COB vs QB or something else?!

Basically i haven't been growing for quite some time, 2 years approximately. To keep it short the last thing i was doing was 1 DWC plant under 200W COBs over 70x70cm and 4 DWC plants under 400W COBs over 1x1m. I had decent results with that compared to how i started(soil under hps). I am thinking of growing again and can't decide what lighting to get. COBs i used were Citizen CLU048-1212 and Cree CXB3590, both 3500k.

Now to get to the point, i see people are talking great things about quantum boards and that CXB3590 is not the best chip anymore. I know nothing about COB and that's why I am here. There is a kit of 4xQB288 Board with HLG-480H-48B driver including a heat sink on Alibaba(good seller i bought COBs from few times years ago). And that kit is much cheaper than 400-500w COBs and from what i can see more efficient.

Am I missing something? And what is the most efficient(power consumption to light output ratio) light today?

P.S. I was thinking that QB I mentioned would cover 120x120cm(4x4ft) which would suit me for 4 plants DWC. As i said i know nothing about QB and that's why I'm here, but based on my previous LED and COB experience that QB kit looks like one of the most efficient lights and it's significantly cheaper than a COB equivalent .

Did you sell your original cob setups?
Those 1212s and CXBs are still half decent cobs, I've used them myself with great results.
What's the name of the Alibaba seller?
4 x qb with the 480 driver fits a 4 x 4 nicely.

Thank you for your response. Unfortunately i sold all the equipment i had, except EC meter and maybe few other tiny things like trimming scissors...
Now after few years I am looking to get back into the game. These QBs look 15% more efficient than CXB3590s if I am correct and yet they are 30% cheaper.

Alibaba seller I am talking about is KingBrite, if you know anyone better please say so.

Strips for super coverage or the fotop 600 or 800 boards cant mind but im sure mr moflow can point you in the correct direction.

Thanks. Fotop 600 is now on discount so it is cheaper per watt than what i was looking at.

High Above said:

Am I missing something? And what is the most efficient(power consumption to light output ratio) light today?

Click to expand...

I like strips for their superb distribution of the light. Wiring is basically the same as COBs.

Samsung H-Influx strips use LM301B, the same diodes as HLG Quantum Boards.

https://diyleduk.com/collections/1m-x-1m-area
https://ledgardener.com/diy-led-strip-build-designs-samsung-bridgelux/#more-2416

FOTOPs.

https://www.rollitup.org/t/diy-fotop-grow-board-280x900x2-0mm-l29-52-xw9-18.960546/

Thanks guys.

High Above said:

These QBs look 15% more efficient than CXB3590s if I am correct and yet they are 30% cheaper.

Click to expand...

Was i right about efficiency and price compared to COBs or am I just tripping?

panels work well...i really like what no lens/reflector cobs do though

I also used 'naked' COBs without lenses or reflectors and i had decent results. Now that I am thinking about growing again i just thought from what I've seen that QBs are a bit more efficient and yet cheaper. And this time around i don't mind skipping all the DIY stuff.

Thank you all for replies. What do you think about the light in the LINK. I am thinking about getting it to cover 120x120cm (4x4ft). Is there anything more efficient than this?

P.S. What's the ideal area for this light? 120x120cm (4x4ft) or can it cover even more?

High Above said:

Thank you all for replies. What do you think about the light in the LINK. I am thinking about getting it to cover 120x120cm (4x4ft). Is there anything more efficient than this?

P.S. What's the ideal area for this light? 120x120cm (4x4ft) or can it cover even more?

Click to expand...

Spot on for a 4ft x 4ft (120 × 120 ) area for flowering.
Nice price.
There's always something more efficient, it's ever evolving lol.
Diy is easy with those boards if you are so inclined.
You could just get 4 of those boards, run them at 150 watts each, no heatsinks required, just an alu frame, wires, wagos and driver would be even better.
Order driver locally to ensure you have a warranty.
@Rocket Soul has just done another build using them.

COBs that I had were DIY. I don't think i would run them without a heat sink.. But now you got me thinking about DIY bcs shipping on one of these would be a lot from China.
But i can't seem to find the board without heat sinks and drivers. In that case what do you think is the best board and is the combination with UV diodes any good?

Once again thank you for your response.

P.S. Let's say i want to grow 4 plants, each 60x60cm(2x2ft). What board with which driver would you recommend? From what I've seen 150W QB could do as well as 190W COB, please correct me if i am mistaken.

Just email them and ask the price for 3 or 4 bare boards + p&p + customs duty
I think they can ship up to 6 boards in one package.
An hlg 480h 48A driver for 3 boards maybe, same driver as QB 550 light but with far better spread of light across the canopy and lots more diodes.

I've run uv-a leds for over a year now, they're on Disco boards I got from Russell of r2d2... R2T.
They grow great plants, I've no complaints with them.
Any of those boards will grow whether they're white only or with added reds or uv-a
The R2T disco boards have UV-a 660nm 740nm and Samsung lm561c white. I run them around 75 watts each.

For open space or if you have good access to all sides: the fotops are damn near perfect. Fewer connections means fewer fault points and much quicker installation in comparison with umpteen boards or cobs for a bigger grow.
You get very even coverage with low hanging height which means less light wasted on walls.
At 150w per fotop you run the diodes slightly under nominal, like 50w per standard qb, bvery efficient.
At 150w you can easily operate with no heatsink. The fixtures we built handles up to 800 watts and i can lift the fixture myself; who can say the same about their 800w cob fixture???

For a 4x4 space with good access all around: frame 3 boards with around four inches between each board, run them on a hlg480, your final hanging height might be around eight to twelve inches or twenty to thirty cms.
Personally i found that the cheap price of lm561c makes them my prefered option; if you have limited space you may wanna go with higher end diodes. However you can get the fotops in 90 cri, which is my preference for flower, using but i believe that there might be a moq.

only minus is that you need to make the boards fit your grow.

As I said I have some experience with DIY COBs few years ago but I am new to the QBs. So let me pop an example to see if i get all this.

If I would get 4 of THESE boards with HLG-185H-48 that would come down to about 61mA per diode or about 975mA per board. If all this is correct that would be almost 230lm/W which is much more efficient than CLU048 1212 and CXB3590 i used few years ago.
@Rocket Soul said that at 50W per board i don't need a heat sink, what do you think is the point at which you start needing one?

Also how is this board wired? Is it 18 diodes in series and than that 16 series wired parallel?

High Above said:

As I said I have some experience with DIY COBs few years ago but I am new to the QBs. So let me pop an example to see if i get all this.

If I would get 4 of THESE boards with HLG-185H-48 that would come down to about 61mA per diode or about 975mA per board. If all this is correct that would be almost 230lm/W which is much more efficient than CLU048 1212 and CXB3590 i used few years ago.
@Rocket Soul said that at 50W per board i don't need a heat sink, what do you think is the point at which you start needing one?

Also how is this board wired? Is it 18 diodes in series and than that 16 series wired parallel?

Click to expand...

I was talking about fotops at 150w. Dont know about these boards but i i wou think 50w should be ok

Does anyone have general experience on how far can you run boards without heat sinks? Does it depend only on the chip or on the board as a whole?
And about the board I posted previously, could I wire 4 of them in series and run them at 1050mA (which would be LM301H nominal current of 65mA if I calculated correctly) with HLG-185-C1050. Asking bcs i might be able to get those drivers used pretty cheap.

Yea, I'd say 50 - 60 watts for those Kingbrite 288s.
Get a fan blowing on them too helps greatly .

@Moflow
Thanks man. What about my other rambling? I just need to know is the what i am suggesting OK or am I missing something. Like are the builds i suggested in the last 2 post possible? And if so is my calculation of about 230lm/W correct, bcs that's pretty dope and I am afraid that I made a mistake somewhere.