Just Pulled Trigger on Some Quantum boards. Questions

Hello from Michigan! Hopefully we will be req legal on Nov 6 which is when the big vote takes place. So in preparations I decided to start looking at designing a grow room. I have a beautiful spot in my basement. We have a shelter under our pourch. Put in as a tornado shelter but am going to repurpose half as a grow room.


So as I am laying this out in my head I am thinking a seedling/clone/pre veg area, a veg area, and flower area, then an area to hang the harvest up. Each of the 3 growing areas will be a 2x3 maybe 2x4. Only looking to have 2 maybe 3 plants at each area except the seedlings area where I’ll have maybe up to six or so (not sure on that one).


So the lights I ordered are 2 x qb288 5000k for the veg area, 2 x qb304 2700k for the flower area, and 3 qb96 5000k which I was thinking of using 1 for the seedlings area then adding 1 in series with the qb288’s and 1 in series with the qb304’s to give more of color spectrum. Thoughts on this setup?


Also looking for advice on what drivers to use as I’m completely lost on that. Need to know what drivers will give the best wattage per square foot in these areas for best yield for 2 or 3 plants at each.


Any feedback is appreciated!

The hlg-240h-c1400 for the 2qb288s and the 1 qb96
This will give you ~180w.
If you dropped the 1qb96 and went with the hlg-240h-c2100 you could get around 250w

The hlg-320h-c1050 for the 2qb304 and the 1qb96.
This will give you about ~263w

I'm unsure of what you could use for the 1qb96.
I would say hlg-60h-36 but that will give you 1700mA, and the qb96 has a max current of 1600mA
While I dont think you would burn out the board with .1 A, i dont think it's still recommended

Aolelon said:

The hlg-240h-c1400 for the 2qb288s and the 1 qb96

The hlg-320h-c1050 for the 2qb304 and the 1qb96.

I'm unsure of what you could use for the 1qb96.
I would say hlg-60h-36 but that will give you 1700mA, and the qb96 has a max current of 1600mA
While I dont think you would burn out the board with .1 A, i dont think it's still recommended

Click to expand...

Great feedback thank you! What would the total wattage / watt per soft be with those drivers?

shan1784 said:

Great feedback thank you! What would the total wattage / watt per soft be with those drivers?

Click to expand...

I just added them in my OP

The only problem with this is if you want to get the most out of the QB288's, then you aren't going to want to pair a qb96 with it unless its on a separate driver. The 288's can run much higher than the 304's and the QB96.

Aolelon said:

I just added them in my OP

Click to expand...

Perfect thank you. Would it be better to run the 288’s without the 96 and get the 250w or would it work better to have the 96 in there? Also same question for the 304’s. Originally wanted to do it for the 304’s to give fuller color spectrum during flower. Wasn’t sure if that was good or not. Adding to the 288’s was just to give more light but it looks like it comes at an intensity reduction.

shan1784 said:

Perfect thank you. Would it be better to run the 288’s without the 96 and get the 250w or would it work better to have the 96 in there? Also same question for the 304’s. Originally wanted to do it for the 304’s to give fuller color spectrum during flower. Wasn’t sure if that was good or not. Adding to the 288’s was just to give more light but it looks like it comes at an intensity reduction.

Click to expand...

Its really up to you, the 2 304's should do a great job of flowering the room by themselves, if you wanted to add the extra QB96 for the added benefit its just personal preference really.
If you decide you don't want to add it, you could get the HLG-240h-c1050 instead. but you wouldn't be able to add one later if you decided to.
The biggest problem with the 304's is they are high voltage. So finding a driver to work with them, and something of a lower voltage is the biggest problem.
But the 320h-c1050 would do both of them and the qb96.

About the 288's. I would just run them by themselves. The Hlg-240h-c2100A will give you a max of 250w, so adding the QB96 with it, unless on a separate driver, would just lower the current the 288's received.

Aolelon said:

Its really up to you, the 2 304's should do a great job of flowering the room by themselves, if you wanted to add the extra QB96 for the added benefit its just personal preference really.
If you decide you don't want to add it, you could get the HLG-240h-c1050 instead. but you wouldn't be able to add one later if you decided to.
The biggest problem with the 304's is they are high voltage. So finding a driver to work with them, and something of a lower voltage is the biggest problem.
But the 320h-c1050 would do both of them and the qb96.

About the 288's. I would just run them by themselves. The Hlg-240h-c2100A will give you a max of 250w, so adding the QB96 with it, unless on a separate driver, would just lower the current the 288's received.

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Ok, sounds like a plan! Appreciate the feedback!

Although I don't know what part of MI you are located, I can offer the experience that managing conditions could be your biggest challenge...... My Michigan basement has proven very tricky to keep in balance. The adjustments never end.
You've got solid lighting no doubt, so that's not an issue.
What will be, are the inevitable swings in relative humidity, and temperature as the seasons change. Be mindful that it may be necessary to actually supplement HEAT in the coldest times, and, certainly humidity in the driest....I spend all winter fighting low RH, only to run the dehuey all summer...Its really irritating..... Of course this will depend greatly on your basement, might never be an issue for you who knows....

Chip Green said:

Although I don't know what part of MI you are located, I can offer the experience that managing conditions could be your biggest challenge...... My Michigan basement has proven very tricky to keep in balance. The adjustments never end.
You've got solid lighting no doubt, so that's not an issue.
What will be, are the inevitable swings in relative humidity, and temperature as the seasons change. Be mindful that it may be necessary to actually supplement HEAT in the coldest times, and, certainly humidity in the driest....I spend all winter fighting low RH, only to run the dehuey all summer...Its really irritating..... Of course this will depend greatly on your basement, might never be an issue for you who knows....

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Yes this is all stuff I’ve been thinking about. My basement is always on the cold side but not sure on humidity. I do know the place that I plan on building this, under my porch, is extremely damp in the winter to where you see condensation on the metal ceiling which is what my porch is sitting on. So my plan was to first layer with insulation foam board and tape all the the creases and corners and frame a wall across and foam board that as well. Hope this will fix the swing in humidity. Then from there figure out my air circulation. Going to have come in and exit the same wall as all other walls are concrete.

Will be a definite project to come up with a good solution and build.

Chip Green said:

Although I don't know what part of MI you are located, I can offer the experience that managing conditions could be your biggest challenge...... My Michigan basement has proven very tricky to keep in balance. The adjustments never end.
You've got solid lighting no doubt, so that's not an issue.
What will be, are the inevitable swings in relative humidity, and temperature as the seasons change. Be mindful that it may be necessary to actually supplement HEAT in the coldest times, and, certainly humidity in the driest....I spend all winter fighting low RH, only to run the dehuey all summer...Its really irritating..... Of course this will depend greatly on your basement, might never be an issue for you who knows....

Click to expand...

Preach. Michigan basement grower here as well. Environment is the greatest challenge.

I was thinking of getting a temp sensor that works with my nest thermostat for my grow room. That way can check my nest app and if to cold or humid I could use my Alexa app to turn on a small space heater or dehumidifier. Just a thought to maybe make it easier or monitor for my first grow/room.

What ended up evolving in one of my rooms, is a 4x4x6.5' flower tent, inside the sealed(ish), fully insulated, 12x9 "enclosed, locked, facility".... The exhausted heat from the tent, has been enough to keep the tent in an acceptable range, whilst adding needed degrees to the rest of the area. In the winter, I have a duct from the furnace that runs into the room, which managed to keep the entire area warm enough for my purposes....
Its a total balancing act of intake, and exhaust, to and from the ambient basement air, to keep this F'r in tune.....
Always pondering new solutions, to improve condition stability.

Chip Green said:

What ended up evolving in one of my rooms, is a 4x4x6.5' flower tent, inside the sealed(ish), fully insulated, 12x9 "enclosed, locked, facility".... The exhausted heat from the tent, has been enough to keep the tent in an acceptable range, whilst adding needed degrees to the rest of the area. In the winter, I have a duct from the furnace that runs into the room, which managed to keep the entire area warm enough for my purposes....
Its a total balancing act of intake, and exhaust, to and from the ambient basement air, to keep this F'r in tune.....
Always pondering new solutions, to improve condition stability.

Click to expand...

I've been contemplating something very like this. How did you set up the 12x9 area? I presume your basement is unfinished?

I live in the ne corner of the Lower,I gave up on outside because of the insane humidity.Then in the winter it's 15% indoors.It makes drying a challenge too.

Humple said:

basement is unfinished?

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Mostly unfinished. Its a solid foundation though, zero leakage. I framed off a 12' wall, and then a 9' wall in one of the corners. When I bought the home, I took notice that this particular corner already had a dedicated breaker to a brand new outlet, AND a 240v outlet. The framed walls were insulated with fiberglass batts and drywall on the outside. Inside they just have visqeen plastic.
Batts in the ceiling too, stapled in place between the beams, covered with visqeen...The concrete walls have a plastic sheeting vapor barrier, and then 1/2" foam board covering them. Its not the prettiest, but ive managed to get it to maintain above 72F even in the sub zero stretches in the dead of Da UP winter...
Its not exactly tuned in perfectly, but a 440 CFM blower with a scrubber on the intake inside the room, keeps the air exchange working.

Also to be noted, Ive had some pretty good results with DIY LED lighting, with some fairly poor conditions(on paper)....Like vegging below 70F with 25% RH for MONTHS, and still managed to get some pretty healthy plants. Optimal conditions will certainly improve speed of growth, and yield, but it definitely can still be worthwhile, even with the difficult environmental variables.
One slight advantage, I believe, is that the environment is also less than optimal for pests.....

Chip Green said:

Mostly unfinished. Its a solid foundation though, zero leakage. I framed off a 12' wall, and then a 9' wall in one of the corners. When I bought the home, I took notice that this particular corner already had a dedicated breaker to a brand new outlet, AND a 240v outlet. The framed walls were insulated with fiberglass batts and drywall on the outside. Inside they just have visqeen plastic.
Batts in the ceiling too, stapled in place between the beams, covered with visqeen...The concrete walls have a plastic sheeting vapor barrier, and then 1/2" foam board covering them. Its not the prettiest, but ive managed to get it to maintain above 72F even in the sub zero stretches in the dead of Da UP winter...
Its not exactly tuned in perfectly, but a 440 CFM blower with a scrubber on the intake inside the room, keeps the air exchange working.

Click to expand...

I so need to do this. Right now I have a double layer of plastic sheeting partitioning off a 10x15 area. Surprisingly, it keeps the garden 15 degrees warmer than the rest of the basement, but that's still not enough in the dead of winter. Don't want to heat the whole basement, so framing a proper, permanent room is high on the to-do list.

Aolelon said:

The only problem with this is if you want to get the most out of the QB288's, then you aren't going to want to pair a qb96 with it unless its on a separate driver. The 288's can run much higher than the 304's and the QB96.

Click to expand...

Im gl

Aolelon said:

The only problem with this is if you want to get the most out of the QB288's, then you aren't going to want to pair a qb96 with it unless its on a separate driver. The 288's can run much higher than the 304's and the QB96.

Click to expand...

What about 324s

Aolelon said:

The hlg-240h-c1400 for the 2qb288s and the 1 qb96
This will give you ~180w.
If you dropped the 1qb96 and went with the hlg-240h-c2100 you could get around 250w

The hlg-320h-c1050 for the 2qb304 and the 1qb96.
This will give you about ~263w

I'm unsure of what you could use for the 1qb96.
I would say hlg-60h-36 but that will give you 1700mA, and the qb96 has a max current of 1600mA
While I dont think you would burn out the board with .1 A, i dont think it's still recommended

Click to expand...

I've been looking all over the place for a 240h-c2100 and all I find are 2100a,2100b,2100c... Is there a difference between them?