YAY!! my lights are on the way… best I can afford at this time… should be here in a couple days . saying that… any suggestions on setting it up will be greatly appreciated. Currently running 2 Vipar 450w leds… which I plan on still using if needed but more on the veg side of tent. only planning on 2-3 plants flowering at 1 time. One question I had is do i need to put something in line to be able to dim them with out screwdriver… or can I just plan on always running them at max all the time in flower. trying to get everthing for next grow that I may try to do a journal on.
Personally, I find it easier to just change the distance between the light and the plants and let it run at full blast all the time. This way I can (for example) have two plants at different stages under the same light.
Just received mine yesterday, set up is easy enough. But at least in mine, there was no instructions. I mean not a single sheet of paper.
Does anyone have experience with these? I’m certainly no electrician, but as far as I’m aware, wires need to have the ends stripped of insulation to work. Now all the other cables came pre stripped, but for some reason the small red and black wires that go directly into the light board were not. I normally wouldn’t have questioned it, but since the others where pre stripped, I’m paranoid that the wires will somehow work as is and you’re not supposed to strip them.
If you go to the HLG website and select your model of fixture, you will see a link to a Youtube video that shows you everything you need to know in order to assemble it.
It’s actually part one of someone’s product review, but he does a great job assembling both a single-board and dual-board fixture.
And yes, you will strip the wires. He covers that in the video. Also, if you look you will find the proper length to strip is printed on one side of the Wago connector.
@TripleB Because it’s that easy to put together. I can’t remember which YouTube video I watched, but I looked for one where two boards are wired together. As I have the 260xl Rspec kits x 2. Once I saw what he did, the 2nd kit I had together in less than a couple minutes.
I did this while I already took my near 40 pills for the day and I’m about as electrical inclined as a two toed tree sloth can run the 100 meter dash in 3.5 seconds.
@TripleB I have exactly the same light an driver I mounted mine on top of the heat sink like the video shows. You’re going to love your new purchase. The wire they send you is a random length you will need to shorten an strip very easy to assemble. You might want to hook it up then check your temperature before you move it. A little bit of extra heat work out great for me winter time a Round Here. Good luck
Hey @kellydans , I see you described the heat as “a little,” how much of a temp increase did you see after you started using it (assuming it wasn’t your first light)?
Not sure what you mean by check the temp. Are you referring to inside the tent? Or do you somehow check the temp of the light?
Think I will run full power and just move plants up and down to make it correct for each one unless there is an easy way to put something inline to adjust them. But @dbrn32 and/or others would have to help me with that.
@MrPeat was that with the driver in the tent. I am growing in winter atm and need a small heater to keep 75F ish temps in tent… which this should help some… but 96F seems way high for me to control… so hoping putting the driver outside tent helps with that. Do I need to be looking for a small room AC unit?
All you need to do is adjust the lights aka dim them till you get a good temp canopy. It does work in helping with the heat issues. I’m South Texas where the weather can be 30 degrees then go upto 80 in a matter of hours.
I did put my Meanwell drivers outside the tent and it still didn’t help with the heat. But this house doesn’t have good AC flow so if it’s warm outside, then tent will get hotter. When it’s cold outside, then hen temps are offset and is fine.
We don’t have basements here so what applies to me probably won’t effect yours. I’m South Texas and the temps in the canopy has to be regulated by dimming the lights. There is no other way for me to address it but to dim. And anyone with 2 HLG 260xl Rspec kits in a 4x4 can attest that dimming probably won’t hurt the overall amount of weight you will get.
I had to dim them tonight because it won’t be that cold outside tonight.
. saying that… any suggestions on setting it up will be greatly appreciated. Currently running 2 Vipar 450w leds… which I plan on still using if needed but more on the veg side of tent. only planning on 2-3 plants flowering at 1 time. One question I had is do i need to put something in line to be able to dim them with out screwdriver… or can I just plan on always running them at max all the time in flower. trying to get everthing for next grow that I may try to do a journal on.
