Dollar Store Grow Lights!

Airwalker16 said:

As long as your driver is a constant current version, you can Ada's many as you want and it will just keep dividing the current across every one you add.
HLG-120H-48A/B.
Assuming your boards voltage is 48. Some are 36, and some are 54 too.

Click to expand...

The 288's are 54v. Curious why you would only want to run two boards at 65watts each, instead one at full.

PJ Diaz said:

The 288's are 54v. Curious why you would only want to run two boards at 65watts each, instead one at full.

Click to expand...

No heatsinks, higher lumen per watt, more spread.

Airwalker16 said:

No heatsinks, higher lumen per watt, more spread.

Click to expand...

I thought you needed heatsinks for the QB288's when run above 50watts. That's what they advise on HLG's site anyway.

PJ Diaz said:

I thought you needed heatsinks for the QB288's when run above 50watts. That's what they advise on HLG's site anyway.

Click to expand...

I have boards that are definitely larger but they run at 120w each with no heatsinks. They're 14"X9" though.
But I really doubt with good airflow in a tent, being directly blown on, even in oscillation, 50W would get that hot at all.

Atreum Boards claim 60w with no heatsink.

These are their 144 boards having HALF the diodes on the 9"X9" board, meaning each diode has to run twice as hard and twice as hot compared to the 288. And this even claims up to 60W.

Airwalker16 said:

Atreum Boards claim 60w with no heatsink.

These are their 144 boards having HALF the diodes on the 9"X9" board, meaning each diode has to run twice as hard and twice as hot compared to the 288. And this even claims up to 60W.

Atreum 144.2 LED Board, 48V Version, Vegetative Full Spectrum Grow Light Panel, Samsung LM301B

This high efficiency LED Board uses 144x Samsung LM301B SL Bin diodes for full-spectrum lighting; critical for the vegetative and flowering stages in your indoor grow. Accepts up to 60W of power at a compact 10.25"x10.25". Uses Meanwell drivers, and can be daisy chained for a clean setup.

atreumlighting.com

Click to expand...

Those boards are mounted on a 1.6mm aluminum sheet, which QB288's are not. You seem to be comparing apples to oranges.

PJ Diaz said:

Those boards are mounted on a 1.6mm aluminum sheet, which QB288's are not. You seem to be comparing apples to oranges.

Click to expand...

ROFL. The sheet is the PCB board dude. You being serious right now?

Airwalker16 said:

ROFL. The sheet is the PCB board dude. You being serious right now?

Click to expand...

Have you ever seen a QB288 board? They aren't 1.6mm thick, which is why they are suggested to be mounted to an aluminum plate or heatsink when run over 50watts. Seriously.

Maybe you are confusing 288's with a QB132, which is mounted on an aluminum sheet and can be powered up to 75watts with no heatsink..

While you guys piss at each other...

Update:

So, I checked my timers and somehow my light timer was accidentally switched on for 2hrs near the end of her night cycle. So, technically she has not been in flower, so she is going to be much bigger than I anticipated.

I have changed the timers now and flip to flower is Jan 11. Estimated harvest date is March 14.

Attached is day seed popped December 3, 2019, and second pic is 5 weeks later (yesterday). Hydro is nuts!

THC-CK said:

While you guys piss at each other...

Update:

So, I checked my timers and somehow my light timer was accidentally switched on for 2hrs near the end of her night cycle. So, technically she has not been in flower, so she is going to be much bigger than I anticipated.

I have changed the timers now and flip to flower is Jan 11. Estimated harvest date is March 14.

Attached is day seed popped December 3, 2019, and second pic is 5 weeks later (yesterday). Hydro is nuts!

Click to expand...

Nice man! Only tip I got for ya, is next time you pop a seed into a rapid rooter, put it on the bottom of the netpot. Straight onto the plastic. Then fill the hydroton as high as ya can. That way when the root comes out the bottom of the rooter, it's right into a humid enviornment and inches from the water itself. You also get to backfill with hydroton around those pesky stretchy ass stems seedlings like to have.
You could always hand water the first week or so to keep the taproot from drying the fuck out instantly against those bone dry clay pellets. But why bother? Plus the backfilling helps so much to cover up those 3-4" of stem you always wish you could bury.

Airwalker16 said:

Nice man! Only tip I got for ya, is next time you pop a seed into a rapid rooter, put it on the bottom of the netpot. Straight onto the plastic. Then fill the hydroton as high as ya can. That way when the root comes out the bottom of the rooter, it's right into a humid enviornment and inches from the water itself. You also get to backfill with hydroton around those pesky stretchy ass stems seedlings like to have.
You could always hand water the first week or so to keep the taproot from drying the fuck out instantly against those bone dry clay pellets. But why bother? Plus the backfilling helps so much to cover up those 3-4" of stem you always wish you could bury.

Click to expand...

Thanks dude!

Yes, I realized after I had her in there that it was much too high. I actually ended up reseating it lower from that pic, the top of the rooter is probably two inches below the top of the Hydroton now.

Back to the lights...

In looking at the 135s... I see there is an R Spec version, I assume this is just more red spectrum leaning. Being that I have some 5000K fluorescents I can supplement with, I'm thinking this R Spec version will be the better option. $240 CAD.

THC-CK said:

Thanks dude!

Yes, I realized after I had her in there that it was much too high. I actually ended up reseating it lower from that pic, the top of the rooter is probably two inches below the top of the Hydroton now.

Back to the lights...

In looking at the 135s... I see there is an R Spec version, I assume this is just more red spectrum leaning. Being that I have some 5000K fluorescents I can supplement with, I'm thinking this R Spec version will be the better option. $240 CAD.

Click to expand...

Man, that's awfully expensive for a single panel in my opinion.

Airwalker16 said:

Man, that's awfully expensive for a single panel in my opinion.

Click to expand...

Are there cheaper alternatives that use that as board and driver? I always thought HLG was fairly well priced.

THC-CK said:

Back to the lights...

In looking at the 135s... I see there is an R Spec version, I assume this is just more red spectrum leaning. Being that I have some 5000K fluorescents I can supplement with, I'm thinking this R Spec version will be the better option. $240 CAD.

Click to expand...

Airwalker16 said:

Man, that's awfully expensive for a single panel in my opinion.

Click to expand...

THC-CK said:

Are there cheaper alternatives that use that as board and driver? I always thought HLG was fairly well priced.

Click to expand...

That's one of the reasons I was suggesting the QB96, because they have the added red that the regular 288's lack unless you have the Rspec version, which is more expensive. Also you can run the QB96 higher than 135 watts if you like.

Another update:

I finally got exhaust system and carbon filter installed in the tent, no more stinks!

She is now a few days into flower and starting to stretch. I say she because I'm fairly confident at this point, but just waiting for final confirmation.

As you can I see I swapped a few of the blurples in to the mix for transition but I'll put all of the 16w 2700K bulbs back in there once she is in full flower.

Update:

I took out the blurples and put all of the 16w bulbs back in. So I have a total of 112w real, made up of 4 x 3000K and 3 x 2700K bulbs, putting out ~72000 lux in a 1.5' square. I know it's not exact, but using some rough number math this should be around 1000umol. Good enough for one plant, surely.

This morning I had my first doubts about the sex of the plant, though...

Attached is a close-up of the pre-flower starting on one of the stems, and it looks perhaps male-ish. I will give it another few days to decide for sure.

Any thoughts?!?

Back with another update:

1. I had a rogue LED on during dark time (from the circulation fan) which I think may have been affecting her ability to flower. I removed this fan and two days later she has white hairs everywhere! At least the last six weeks weren't a waste!

2. She seems to be still loving this light. For those interested it is 7 x 16w LED bulbs in a splitter. The light gets roughly 1.54umol/j which I'm happy with. Lots of light for a single plant. I'm interested to see what full flower looks like, and what kind of buds it will produce.

3. I just popped two Jean Guy seeds which have already broke surface. I'll be growing these 12/12 from seed in the same tent. It is usually a fast grower, so I'm hoping for a harvest a few weeks after the big girl.

The above has forced me to look into a more serious light. Which, after much research, I've decided to go build yourself QB. Likely something in the 150w-200w range. I'll be starting a proper journal in the that section in a couple of weeks. For now I'll continue to post here.

For now... Here are a couple shots

Official journal started and link below, full updates up to Day 14 of flower today!

THC-CK said:

Official journal started and link below, full updates up to Day 14 of flower today!

THCs 3x3 DWC Dreams

Hello, fellow RIUers, I've been meaning to get a journal going over the last few weeks but just never managed to find the time. Now I have a little more. :bigjoint: I have a 3x3 tent using DWC, with dollar store LEDs(what's!?! o_O), and girls in 3 and 5 gallon buckets. Full details on setup...

rollitup.org

Click to expand...

DIY10 for 10% off all products at hlg.com

Airwalker16 said:

How big an area are you going to flower in?
The TS600 is actually a really clever light bit will only flower like a 1.5'X1.5' area. 2'X2' if you're in a good tent.
Bit the cool thing about the TS600 is that it doesn't even have a driver. It's just got enough resistors and other Surface mounted components on it to where it just uses mains 120V power. It can't even be used in the UK or 240V AC.

Click to expand...

How many actual watts is the TS600 from the wall? And curious, how much weight per watt/ sq meter is common with It?