DIY Grow Lights with high-efficiency LED strips

Cool idea,like it

Hey there Baudelaire, I’ve been going through this thread mainly because I’m looking into changing out my lighting system from the HIDs to LED or CMH and so far in my investigations, the LED is by far the winner! What I’ve seen of your efforts are awesome! Thanks for sharing also, the info is invaluable! :sunglasses: :grinning:

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Same here. 20

BiGSquatch

The powerful new BiGSquatch X4 delivers up to 1475 PPF in an ultra-sleek lightweight 18″ x 26″ reflector housing with just 2 inches of vertical profile, using the most efficient full-sp… I hate hitting a old topic. Lol. @JohnnyPotseed i have been checking him out. I love the lights.

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naw…I’m loving the ones we built here ourselves. 3x4 was just under $125 each. Using the Bridgelux Gen3 - 4’ strips and appropriate driver. We built 6 units for the budroom, and the plants are doing great under them, as you can see on my 'First Autos log…

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I wish I would have known this from the get go! I can now say without a doubt that Baudela. ire is telling the truth 100%. Growdaddyled seems like a great guy with his story and all but the LED’s speak for themselves. They do not last at all and i now understand when you say my strips look wildly out of balance… they were terrible comparing to a real SolStrip. So wanted to drop this down here for anyone reading my old comment please dont buy them from ebay or growdaddyled just get them from the real source SolStrip!

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Appreciate the comments @Misguided_USMC . Experience is the best teacher no doubt.

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Wow, nice thread. I didn’t realize you’re involved with the Solstrip. I need to read the whole thread. I got a chuckle from your first few posts from ‘17. It seems like they’ve been around longer. I’m looking forward to reading it. peace

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What are the go to diodes these days? Samsung LM301H?

The LM301H and B chips are still top of the line. Some interesting advances by Osram and Seoul Semi, but the Samsung 301 series is still the one to beat in terms of efficiency/output per dollar.

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No problem, thank you for actually being one who shares the information they have gathered through the years so those like myself can skip some of the headaches. It is extremely clear where the knock off versions keep their foothold in the NEW customer range. They just offer their “equivalent” product at a very reduced rate and boom you are sold. That is why i stated new haha, once that second grow or third grow comes around and your already having to build a new fixture and your searching for the real versions you go to Sol.

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sorry for continuing to reply on a ancient post but. I cam back to grab the photo of my first fixture i attempted to build and noticed exactly what you were talking about the inconsistency of LED’s per strip. Some seem to be going full blast and others are dimly lit in comparison. however if you take some X3’s every single LED is firing at the exact same level giving a even distribution of light to the plants below!

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A lot of first time LED DIYers focus on the LED chip make and quality, which is very important, but give little to no thought of the PCB design and build quality.

The PCB is the platform that holds the LED chip, contains all the circuitry, and dissipates the heat away from the chips so that they maintain a long life with consistent output. What you are seeing with

It’s really the only part of an LED strip or board that the component maker has any input or control over. The LEDs are made by multi-billion dollar manufacturers. - Samsung, Osram, Seoul Semi, Epistar, Bridgelux., and sold to the strip and board makers. Because of this, there is a tendency to lump all boards or strips that use the same LED chips together, and the cheapest supplier wins the sale.

Nothing could be farther from the truth. It’s a bit like saying any car with a Porsche engine is as good as a Porsche. The engine is important, very important. But so are the drive train and chassis, the gearbox and suspension, the weight distribution and aerodynamics. The fit and finish, and the quality of materials and engineering. All of it is required to make a Porsche.

The PCB can cost from 30-60% of the total fabrication cost of an LED strip or board, even when using the most expensive top bin LEDs. And because LED prices are more or less the same for all board makers, the PCB is where costs are cut when a cheap retail price is the main goal.

SolStrip strips and boards are built with 2.0 ounce (70µm thick or 2.8 mils) copper circuit layers. Two ounce CU production costs are higher than common 1 oz design but the performance is better than 1 oz PCBs. Current dynamics and thermal control is much better when run through circuitry that is twice as thick as the standard PCB.

Similarly, aluminum backing on strips and boards is the first line of defense in LED heat mitigation, which is absolutely critical to maintaining the life and consistent photonic output from LEDs:

SolStrip strips and boards use a 1.5mm aluminum backing. Many other bargain board and light makers use 1mm aluminum. They are happy to cut their heat mitigation capacity by 33%, and shorten the life of their boards, to save a buck.

Bridgelux, the low cost hero of the DIY scene, doesn’t even bother using aluminum backing on its EB strips. It uses ceramic PCBs, which are much cheaper than aluminum, on it’s low-power strips, choosing to forgo metal backing and spread its LEDs over a larger total area of ceramic to fight heat buildup.

@Misguided_USMC what you are experiencing with your Ebay strips is likely the result of thin copper traces and thin aluminum backing, plain and simple. Copper and aluminum is sold by weight, less metal in the PCB, less cost for the manufacturer, but less life and quality of output for the strip.

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I know this is an old thread but I wanted to jump in and say ever since switching over to Sol Strips I’ll never go back I think it’s the X3s can’t remember but nothing quite performs even close to them. I would recommend them to everyone. If your in the fence about it I say just try it and you definitely won’t be disappointed.

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