Hey brother,
1.45sqft (one half of a IKEA Brimnes glass door cab)
10 280mm 3500k EB Gen 2 Strips
1x XLG-75LAB Driver
Basically i’m copying Sparkle haha. Down to the Kuggis Reservoir and watering setup an all 
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That’s gonna grow some good weed cant wait to see man!
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Quick question to the experts, how many strips of leds, would the minimum be, for a 2x2ft area for vegging with the 3500k strips?
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Not really how it should be evaluated. It would be better to measure based on watts needed to veg that space.
I would say 150w for bloom, 100w for veg in that space. 10 strips covers a 2x2 space very well, almost makes it so there’s at least one diode above every square inch of grow space. So 10 22" strips running on an XLG-150-L-AB driver would be an easy build and would put out enough light to veg or bloom, and would be dimmable to whatever your needs.
For the 100w option I would think 6-7 strips on an XLG-100-L-AB would be fine for veg only. @Mr.Sparkle’s lights are made with the 1 foot strips and I think they would also cover a 2x2 for veg if you were looking for the most cost effective option.
Again, I have to recommend the 150w option for the versatility should you want to flower with it and because it’s what I built and I know covers that space very well. I think the difference would be something like $30 for 50% more light.
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Can I run 100w of lights on a 150w driver? I am trying to free up the lights I have to cover the extra grow space area in my tent now. I need to cover a 2x4 foot area but will add more light strips later when I have more money, I can veg longer that’s not a problem. I just need more lights in there ATM.
I also just need the minimum amount for the clone cab as well. I can’t get my head around converting LEDs to standard light watts.
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I’ll let @Mr.Sparkle tackle that. I know the answer is both yes and no but I can’t elaborate as to why it would (or wouldn’t) be a bad idea. Basically though if you dimmed the driver down to 100w and kept it there you would have a 100w driver, it should even run more efficiently in that configuration. But there’s red flags in my head that I can’t put into words so maybe @Mr.Sparkle can clear it up.
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Cheers Trevor, I appreciate your help buddy.
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Yeah you can run them at a lower wattage, like right now I have mine running at 75w and was at 40w at the start of the week, but what I’d consider is what’s the plan light wise, like is the goal to fill the 2x4 ? And eventually flower it, and if so how do you want the light setup to be, two panels ? one big panel ? As that will dictate what driver may be more suitable. Just building for end goal possibilities is all .
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I have a veg tent, now 4x6 ft and a separate flower room 8x7ft, the plan is reduce my electrical costs over all but starting in the veg tent, as that uses more light time, and as I replace the sils in there with these LED strips I will put the sils in the flower room, and then start to replace those eventually.
So I am just thinking of getting enough light into the veg tent atm as I have extended it by 2ft in length. So as I am skint atm I would like to run a minimum, with the ability to add more at a later stage without making anything redundant when I do, and wasting money. I like flexibility in my lighting as my plants are at different states of veg so ultimately will be looking for either 6X 2x2ft frames in there or maybe 3X 4x2 ft as I usually veg in 2 plant groups staggered.
I also want to run one of the 2x4ft areas in veg for autos, so that would need to have a higher lumin count for that particular light anyway.
Damn power has just gone out in the house now.
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Sounds like you have alot of decisions to make yet. Decide on how you want to break it up as far as how many panels of what size strips then it will be easier to figure out the best way to achieve it.
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OK Power is back on.
I think I will go for the 560mm Bridgelux strips and run them on a 22 inch x44inch frame. Trev you said 10 for flower over 2x2ft so I was thinking 20 over this size frame, if that’s going to be a good vegging/flower light combo for the autos. What driver would best suit my needs?
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XLG-240-L-AB
17 560mm strips
This is what @toastyjakes is running and as you can see in his journal, it’s working great.
You will save a bit of money going this way too as you only need one driver!
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Thanks for that, is this price for the XLG-240-L-AB and 17 560mm strips 182.25 inc tax?
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Pretty much yea… All told I’m still under a dollar a watt with all the materials
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That’s not including taxes but shipping will be free where its over $100
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Cheers I have ordered it, what’s the little thing for $1.60 for?
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It’s a 100k ohm potentiometer, required if you want to dim the driver. The driver has 2 wires coming out of it ready for one of these to be soldered on. Just solder those 2 wires to the 2 leftmost posts on the pot and now you have dimming functionality.
Excited to see you get it up and running!
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I am going to try with the corner bead, did the one you used have a bulged corner or just flat?
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Save yourself the trouble and just use wood. Paint it up to look real nice, or not. Will be lighter than the corner beading if you use lightweight wood, and will be way easier to mount the strips.
The corner beading wanted to warp and twist once all together and looked ugly in the end.
I checked some thermals actually today and even at 15w per strip the hottest spot on the back of the strips was 29C they dont run hot at all you could mount em to anything to be honest.
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