Cheap LED Strips : A Viable Alternative

Growroom Design
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#1225

if looking for say shop retrofits, easier to find those through say your commercial electrical suppliers or even say some Reno stores, but from what ive seen they are getting there price wise in that most would probably pay for the initial cost difference through savings in electricity after a yeah and half to two, just depends on initial cost and how much they get used in a day, but halving your electricity usage from floros is worthwhile imo

also the standard bridgelux eb sizing and light outputs were very obviously designed for floro tube replacement purposes just its not plug and play but more for light fixture designs or replacement packages done externally

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#1226

Cool, thats probably the way he will go, even amazon isn’t a bad price i just figured I’d try to search digikey.

its a dungeon in here especially once its dark out

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#1227

also thats just where going to newer style fixtures that can be easily or cheaply replaced may be a benefit vs running the floro style fixtures, its just we were limited before to a certain form factor, with leds thats not necessarily the case anymore.

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#1228

He wants to avoid changing fixtures so they are easier to take out lol. The landlords a bit of a dick and we don’t want to do him any favors if we relocate

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#1229

Yeah, I’d suggest something more from off the shelf, anything else and you’ll be pulling wires rather than just tubes.

I was gonna say fuck landlords, but actually a good friend of mine is a decent one.

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#1230

For all those that have built LED lights and have switched from another light. Did you notice any difference in regards to EC levels you hit and in specific any additional requirements for Ca/Mg?

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#1231

Yeah definitely magnesium, I have now started using it in every watering at 1 table spoon per gal of water.

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#1232

Are you using Epsom for the mag bump? That’s about 14grams is it now which would be a massive bump in mag.

364(Mg)
476(S)

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#1233

Yep Epsom. That’s for big plants in flower and veg, I use smaller quantities for early veg, about 2 TBS in 5 gals.

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#1234

Well good to know. I assume your EC levels are pretty high with that much Mag going into the mix?

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#1235

Possibly, I have no idea :thinking: I only check water PH, don’t really need to know being no till soil what the EC is :wink:

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#1237

I found this link this morning

http://www.egc.com/useful_info_lighting.php

It ‘sort of’ confirmed the conversion numbers (flux to photons) I’ve been playing with… (Well, identified the range the conversion factor resides in is more accurate).

Cheers
G

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#1238

Can these LED diodes be bought individually ?

does anyone sell single row horticultural LED strips ?

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#1239

The strips can be bought individually from Digikey in 22 and 44 inches there may be more sizes I am not aware of. These are not horticultural but work extremely well.

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#1240

I’m building a light using info gleaned from this thread, and I have a question.

I want to run 20 of the 580mm Gen 2 strips. If 20 strips x 19.5 volts per = 390, I think I’m gonna need an HLG-480H, but there’s an HLG-480H-36A, -42A, -48A, -54A, and a -36B, -42B, -48B, -54B. What do the numbers at the end of the driver name mean, and how do I know which is the right one for my config? I know it’s important, but not why.

Thanks for your help. :vulcan_salute:
:guitar:

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#1241

A 15O watt driver will run 10 strips slightly under powered so you would only need a 300 watt driver. The different numbers are for amps and volts and wiring configurations either parallel or the other one, sorry just got up and no coffee yet, brain is not engaged fully :dizzy_face::wink:

Edit parallel or in series.

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#1242

@Guitarzan, The 480 on the driver represents 480 watts. You have calculated the wattage wrong.
I do not know what the wattage of those strips are but you have multiplied the number of strips by the voltage.

PS: If the wattage happens to also be 20 then all good :slight_smile:

#1243

The nominal current per strip is 700mA. This is 13.6W per 560mm Gen2 strip. Total is 272W.

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#1244

You can run 19 off of a 240 wired series

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#1245

Yeah, sorting out the part numbers can be a little daunting.

e.g. HLG-480H-36A that’s a 480 watt driver that outputs 36 volts and the “A” indicates that is has and adjustable voltage and current pots.

The ‘2 foot’ Gen 2’s (560mm) are 13.6 watts and 19.5 volts. Lets assume parallel wiring, so that’s 270 watts at 19.5 volts. Looking at the HLG series, there is a 240 watt and a 320 watt model. I’d go with the HLG-320 myself.
Now for the voltage selection, 2 options, 20 and 24 volt models. Under certain conditions the forward voltage can be 22 volts and you have to factor in copper losses between the driver and the LED strips (I went with the 24 volt) but, with an “A” series you can max the voltage to 22 volts so you can go either way. Depends on your setup etc.

Cheers
G

3 Likes