The Chinese Quantum Board Knock Off Builds

semaphore

Well-Known Member
I've had a look-see at the Monster board and they do look nice. Only thing I miss is being able to control blue/uv and far red for end of day treatment. Basicly I'd like to by the board only and then use external drivers and timers. Most of these lights with extra channel but only one plug / driver won't let you run far red while main light is out which is my only real gripe.
Please let us know how you go and some pics if possible

This particular model allows you to turn on uv/ir individually, the red is on with with bloom switch, blue is on with veg and if you don’t want red or blue you have the switch in the center.

Check this video at time stamp 14mins



Will post some pics when I get them as well.
 

Rocket Soul

Well-Known Member
This particular model allows you to turn on uv/ir individually, the red is on with with bloom switch, blue is on with veg and if you don’t want red or blue you have the switch in the center.

Check this video at time stamp 14mins



Will post some pics when I get them as well.
I know. What I'm looking for is a way to have everything turned off except for the reds/far reds. This could only really be achieved if the reds had a separate driver or an external power input. But still wanna see how you go with it. I hope you enjoy your lights :)
 

semaphore

Well-Known Member
I know. What I'm looking for is a way to have everything turned off except for the reds/far reds. This could only really be achieved if the reds had a separate driver or an external power input. But still wanna see how you go with it. I hope you enjoy your lights :)
Not really the only way, you could do it with a custom built pcb, did one for a marine light. Just a lot of work.
 

MidnightSun72

Well-Known Member
I know. What I'm looking for is a way to have everything turned off except for the reds/far reds. This could only really be achieved if the reds had a separate driver or an external power input. But still wanna see how you go with it. I hope you enjoy your lights :)
i know you are like the authority on this but if the LEDs are already on different channels can you not just cut the power to the white LEDs and let the reds keep taking power? possibly with an LDD buck/boost style driver in case the main drivers amperage is too much??
Are most of the factory made fixtures running series or parallel wiring??AC0B163F-740E-490E-A72D-C960874C8652.jpeg
 

Rocket Soul

Well-Known Member
i know you are like the authority on this but if the LEDs are already on different channels can you not just cut the power to the white LEDs and let the reds keep taking power? possibly with an LDD buck/boost style driver in case the main drivers amperage is too much??
Are most of the factory made fixtures running series or parallel wiring??View attachment 4959430
I don't know exactly how they do it. I've seen several of this kind of board where you have a switch that activates a few more diodes all using one driver. Im not sure it's on separate channels, I believe that power is routed from driver + to whites and then to minus, and then when you flip the switch the extra diodes are are put in between white and minus. Maybe @semaphore knows more about special PCBs.
If it was just on separate channels it would be great, but generally these Ali lights puts a premium on simplicity and one driver only.

Only seen true multichannel boards a few times, some chilled gen2 clones but with high MOQ. Then a really old qb version, +100V with 2 extra channels in the middle of the board but they didn't want to sell it to me due to some contract issue with their client. Fair enough but why show it to me, only to give me led blue balls!?!? I've also saw something like a half Fotop with a well spread out channel of red but again no board only, only full light and pricey iirc. This last one must have been a multilayer PCB by the looks of it, price would also indicate this.
I do have an idea for how to do a board with tweaked main spectrum, and 2 channels of monos in the centre in standard qb format and size but it would again end up 100ish V which is problematic for sale: to easy to fuck something up with CC drivers in parallel and connecting them in series means that you end up with +200V circuit which is to high to be desirable. All of this makes investing a moot point, especially since the market is so full of cheapish lights that kinda sorta does this, but not quite, that you'd be hard pressed to make the effort commercially viable. But if someone was interested in a group effort based on initial investment for finished boards I'd maybe be interested in the future.
But my fear is that since this all takes time and forums work the way they work we'd probably be at each other's neck at the first sign of problem, and problems are almost guaranteed to happen when dealing with the A-bubbs.

As for the led authority it brings me some giggles: I really don't know much more than what's in this thread and a few others, and what I caught on the gml show while I was following and some stuff I got from convos with LEDTEKNIK while he was here. Also read way too many datasheets. It feels like yesterday when I started reading and watching growmau5 videos (may you found peace and purpose somewhere Mau5, miss you and your content big time). It was a heady and interesting time, even though I only came into this at the end of the RIU golden led era; the way the growlight market developed seems intricately tied to what people diyed here on RIU, cobs and white light, bin-chasing and then Alibaba cobs and on and on. So I still feel noobish compared to my old gurus and happily admit I have glaring holes in my knowledge in some areas. But I do like to try to solve problems in my head, be they technical or understanding plant fisiology etc. I learnt all this in the hope to help a good friend growing commercial and we did really good for a while. That feeling when we had a perfect system between led rooms, CMH rooms and everything working was so great, we built it all ourselves. But my mate seems to have hit on harder times and I can't get a hold of him for ages. And now it's really hard for us to get any further due to the new space being to limited, in space and power. Maybe it's finally time to get Riutired...
So long rant then tonite, basicly I'm maybe not an authority just someone who spends way too much time here for their own good.
If I could get a board together and get some kind of work from home income I'd be very chuffed, as my day job is seriously affected by lockdowns and pandemix, and it would make me a bit more independent of living in a city. But chances are that it's a lot more hours on RIU when I'd be better of spending time on other stuff. Oh well ...
 

Moflow

Well-Known Member
I don't know exactly how they do it. I've seen several of this kind of board where you have a switch that activates a few more diodes all using one driver. Im not sure it's on separate channels, I believe that power is routed from driver + to whites and then to minus, and then when you flip the switch the extra diodes are are put in between white and minus. Maybe @semaphore knows more about special PCBs.
If it was just on separate channels it would be great, but generally these Ali lights puts a premium on simplicity and one driver only.

Only seen true multichannel boards a few times, some chilled gen2 clones but with high MOQ. Then a really old qb version, +100V with 2 extra channels in the middle of the board but they didn't want to sell it to me due to some contract issue with their client. Fair enough but why show it to me, only to give me led blue balls!?!? I've also saw something like a half Fotop with a well spread out channel of red but again no board only, only full light and pricey iirc. This last one must have been a multilayer PCB by the looks of it, price would also indicate this.
I do have an idea for how to do a board with tweaked main spectrum, and 2 channels of monos in the centre in standard qb format and size but it would again end up 100ish V which is problematic for sale: to easy to fuck something up with CC drivers in parallel and connecting them in series means that you end up with +200V circuit which is to high to be desirable. All of this makes investing a moot point, especially since the market is so full of cheapish lights that kinda sorta does this, but not quite, that you'd be hard pressed to make the effort commercially viable. But if someone was interested in a group effort based on initial investment for finished boards I'd maybe be interested in the future.
But my fear is that since this all takes time and forums work the way they work we'd probably be at each other's neck at the first sign of problem, and problems are almost guaranteed to happen when dealing with the A-bubbs.

As for the led authority it brings me some giggles: I really don't know much more than what's in this thread and a few others, and what I caught on the gml show while I was following and some stuff I got from convos with LEDTEKNIK while he was here. Also read way too many datasheets. It feels like yesterday when I started reading and watching growmau5 videos (may you found peace and purpose somewhere Mau5, miss you and your content big time). It was a heady and interesting time, even though I only came into this at the end of the RIU golden led era; the way the growlight market developed seems intricately tied to what people diyed here on RIU, cobs and white light, bin-chasing and then Alibaba cobs and on and on. So I still feel noobish compared to my old gurus and happily admit I have glaring holes in my knowledge in some areas. But I do like to try to solve problems in my head, be they technical or understanding plant fisiology etc. I learnt all this in the hope to help a good friend growing commercial and we did really good for a while. That feeling when we had a perfect system between led rooms, CMH rooms and everything working was so great, we built it all ourselves. But my mate seems to have hit on harder times and I can't get a hold of him for ages. And now it's really hard for us to get any further due to the new space being to limited, in space and power. Maybe it's finally time to get Riutired...
So long rant then tonite, basicly I'm maybe not an authority just someone who spends way too much time here for their own good.
If I could get a board together and get some kind of work from home income I'd be very chuffed, as my day job is seriously affected by lockdowns and pandemix, and it would make me a bit more independent of living in a city. But chances are that it's a lot more hours on RIU when I'd be better of spending time on other stuff. Oh well ...
Rocket you are a great help on RIU, keep going. :lol:
 

loco41

Well-Known Member
I don't know exactly how they do it. I've seen several of this kind of board where you have a switch that activates a few more diodes all using one driver. Im not sure it's on separate channels, I believe that power is routed from driver + to whites and then to minus, and then when you flip the switch the extra diodes are are put in between white and minus. Maybe @semaphore knows more about special PCBs.
If it was just on separate channels it would be great, but generally these Ali lights puts a premium on simplicity and one driver only.

Only seen true multichannel boards a few times, some chilled gen2 clones but with high MOQ. Then a really old qb version, +100V with 2 extra channels in the middle of the board but they didn't want to sell it to me due to some contract issue with their client. Fair enough but why show it to me, only to give me led blue balls!?!? I've also saw something like a half Fotop with a well spread out channel of red but again no board only, only full light and pricey iirc. This last one must have been a multilayer PCB by the looks of it, price would also indicate this.
I do have an idea for how to do a board with tweaked main spectrum, and 2 channels of monos in the centre in standard qb format and size but it would again end up 100ish V which is problematic for sale: to easy to fuck something up with CC drivers in parallel and connecting them in series means that you end up with +200V circuit which is to high to be desirable. All of this makes investing a moot point, especially since the market is so full of cheapish lights that kinda sorta does this, but not quite, that you'd be hard pressed to make the effort commercially viable. But if someone was interested in a group effort based on initial investment for finished boards I'd maybe be interested in the future.
But my fear is that since this all takes time and forums work the way they work we'd probably be at each other's neck at the first sign of problem, and problems are almost guaranteed to happen when dealing with the A-bubbs.

As for the led authority it brings me some giggles: I really don't know much more than what's in this thread and a few others, and what I caught on the gml show while I was following and some stuff I got from convos with LEDTEKNIK while he was here. Also read way too many datasheets. It feels like yesterday when I started reading and watching growmau5 videos (may you found peace and purpose somewhere Mau5, miss you and your content big time). It was a heady and interesting time, even though I only came into this at the end of the RIU golden led era; the way the growlight market developed seems intricately tied to what people diyed here on RIU, cobs and white light, bin-chasing and then Alibaba cobs and on and on. So I still feel noobish compared to my old gurus and happily admit I have glaring holes in my knowledge in some areas. But I do like to try to solve problems in my head, be they technical or understanding plant fisiology etc. I learnt all this in the hope to help a good friend growing commercial and we did really good for a while. That feeling when we had a perfect system between led rooms, CMH rooms and everything working was so great, we built it all ourselves. But my mate seems to have hit on harder times and I can't get a hold of him for ages. And now it's really hard for us to get any further due to the new space being to limited, in space and power. Maybe it's finally time to get Riutired...
So long rant then tonite, basicly I'm maybe not an authority just someone who spends way too much time here for their own good.
If I could get a board together and get some kind of work from home income I'd be very chuffed, as my day job is seriously affected by lockdowns and pandemix, and it would make me a bit more independent of living in a city. But chances are that it's a lot more hours on RIU when I'd be better of spending time on other stuff. Oh well ...
I will second @Moflow upabove. Reading a lot of your different posts all over different threads helped me to take the leap into diy things. I started with some boards, now have more strips than I know what to even do with from sales on arrow and thinking about different spectrums. Unfortunately I don't have the space to utilize it all right now, but one day it'll all come to fruition. So thank you for spreading the knowledge.

To be somewhat relevant to the thread though, any sources via alibaba or elsehere on some blank starboards? I was thinking about trying my hand at piecing together so 730/uva type diodes possibly. Just another little itch to scratch on the journey possibly.
 

grotbags

Well-Known Member
I don't know exactly how they do it. I've seen several of this kind of board where you have a switch that activates a few more diodes all using one driver. Im not sure it's on separate channels, I believe that power is routed from driver + to whites and then to minus, and then when you flip the switch the extra diodes are are put in between white and minus. Maybe @semaphore knows more about special PCBs.
If it was just on separate channels it would be great, but generally these Ali lights puts a premium on simplicity and one driver only.

Only seen true multichannel boards a few times, some chilled gen2 clones but with high MOQ. Then a really old qb version, +100V with 2 extra channels in the middle of the board but they didn't want to sell it to me due to some contract issue with their client. Fair enough but why show it to me, only to give me led blue balls!?!? I've also saw something like a half Fotop with a well spread out channel of red but again no board only, only full light and pricey iirc. This last one must have been a multilayer PCB by the looks of it, price would also indicate this.
I do have an idea for how to do a board with tweaked main spectrum, and 2 channels of monos in the centre in standard qb format and size but it would again end up 100ish V which is problematic for sale: to easy to fuck something up with CC drivers in parallel and connecting them in series means that you end up with +200V circuit which is to high to be desirable. All of this makes investing a moot point, especially since the market is so full of cheapish lights that kinda sorta does this, but not quite, that you'd be hard pressed to make the effort commercially viable. But if someone was interested in a group effort based on initial investment for finished boards I'd maybe be interested in the future.
But my fear is that since this all takes time and forums work the way they work we'd probably be at each other's neck at the first sign of problem, and problems are almost guaranteed to happen when dealing with the A-bubbs.

As for the led authority it brings me some giggles: I really don't know much more than what's in this thread and a few others, and what I caught on the gml show while I was following and some stuff I got from convos with LEDTEKNIK while he was here. Also read way too many datasheets. It feels like yesterday when I started reading and watching growmau5 videos (may you found peace and purpose somewhere Mau5, miss you and your content big time). It was a heady and interesting time, even though I only came into this at the end of the RIU golden led era; the way the growlight market developed seems intricately tied to what people diyed here on RIU, cobs and white light, bin-chasing and then Alibaba cobs and on and on. So I still feel noobish compared to my old gurus and happily admit I have glaring holes in my knowledge in some areas. But I do like to try to solve problems in my head, be they technical or understanding plant fisiology etc. I learnt all this in the hope to help a good friend growing commercial and we did really good for a while. That feeling when we had a perfect system between led rooms, CMH rooms and everything working was so great, we built it all ourselves. But my mate seems to have hit on harder times and I can't get a hold of him for ages. And now it's really hard for us to get any further due to the new space being to limited, in space and power. Maybe it's finally time to get Riutired...
So long rant then tonite, basicly I'm maybe not an authority just someone who spends way too much time here for their own good.
If I could get a board together and get some kind of work from home income I'd be very chuffed, as my day job is seriously affected by lockdowns and pandemix, and it would make me a bit more independent of living in a city. But chances are that it's a lot more hours on RIU when I'd be better of spending time on other stuff. Oh well ...
have you seen led.tech's multi-channel board?...https://www.led-tech.de/en/ZEUS-326-XT-TW3-LM301H-One-LM301B-6500K-630nm-660nm-730nm, these must be fairly new as ive not seen em before.

also they are making these little butterfly boards https://www.led-tech.de/en/3-plus-1-SYSTEM150-Butterfly-with-144x-LM301B-LEDs-3500, they have a little gap in the center to take one of their 7xsystem slider boards (little pcb with room for 7 x mono's), turning them into a little 2 channel board... cute!.

i have had a few ideas for multi channel boards/fat strips id like to make one day, like you i think you could make a killer adjustable do it all spectrum with 3 channels, maybe 4 if you wanted uv seperate.

getting a board/fat strip designed and into production will be a fairly long process and lot of work but i think thats only half the battle. to get them comercial they have to be easy to build into the finished lights and as you know multi channel/driver wiring is no joke...

ideally you would redesign a working usable beefed up version of a meshtek controller so you can just use one driver per light but thats just another rabbit hole to get lost down...

i also had a crazy idea about something i like to call global dimming, which would result in totally uniform par distrubution, no more hotspots in the middle ect...but you would have to ditch the idea of fat strips/larger style quantum boards and use smaller boards someting like the size of the butterfly boards linked above but then you are back to making them a lot harder to wire/assemble:wall:
 

Moflow

Well-Known Member
9 x RQS Royal Gorilla 37 days of 12 on 12 off.
They are in a mix of peat, homemade compost, perlite and Root Boost granules and a top dressing of worm castings.
They haven't needed much nutrients so far.
Side lights across the front
20210807_190732.jpg20210807_190737.jpg20210807_190758.jpg
Ì can't find room to hang a 660nm, 420nm, 385nm light but I'll jiggle the lights around and find a way somehow.
Enjoy
 

semaphore

Well-Known Member
Lights finally landed this week and took like 4 days to get out of customs, but collected today and I am extremely impressed. Packaging is top notch, accessories such as hanging rollers (I hate buying them), RJ cable for daisy chaining and a few other things.

The boards themselves are solidy built, inventronics drivers, nice thick connector plugs, the diodes are coated with a silicone layer.

Normal light
camphoto_1483920592.jpeg

Veg + IR
camphoto_1254324197.jpeg

Flower
camphoto_351212254.jpeg

Box
camphoto_1804928587.jpeg
 

phwilbur1

Member
The 600watt kingbrite 55watt per bar led and added 660, uv, and Infrared. is incredible. Turned down to 80% and at 30" from canopy top it looks like this with them babies praying. First 2 lux readings are at 2 different points around tent while 3rd is the far edges right up against the tent wall in the corner 20210831_174847.jpg20210831_174853.jpg
 

Attachments

Shiggity

Well-Known Member
I have a spare HLG 480 c2100a sitting around and wanted to make use of it. I see some KQO boards on the zon 2 for 45. I was planning on running them at 1050a by combining series and parallel. They have mn281b+ which are 165 lm/watt max so I want to drive them light. Since a meanwell driver can out put about 8% over, do you think I could run 5 of the boards in series with 1 in parallel on each of the 5 boards for 10 boards total? They are 48V boards.
 
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Rocket Soul

Well-Known Member
I have a spare HLG 480 c2100a sitting around and wanted to make use of it. I see some KQO boards on the zon 2 for 45. I was planning on running them at 1050a by combining series and parallel. They have mn281b+ which are 165 lm/watt max so I want to drive them light. Since a meanwell driver can out put about 8% over, do you think I could run 5 of the boards in series with 1 in parallel on each of the 5 boards for 10 boards total?
No way of knowing with out info on forward voltage of the boards.
The 8% over quoted above is current, not voltage so doesn't really matter. You have a link to those boards or could you ask the seller for forward voltage at 1050mA?
 

zurk420

New Member
So I've decided to go with a KingBrite 240W board for my 32"x32" setup.
I've read that the 660nmred LEDs help with flowering and most people recommend the 3500K version for this.
If I were to go with the pure LEDs without any red would 3000K be a better choice than the 3500K?
Would there be a major difference in yield between the two?
(LM301B + Epistar 660nm 3500K Led Grow Light vs LM301B 3000K)
The red cree's are around $50 extra (CAD) and I'm not sure if they're worth it. Also concerned about the red epistars since I've heard mixed reviews of them.
 
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