LED strip Lords. I need your guidance.

Rocket Soul said:

Use 60mm wide angle or u channel, and double up on strips to one heatsink. Connect them in series and use a 48A driver.

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I am sticking with using my HLG-80H-C700B for these guys for now, and only have 5 strips, so would have to come up with a different design for my fixture.

The closest I can get to 60mm is 2.5" and that is even more expensive than the 2" angle. I guess I would need less strips. Gotta rethink this I guess...

Fingers crossed something pops up on Craigslist for free or cheap.

So the place that I got my heatsinks has these LED housings in stock that are cheaper than if I bought two 8ft sections of 2" angle.

$10 each for 600mm sections. $15 if I want the clear lens cover and endcaps (with gaskets and cord grips!).


.

They also then have these other smaller profiles that can be used as the 'crossbars'.

$7 each for 900mm sections with endcaps.


Questions to you guys.

I think the lens cover is obviously not needed, but wouldn't mind the extra waterproofing, and for $25 extra for the whole fixture it's not a big deal. Do you think the lens covers will diffuse the light too much to not make it worth it? The guy at Alberko said they have a few customers that used these for grow lights and they specifically got them because of the extra protection it offered the diodes. I am thinking I will probably just get them so I have them, can always take them off.

Do you think I should go for one crossbar down the middle, spider style? Or just get one for each end? The benefit of the single bar is obviously its less expensive and less mounting holes to drill. The benefit of using 2 would be that I could have 4 mounting points.

Going to go pick these up tomorrow at lunch, strips should be here tomorrow too. Hopefully will have it up and running by the weekend.

Overall a little more than I was hoping to spend but I think it should look pretty sharp. Not sure what shipping would be for these but hopefully this is a solution to someone else looking for a way to mount their strips.

Think having two cross pieces would make for more rigid and durable build. Great find on those extrusions and for sharing. Sure a lot of USA based people will take note.

the price looks right for what you get, good find.
you maybe wanna test out the diffusion effect for us and tell us.

something tells me that we have enough diffusion using so many light sources,
of course the covers will cost some photons , but who knows

Finally got this fixture assembled. Pretty happy with the results, even tho it was one of the most time consuming DIY projects I have ever done. Literally most of my day yesterday and a few hours today figuring out the most clean way to assemble everything, getting wire lengths right and getting it all lined up properly. This thing will probably last forever though, and if I take a little more time with it I could shrink wrap the wires to make it fully water resistant. Was also thinking I could add rocker switches for the different spectrums. Totally overkill really for my needs, and probably the most expensive 90W veg light ever, but definitely a way nicer build than just using alum angle (you can see my original 40W clone/seedling veg shelf that is using 4 of the EB gen 2 1' strips in a few photos, that is how I built that one).

Going to bed at 1am last night I really wish I had just bought those QB132s after all of this. Would have been probably just as efficient and done fine for veg needs. Could have had those hung using 1/4" alum angle as a frame in like an hour for like $10 in hardware. Oh well live and learn.

I have another strip related question. I tried searching and saw a few older threads but figure it is worth asking in here.

One of my friends in JA is trying to get his veg / clone / moms greenhouse situation setup nicer. He is currently running a few CFLs off of their home solar system, but it is not very efficient. Not running 18 hrs a day, just @ 6 hrs to supplement whatever the normal daytime light hours are so that he can keep his plants in veg til they are big enough to put out for flower.

They just had someone donate a few of these salt battery based solar systems. They cost like $300 each and provide enough power at 12V to run a few household lights and small electronic devices. I was thinking that some strips would probably be the most efficient energy wise, but I can't find any that will work. Are there any 12V strips besides the cheap flexible led rolls?

He can possibly get a scaled up 24V system, but that is going to take some time to save up for and get shipped.

My only other concern is that his environment is pretty humid and salty in the air, meaning most electronics get pitted/corroded pretty quickly if left out in the open. Do strips even make sense or are the diodes going to fail faster in that environment? Should he just stick with CFLs and/or T5s?

So I saw in another thread where @Rocket Soul mentioned eb gen3 1 footers will run at 12v.


10 strips drops price to $6 each. $60 for 10 strips that will run on 12V is pretty pretty pretttttttty sweet. would make a killer fixture for a 2x4.

now just have to figure out how many amps this solar system puts out to figure out how many we can run.

salmonetin said:

to ilovereggae

...salt battery based solar systems.... from my actual pov i prefer the gel battery solar system...

...y si hay viento sificiente... a las placas solares fotovoltaicas y a las baterias de gel les añadiria un pequeño generador eolico.... que busque algun kit similar a estos...

Kit Panel Solar 300W 12V 750Whdia | al Mejor Precio

Kit Panel Solar 300W 12V 750Whdia. Comprar Kit Panel Solar 300W 12V 750Whdia al Mejor Precio. Venta de Kit Panel Solar 300W 12V 750Whdia

autosolar.es

Comprar Aerogenerador Ecosolar Aero 400 24V - Potencia max. 600W - Damia Solar

Comprar Aerogenerador Ecosolar Aero 400 24V - Potencia max. 600W El aerogenerador Ecosolar Aero 400 de 24V ha sido diseñado para obtener energía eléctrica mediant

www.damiasolar.com

kit híbrido solar + eólico 1300w uso diario: nevera, tv, luz, etc

*KIT DISEÑADO ESPECÍFICAMENTE PARA ZONAS DE VIENTO CONSTANTE* El kit híbrido 1300W 12V de energía solar y energía eólica ha sido preparado para zonas donde haya un número muy alto de días de viento al año. De esta forma se genera electricidad combinándose la fuerza del viento y la radiación...

www.damiasolar.com

...no solo le servira para las luces tambien le serviria para regar...
...aunque para regar en exterior tambien tiene la posibilidad de usar bombas de agua que no usan electricidad para funcionar...las bombas de ariete...

...perdon si es offtopic y por mi español...

y Saludos a tu colega de uno de Tenerife...

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Thank you @salmonetin

I spoke with them just now. Its not a salt based battery, its actually Nickel Iron. Pretty interesting bc you can discharge them up to 80%. I think it can work for the strips just needs to have enough Ah to provide enough power.
I got the contact info for the company that makes them once I get more details I will follow up.