Good post!
Sounds like how I drive my car!
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I would highly recommend getting two SolSheet X complete kits with a single 320w driver on a split cable to run both in tandem. Perfect for your space, and can be put together with a screwdriver, a utility knife and needle-nose pliers. The kits do all the rest of the heavy lifting - including cabling the driver with a T-splitter and screw-together connectors.
The SolStix arrays require circuit wiring knowledge, soldering and cord splicing skills, and some drilling. Not hard at all, but necessary for success.
As for your color temperature ideas, you are thinking about it correctly. One of the advantages of SolStrips is that they can be combined in different CCT ratios to build a custom spectrum to suit your needs. Your idea of 4x 3500K plus 3x 2700K would give you a blended average CCT of 3157K, a terrific spectrum for a flower space.
Want to replicate your HPS spectrum that’s worked so well for you? Go straight 2700K.
Want a little more blue? Combine two 3500K strips with three 2700K strips. Prefer a lot of blue in the flower room to keep those sativa hybrids tamed? Use three 3500K strips with two 5000K strips. Have a clone, veg and/or mother space? Straight 5000K will keep them healthy, fat and squat. Virtually any spectrum that is useful for growing can be created by blending together the three SolStrip CCTs.
-b420
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I’m thinking using 100% 3500K for a full veg/bloom setup. Later I may tinker with more CCTs but all my research has lead me to the conclusion that 3500-3000K is the ideal full-cycle spectrum.
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That’s what I’m using and it’s working well with me!
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Agreed which is why we make the 3500K strip and sell 4 times as many 3500K as any other CCT. The one caveat is when working with sat-dominant varieties 
I find the 4000-5000K range helpful in keeping internode length and bloom stretch in check. I also think the additional blue spectrum “has an impact” on THC-V development.
-b420
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Good to know. I’m debating the importance of early flower stretch training in a SCROG system. I plan to grow sativas and sativa-doms. I don’t know if it’s a poor idea to train back beneath the screen once flowering is initiated, but I also want to fill out an entire screen, so stretch control may or may not become an issue.
I’m looking at those sexy sativa crosses from FDM and drooling. My first grow is going to be clones, but I’d love to get my hands on truly exceptional and rare sativas that aren’t polluted with mainstream genetics.
I’ve been known to tuck a few sports back under the ScrOG net during flower to even out the canopy. You pay for it at harvest trying to undue your handiwork without ripping up colas. Keeping the 60/40 rule in mind is helpful in ScrOG training, as you want some stretch above the net, just not too much.
Sexy sat crosses are what we’re all about at FDM…
-b420
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Speaking of 3500K, just got 200 3500K strips in today. Looking great, testing great.
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Newbie question - 60/40 rule?
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Old rule of thumb on determining the length of time most sat/indo hybrids will stretch.
Take the known maturation time of a strain (e.g., 8 weeks), and your stretch period will likely be around 40% of that (in this example about 3.2 weeks). Knowing when the stretch period will end helps you manage your ScrOG training. Ideally, you want to get everything evened up and filled out by the middle to end of the 2nd week or so (in this example). Then you have the final week left for some good upward growth before the plants settle down and start packing on weight.
Conversely, you can use the 60/40 (maybe it’s the 40/60) rule to predict harvest on a new strain, by noting the length of the stretch period and multiplying by 1.5 (60/40), which will give you an estimate of the time remaining to harvest (about 4.8 weeks in this example.)
Shout out to old ADPC poster “pH” for this little nugget of knowledge… Learned a lot from that dude way back in the day, growing Skunk #1 under chicken wire and fluorescent shop lights, hehe…
-b420
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Cool bit of info! That example fits my grow pretty close. Both of the strains I have going now are listed as 7 to 9 weeks for flowering. Im about 3 weeks into flower now, so the stretch is either just ended or will end by next week some time.
Thanks!!!
Oh wait - when you said ‘maturation time’, did you mean veg time or the time until they started showing sex or flower time?
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I do believe that refers to flower time 
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Yes, flower period, 12/12, etc.
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I just looked back through the pics I have and the stretch has dramatically slowed down over the last three days or so. Looks like a pretty good rule of thumb to me
Thanks!
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What size is that box?
Been looking at light upgrades. Thinking about these but it’s looking pretty expensive to cover my space properly…
If you are comparing costs to other quality LED’s, then Solstrips are the best deal out there. There are cheaper options for LED’s but they are far less quality.
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Hey @Dewb
My cab is 2’x3’x3’
My lighting is 10x SolStrips @ 3500k temp, i’m running them at 320w
My build thread is here!
My grow thread is here!
They work very well. 
I could have gotten by with less strips in my space, but I was planning for the future.
Total light cost the way I did mine was right around 400$.
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I’m looking to replace 2 600w hps in a 5’ x 4’ space…
Not concerned about wattage/power usage, I’d run 1200w of led if I can afford it…tired of running air cooled, I want to run a sealed room, and the little leaks in hoods etc prevent that.
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If you have real good air movement 10 strips paired with a meanwell hlg-480h-24a turned down to about 450w would do everything a 600 hps would imo.
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Happy days, Just purchased myself 8 SolStix and a driver
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