4x8 lighting question

TreeFarmerCharlie said:
LOL! No, you over estimate them. I’ve been growing with LED for over 2 years. Based on what you are saying, the mars would have twice the efficiency of an HLG Quantum Board. If you think that’s true then you’ve got a lot of learning to do.
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So you’re saying the HLG Quantum Boards are better?
 
Seems harsh on Mars Hydro. OP could get a Mars Hydro TS3000 for under $500 that is sufficient to cover 4 x 4 in flower and in terms of PPFD at 12” is legit.

Granted I’m a novice, so not even close to expert, but I’ve also seen Mars lights reviewed on MIGRO YouTube channel and he seems to think they’re petty legit, too and it’s a pretty decent source that I’d trust, he reviews any / all lights and seems consistent in his accuracy and fairness.

That’s not to say it’s as good as or better than the other light mentioned, but what’s with the Mars hate? I think they’re great! If I’m wrong I’d love to know why (non sarcastic, I dont want to waste my money if I’ve missed something)
 
RolledUhhp said:
Do you have any opinions on the gen3?

I found a good deal on the 3 slims, but this will be my first build, so I'm not confident parts shopping.
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Seems like the slims had more heat dissipation issues than the gen2s, less surface area. The gen2's I've used are nice because I don't use any heat sinking - just keep adding strips until the fixture can take the max output from the driver. I honestly haven't really looked in detail at the gen3's lately, seems like there are slim and normal width gen3's but that the gen2's did better than either of them with heat dissipation. That said, I am planning on building a gen3 light sometime when strip costs come down, if they haven't already..., someone that knows more might correct me on the current usage of the gen3s, I'm just giving you what I have on top of my brain.

I've made HLG-185H-54's run 3 and 4 sets in parallel of 3 strips in series using 2ft Blux eb gen2s (9 and 12 total strips in separate fixtures with an hlg185 in each) as well as HLG320H-42's running 8-9 sets in parallel of 2 gen2 eb 2ft strips in series (16-18 total strips). I prefer the builds with extra strips (12 is better than 9, 18 is better than 16).

The HLG185-54 & 12 2ft eb gen2 strips I use for 2x2ft coverage, the HLG320-42 with 18 of the same strips covers 4x2 ft for me. I run more than a couple in a fairly high grid. There's some overlap at the edges but I also tend to put at least a foot of empty space between lights. This works out to about 50 wall watts per square foot which is on the high side by quite a bit. Also there are cheaper meanwell and other drivers out there, but DIY saved me enough that I like the fancy HLG ones and I buy the Wagos for wiring too.

I'm fairly new to all this but the lights seem to be growing things, 37 days after 12/12:
P1170624.JPGP1170605.JPGP1170610.JPGP1170621.JPGP1170622.JPG
Edit: tried to make my series+parallel description clearer.
 
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Those look great!

I'm gonna grab an air-cooled reflector for my MH - I was gonna throw another cooled 1000w in there as a holdover until I built a strip setup, you've got me thinking I might just skip the bandaid and pull the trigger on the strips.

I'd like to cover a 5x5' area with. I have a potential build I cobbled together a few weeks ago. I'll try to remember to pop back on in the morning and post it, see if you can give me any input on it.
 
RolledUhhp said:
Those look great!

I'm gonna grab an air-cooled reflector for my MH - I was gonna throw another cooled 1000w in there as a holdover until I built a strip setup, you've got me thinking I might just skip the bandaid and pull the trigger on the strips.

I'd like to cover a 5x5' area with. I have a potential build I cobbled together a few weeks ago. I'll try to remember to pop back on in the morning and post it, see if you can give me any input on it.
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Take a look over here: https://www.rollitup.org/t/samsung-f-strip-build.1007017/post-15502214
I'm buying some eb gen 3 lights today after spending the night reading a bit, I'll use a hlg-320h-42a (x2) and a hlg-185h-42a to power 20 4ft strips. Future electronics beat digikey's price on the drivers for me, but I have time to wait on the 320 watt drivers to restock and ship. I've got 5 drivers and a pile of gen2 strips looking at me waiting to be assembled while I buy these gen3s... I got the 2700k, I think they have 3000k as well.

Edit: Depending on how hot the gen3 strips get, I may use 10 strips for each 320 watt driver and use the 185 watt driver with some of the gen2s.

Pic of gen2 light:
P1170382(1)B.jpg
 
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