Hmm I was thinking 3x2=6 and 3x4=12 
1 Like
Area vs perimeter, area is length x width, giving you square feet.
I see the issue, another way to look at it is if just simply multiplied by 3, it’s only really multiplying one side aka 3x 2x4 would only give 6x4, my bad. I think it might be closer to five or six of what he was saying. If you went with five, you could have a 10x4 giving you close to equal 2 ft space all around, not sure about the watts per sqft, but at least it would look aesthetically pleasing 
With the above deal, and his 10 strips per frame setups, you would still have to buy three sets of 20 strips and then have 10 left over.
You could do six frames but prob too tight of a squeeze. Maybe two frames (4’x5’ ?) using 30 strips each and two drivers which will have to be bigger of course.
3 Likes
Ok, you guys know your alternative lighting and leds, and these aren’t homemade, but I’m going to make a rig for them to fill in an odd to cover area, so it kinda fits here.
They claim to be the lm301h leds in it, looks like 50 chips with 9 leds on each using like 20ish watts? That seems extremely under driven, right? Shouldn’t that boost the efficiency quite a bit? The 2 I bought will be here Saturday, so I guess I’ll see how they do then.
1 Like
Please don’t support junk Alibaba companies like that. There’s no chance anything they claim is true, and probably not even close. There’s more chance it’ll burn down your house than that they use LM301H chips lol or even Samsung chips. That’s not hyperbole.
If you’re looking for cheap, buy 4 2ft Bridgelux EB2 3500k strips, mount them to anything, and wire them as necessary to a low power driver like one of the MeanWell APC line. That’ll be $25-30, it’ll output 4x what that Ali crap claims, and last a lifetime while actually giving you something for your money, and it won’t support Amazon listings of bad products by bad companies.
11 Likes
Almost done, Have some concerns about switching from HPS mid flower, any advice? Thanks for all the help on these guys.
12 Likes
As the other thread @Mr.Sparkle posted/added to this thread’s OP, you might need to increase your (ambient?)temperature a few degrees to get a similar leaf temperature to what you had before with your hps since the LEDs will run cooler.
The theory is that with potentially high light intensity (depending on your LED setup), the plants may not be able to handle it as well with the now somewhat lower leaf temps in comparison to the previous hps.
*as a side note tho, I will mention that the whole theory on that other thread isn’t really talking about switching mid grow, I think it’s more comparing one grow to another, so there may be other issues switching mid grow I am not aware of.
6 Likes
I switched mid flower after I made mine, 90% of my plants fox tailed, you will definitely need to raise temps, and there will be a bit of messing around to find your sweet spot with the light height above canopy, don’t be fooled thinking they don’t look that bright, start about 24 inches above and gradually work down an inch at a time until you think it’s ok, bigger plants seem to handle the lights being closer than smaller plants I find.
5 Likes
Great wire management! 
Cheers
G
5 Likes
After @gpaw complimented your wiring, I took a closer look, what is the small black part in the lower center that, by the looks of it, you are running the wires to? Some sort of terminal?
5 Likes
Is it just me or do the solstrips seem much more brighter than the bridgelux
14 solstrip x2 driven on 2 320h vs 36 bridgelux driven on 3 240h
8 Likes
to the eye they will as say you had the same amount of light coming from a condensed point vs one thats spread out the condensed point will look brighter, real question though is total light over an area.
Also opposite thought do the bridglux look 1/3rd as bright considering you have 3 times as many for the same wattage, barring light form factor differences and diodes distribution and amounts
8 Likes
The difference between 35k and 47k or 5k… Not really a fair trial…
Also I’d take my bridgelux at 500w at 76f vs 320w at 90f any day…
6 Likes
The bridgelux do look like they belong in the weekends halftime show.
The solstrips are 3k and 3500k with 2 630nm and 480nm strips.
Bridgelux are 2700k
6 Likes
Hi everyone, I have had a go at building these lights but just can’t get them to work!
The set up is: one XLG-100-L-AB driver powering two series circuits. There are 7 Bridgelux Gen2 28cm strips (BXEB-L0280Z-35E1000-C-B3) in each circuit (14 strips total) and a 100 ohm 5W linear potentiometer attached to the driver
I managed to get them to flash on intermittently by wiggling the potentiometer cable on the original driver. I have since replaced the original driver with another new one, but now I’m getting no light at all 
I have tested for continuity between the push fit wire connection points just in case there was a break in the wire I had used, but all seem okay.
It seems like there’s not much to go wrong so I don’t know what else to do!
Any suggestions would be much appreciated 
6 Likes
You’ve got several in series there- have you checked each strip disconnected from circuit? You may have fried one. (Could happen in series or parallel, of course.)
2 Likes
100 ohm or 100k ohm, if its 100ohm may be too low to even get them to light, and in that case just disconnect the external poteniometer and it should run at 100%
5 Likes
The wiring looks OK and you’re right, it’s not a complex circuit. You can try removing the 100K pot from the equation and trying without it, but I doubt that’s the problem. As I’ve said a few times, I’m no electrician, but I think you might be seeing the reason why I don’t use or recommend XLG drivers - they’re not very robust as you approach their rated limits.
As I read the spec sheet for the XLG-100-L-AB I see a max of 142v. But your 7x strips in each circuit, especially from a cold start, might require more voltage than that according to the EB2 spreadsheet:
They might want as much as 144.2v, and recommend a driver capable of providing up to 147.7v at startup.
I seem to recall reading that the strobe effect from Meanwell drivers at startup means you’re trying to overdrive them? So maybe try removing one strip from each circuit and testing that way. If that works, then you’re just beyond the capabilities of the XLG-100-L-AB and need to look for a slightly bigger or more robust driver. An HLG-120H-20AB would do it, but would require a parallel circuit.
4 Likes
Thank you for all the suggestions 
I’ll have a go and see what works!
If I remove the potentiometer, should I connect the two wires together?
It was the potentiometer!
Thank you for the help, it’s much appreciated 
7 Likes