things like checking a car battery charge and rewiring things and such but thats all premade and this is like going from duplo to micro mechano
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Yeah I cant help you I am afraid, Like you I can test stuff and put it together but as far as working out whether things are good to go together, I am hopeless lol. If I sat down and worked at it I could probably learn, I leaned how to calculate volumes on weird shapes, for form work, but now you can get apps to do all that shit, I wonder if there are apps for electrical stuff.
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