I know a fair amount of this is already on the f strip build thread, but I figured maybe one dedicated to the 5 dollar influx strips might be beneficial. I'm still throwing everything together for my 2.5x5 area and still trying to decide between configurations. Waiting on shipment of my hlg-480h-48a from TRC. Once I've decided on how many of the strips I'm going to use, I will order the 2.079 heatsinks. I have 20 strips, but I will only use between 8 and 12. The rest will be used for other things. I'll drill and tap the heatsinks with either m3 or m5 screws and attach to two 4 foot aluminum angles. The strips will be attached with 40mm thermal tape to the heatsinks. Will most likely mount the driver outside of the space to the wall between the tent and the outlet. Any suggestions I should add or changes I should make? Any other 5 dollar strip builds out there to share?
Samsung 5 dollar strip builds
- Thread starter Gullett79
- Start date
X6xsilverx6X
Well-Known Member
So I am planning on running 20 at either 240 or 320 watts without heatsink, maybe think about acquiring another 20 and run them without heat sinks, should give you a higher lm/w and higher efficiency. I think when I used the Samsung strip calculator it was somewhere between 150-160 lm/w with 20 strips at 240 watts.
please post up pics when you finish your build!
please post up pics when you finish your build!
Running 12 on the MW 480 still comes in around 150 lm/w. I can get that up to about 165 if I run the driver closer to 400. Any idea what the recommended lm/w range is with led? I had thought about running them all attached to a 2x4 sheet of aluminum, but everyone I've talked to recommended the sinks just to help prolong the life of the strips.
X6xsilverx6X
Well-Known Member
also if I’m wrong please Correct me because I would love to get more efficiency out of these cheap ass strips.
So I think you are accounting for 100% on the driver When we should be looking at about 93% on Efficiency. I’m getting 20 at .25 amps 11.7 watts each, for 171.7 lm/w at the board. after driver loss
System Performance
So I think you are accounting for 100% on the driver When we should be looking at about 93% on Efficiency. I’m getting 20 at .25 amps 11.7 watts each, for 171.7 lm/w at the board. after driver loss
System Performance
- Current5.000 A
- Tc25 ℃
- Flux40234 lm
- Vf46.9 V
- Power251.9 W
- Efficacy159.7 lm/
Airwalker16
Well-Known Member
150lm/w is Shit efficiency. Worth it to buy $10cutter strips and get 205 lm/w at 700mA.
how long do you need to run the cutter strips till you get any ROI? please show your calculations on why the cutter ones are "worth it" over the ones half the price.
wrong thinking, your veg lights run the longest amount per day, they should always be the most efficient when you are concerned about saving on power
my dude until you run them yourself don't bash me. Yeah they may not be as efficient but that doesn't mean that they will not serve their purpose. The point is that they were cheap and are now sold out, they will find their use.
Being my first attempt at diy, I would rather give up some efficiency using the 5 dollar strips than to spend 30-40 a strip and run the risk of screwing something up. And Cutter is a no go for me being in the US due to high cost of shipping. Digikey or Arrow are my best options from what I've been seeing on here. I'll be running the 3500k strips start to finish. Also, I may be completely wrong, but from what I have been reading, lumens are not a good indicator of performance with LEDs. Watts per square foot and par levels are what really matters.
HamNEggs
Well-Known Member
tbh I would love to see what people can do with these. seriously getting creative is what got us where we are with led for our hobby. no snobbery here! I was soldering stars to aluminum panels and figuring out how many I needed from each color to get the right spectrum years before we had all this nice gear that cost a grip. That was was all about the experimentation and it was fun. I have a few that I will slap onto some aluminum bars I get here locally once things open back up. Tinker on!
Airwalker16
Well-Known Member
I see it if you're investing money into a build, you might as well spend more upfront which is only 100-200 more, on the more most up to date chips in efficiency.
Airwalker16
Well-Known Member
I've always been under the impression shipping from cutter was pretty affordable. @Powertech ?
Just from seeing what others in the US have experienced, DHL international shipping can cost as much as your order.
that didn‘t answer the question.
average power costs in the usa are 15ct/kwh. these strips are about 30% less efficient than modern strips. so lets run 100$ of the cheap strips against 200$ of modern strips. we run them on a 200w driver. we flower only with this panel so it needs 2,4kwh per day. the modern ones are 30% more efficient so we can dim down the driver and we only need 1,68 kwh per day to get the same output. so our new panels cost us 0,36$/0,252$ per day to run.
so let‘s calc with that.
100 + 0,36x = 200 + 0,252x | -100 -0,252x
0,108x = 100 | :0,108
x = 925,92
—> those 10$ cuter strips are "worth it" after 926 days. wow. so much better @Airwalker16 /s
so let‘s calc with that.
100 + 0,36x = 200 + 0,252x | -100 -0,252x
0,108x = 100 | :0,108
x = 925,92
—> those 10$ cuter strips are "worth it" after 926 days. wow. so much better @Airwalker16 /s
Powertech
Well-Known Member
Considering they are in Australia, I didn't think it was that bad. I think it was around $30-$40. They use DHL, so shipping usually pretty fast (if they have stock available). With the virus, shipping likely went up quite a bit.
BlackmoreRulz
Active Member
Hope to see some more replies/builds here, I have 12 strips arriving today, 8 3500k and 4 5000k, and I am starting to realize I have no f'n clue at what I am doing. Maybe I can get some ideas from others.
B|uDreamer
Well-Known Member
The possibilities are endless...
They may not win the lumen per watt race but I bet they are way up there in the lumen per dollar rankings. Either way, my plan is to run 20 of them at around 15 watts a piece as side and supplemental lighting. The price allows me to spread this wattage very evenly and anyone scoffing at 150lm/W must think 1000w DE HPS is garbage too.
They may not win the lumen per watt race but I bet they are way up there in the lumen per dollar rankings. Either way, my plan is to run 20 of them at around 15 watts a piece as side and supplemental lighting. The price allows me to spread this wattage very evenly and anyone scoffing at 150lm/W must think 1000w DE HPS is garbage too.
Powertech
Well-Known Member
I built some lights. KInd of a lot of crap to wade through in the thread, but if you have electrical questions let me know.
Flower tent LED build
I decided to make a journal of my flower tent light build. This is not my end game build as I will eventually design my own pcb board layout, but that's a few years down the road I think. This build will likely constantly change, as the pieces are being sourced and paid for from multiple...
www.rollitup.org