SolStrip LED lighting: Product info and announcements

[Baudelaire]

I’ve been fielding a lot of questions about SolStrips so the folks at Overgrow have allowed me to host this discussion thread to help answer them.

Let this thread be the place where questions and announcements about SolStrip products are posted and answered. Hopefully that will keep the amount of commercial discussion in other areas of the site to a minimum. So please keep posting to and starting new project and grow threads with your SolStrip arrays, and let the community of LED growers here participate freely, and we will all keep learning.

I will also use this thread as a sort of evolving FAQ on SolStrip products, designs and technologies. You’ll be able to find information and plans for building several SolStrip lamp designs, plus technical specifications, tips and tricks for tweaking your system.

So, first things first: SolStrip.com

This is the place to go to browse for SolStrips, SolStix ,and SolSheet lamps and kits. Check stock, build your wish list, and order and track purchases. PayPal and all major credit cards accepted. Free shipping on orders over $150, generous return policies on lamps and unopened kits.

What is a SolStrip?

A SolStrip is an LED light emitter designed with dozens of small diodes arranged on a long, copper-cored, aluminum-backed circuit board. The strips are the first rigid LED strips designed especially for growers, using the highest quality, most efficient mid-power diode available today: Samsung’s LM561C chip. The SolStrip delivers 9000 lumens/m2 of full spectrum white light in photosynthetic spectral ranges from 2700K to 5700K, while using only 36-48 watts: twice the efficiency of HID lamps. SolStrips are made to be fully interchangeable, so they may be mixed together to create specific spectral mixes of light using different color temperatures together.

What is a SolSheet?

SolSheetz are complete lamps and kits designed with SolStrips using a common commercial baking sheet. SolSheetz feature 100-250 true watts of efficient LED light in a fully contained, water-resistant, low profile housing which uses just 3 inches of vertical space, making it perfect for small and height-restricted spaces. SolSheetz come in two sizes, the 13” x 18”, 150-200 watt SolSheet Original, and the 18” x 26”, 250-285 watt SolSheet X.

What are SolStix?

SolStix are components of an open rail-style lamp design using SolStrips and the custom SolSink fitted heat sink. SolSinks are custom-sized and tapped to fit SolStrips, allowing them to be mounted with simple M3 screws. SolStix include additional tapped mounting holes at each end to allow them to be easily attached to 1” angle aluminum rails to create simple, elegant light arrays that can be custom sized and expanded to fit the precise needs of the grower and grow space.

Is that it?

Oh no. We are actively developing the SolStrip product line and expect several exciting announcements in the near future. Stay tuned here and at the Photonics blog, or sign up for our email alerts.

Peace -b420

This is official sponsor’s topic and it is self-moderated. If you do not want to be moderated by the person who started this topic, create a new topic. - admin

[LemonadeJoe]

Hi @Baudelaire, you have put great effort into this project! I’m happy to see it quickly evolving.

[Baudelaire]

Time for a holiday sale.

How about free domestic U.S. shipping on all orders over $100 through New Years Day?

For international orders, free shipping on SolStrip orders of more than $120 through Jan. 1.

[Worcestershire_Farms]

Couple basic clarifying questions on choosing a driver.
If I choose the 200w SolStrip kit, I would want the 185w dimmable driver, and with a 250w SolStrip kit the 240w driver matches?
A “price is right” situation, if you will, up to but not over the limit?

[Baudelaire]

With the Mean Well drivers, you get a bit more power at the top end than their advertised rated watts. So the HLG-185 will actually deliver a little more than 200 watts at full power, and the HLG-240 will top out around 265 watts. SolStrip X1 strips are 48 watt max strips, so in a parallel wiring circuit an HLG-185 would power a 200 watt SolSheet kit with four SolStrips at full power. In all likelihood you’d run it at 50-75% of max, so even an HLG-150-24A (topping out at around 160w) would be perfectly sufficient for a four-strip lamp. The benefit of the larger drivers would be in allowing for adding more strips or SolSheets to your system later on.

[50State]

It the driver in the 250 watt kit dimmable ?

[LED_Seedz]

I’ve got some older Cidly Apollo 10’s. I’d like to reconfigure and make 2 of them in to veg lights.

Are you familiar with these @Baudelaire
http://www.cidly.com/pro_details/pro_Apollo.html

What information would you need from me in order to come up with something that would work?

[Baudelaire]

@50State

It the driver in the 250 watt kit dimmable ?

All of the Mean Well HLG drivers are dimmable, so yes it is.

[50State]

Unfortunately I can’t get past step two in the check out. Seems the only country choice is United States in the shipping/billing address.

[Baudelaire]

@LED_Seedz

I’ve got some older Cidly Apollo 10’s. I’d like to reconfigure and make 2 of them in to veg lights.

Retrofits are tricky. Until you crack the units open its going to be hard to tell if it’s going to work.
As is typical with most retail LED manufacturers, there’s not a lot of component-level information available on the Apollos. It does mention a driver voltage range of 32-44v, that is too much voltage for the SolStrip X1s, with require 18-24v DC.

You might be able to wire two parallel strip arrays in series, splitting the voltage into two 16-22v circuits, but you might get some strange behavior - the strips are much better regulated by current than by voltage (adjust the amps, not the volts). I would consider it an advanced skill level project as well - building new from a kit is much simpler and probably even less expensive in the final analysis.

I am working a 36v solution that is meant to address retrofits and legacy COB systems, which would work better with your drivers. But ultimately you need to ask yourself what your are trying to save with the retrofit, and if it is worth it given that most of the cost, and the value, of LED lamps are in the diodes, drivers and heatsinks.

[LED_Seedz]

Soon as I posted I thought, lets go tear one apart. Going to do a couple of edits here…

in any event. The goal here would be to resource the drivers, and cooling system and contain the strips/COB’s in the case. If it could be used cool. If not I’ve already thrown several of these away over the years.

My Chinese is terrible so I have no idea what I am even looking at for drivers, and I originally built these custom back in 2009. The spectrum I used worked killer and there were nothing like it at that time and I ran a consistent 1.7 GPW. The problem of course with all the old Chinese stuff was the LED’s them self wouldn’t make it a year without blowing.

If I could convert a couple of them over to some veg lights to cover a 2x4 area, sweet. If not, I am most likely going with something else entirely and it won’t break my heart so keep it real for sure.

TIA

PS Sorry for the mess in the background. I basically just scatterd a bunch of old work to the side and set a light up.

[Growinnblowin]

I see you so casually threw in that bucket o buds in there hahaha

[legalcanada]

@Baudelaire

you get a bit more power at the top end than their advertised rated watts

i believe this is true only for A type and not B type drivers

@50state meanwell A types have built in potentiometer, B type require separate potentiometer (if you want to place dimmer somewhere else, i.e. side of the fixture)

[Pedro_Bann]

do you know what the efficiency of these LED chips/Solstrips are?

[anon44218973]

@Pedro_Bann

do you know what the efficiency of these LED chips/Solstrips are?

Efficacy: 161 – 212 lm/w

[legalcanada]

2.45 - 3.02 mmol/j or there abouts

[Pedro_Bann]

so when run hard they are somewhat more efficient than the cxb’s

[Enstromentals]

This is in intriguing. Would a ten strip (not last) setup run a 4x4 flowering setup comparably to a 1000w hps?

[Roux]

The LM561C diodes actually have a higher lm/W when run at lower power. Also worth mentioning that the 5000K has a higher lm/W output than 3000K. So you can see in my graph below (for 3500K@CRI80) the lm/W range for specific power ranges.

[legalcanada]

that’d be what 480w? i’d say get 12 at least