Kingbrite lights

Indoor Growing Lighting
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So another member here has me curious about the Kingbrite lights.

My goal is to maximize my annual yield while growing no more than 4 plants simultaneously.

What I am envisioning is 2 grow closets or tents that I will make by subdividing my 16 x 8 grow room. 2 3.5 x 7 areas with a work area in between. I will veg 2 photo’s for 2 months, then I will bloom them under a scrog net while I start 2 more and veg them for the bloom period of the other plants. Then rinse and repeat. every harvest. I figure with 2 months of veg the plants should get pretty big and each plant will have a 3.5 x 3.5 flower area. I may re-evaluate this strategy if I ever end up with a mother plant of a strain I fall in love with but for now, I’d like to rotate through my multi packs and find what I like first with something like the set-up I describe.

I bought a bunch of no-name quantum boards, they were very inexpensive, and I was going to be satisfied as long as my harvest is good from the auto’s I started out with. But I posted the “lab test” results that the “engineer” from the “manufacturer” sent to me, and the electrical engineer who is a moderator here said the specs looked “weird”. I then found another brand selling the exact same panel under another name, and I bought it to confirm. So there is no engineer at the company who sold me the lights, and some other oem company manufactured them and put their name on it. There is just enough dishonesty here to make me uneasy and questioning if the PPFD maps or anything in the marketing materials is accurate.

Given that Kingbrite is a known manufacturer with a history, and they are using the same components as the main brands, I think the voice in the back of my head saying I didn’t get what was advertised will shut the heck up.

So, I think my plan is to buy 6 of the 240 Watt Panels. I’ll put 2 panels in each closet permanently and move 2 panels into whichever closet is flowering. I would prefer to just buy 8 and use the dimmer, but I’ll save $350 out of the gate if I do it this way, and I’d like to keep the costs down wherever I can. I can buy 2 more panels later anyway if I get tired of moving the 2 lights. With 1 light over a 3.5 x 3.5 I will have 20 watts per sq ft, with 2 I will have 40 Watts. This should work.

Lots of background, but here’s my question. These Kingbrite lights come in several different configurations with both the 301b and 301h samsung diodes.

First Color temperature, do I want 3000K, 3500K, or 4000K 301 diodes?

I was thinking 3000K for all 6 lamps since flowering is the most important period to me, but I thought about it and maybe I get 4 of the 3500K and 2 of the 3000K and rotate the 3000K ones?

Will I see a significant difference in flowering between 3000K and 3500K?

Another alternative would be to rotate all the lights, and then I could get 2 4000K lamps for veg time, and 4 3000K for bloom time. As I type it, this suddenly makes most sense to me.

Then once I figure out the 301 diode temperature, I move on to the rest of the configuration.

The one I am leaning towards is their most expensive and includes The UV and IR - are these necessary, and do they make a significant difference? I ask because otherwise those diodes would be replaced with more of the other types.

496 pcs Samsung 301H+64 pcs epistar 660nm+8pcs epistar UV+8pcs epistar IR

This would be the same board without the UV and IR diodes - would assume this is brighter to the eye. It’s $10 less, so not significant.

504pcs Samsung LM301H+72pcs Epistar 660nm

This has the same configuration as the one above, but uses more expensive 660nm diodes. It is their most expensive model and does not include the IR and UV which is why I am questioning if they are necessary. This one is $70 more than the same board with epistar diodes paired with Samsung, and it’s $60 more than the one with UV and IR. Keep in mind this is significant, it raises the price by more than 50% and I’m not sure I want to pay that much times 6.

The same board with only samsung 3000K 4000K or 3500K is the same price as the panel without ir and uv with the inexpensive diodes.

The configurations above except the most expensive are also available with the 301B diode instead of the 301H diode for $10 cheaper per unit.

So, what do you recommend?

do you recommend the uv and ir? should I get that just for bloom lights? Skip it and save money?

I’ve read the 301B and 301H are the same, or at least their measurements are the same, is it true? Should I save 6 x $10 = $60 and go with 301B, or have the assurance I’m using the horticulture diode.

I could get different configurations for Veg and Bloom.

2 x 4K 301b with no IR and UV
4 x 3K 301H with IR and UV

I don’t think I want the one with only 301B or 301H even just for veg because in a pinch or for an auto I would like the light to have blooming capabilities.

Please feel free to address any or all. And thanks for reading.

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Sorry, the specs for the most expensive configuration I mention above are

504pcs Samsung LM301H+72pcs CREE 660nm

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Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly actually, HLG only uses 301H and 660nm diodes in their lamps. Cannot find the color temp though.

Leaning towards 4 301H 3K with 660nm without UV and IR for flowering
2 301B with 3.5K with 660nm without UV or IR for vegging

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Talking to myself in here:

Close to ordering

4 3.5K lights 301H lights with 660 nm diodes only for perminant placement veg through bloom
2 3K lights 301H (why save 2x $10 for 301B) with 660nm diodes only to rotate for blooming.

any thoughts or suggestions

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For the record I eliminated the UV and IR diodes from the purchase because it seems IR will help the plant transition to bloom, and UVA is beneficial for reducing the instance of mold and mildew and will help with the development of thc and terps but UVB is not beneficial and may inhibit growth. The diode is not specified to be UVA or UVB, so I don’t want the wrong one, and plus if HLG doesn’t have them and everyone loves their lights, I feel safe following their lead.

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@Nicky I think you may be the only person using these lights. I’ve done some reading on Kingbrite and I’ll feel much better using those than the budget led’s I got.

I added up everything I spent on them and I have spent $818 including tax for 1400 watts. If I buy the proposed order above it will be $884 for 1440 watts, and without a doubt I would pay $65 to switch to a brand that I felt I could trust. Furthermore, the upgrade from 301D diodes to 301H diodes makes this a no-brainer.

Which configurations do you have, and which color temp?

Also please confirm the name of the company I should be doing business with is Shenzhen Kingbrite Lighting Co., Ltd.

There are more than one company selling Kingbrite lights and I don’t know if they are counterfeit or a reseller. I found an old post here about Jerry from Kingbrite, and I was connected with a woman from Shenzhen Kingbrite Lighting Co., Ltd. not Jerry. But that seems to be the company with the most Kingbrite sales, so I figure it’s them.

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Wow, Uh OK @dbrn32

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Same leds. The only difference would be if they have difference flux and voltage bins.

If you’re ok with rotating them, buy two 4000k and the rest 3000k or 3500k. You only need about 60% of light to veg on 18 hour schedule as opposed to flowering on 12 hour schedule.

The rest of the stuff you can do whatever you think. Maybe some differences, but they won’t be huge differences. I could put whatever I wanted into my lights, and none of them have uv or ir. I have 3500k with violet and 660nm.

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@dbrn32 Thank you very much

when you say the difference between 301b and 301h is voltage bin…

is this the high bin, medium bin, low bin discussion I’ve been seeing where HLG promises top bin?

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That’s most likely correct. Ideally you want highest flux bin and lowest voltage bin available.

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@Nothingshocking I’m sorry I’m reading this thread, if you felt alone or ignored. Folks here are nice and helpful :grin: must be distracted by current events :roll_eyes:

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@neofirebird No worries, I think I figured it all out.

I ended up buying the 240 Watt Boards with the regular (not expensive Cree) 660 nm diodes, but went with the $10 upgrade from 301b to 301h. I intend to run these things as long as they will go, so an extra $60 for 6 units is pretty reasonable if it increases the chances the Bin and Flux are better matched to the plants I’m growing.

4x 3500 color temp
2x 3000 color temp

All in $910 delivered. I think this set-up will work well for my purposes, and I got the most high quality light within my price range.

I’m really grateful this place exists, really helped me correct some expensive mistakes I was making, and now I feel like at least in the lighting department (which other than the seeds is then most expensive and critical component).

I would love to build some lights like some of the members here, and maybe I will some day, but I think these should serve me well and I’ve got a lot going on, a simple solution that just needs to be screwed together and plugged in is perfect.

*** for the record the final straw to eliminate the UV and IR diodes from consideration is that I read on another board that they will significantly reduce the life of the board overall. So a little benefit as discussed above, and a lot of potential risks, and extra cost to buy. I’ll just take the brighter configuration, and pay a little less.

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Well nice sounds like you are on your way. Keep me posted by tagging me @neofirebird I look forward to what that’ll do. Nice lighting :sunglasses:

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You will be very happy with your choice they are all great lights to be honest.

I am more than happy with my kingbrights.

I run 301h 3500k (because I don’t want to switch between 4k and 3k, and as @dbrn32 explained abiut the bin voltage) I run the Crees after some research I just found them to be a better quality control but the xpe will do probably just as good and you won’t even notice a difference.
I did go for the 730nm 660nm ir/uv, as the red in the 660nm is well known to help in flowering.
As far as the UV to my understanding it’s a mild bit of stress on the flowers and THC is a natural sun screen for the plant so I swung for the fences and got it the price difference since I only got two boards (260w x2) wasn’t bad, I wasn’t sure really but I did ask the tech at kingbright and he said that he recommended the full meal deal as their tests were showing positive results.

Of course my knowledge on these subjects compared to @dbrn32 is infant like but I can say I’m happy with the results more so then my 3k hlg (unfortunately it’s not rpsec as this was pre rspec).

@dbrn32 when you build your lights why did you go the route you went? Is it for a cost to yeild point of view or is it from a light intensity to Wattage point of view? Or something else?
Why don’t you run UV?

@Nothingshocking what did you read/ hear about lower lifespan?

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@Nicky I found another forum that had a 55 page thread on Kingbrites. I’m sure I’m not supposed to link another site. I didn’t read the whole thread, the first few pages and the last few.

Question posted by one guy:
"So without spending 10 more hours reading through all 55 pages, can someone tell me are you referred to just 730nm and UV when your stating they don’t last 1/3 as long as white diodes or would you also classify 660nm in that regard too?

I have a kingbrite 3500k with cree 660/730 and LG 395 UV, however recently have been thinking it would’ve been nice to have control over the different spectrums with an app so I don’t have to be physcially present to flip the IR and UV switch. (I’m aware the UVA is kind of pointless and would be much better to get a florescent UVA/UVB) Then I realized it would be nice if a company could make the light push all the wattage to one spectrum if you dimmed the others per say. Theres one light on the market that can do this at about 1400 bucks though.

But I’m still interested in your guys answer to 660nm diodes dying well before white, or is it just 730 and UV?"

Answer from the guy who seems to know what he’s talking about (No clue if it’s accurate)

"That is for IR an UV. I believe 660nm are the around the average 50000 hours.

I just use supplemental red/ir/uvb
I only use red for the last 6 weeks of flower, and I only use uvb for the last 2 weeks. Being able to run them on separate times and not lose wattage from my lm301’s is the main reason I supplement instead of buying a fixture with them."

@Nicky I’m sure the Cree’s are much better than the 660 nm diodes I got with mine, but really given that I was buying 6 units, the $60-70 extra per unit would have added up, and put the whole purchase in question. If it was 1 not as big a deal. I’m kind of thinking for the 2 3000K bloom lights, maybe I should have gone with the Cree, but what’s done is done, and the price is right.

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I found product that was in the neighborhood of what I was looking for and readily available. Then I sized using product specs and dli method to have an efficient grow.

If you looked at my personal lights, they easily cost double to build on a per watt basis than what i typically recommend others do. But i don’t really need to grow, so i don’t need a big space or to maximize the productivity of my space. Which makes it very easy to spend a little more, so i can run a little cooler light or tinker with spectral distribution. Kinda bit me in rear most recently. New space with new equipment, and I couldn’t get my canopy temps high enough in the middle of summer.

If you look at all of the data on UV, results seem to vary a lot. The most supportive study I’ve seen suggested a 3-5% increase in thc content. Upon reading the study, this does not mean that buds grown without uv light tested 20% thc and buds grown with uv tested 23-25% thc. The results showed a change similar to 20% thc to 21% thc with UV, which is a 5% increase. Among other issues, the results were not consistently repeatable, indicated that a narrow band of UV light was required, and were slightly misleading to the actual results vs increase. In comparison, other studies have shown no such increase or that similar increases have been experienced with adding violet-blue wavelengths.

In short, I’m not convinced that UV light is/does anything special. I don’t know of anyone that could sample 2 different buds and tell me the difference in 1% total thc content, and I’m definitely not aware of anyone that would pay extra for something that could potentially test 21% thc over 20% thc. So, I wouldn’t pay any extra in order to potentially produce it. If consistent and repeatable data showed larger gains i would be more than happy to reconsider my position. I haven’t seen any. There are definitely some well respected growers that are convinced it helps, there are equal amount of respectable growers convinced it doesn’t.

Chilled tech use to, but they seemed to abandon that style of board. I’m sure there was a reason, but not aware of what it was. Cutter makes something like this to an extent. If you have the $ I’m pretty sure Mark will build it. But won’t be cheap if custom pcb’s are required in small quantities, stuff like tooling and setup charges will add up.

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Also worth noting, the “xpe” is a cree led, it’s just not the latest and greatest from them. The epistar is a different manufacturer and lower performing but significantly cheaper.

I missed comment about leds burning out sooner in earlier response, sorry! They don’t manage heat as well, so could use better thermal bond and heatsink than the midpower chips is all. Information you read on other forums is probably somewhat true. Would really come down to the operating current and thermal bond in most cases. A flaw in heatsink or anodizing at point of one of the colored leds wouldn’t be good per se. Someone with a good heatsink and maybe doesn’t run at full power may have no problem at all. Hard to speak in exacts with stuff like that as there are opportunities for flaws in manufacturing (especially with budget minded stuff from china), shipping damage is possible, and assembly process can vary a lot. Even cleanliness of components at time of assembly could have an impact on product life.

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@dbrn32 I found these just now. I wish I found them earlier, it may have influenced my purchase, at least for the 2 “Bloom” light. But I wanted to keep it under $1000

3K plus Cree
3K plus Cree424×836 66.5 KB

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@dbrn32 thanks for that detailed response man appreciated.
Good call on the xpe I meant to say Epistar I was just remembering all 3 are in there, I actually Bought my first grow light with 6 Epistar Cobs 200w, I Remeber you teaching me about lighting and that’s when I moved to the hlg until I could understand more and get into the kingbrites.

I totally understand what your saying about costs and options and would have to agree about uv (I did read an article in, with me I had the money at the time and wanted the far red Crees so i said to heck with and just slapped in all the options as the tech guy sold me on em. I know the chips were good, the Kelvin rating was good, the Wattage was good, the boards were good and that far red helped in flower as well as changing plant Morphology. The uv I understand can help and I’ll take any little boost I can get but I knew it wasn’t going to knock it out of the park or be noticeable. They are just great lights for the price, I’ve had mine a year now and no issues and I’ve had my hlg for two years no issues aside form the little metal carabiners to hold it suck and I ended up replacing them with Zap straps to hold the light. I’m going to upgrade my setup here to get rid of my 4x2 and get a 4x5 so I’ll need another 320xl and I’m going to get one with uv again. Makes me feel like I got the best tech available lol. Even thought my 3k hlg doesn’t have reds even… Geuss I could add some from Amazon but meh… Rather sell the light to be honest.

I do think that most growers should go with the rspec lights, aka 660nm and 3500k because it’s just the best bang for your buck seed to harvest. Epistar or Cree they are all gonna do great for a long time ussualy, if had my tents setup and I only had to pay for medium, nutrients, seeds then maintance is filters lights and fans just on a a rare occasion I still think it’s worth it nothing lasts forever.

I still see some of those chilled tech controllers around very cool stuff.

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@dbrn32 Last question in this thread…

I don’t think my order has shipped. If it was you would you pay the extra $70 each for the Cree reds for the 2 bloom lights? It’s 60% more $ for this configuration and I think looking at it as a percentage influenced my decision more than it should.

It seems Mars Hydro uses the epistar chips in their lamps, so maybe the value is good in what I got.

I was shooting for the most bang for the buck, and I’m pretty sure that’s what I got, but I was thinking about it, and if I put more money into my set-up I would rather increase the quality of what I have than buy additional stationary grow lights (I’d rather stay with 6 than go to 8).

I’m going to have these for a long time, so if I will see a meaningful increase in the quality of my harvest by putting another $140 into my bloom lights (3K lights), I think I should do it. The 3.5K boards are meant to be multi-purpose, so I think I’m fine with them being epistar and saving $280 on those.

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