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I’ve 8x X 3 strips in a 1m² tent, Is it equivalent as how many W in hps??
Depends on how much total wattage you are pushing through them, but presuming 60w x 8 would be roughly equivalent to 750-800 watts of hps. That’s a back-of-envelope estimate, many variables at work. I don’t really like the comparison at all, its like asking how many carrots equal a broccoli… 
Was planning to use 2x hlg 240h or 1x 480h to power up.
I asked only for curiousity, I won’t change my idea of lights because I already bought soltrips and make no sense discard or change these great leds for hps or anything else.
But we can weigh carrots, and broccoli…
I dont know if this question is any better in terms of answerability, but I’ll try lol.
By your best estimate, how many X3s, evenly spaced, running at 60W each, would it take to have a 2lb (well yielding strain, scrog) harvest from a 5x5 space, under average but favorable, dialed-in, conditions? Or, if you needed to flower out 2lbs from a 5x5, how many would you run?
The above scenario is somewhat of a 1khps benchmark in my mind, so perhaps I can get over my attachment to HID this way.
Power savings would be nice. Just got my bill for 2 months of running 1k and a 600, and it is noticeably more painful to pay…
I’m old fashioned so i go by watts per sq/ft. I’m finding 35w per sq/ft from Solstrips is producing very well indeed so going by that you’d need around 800w so my uneducated answer is around fourteen X3 strips running at 60w each should be plenty.
The X3 rigs i built for a friend have active cooling and run almost cold at 70w per strip. 8 strips in a 4 x 4 tent and it’s blinding, they make his old 600w hps seem like a candle (his words) 
Thanks @Albannach, you said it well. My vegetable remark was meant to convey that the two light sources are so different that one-to-one comparisons are only so relevant. No matter how many pounds of carrots you have, you’ll never have a broccoli…
Albannach’s 35w/sf rule of thumb works well for designing SolStrip light systems that will deliver a 600+ umols/m2/s PPFD average light intensity at 12" below the lamps - a proven and excellent PAR for growing and blooming cannabis. If you like to run things at “11”, need to hang your lamps higher, or use CO2, use 40-45w/sf. Yields are up to the strain and grower mostly, but growers regularly report yields in the jar of 1.5-2.0 gm/watt using SolStrip systems.
An X3 rack using the custom designed SolSinks heatsinks and run at or below maximum power shouldn’t need anymore than the ambient growspace ventilation required for plant air exchange and humidity management to run at or below their rated 60C maximum case temperature.
Going by what we have managed to produce here so far i’d say 35w/sf from Solstrips roughly equates to 50w/sf from dual spectrum hps. It’s not just a saving in power, it also means the extraction can be less industrial because of the reduced heat 
Thank you @Albannach and @Baudelaire!
I’ve gon’ dun’ some estimatn’ and it seems that I can go down to under 700W from 1.1K (actual draw) with 10x X3s and 2x 320W drivers.
This, on an average 15-hour lights-on time, including re-lamping and secondary air extraction, should save me about $300/yr and take just over 2 years to pay off.
If I manage to run it to “11” and get the elusive 2gpw, then my yields would be up too, but I’m not counting on it.
Reset is in February, so I’ll see if I can make it then. Thanks again folks.
You won’t regret it @HappyHemper
I made the switch very soon after I joined back up on OG a little over a year ago and the first grow paid for itself with them.
400w HPS + First grow in 10+years… =.35gpw
10 Solstrips on a HLG-320H-24A running at 350w in 6sq ft (58w per sq ft)
Is there room for improvement in my methods? Absolutely… but I pulled these numbers being LAZY and not trying.
Git R DONE! lol.
I hope to be able to 
if I sell enough widgets this year, and get a commission bonus, I think 600-ish bucks might be in the cards. I know it will pay off in the long run regardless, but there is a reason people get car loans rather than saving up and paying in cash… I’m not too good at saving up.
Neither am I haha.
It was a need vs risk thing for me…
Wife needs anywhere from 1-3 oz per month… .35gpw was not enough to justify growing our own, and I couldn’t keep paying shady street prices of anywhere from 240-380 a zip… Made a choice to limp along off that harvest and put the first “I don’t have to buy meds this week” money at the strips from Baudelaire lol.
Limped along on a chinese 24v power supply until It blew and bought a HLG ASAP.
As I stated though, that first harvest in sheer numbers paid for everything, so the temporary struggle was worth it.Not to mention the slightly lower power bill. (similar wattages)
I won’t go back to HPS for sure now, just seems like a waste of resources now that i’ve used LEDs. Not to mention cooling costs associated with HID lighting.
We are in very similar shoes my friend! I barely smoke and my wife is at a QP of flower per month, on a medical license. Street prices here are really low. 75-100 per zip, medical about same as you. but you never know what’s in the street stuff. One guy got caught cutting hash with actual dog shit, so yeah, nope.
I will start looking for real drivers. I blew up one of my Chinese power supplies with some Chinese LED strips already, so the experience has not been awesome so far.
Great to hear it worked well for you; I’d like to get a system going where I dont have to worry about the supply, and maybe have enough to share.
I think I’m gonna ask Santa for a cash value of gifts into a savings account…
@Baudelaire i run a 5 strip rig at full power on a HLG 240 , how long do you reckon the diodes will take full power without blowing etc …?
Probably good til new tech is out there…!?
Any info/feedback appreciated mate ,
Gaz
It’s the X2’s @leuh13 mate , though iv got another six X2 strips which is needing me to swap drivers ( iv got a new HLG 240 24A driver which i have been procrastinating on doing , busy being busy lol.
If you’re thinking of buying them then you’ll not regret it…!
Gaz
I bought 8x X3 strips, just waiting to deliver it in my address 
Well at 240 watts, you are running at the max 2A rating. You could run them like that for a long time without issues. You will likely upgrade before burning out the diodes.
This may have been asked already,.but I need to know how many Strips to I need for a 5x5 area for flowering only,…also what kelvin is most used.
2700 - 3500k for bloom. I run 11 in my 4x4 at 500w. You’d likely be better with 2 sets of 6 running at 600w 