Building perpetual garden stage 1

Do you think it better to run 1750b at full power or the 2100a lower power so its not stressed? Which would be better for electric bill? Ad this plugs right into wall?

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If we go back to watts per square foot this how it looks

1750 driver would be 28.4 watts a square foot
2100 driver would be 34.0 watts per square foot
2800 driver would be 45.4 watts per square foot

But the lower amp drivers run your boards more efficient. The higher amp boards produce more heat.
The 2800 driver is nearing the board limit of 3000ma or 3 amps which make s it less efficient.

A 4th board would solve a lot of problems but if you go with this design then I feel the 2100 driver would work the best for you. Just find a better price.

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What @MAXHeadRoom said. That’s pretty much it in a nutshell.

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Isnt 40watt optimal? Thpught i read you said that somewhere. Also how would i add an extra board? It says dont run them 4 deep? I cant really run them like you did because it would block the back section off. Or just 1 driver for every 2. Can yp u make me a design? Hope im not being a hassle.

I guess we never talked about how much money you wanted to spend. with 4 boards and 2 drivers per light, we should be able to design a light for around $500 ea with 500 watts power giving you 50 watts per square foot. This would allow you to dim it giving you better efficiency.

So for both lights it would be $1000 - $1100.

Is that the way you want to go???

Okay, im down for that. My concern is how my room is shaped. I want to be able too lower half of the light at a time. Hlg says not to hook 4 in a row. 4 like you made is correct


Room is 4"10 wide and 5’7 long.
The 4’10
has to be divided or i wont be able to access the far back.
This is how it needs divided. That way i can access the middle a bit more to get to the back.
Now if i run 4 long ways with 1 driver the last board wont be getting enough of something. So would i need to use 2 drivers on each side?

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I see now. How many boards did you order or are willing to buy for this space. Your real close to 5’ x 5’ so you will need almost 1000 watts to cover that space. If we line up 4 boards on one side and a separate frame and 4 lights for the other side, that should not be a problem. Is that what you want to do?

Is your house crooked. why is one side 5.0’ and the other side 5’7"

Lol na, its not crooked the room is 5’7" long. Im just using the 5 feet so i get inside some. But i dont mind using 4 boards on each side. I have 6 ordered with heat sinks. I dont mind using some money to get it right because it will all pay off in the end for me. Im really not in a huge rush. I just had some money fall on me and figured id get a head start with some of the more expensive stuff.

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OK great. So order 2 more boards and heat sinks. Make sure the heat sinks are for a single board.

I will start on a preliminary design for your frame and look into what drivers would be best for you.

I will get with you when thats finished. :sunglasses:

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Thank you so much

Have any of you grown with this bad boys? What’s the deal? Would love to see some pix of the results.

What are you asking question about?

Look under maxheadrooms topics. I think aeroponics gold leaf first grow. He has real nice results.

Heres some Bud Porn from both my grows


1 plant from my first harvest

2nd harvest. BOM winner Dec.

Day before harvest second grow

Fri%20Dec%2029%2010-35-21

Trichomes from 2nd grow

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@Budtastic @dbrn32

Is this kinda what you where thinking of. Your grow room would be divided into two 2 x 5 grow areas with an aisle in the middle. The driver I was looking at where the HLG 240H-C2100B. This will give you the 40 watts per square foot that is recommended by Horticultural Lighting Group.

Let me know then I can finish the frame drawing and the wiring diagram

:sunglasses:

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I’m a little behind sorry. The room is about 5’x5’ and we’re working with 6 boards or 8 boards? And then we want to get as close to possible to flower the whole space or using 2 fixtures? Or is three or four fixtures an option?

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The room is a closet with the only access being the door on the right. So he needs an aisle to tend to his plants on either side. He ordered 6 QB288 and I told him to order 2 more. I was planning on 2 long frames but looking at the drawing I think 4 smaller frames would work better then he would have more control of the light height depending on what strain he was growing.

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I think I’m picking up what you’re putting down here. So we have two 5x2 grow areas within a single space, divided by a walkway?

I’m not sure why hlg, would recommend not putting 4 boards inline in a single row? 12 “ of board will most certainly cover the 24” depth of the space. Like I said earlier, I think 3 that way would do fine, 4 would obviously give the opportunity to run a little softer.

If it were me, I’d give the 6 boards a shot. I would make the frame larger than necessary to accommodate A 4th board later if need be. And then just hit 3 boards one dead center and about 16” spacing to the outer boards. Repeat on the other side.

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@dbrn32
This is the reason I went with the 4 boards. He has the money now so why not do it right the first time. Even though 3 boards would work, the drivers for 3 boards would be way different then what I would choose for 4 boards. So converting later to 4 boards would be difficult.
Most of the time you are recommending more boards so you can run them softer and more efficient. Why the change of opinion?

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A board is good for up to 4 square feet flowering intensity. 2x5 is 10 square feet, in my opinion that ability to run them a little softer is already built in. That’s why I figured the hlg-320 with 3 boards would work ok, they’re already driven softer than would be at 2100ma with the hlg-240, or potentially higher with hlg-480.

I’m not opposed to 4 boards per, just figured if there’s already enough to do 3 boards per, why not give it a shot before buying more? I would think ahead to leaving room in the frame for a fourth board though. After that run two boards per hlg-240h-c2100, there drivers total. You just need to have two wires jump from one frame to the other. Or, try three boards each on two hlg-320h-c1750b. 90-100 Watts per board is plenty soft for them but still giving enough light output in my opinion. Plus, you put a healthy dent in how many drivers starting and inrush current too.
The only real downfall with going with two 320’s, is keeping things uniform in the event of adding two more boards later.

I don’t want to come off as four boards per fixture being a bad idea, it’s definitely not. But I don’t see an issue with trying 6.

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