Ok so this double heatsink i got turned out to be really nice and thick but didnt have holes drilled so that took me a little bit. I wanted to ask you @dbrn32 do you i need to use any thermal paste with these LM281 boards? any other advice you can think of would be great.
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If the surface is flat and smooth you wonât need thermal paste. If it has finish irregularities you should probably sand them out. Otherwise a good cleaning with alcohol and they should be good.
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man your awesome thanks again so much. Im off to finish drilling the other board then.
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so now im wiring this up with wagos. Im using the hlg-240h-c2100a so I remember you saying this was meant to be wired in series correct?
Does this diagram i made look correct?
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I found a similar diagram so i think this is correct for series wiring. Im going try to make a video maybe on youtube with a parts list and guide for anyone else interested in building this light. I roughly have about $130 dollars total in this light so if it runs anything close to QB288 V2 Rspec Quantum Boards then that is a huge reduction in price considering they are selling the premade Lights with similar specs for $250 to $350. this community has helped me so much Im hoping i can now help some others to repay my debt.
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That is correct! Sorry for late reply.
Ok well here it is. I just finished the holes in the sink for the hangers. The dollar tree is such an amazing place for a DIY grower lol. they had really nice wire chains with clips and hooks for hanging pots but these are just like the ones that come with premade grow lights. also for an entirely different build they have 100w 75w 60w LED light bulbs in 3000k 5000k and i believe some 2700k bulbs. I got a 5 light socket vanity for $10 bucks and 5 of the Y style light spliters for $10 on amazon to pair with the bulbs. so for $30 total I can have 10 LED lights and i can change spectrumâs simple by switching out bulbs. anyway for my first quantum board build I think I did ok. its a little rough looking but it will work. what do you guys think?
also @dbrn32 I found these Samsung QB288 quantum led boards V2 LM301B 3000K mix deep red 660nm IR and UV for about 45 dollars each board. would this be the best kind of boards? is $45 dollars each a good price you think? I still have the other driver I bought so Im going to buy some better boards for this next build
I saw some with cree in them for much more but didnt know anything about the cree boards. they want twice as much for the ones with cree
Samsung QB288 PCBA quantum led lamp boards V3 LM301H 3000K/3500K with CREE XP-E2 660nm UV IR diy led grow light
as far as i can tell the only difference is epistar Vs the cree if im correct. i cant see the cree being worth almost double the price though but maybe im not understanding correctly
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Depends on what the value is to you. The epistar 660nm leds cost less than a quarter purchase in bulk quantities. Cree xpe2 cost about $3-$4. There is large led crowd that replaces their stuff every time a new generation comes out with 5-10% efficiency gain. If you aspire to be one of those people, it would definitely be a valuable upgrade. If you are looking for a decent light at low price, probably not worth spending double on name of leds alone.
When you see lightâs that look similar but cost twice as much, there is usually a significant upgrade in the leds. Even top bin 301b vs bottom bin 301b is pretty big difference. That doesnât mean bottom bin are shitty leds, just not as good as others.
does the UV & IR really help with anything? Im seeing basiclly 2 types of 3000k boards those that have UV & IR with the 660nm and those that are just 3000k with only 660nm no UV IR/ is the IR & UV something i would want for flowering?
I think ill still use some HPS in small watts
Im gonna stick to the epistars i just need to figure out UV IR or not
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For all intensive purposes, you probably wouldnât notice much if any difference. The long technical answer is yes, there is a difference. Itâs not a big difference, and there are a lot of factors. Get whichever you feel works the best for you.
man im really bummed out lol so I went to power on the light and nothing. I went back checked all my leads and reset all my wago connections and checked wires colors. still nothing. I took my multimeter and check the positive and neg outputs of the driver and nothing. reading 0. Im starting to wonder if the driver isnt new as listed. the wire tips looked used and the case had scratches. Im going to try my HLG-240H-48B tomorrow and rewire it all for parallel so i can be 100% sure. I hope im not doing something stupid like not seeing a on switch or some startup trick. ive never used a driver
i also adjusted the pot. I tried all the way turned down and then all the way turned up but neither gave a reading
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Are you sure wires are seated properly under connector without any exposed conductor touching board or heatsinks?
What about power cord wiring too?
I reseated the wagos and made sure no expose wire leads were touching. the power cord i used is rated for 125v 10a it was a heavy duty PC power supply cable i repurposed. i could try another power cord tonight. do you think the cord could be the issue then? could these boards im using not work with series wiring? thank god ebay granted the refund. I think the seller knew because the pictures he used in the ebay listing werenât the same driver. Let this be a lesson boys and girls. if someone is selling something to cheap its probably to good to be true. I sucked it up and bought another on amazon for $72 last night. I also ordered.some of the QB288 LM301h boards with epistars and UV IR off of aliexpress for $45 a board. Im going to try to trouble shoot my wiring again but tomorrow ill know when the other 2100a driver comes in the mail
Negative, they will work either way as long as wired to proper driver. You are using meanwell hlg-240h-c2100a right?
Your cord is probably fine. I was asking more specific about wiring of the cord. It looks like your power cord may be wired to driver output and boards wired to driver input? If so, that is backwards
Been running 2 of the same board in a XLG-240 for the last two weeks, they seem to work good
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Thanks man for being so patient with me and helping out so much. So it was the driver. I got a new 240w c2100a and popped in the wagos. sure enough BAM they come straight on. The ebay guy had to know he gave me instant refund. but ebay doesnât allow seller to advertise something as new when it isnt so i got very lucky. It raised the cost of the build by about $15 or so. Ive never owned a LM301 board yet but these LM281s are bright. Im running a 1000w HPS and this 240w QB build has got to be close to half as bright. I have all the stuff on order for the LM301h boards now. also if anyone is looking for nice heatsinks these guys really have good quality. let me know and i can send a link. the boards arent even getting the top of the heatsink warm even. its cool to the touch and im running on 100%.
Is this ok to run this light at 100%? Now the other board is the QB 288 epistar boards and im pairing that with the HLG-240H-48B since i already have that extra one. what would you suggest running the LM301h boards at if paired with that 48b?
Just got one of these vanitys for $10 and got 6x of dollar tree LED bulbs in each 3000k and 5000k so i can swap in and out. Im going to upload the videos of my builds on youtube so maybe i can help out others who need budget lighting. once i setup the channel ill post a link to the video on here if thats allowed here
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YouTube link is okay as long as you donât have advertising or links to competitors. Glad you got it running!
I thought id post some follow pics and to say this light turned out to be well worth the effort for the small cost. Ive been using now for a few weeks and the results are so far great. i just built an identical light but used LM301h boards. Im sure the LM301s are gonna be better but whether not the difference can be seen with the end product ive yet to determine. I would suggest this build for anyone wanting to have a high end LED bloom light for cheap.
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