Qb’s From China?

hi guys,

I’m going to start growing again soon and building my own room for it, and I need more/new lighting. I am thinking of going with QB’s, coz they are quite cheap from either Kingbrite or Meijiu, but it hit me; are they using the Samsung pcb’s like they they claim and is it top bind? Or is it at waste of money and I should go with cobs instead? Buying from HLG isn’t an option, its too expensive.

The room is going to be approx 3x6,5,x7’ or 90x200x220cm.

I have 600w of clu048-1212C generation 5 cobs now, so i could either upgrade with 200w cobs or go with 750w Boards, what should I choose?

Check out this link for some ideas of different boards.
Might give you a few ideas.......,

https://www.rollitup.org/t/the-chinese-quantum-board-knock-off-builds.971560/

COBS no lens no reflector

Moflow said:

Check out this link for some ideas of different boards.
Might give you a few ideas.......,

https://www.rollitup.org/t/the-chinese-quantum-board-knock-off-builds.971560/

Click to expand...

Thank you, only 19 pages compared to the ~600 pages topic I tried to read

OLD MOTHER SATIVA said:

COBS no lens no reflector

Click to expand...

You are All in on cobs instead? Must admit, I kinda like the idea of 800w cobs too. Managed to pull 300g out of 200w , in a 2x2 tent. So I know that cobs Will work splendidly, but im trying to figure out if the QB’s would be a worthwile upgrade

StonedMoe87 said:

Thank you, only 19 pages compared to the ~600 pages topic I tried to read


You are All in on cobs instead? Must admit, I kinda like the idea of 800w cobs too. Managed to pull 300g out of 200w , in a 2x2 tent. So I know that cobs Will work splendidly, but im trying to figure out if the QB’s would be a worthwile upgrade

Click to expand...

Cobs are great too. I've run cobs in flowering but as I've limited headroom the boards suit me better
Those big Chinese boards are such an easy option to Wire and hang.
I x driver, 2 x wires and 1 x FOTOP board.... instant coverage of a 2ft x 4ft

You could run the cobs softer to eek out a bit more efficiency at the cost of some wattage and then mix in some boards or strips to light the whole area.

So many options, but building lights can seem expensive when your not growing. Getting up and running for a reduced cost still leaves options for further upgrades when your bathing in weed in months to come..

You could gain some efficiency/efficacy replacing the 1212's, but is it worth the cost? I'd just add some strips (or COBs or boards) if more light is needed.

Samsung and Bridgelux strips are very popular these days. Very efficient, cost effective and easy to work with, plus they have superb spread/distribution that allows running very close to the canopy.

http://ledgardener.com/diy-led-strip-build-designs-samsung-bridgelux/
www.diyleduk.co.uk
https://www.rollitup.org/t/samsung-strips-still-going.977206/

coreywebster said:

You could run the cobs softer to eek out a bit more efficiency at the cost of some wattage and then mix in some boards or strips to light the whole area.

So many options, but building lights can seem expensive when your not growing. Getting up and running for a reduced cost still leaves options for further upgrades when your bathing in weed in months to come..

Click to expand...

This is what I ended up doing with my Vero arrays. I added a pair of FB24 Sammy as outriggers on each array and use them as veg lights and ramp up the Veros during flower.

OLD MOTHER SATIVA said:

COBS no lens no reflector

Click to expand...

I second this. I run my 1212 without lenses.

Those cobs will work just fine. There won't be much gain from the extra money replacing it all. Just add some more cobs if needed.

coreywebster said:

You could run the cobs softer to eek out a bit more efficiency at the cost of some wattage and then mix in some boards or strips to light the whole area.

So many options, but building lights can seem expensive when your not growing. Getting up and running for a reduced cost still leaves options for further upgrades when your bathing in weed in months to come..

Click to expand...

Like to run 3500k QB's with 90cri COBS 3000k... Great production.

Decisions decisions

Maybe 800w cobs would be the cheapest Way to go, thats roughly $200 including ship and import fees (im from Denmark). That would leave me with money to upgrade in other areas.

Height isn’t an issue , I can build the room with a height of 2,4 meters.

But why would you cob guys go without reflectors? Height issue? In regard of inverse square law, reflectors on cobs would be a wise idea, unless I missed something?

Most efficient and economic way would be to further use what you have but add more of them, much more!
Citi 1212's will go above 184lm/w at 525mA for example and with this little current you need only a 1' pcs of 40x 40mm aluminum U-channel to cool them passively. Simply add a 2nd row of COB's to your exsisting driver and run them at half current. Even a 3rd row is possible.
Calculated with an LER of 330lm/w that means an efficiency of 56% already. Thats ~2,65μMol/j and a system efficiency or ~2,5μMol/j. Or with other words 2,5μMol/s each watt used at the wall. With 800w that would be ~2000μMol PPF and distributed over ~1,8m² around 1100μMol/s/m² PPFD to work with.

You only need to DIY an aluminum frame with L-channels and a few crossbars made from 40x 40x 40mm U-channels. 2mm alli thickness is enough. I'm using 65w currently on 1150mm alli channel with 4 CRI90 COBs each running at ~450mA and simply screwed to the alu surface and with 30°C ambient temps the case temps stay below 42°C.
I've tested the bars with 95w(700mA) and they stabilized thermally at 49-50°C.
With 525mA it would work the same and you save a lot money on heatsinks you can spend for more COBs instead.

Strips and COB's can also be used together. I'm using 20 2ft single row F-strips together with 8 V18c COBs for instance connected in a series parallel circuit and driven by just one single HLG-320H-C1750B. Something similar is possible with each exsisting driver you need only to figure out a siutable circuit layout. With me each 5 strips and 2 COB's are connected in series(178v) and 4 such strings are connected in parallel(437,5mA minimum each string). There are only 10v unused and the driver runs with 325w at the wall!

Randomblame said:

Most efficient and economic way would be to further use what you have but add more of them, much more!
Citi 1212's will go above 184lm/w at 525mA for example and with this little current you need only a 1' pcs of 40x 40mm aluminum U-channel to cool them passively. Simply add a 2nd row of COB's to your exsisting driver and run them at half current. Even a 3rd row is possible.
Calculated with an LER of 330lm/w that means an efficiency of 56% already. Thats ~2,65μMol/j and a system efficiency or ~2,5μMol/j. Or with other words 2,5μMol/s each watt used at the wall. With 800w that would be ~2000μMol PPF and distributed over ~1,8m² around 1100μMol/s/m² PPFD to work with.

You only need to DIY an aluminum frame with L-channels and a few crossbars made from 40x 40x 40mm U-channels. 2mm alli thickness is enough. I'm using 65w currently on 1150mm alli channel with 4 CRI90 COBs each running at ~450mA and simply screwed to the alu surface and with 30°C ambient temps the case temps stay below 42°C.
I've tested the bars with 95w(700mA) and they stabilized thermally at 49-50°C.
With 525mA it would work the same and you save a lot money on heatsinks you can spend for more COBs instead.

Strips and COB's can also be used together. I'm using 20 2ft single row F-strips together with 8 V18c COBs for instance connected in a series parallel circuit and driven by just one single HLG-320H-C1750B. Something similar is possible with each exsisting driver you need only to figure out a siutable circuit layout. With me each 5 strips and 2 COB's are connected in series(178v) and 4 such strings are connected in parallel(437,5mA minimum each string). There are only 10v unused and the driver runs with 325w at the wall!

Click to expand...

A double Like.

@Randomblame ,
You are like a Composer, conducting your own Orchestra of full spectrum wavelength Musik


Class

Whereas I'm more


Lol

StonedMoe87 said:

Thank you, only 19 pages compared to the ~600 pages topic I tried to read


You are All in on cobs instead? Must admit, I kinda like the idea of 800w cobs too. Managed to pull 300g out of 200w , in a 2x2 tent. So I know that cobs Will work splendidly, but im trying to figure out if the QB’s would be a worthwile upgrade

Click to expand...

nah i like em both and panels are easy..just voicing how i see cobs i have
still growing well..and possibly better

Yeah, I'm flying so high nothing can bring me down anymore. I play like a virtuoso but with wavelengths to communicate with my plants and like with Mozart all these wavelength things and understandings are just flowing out of my mind and I can't do anything about it.. It is a blessing and a curse.
I already dream of LED's and Mols and all that shit, lol!

My favorited orchestra..

Even the album cover has a nice spectrum

Randomblame said:

I already dream of LED's and Mols and all that shit, lol!

Click to expand...

I surmized that some time ago. What he's not telling us..... he actually designs those lights in his sleep.

Randomblame said:

Most efficient and economic way would be to further use what you have but add more of them, much more!
Citi 1212's will go above 184lm/w at 525mA for example and with this little current you need only a 1' pcs of 40x 40mm aluminum U-channel to cool them passively. Simply add a 2nd row of COB's to your exsisting driver and run them at half current. Even a 3rd row is possible.
Calculated with an LER of 330lm/w that means an efficiency of 56% already. Thats ~2,65μMol/j and a system efficiency or ~2,5μMol/j. Or with other words 2,5μMol/s each watt used at the wall. With 800w that would be ~2000μMol PPF and distributed over ~1,8m² around 1100μMol/s/m² PPFD to work with.

You only need to DIY an aluminum frame with L-channels and a few crossbars made from 40x 40x 40mm U-channels. 2mm alli thickness is enough. I'm using 65w currently on 1150mm alli channel with 4 CRI90 COBs each running at ~450mA and simply screwed to the alu surface and with 30°C ambient temps the case temps stay below 42°C.
I've tested the bars with 95w(700mA) and they stabilized thermally at 49-50°C.
With 525mA it would work the same and you save a lot money on heatsinks you can spend for more COBs instead.

Strips and COB's can also be used together. I'm using 20 2ft single row F-strips together with 8 V18c COBs for instance connected in a series parallel circuit and driven by just one single HLG-320H-C1750B. Something similar is possible with each exsisting driver you need only to figure out a siutable circuit layout. With me each 5 strips and 2 COB's are connected in series(178v) and 4 such strings are connected in parallel(437,5mA minimum each string). There are only 10v unused and the driver runs with 325w at the wall!

Click to expand...

Nice info man, thank you for an elaborate response! But doing like that Will require 4 new drivers, wont it? I have 2 hlg-185h-c1400B now and 1 hlg-240h-c1400b , but I would need the .....-c700b , right?

OLD MOTHER SATIVA said:

nah i like em both and panels are easy..just voicing how i see cobs i have
still growing well..and possibly better

Click to expand...

I have to be honest, I was mainly considering a switcheroo to panels coz of All the talk about HLG but i gotta admit, I was quite impressed with the resultat cobs gave me and when i see grows with panels, im not over the top about it. Im not techincal in any way andi focus on what I can see, so i might be missing some key points