LED Panel F-Series GEN 3 or Bridgelux EB Series Gen 2

[wietefras]

so what do you recommend for my setup?
I decided to smaller the space a bit.
so 3.3 x 4 ft = 13.2 sqft

I was aiming for 400 watt on this space

In general you aim for a certain amount of light. How much watts you need for that depends on the efficiency of the light.

A COB per sqft doesn't make much sense as a metric. Some COBs run at 100W and others at 25W. I'd rather go for an amount of watts per sqft (or even better amount of light per sqft, but that can get confusing)

With these strips you'd need about 320W per m2 or 30W per sqft. So indeed about 400W in total sounds right.

 

[overdriver]

this is so strange... i never can find the right driver for my setups...
i was thinking of splitting this panel in 2 (so i have a better height adjustement.)
I will take the 560mm stripes, because the 1120mm are not available.

https://www.arrow.com/en/products/bxeb-l0560z-35e2000-c-b3/bridgelux
was planing to run 30 of them in total @ 400 watt.
for the space its the best to wire them up like this:
2 strips in series and 15 parallel.

now splitting those in 2 panels is a little odd in this setting.
Well I'will get 32 strips in total and run them @arround 400watt

Means for each panel: 2 strips in series and 8 parallel.
So I run them each stripe with 19.6 V and 0.625A makes in total 196W
so the driver needs to have 39.2V and 5A.
Cant't find any driver for this ... what am I doing wrong?...

 

[Serva]

HLG-240H-20 or -42 for example

 

[Serva]

That's not how uniformity works. The distance between the strips relates to the mimimum distance between the light and the canopy. If you have more strips you could hang the lights slightly closer to the plants, but even with double row strips they can already go very close. Double row strips spaced 6" apart can be at 4" to 5" from the plants. There is little light distribution benefit from doubling the number of strips and going closer still. I'd personally say it's becomes awkward to get them closer than 5" anyway.

He could go with 3x F strips DR and run them for 400W, or 30x EB strips. And for sure there is an increase in uniformity, diffusity, penetration, and efficiency for the EB strips. 1 HID bulb sucked, so we got 9 COBs to improve, and now we can go with 900 diods or 3000... which should be better?!

 

[Viceman666]

I appreciate your informations.

so what do you recommend for my setup?
I decided to smaller the space a bit.
so 3.3 x 4 ft = 13.2 sqft

I was aiming for 400 watt on this space

I remember growmau5 solved this issue for COB with 1 COB per sqft.
Is there something along this with stripes as well?

I would aim for about 500-550w maximum for your size to get max par all over the tent. Whatever that represent in terms of strip,qb or cob will depend how hard you rum them

 

[overdriver]

I would aim for about 500-550w maximum for your size to get max par all over the tent. Whatever that represent in terms of strip,qb or cob will depend how hard you rum them

mh.. ok. where can I see a reference of how much PAR different setups would give me?
like I said electricity is very expensive here... if i only get like 10-20% more tomatoes in the end its not really worth it :/

 

[Viceman666]

mh.. ok. where can I see a reference of how much PAR different setups would give me?
like I said electricity is very expensive here... if i only get like 10-20% more tomatoes in the end its not really worth it :/

You wont find such chart because it really depends how you set up yor strips, spacing between them power you run them also depends on the height. Its not science data but id say you will probably get 30% more from the edges and corner but as the overall its probably more like 10-15% at most.. is it worth it? Maybe not on your first grow but over a few it will surely pay off by itself..

 

[overdriver]

hmm.. Am I calculating this wrong?

From 400W to 500 W its about 25% more electricity.
So if it doesnt get me more than 25% yield its not really worth it.
If it only gets me 15% more yield its totally not worth it.

Don't know if my math checks out

 

[wietefras]

He could go with 3x F strips DR and run them for 400W, or 30x EB strips. And for sure there is an increase in uniformity, diffusity, penetration, and efficiency for the EB strips. 1 HID bulb sucked, so we got 9 COBs to improve, and now we can go with 900 diods or 3000... which should be better?!

The concept of "diminishing returns" applies. At some point the extra bother and costs does not outweigh the ever decreasing benefit.

In this case 8 strips 112cm single row (SI-B8V521B20WW) @ 1050mA would fit just fine (8*48.3W=386W total). That's 5" space between the strips. Which already allows for impossible small height above the canopy. Increasing the number of strips beyond that is useless. Let alone go through the bother of mounting and wiring 30 strips. The benefits are really imaginary beyond 5" spacing.

If you go for 500W power it would be 10 single row strips. Or instead 5 double row strips (SI-B8VZ91B20WW) would mean the distance between the strips is still only 8" and the minimum fixture height would be around 6". Which is still extremely low and it's a hell of a lot less work and cheaper than hanging 30 strips.

 

[Serva]

hmm.. Am I calculating this wrong?

From 400W to 500 W its about 25% more electricity.
So if it doesnt get me more than 25% yield its not really worth it.
If it only gets me 15% more yield its totally not worth it.

Don't know if my math checks out

30 w/sqft is what I and alot of strip users aim for. Maybe 35 for a little power boost, but instead I would prefer to add an UV bulb, red mono LEDs / 90+ CRI 1750 COBs, and far red sleep initiator.

So 400W seems enough for your space. You want two driver, so HLG-185H-*** and/or HLG-240H-***

 

[overdriver]

30 w/sqft is what I and alot of strip users aim for. Maybe 35 for a little power boost, but instead I would prefer to add an UV bulb, red mono LEDs / 90+ CRI 1750 COBs, and far red sleep initiator.

So 400W seems enough for your space. You want two driver, so HLG-185H-*** and/or HLG-240H-***

So when I use 1 samsung strip FB22B with 144 diodes and run it at 30,55 watt, is this the 30w/sqft you are referring to?
because that means its 12.38 watt are wasted in heat and 18.17w are the light.
or do u mean 30w without heatwasting?
that would be arround 54,71w for one strip. again 30watt light and 24,59watt heat waste

 

[Serva]

So when I use 1 samsung strip FB22B with 144 diodes and run it at 30,55 watt, is this the 30w/sqft you are referring to?
because that means its 12.38 watt are wasted in heat and 18.17w are the light.
or do u mean 30w without heatwasting?
that would be arround 54,71w for one strip. again 30watt light and 24,59watt heat waste

30w including heatwasting. Should result into ~650 PPFD

35 w/sqft * 13 sqft = 455 w for 800 PPFD maybe

5x F series double row (250$ - 1400 diods - 175 lm/w)

or

10x F series single row (240$ - 1400 diods - 175 lm/w)

or

18x EB strips (250$ - 4200 diods - 175+ lm/w - NO heatsink required)

 

[overdriver]

well sounds nice.

no heatsink fpr the EB strips you say? are u sure about that?
any links where someone tested this here?

and i need 18 EB to get the same light like from 10 f-series?
why does 18 EB have 4200 diods?
one strip with 1120mm lenght got 112 diods? so 18 strips would have 2016 or am I wrong?

 

[ANC]

I went for 40W/sq foot and I could easily add another 10W I think.
I'm driving my panels hard as opposed to the power saving mode most go for.

 

[Serva]

well sounds nice.

no heatsink fpr the EB strips you say? are u sure about that?
any links where someone tested this here?

and i need 18 EB to get the same light like from 10 f-series?
why does 18 EB have 4200 diods?
one strip with 1120mm lenght got 112 diods? so 18 strips would have 2016 or am I wrong?

I have 1ft with 56 diods, so 2ft has 112 diods, and 4ft 224 diods.

And yes I am sure about no heatsink is required. 18 strips at nominal current (no heatsink require) will use ~500w. So 450w will be below nominal current.

 

[Serva]

I went for 40W/sq foot and I could easily add another 10W I think.
I'm driving my panels hard as opposed to the power saving mode most go for.

Ok... i run my strips at 50% and more than 35 w/sqft resulted into unhealthy plants for my setup. Had 2-5“ distance to the canopy.

But 40-60 w/sqft is HID niveau... I think you don‘t use your light really efficient, or do you use co2?

 

[Viceman666]

I went for 40W/sq foot and I could easily add another 10W I think.
I'm driving my panels hard as opposed to the power saving mode most go for.

Ok... i run my strips at 50% and more than 35 w/sqft resulted into unhealthy plants for my setup. Had 2-5“ distance to the canopy.

But 40-60 w/sqft is HID niveau... I think you don‘t use your light really efficient, or do you use co2?

30w including heatwasting. Should result into ~650 PPFD

35 w/sqft * 13 sqft = 455 w for 800 PPFD maybe

5x F series double row (250$ - 1400 diods - 175 lm/w)

or

10x F series single row (240$ - 1400 diods - 175 lm/w)

or

18x EB strips (250$ - 4200 diods - 175+ lm/w - NO heatsink required)

So to get about 1000ppfd which appears to be the maximum without using CO2 (not saying the most efficient but the maximum yield) you would need about 45w/sq foot which is 720w for a 4x4 - or 550-600w in 13.2sq.ft .. that being said do you really want 1000ppfd all across the room is up to you. You can certainly achieve great result with 30w/sq.ft

 

[ANC]

I use 3 4-foot strips driven at about 100W on a 320W., maybe just under, at 200mm center to center spacing. This lights a 2x4 tray

 

[overdriver]

HLG-240H-20 or -42 for example

If I use something like this driver to fire up 16 2ft stripes:
HLG-240H-20

I have to dimm to run it @200 watt.
Is the efficiency of the driver still arround 93% when it is dimmed?

 

[ANC]

There is a chart on the datasheet. remember the efficiency is always at x temperature... at least for the light strips.
I actually figured I can screw on extra 1" channels on the backs of my wide channels using the existing screws, should give a few extra lumen.