@GnomeyByNature @nube 's response sums it up for what i would say, only thing i would add is with the xlg “A” series drivers their potentiometer access is on the bottom of the driver, so depending on how you mount the driver like my third cabinets light where i have a hole drilled in my light panel to access it or if you rarely have a reason to change the output which in a static mounted situation you don’t really have to as the plants grow to the light, those factors you dont even need to bother with the AB series and wiring in a 100k pot.
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Wave of the future My Brother if you don’t ride the wave it crashes on you
so time to take a look at LEDs
I want to start doing sea of green as shit is start to get a bit less crazy
so the plant count is not killing me
SOG inside little plants don’t look as bad as treez
so I want to start with a 2 foot by 4 foot for 8 sq. ft. so the light above does 300 watts
so we are right there for light a sq ft
just got to get the right kind of light for the right cost
it is hard with 20 years of inside growing I have 10 or 15000 watts of ballasts
bulbs and reflectors etc. etc.
reading about stuff for sale on the web what snake oil
grow with 1000 true watts of light for the power cost of the light in your stove
be real
I am still trying to figure out the math for power use
if I want to give my plants 300 watts of light over an 8 sq. ft. spot how much power am
I drawing from the wall?
and how tall can my plant be from the top of the pot/soil-less?
all the best
Dequilo
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most of the higher quality drivers are in the 0.92-0.89 Power factor range, so if you were supplying 300w to your leds that would be 326-337w from the wall
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that makes sense as good digital HID ballast I figure the same
400 watts of light 440 watts at the wall
if they over drive that changes
so how far into the canopy does LEDs penetrate?
thanks for the reply
Dequilo
The light we built? (Further up on this thread). Here is Our monthly consumption kw/hr, by month. Bridgelux series 2… 2 ft strips, and an xlg 240 l ab driver.
Edit: for comparison a 600w hid, ran at mostly 50%
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thank you my friend for the reply
looking power draw from the wall my bad 
peace and be safe
Dequilo
This is power drawn from the wall? Data is from a wifi enabled socket
Edit : I can’t tell real draw atm, but fml the savings…
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Hah, I guess when I said build I was talking about other aspects(like cabinet etc) besides lighting to the build and that’s why I was asking @Mr.Sparkle the pro micro builder…
I know he has done a lot, and was seeing if he had a specific cheap build (link)
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if you have a 400 watt light/ballast how many watts it draws from the wall to run that
that lamp at 400 watts
not cost to run
is what I was asking
all the best
Dequilo
but you can tell me you replace your 600 watt light
with the above light for that saving
amazing !! thanks
Dequilo
What drivers are you using now?
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That all depends and is subjective which you kinda have to think different on as with singular or point sources of light you need that intensity for that “penetration” where as our DIY and prebuilt options now a days are spread out light sources where we get better coverage overall though its at the disadvantage of that source intensity so ends up being a trade off. Saying that though the more light that one can provide the greater that happy growth depth or range is but at the same time you have to have the lights further away and some efficiency is lost with that.
I know not a direct answer but just what it is.
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nope, really whatever you have on hand or can re-purpose, or just buy a tent.
Alot of my builds have all been because of other factors, such as fitting a space, stealth or micro fun, but if i had a spare unused room or some corner in a garage, basement or attic and didn’t care about more stealthy options tents are the easiest and cheapest in some regards too.
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Coverage you just hit the nail on the head for me
I keep thinking if I was running a 400 watt HID I could cover 40 inches by 40 inches
with a plant 40 inches tall from the top of the soil and get hard bud
so if I had 32 plants in square 6 inch pots in a 2 foot by 4 foot footprint
how far would I want the light from the top the plant?
may be a better question
Dequilo
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Well as close as possible without issues come flower, but you could be within 6-8" or closer on the close side of things if you have the supports heat/humidity/water/nutes to do so. On a comment about the pots though there is no need to run that many and that’s coming from me.
Personally for a 2x4 and for most people i wouldn’t even consider more than say 8 plants in that space with 2 to 4 making more sense yield wise, now sure myself i run a higher density than that at times though i only do it for selections for seed making or to see pheno expressions, like one of my cabs right now is running at a density of what would be somewhat equivalent to say 16 plants in a 2x4 and to me thats too packed and im using little pots for that “3 1/4” though i have automated watering.
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Sea of Green not Screen of Green
smaller plants, no veg time, higher plant count
Oh i know still though our plants move fast when they are happy and have the root space to do so.
Here are 4 plants in a little over 3sqft and these are 47days from breaking ground in essentially 4.5" pots and this round wasn’t a good run decent though just as some improvements could definitely be made next go around Autos though.
Just saying from my experience running micro sog for years bigger pots and less plants are just better imo, and time difference is nil on these scales, even running photoperiods i wouldn’t veg whether small pot or bigger more than 2-2.5weeks before id be flipping, or where clones would be at similar sizes
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no worries my friend all you fine folks will help me to sort out the light
I will sort out the grow 
so if in 8 sq ft of space I want about 40 watts to sq ft
to run a 300 watt LED I can figure I will draw around 330 watts at
the wall?
thanks
Dequilo
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going for those light levels yeah if your have 300w at the strips/leds and are using say a HLG-320 driver you would be right around 325-330w from the wall
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I wound up getting 2 XLG-200-24-A. One runs 11 strips, the other 10. I still kinda screwqed up, as this model doesn’t have an external dimmer, but I can live with that.
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