how to seal a DIY Quantum Board.

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mannitu77

Active Member
Hello there,
i already cut this question at the end of another thread, but because nobody answered and i didnt find anything useful in the search, i think ill try it again with another title.
Im looking for a product to seal LED-Panels. So far ive only found one product from MG Chemicals, some Silicone conformal coating 422B...it says for LED boards in the discription. But i didnt find any user experiences nor any data on light transmission rate. There was one more professional lineup, that i dismissed right away, because it was over 100 eu and i didnt even find a seller. Sure there must be a more costeffective way.

Screwing 2mm acylic glass plates in front of each board would be another way, but i feel like this would reduce photons significantly.

Anybody has some experience here? Or maybe it isnt even necessary?
 
Boatguy

Boatguy

Well-Known Member
Not necessary. Mine have been running for years now without issues.
I did buy an adhesive thermal tape for gluing the board to the heatsink even though they say it isnt needed.
 
Drop That Sound

Drop That Sound

Well-Known Member
As far as covering them with plates.. Look into polycarbonate sheeting too. Spendier, and might not be as transparent as acrylic, but is way more durable in many ways. Guessing it would stand up to the heat cycles better, and not degrade so easy. Might scratch up easier though, not sure.. I could test between the 2 kinds, but don't have a proper light meter, other than by eye.. Either way, You'll have to be careful not to scuff them up with whatever material you use, unless its real tempered glass or something.

High temp RTV silicone would work good for sealing things up.

Don't people normally under drive their boards? So if you were lowering the output a little bit through the glass, you just crank up the dial a little bit to make up for it , right?
 
M

mannitu77

Active Member
i think acrylic glass is out of the equasion. It claims 92% light trasmission. Thats 8% efficiency loss in the best case. Real glass is hard to find in the right size and expensive. Also more difficult to attach. Sure i can raise the power, but whats the point, im using a lot of LEDs only to gain a few extra %, dont wanna waste it. I think the coating that companies like Vipar Spectra use is pretty good, their lights are cheap and still efficient. Think they "steal" only 2-3% f the photons, but i cant remeber where i got that info from.


edit: yeah maybe ill go without...just thinking, if it can be done with a spraydose for 10 bucks, why not make everything perfect...
 
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Budzbuddha

Budzbuddha

Well-Known Member
Unnecessary mod. Just like glass panels or diffusers.
Running same bare boards for 7 years - never had to “ improve “ design and never worried about foliar overspray or whatever nonsensical “ danger “ that would happen to bare boards.

Think COBS ….Nobody sprayed “ glue coats “ on those . It was COB , TIM , heatsink thats it.
 
Budzbuddha

Budzbuddha

Well-Known Member
I stand corrected on some “ COBS “ ( chinese pink square ) “ full spectrum “ cobs. Those have some kind of glue coat.

Most of those shitty cobs are even offered on retail rigs like good ol’ NUKEHEADS gigamajigga light. Hell he even shot a ar-15 at it to prove something ( no lie )

I say run them as makers made them
 
Drop That Sound

Drop That Sound

Well-Known Member
I was always under the impression that a round cool tube reduced 10 or more percent output of an HPS (LED probably same), and the flatter more quality hoods a little less. So 92% doesn't really sound bad to me. That's better than window glass...

I can overdrive my ballasts to 1100watts, and figure it makes up for whatever losses anyway. So it's like I'm getting the true 100+ lpw, like the bare bulb should put out. Whether I run hoods or tubes.
 
Drop That Sound

Drop That Sound

Well-Known Member
If I ever got my hands on some quantum boards..

I would build each one of the boards a shallow aquarium like tank from the acrylic, and hook them all up like an RDWC system with bulkheads. Then, fill it up and pump mineral oil through the system, with a radiator to disperse the heat down line. Dunk the boards right down into the oil, so they sink to the bottom, and the light shines down through.

Hook it up to the ceiling, and overdrive the chooch out of em.

Now that sounds like a good use of plexiglass and LEDs ;)
 
Roger A. Shrubber

Roger A. Shrubber

Well-Known Member
i built my own lights, they're cobs, not QBs, but they've run for three years now with no shielding of any kind, and they're just fine...on the rare occasion i spray anything in my flower tent, i just make sure not to get anything on them.
 
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MedicinalMyA$$

Well-Known Member
TBH a conformal coating might be more trouble and cost than it's worth. A legit replacement HLG quantum board is only $80, less with coupons and codes etc.. If you screw up application somehow, you've ruined a board anyway, and some types of coatings require extra preparatory treatments.
Also the covering may possibly affect or filter certain wavelengths.

But if you must protect them, Shane from MIGRO performed some tests with acrylic covers here:

 
ProPheT 216

ProPheT 216

Well-Known Member
Drop That Sound said:
I was always under the impression that a round cool tube reduced 10 or more percent output of an HPS (LED probably same), and the flatter more quality hoods a little less. So 92% doesn't really sound bad to me. That's better than window glass...

I can overdrive my ballasts to 1100watts, and figure it makes up for whatever losses anyway. So it's like I'm getting the true 100+ lpw, like the bare bulb should put out. Whether I run hoods or tubes.
Click to expand...
I was always under the impression at least 70% of light out of a bulb goes in the wrong direction first period. I used to stack my bulbs vertically with no reflector in my room with a ring of plants around the lights, rotated ⅓ a day.
 
H

hermitz

New Member
mannitu77 said:
Hello there,
i already cut this question at the end of another thread, but because nobody answered and i didnt find anything useful in the search, i think ill try it again with another title.
Im looking for a product to seal LED-Panels. So far ive only found one product from MG Chemicals, some Silicone conformal coating 422B...it says for LED boards in the discription. But i didnt find any user experiences nor any data on light transmission rate. There was one more professional lineup, that i dismissed right away, because it was over 100 eu and i didnt even find a seller. Sure there must be a more costeffective way.

Screwing 2mm acylic glass plates in front of each board would be another way, but i feel like this would reduce photons significantly.

Anybody has some experience here? Or maybe it isnt even necessary?
Click to expand...
hey I don't have a proper solution but you could easily and cheaply try a oven bag, I'd cut it open so it wasn't double and keep it taut across the face... who knows
 
M

mannitu77

Active Member
well...maybe i can spare the coating. As far as i know, HLG also doesnt use a coating, even not on their very expensive Diablo-Quantum Board Fic
MedicinalMyA$$ said:
TBH a conformal coating might be more trouble and cost than it's worth. A legit replacement HLG quantum board is only $80, less with coupons and codes etc.. If you screw up application somehow, you've ruined a board anyway, and some types of coatings require extra preparatory treatments.
Also the covering may possibly affect or filter certain wavelengths.

But if you must protect them, Shane from MIGRO performed some tests with acrylic covers here:

Click to expand...
wow...he had very good results. Wonder why the Producers claim only 92%, if its more like 98% in this test. Maybe ill order a plate and try out, just for fun. Theyre cheap. I dont have a real sensor, but i can use the Photone app.
 
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