Let's talk DIY lights

Is this the part when I tell you I think you should expand to get more controllers, more breakers, and expand your electrical panel? @daddy lol

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Nope not at all lol. My controllers are 8x1kw and I have 60amp circuit breakers for each controller. So I think I’m good on that end :wink:

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I’m not sure what @Daddy is even running, other than the vero’s he’s working on. But we’ll go with that!

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Okay all drilled and framing is done. Now to sit down and mount everything and wire the rack. Probably won’t have time to do that for a week or so. Rack is freaking huge.

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What is the size of the rack @daddy? Is this for a 4x8 grow area? And how many COB’s will you have installed on this rack?

This is a 12 cob Vero rack with mixed and staggered cri’s. 3 320 2100ma meanwells with ext pots. It will cover a 6 photo grow to 7ft or 8+ autos.

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Looking good so far! Assuming you’re going with pots to dim, you going individual or dimming all from one?

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3 individual pots because I’m running mixed cri’s and I want to do some serious testing with grow control on my run.

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Copy that. Are you currently growing with cobs?

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Last time I grew was 86’ shhhh don’t tell anyone.

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No worries here, I was barely out of diapers haha! At least you’re getting on top of your equipment from the beginning.

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Go big or go home right??? I even bought a 900w meizhi just for seedlings and clones lol

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No fun, but it’s easy. Depending on your space you could’ve done something with cold white strips for $100 or so

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No, because I have plans and this won’t be a one time only grow :slight_smile:

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I hear you. The performance for dollar on those amazon lights is such a ripoff though.

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Just starts and clones. It will be mounted really high to cover a very large area. It was on sale for $190 and draws 418 watts. And probably mothers eventually

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@dbrn32 How can I calculate the efficiency of my lights.

I have 2-QB304 boards that run off a HLG 240 - 1050B Meanwell driver.
Max amp is1600ma

Right now I have them at full power because I am in flower stage

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I think there’s a tool on the Samsung website, haven’t used it though. Just out of curiosity, how are you getting 1600ma from the 1050ma driver?

I’m not lol. 1600ma was the maximum current recommended by HLG spec sheet for the board. I thought you might need that number to calculate the efficiency

If you take the max current of the driver (1050) and divide it by the max current of the board (1600) would that be right? That would come out to 65% at those settings .

That’s just giving you the max current rating of the boards. So you can say you’re at 65% of max operating current. That would be less efficient than running them lower, but it doesn’t give you the par Watts vs heats Watts, or led efficiency.

Are you looking for total system efficiency, led efficiency, or like a umol per joule? The hlg-550 is listed at 2.3 umol per joule, I’m guessing they took that at 230v where the driver is a smidge better. If you’re looking for how efficient the leds are, I’ll have to do some digging and play with that tool.