First Grow DWC, Happy to get feedback

JohnDoeTho

Well-Known Member
I use the cheap 3% stuff and add a tsp per gal a day. So in my case 5 gal buckets 5 tsp a day.

Edit: there’s always a drawback. The oxygen atom in peroxide is highly volitile and will get used up or dissipate within 24hr.
 
Well I took a left turn today...ordered two qb288s from horticultural lighting group and a meanwell 250w driver... So sorry no grow report on the bloomspects ( which i feel are capable! )
Ill update when i recieve the lights!
 

JohnDoeTho

Well-Known Member
So fill us in on what made you do the switch up? Obviously flower is a different beast, but all was looking well so far.
 
Hey!
Well from what I researched it appeared to me that per watt the qb288’s with a meanwell driver were about 2x as efficient as my current lights per watt

But what has changed recently is that the qb288’s have come down in price,
I was able to buy two for 185$ with heatsinks and 70$ for the 250w meanwell driver

So with that it would mean for 255$ i can get the equivelant of 4 bloomspects 300w , which would itsef cost about 240$
But the power consumption would be half!

Note this logic only is true if in fact they are 2x more efficient but from what I saw on youtube it appeared to be true...

Very happy w the clones! I ended up getting 100% clone rate!
 

Cold$moke

Well-Known Member
Im going to try a strip build soon .

May i ask why you chose boards ?

Im a led baby so i know next to nothing about the subject .

But i started pricing out a strip build :)
 
Hey Cold$moke!
Yea I just wanted something a bit more power efficient than the LED's I had, and I noticed horticultural lighting group is starting to have discounts so after reading some really good reviews (especially LED gardener) I went with these. I went with 3000k cause its good for flower and it was about 265$ total for a 250W setup which is good for a 2x4 foot area.

I bought my lights / heatsink here https://horticulturelightinggroup.com/products/qb288-with-slate-2-heatsink which was about 195$ shipped and then I bought the driver here
https://www.onlinecomponents.com/mean-well-hlg240hc2100a.html?p=49351361 which was 70$ shipped

Hope it helps!
 

Cold$moke

Well-Known Member
Yea im old school

But its a gavita so i dont put it in the same class as a single ended set up


The thing impresses me and it pains me to want to spend twice as much for the same watts with led lol

But hopefully they run cooler for summer
 
As far as i know thought a 550watt HLG Quantum is supposed to be the equalivent of a hps1000w fixture so if its 2x the price maybe not so bad? At least then its half the powerbill also...
 
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Cold$moke

Well-Known Member
I think the total watts on half the set up is around 800
2 hlg 480 drivers

Then when i order the other half it will be 2 more lol

I havent ordered anything yet
When i get into something i get pretty immersed in it before i buy anything

Basically i want to know everything so i can build it in my head piece by piece before i even order :)

I have been waiting for years for leds to finally catch up

I have one of the first led ufos from like 15 years ago lmao
But i knew it would catch up eventually.



But my gavita is lighting my whole room pretty well for only being on 600w in a 8x8

And i think im going to have a nice little harvest with just the gavita it goes up to 825w
But i havent seen the need for it yet
 

Cold$moke

Well-Known Member
I would probably end up shooting my eye out trying to build one of the new led board thingy's .
Nah dont point it at your eye when pulling the trigger ;)

I thought it was outa my reach too

But the strip build guide on led gardener has made me realize its pretty simple

But i just dont know the technical math to figure out which parts to use.

But its easy when you have those guys give you a parts list and wiring diagram :)
 
Haha yea those guides helps so much!
Ill keep yall posted how it goes tomorrow...
I want to say in the next couple years it will get even better / cheaper for leds!
 
Ready for action!

Here are my 2 tips
1) instead of mounting the driver to the panels, its much easier to just have a longer wire from the driver, that way you can keep the driver off the panels (which is most the weight) and also you can keep the driver outside of the tent.

2) Definetely put some washer in the metal holes if you plan on running wires in them, like in picture #2. The metal holes are very sharp and easy can strip the plastic around the wires.

The light is insanely bright, I'm going to run it at about 80% of its max output
 

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