Let There Light - Completed (Almost)

@dbrn32 I couldn’t upload to the message so here it its. I need to get a different potentiometer. The one I got from Rapid stays at 10% min. intensity. The build video says to use a 100K ohm pod. If you know of one that works off the the top of your head let me know what it is.


Changed the power cord to a lefty so it would lay flat

Junction box. Used 2 sided thermal tape to affix frame to Kind.
Kind Only - blurple
Both lights
Photo Boost Only :sunglasses:
Remote driver with space & asbestos casket behind
@Newbie2020 @Supajew420

6 Likes

Nice setup and comparisons.

Do u feel (so far) that the more intensity was worth the investment?

And just wait til u start flowering! :sunglasses:

3 Likes

This morning is the first time I had it running. I need to replace my potentiometer so I can dim it the first week or so. Looking forward to good results

4 Likes

Glad you finally got it up and running!

1 Like

I bet you are!

any clue about a dimmer?

1 Like

Congratulations @beardless !

You guys are way over my head here but with everything else you do I’m sure it will work out Awesome.

Did you have the Fire Department sign off on that ? LOL

1 Like

What do you need for dimmer?

I’m not exactly sure of what I need. The one I got from Rapid 305K-POD doesn’t work in the setup. I can not increase the amount of light. It is stuck at 10%. When I look on amazon the descriptions include ohm resistance and that leads to my confusion. The build video says to use 100K ohm dimmer while the build sheet for the current design says 50K ohm. These are for larger builds than I have, and with me being me, I’m not sure what I should get. I am thinking one of these should work.

100k is for one driver, 50k for two drivers.

Do you have a multimeter? You should be able to to check resistance and sweep the pot. 10k ohms = 10%, 50k ohms = 50%, 100k ohms =100%

no I do not have a multimeter. so I do want a 100K ohm dimmer. I am checking the polarity on the dimmer I have. Rapid says it is supposed to work. I checked it both ways yesterday bit will do it again.

1 Like

Yup. If you wanted to dim two drivers from 1 pot that’s where you would want the 50k ohm.

1 Like

got it. I’m not quite ready for another build. trying to get this one to dim properly. I reached out to Rapid and sent a picture. see what they say. have a good one

1 Like

you dont really need to dim it by the looks of your plants. You can raise it instead. The dimmer pack is nice so you dont weld your eyes shut when you work in there
Nice build and congrats on the new lighting! Your plants will love you!

The Kind when I bought it was rated at 320 watts. The PLC will crank out another 160 at full throttle. So 480 in a 3x3 is a lot of juice. Also, with the driver I’m using, the efficiency sweet spot for the photo boost is around 70%.

That is only with the Kind. I have only had the boost strips on for an hour or so.
Are using the photo boosts? or similar

1 Like

Similar… I use a Fluence SpydrX, i only use it for table crops like lettuce and tomatoes over winter and I grow my starter weed for outdoors with it. I also do seedlings for the veggie gardens like peppers and such. The light does have the dimmer pack and its of the push button type not rotory dial, not that it matters.
I do use the dimmer all the time, I never run the fixture full powa! I dont need to, the tomatoes make fruit at 75 percent! The weed likes 75 percent too! And seedlings dont line full powa so… also when I work in there, I like it down to 15 or 20 percent so I dont need welding goggles! :laughing: :rofl: :joy:

1 Like

just swap the light out and raise it up a bit, theyll be fine! The light and driver will obviously be warmer and wont last as long without a dimmer pack, but for a couple weeks it shouldnt be a big deal. Once you get the dimmer on there turn her down and move the lamp closer. That new light is way better than the other one!

I’ll actually be running both during flower. I wanted to see how the combination of the lights does.

1 Like

Just explaining where the 50k ohm pot in plc build comes from. In that build there is two hlg-320’s dimming from single pot.

1 Like

Just wanted to let you know the original pot from Rapid was defective and they replaced it. Light is now fully operational and have it set at around 75 - 80% (at least based on my little light meter).

1 Like