DIY with Quantum Boards

I posted my setup a couple of months ago. Time for an update:
2 Ghost Train Haze(left) and 2 Lindsay OG(right) starting week 4 of flower, vegged for 5 weeks under quantum boards from seed. The two Lindsay OG were slow to grow at first while the GTH was outstanding from the gate. Once all 4 plants were onto their 2nd set of leaves, they really took off in veg and got bushy very fast. I had a mishap with the biggest GTH and one of the two tops broke off, luckily I was able to save it and the clone is doing fine in my veg tent. Haven't seen a single deficient leaf. Lollipopped in week 3.
Tents: 2 2x4
Flower Tent Light: 260w Quantum board kit (297wall)
Veg Tent Light: Mars600 (257wall)
Feeding AN Bloom, BigBud, and additional calmg
Plants are about 18" from the light, but the big girl is closer to 10"

1 week into flip

Purty girls ... What cha think the stretch gonna be like ?

Budzbuddha said:

Purty girls ... What cha think the stretch gonna be like ?

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Funny you asked because omeone else just asked the same thing.
I really don’t know lol. I am not really expecting a lot tho. Supecropped them pretty hard when I flipped them. So far they have bushed out more than up, so that’s good. Keeping the lights about 18” and thankfully I got plenty of head room left...I think

WeedSexWeightsShakes said:

Funny you asked because omeone else just asked the same thing.
I really don’t know lol. I am not really expecting a lot tho. Supecropped them pretty hard when I flipped them. So far they have bushed out more than up, so that’s good. Keeping the lights about 18” and thankfully I got plenty of head room left...I think

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Condering the amount of tops - " it's worth it " .... Lol

215Kush said:

Hey everyone it’s been a while since I posted on here. I have a question for Stephenj37826 and the RIU Community. I have a HLG 550 that I bought almost a year ago. mine runs off 2 HLG 240-1050a drivers and has fin heat sinks which I like. I love my light and has never given me one problem! But this morning I went down to check my humidifier and see if it was filled. Anyway when I looked I seen the temperatures at 66° and looked at the light and only one side was lit up? So I unplugged it from the timer and plugged it back in and they both were lite. I don’t understand why that would happen as all the connections were fine and have never moved my light from my 4x4. I just hope I don’t have problems down the road. Does anyone know what it might have been that would make one side go out? Thanks everyone

Happy Growing!

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It could have been anything honestly. More than likely you had a problem on the AC side. If a fault occurs the driver will not turn on. You should be fine just watch it and keep us posted.

I just re rigged up a set. had to turn up the pot on the driver with 4 boards only 1 side was turning on.

@Stephenj37826 im looking at these QB11 boards red spectrum, how many and what driver would I need to run them along with the 2x250w qb kits that im currently running? Any help appreciated.

pop22 said:

Your question is too vague. So here's a vague answer, 10-1000+ grams............ It depends on many factors, what strain, how good is your environment? Your skill at growing. With everything right and the right strain, 2 grams per watt should be attainable.

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I understad

So efficient are these lights? My space is 4x4

Thanks you

4 x boards in a 4x4 run at say 500watts is what I would aim for in a 4x4space. That will replace a single ended 1kw hps.

Anyone running that much light in a 4x4, had best be using CO2 or they are wasting power. Above 800PPFD, the gains of more light drop off rapidly without additional CO2. by 1000 PPFD growth increase goes flat.
With all conditions perfect, CO2 can increase yield up to 30%, although average is likely 1/2 of that. But who wouldn't like a 15% increase in yield!

I've a friend on another forum who builds and sells COB lighting. He has been experimenting with gradually lower the amount of light in his garden, and his yield has been increasing.......... rather contradictory to what everyone seems to think. More is better and too much is just right yes? Maybe not. Long past time to stop thinking in watts as a measure of lighting, hell, even lumens is a better gauge than watts, which ONLY tells you how much power your using, and that's pretty meaningless.

zypheruk said:

4 x boards in a 4x4 run at say 500watts is what I would aim for in a 4x4space. That will replace a single ended 1kw hps.

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pop22 I can not see 4x quantums being to much dimmed down in a 4x4. To be honest 500 worked fine for me in the 4x4 tent, the more even light was nice in that setup. Im in a smaller cab now and still using 4qbs at 450w total in my 2.5x5 cab, lights are 30inches from canopy. Just a matter of dialing it in. Every one will eventually find what works in their own space. 550w in my cab and it's just wasting electric.

After reading of others running reduced hours in flower I switched to 10/14 several months ago and have had no decrease in yield which may actually be more. Resin and potency are very good and roughly 15% less electricity used for lights! So rather than less light over the same hours this schedule gives the same light over less hours.

Just started this run using 11 on 13 off, so far everything is going well, be interesting to see at harvest how well it worked for me.

im at 625w per 4x4 and around 850ppfd. i like the boards high up and out the way though.

hows life @zypheruk ?

@lukio things have settled somewhat since my mums passing. The Oldman had blood poising over the same period, thankfully that has now been fixed, heart and and cancer treatments for him atm, so looking after him has been eating up a lot of mine time.
During that time period I just binned my grow as had no time. Now got a little scrog week 2 of flower on the go, and a hole in the middle where a g13 labs c99 decided to have balls lol. Will fill it next week with another strain.
Shit happens lol.
Hope all is well your side, will catch up and have a read through your diary during the next few days.

pop22 said:

Anyone running that much light in a 4x4, had best be using CO2 or they are wasting power. Above 800PPFD, the gains of more light drop off rapidly without additional CO2. by 1000 PPFD growth increase goes flat.
With all conditions perfect, CO2 can increase yield up to 30%, although average is likely 1/2 of that. But who wouldn't like a 15% increase in yield!

I've a friend on another forum who builds and sells COB lighting. He has been experimenting with gradually lower the amount of light in his garden, and his yield has been increasing.......... rather contradictory to what everyone seems to think. More is better and too much is just right yes? Maybe not. Long past time to stop thinking in watts as a measure of lighting, hell, even lumens is a better gauge than watts, which ONLY tells you how much power your using, and that's pretty meaningless.

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I'm currently experimenting with lower light myself. I've got one of my 2.5'x2.5' tents at 150w in flower (at 5 weeks), and so far it's looking damn good. In the same space I've tried both 250w and 200w. I'd say that 250w (40w/sq ft) is definitely too much for the strains I'm growing right now, but it's too early to make the call between 150w and 200w.

lukio said:

im at 625w per 4x4 and around 850ppfd. i like the boards high up and out the way though.

hows life @zypheruk ?

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How high up during flower?
I think I stick around 18”

pop22 said:

Anyone running that much light in a 4x4, had best be using CO2 or they are wasting power. Above 800PPFD, the gains of more light drop off rapidly without additional CO2. by 1000 PPFD growth increase goes flat.
With all conditions perfect, CO2 can increase yield up to 30%, although average is likely 1/2 of that. But who wouldn't like a 15% increase in yield!

I've a friend on another forum who builds and sells COB lighting. He has been experimenting with gradually lower the amount of light in his garden, and his yield has been increasing.......... rather contradictory to what everyone seems to think. More is better and too much is just right yes? Maybe not. Long past time to stop thinking in watts as a measure of lighting, hell, even lumens is a better gauge than watts, which ONLY tells you how much power your using, and that's pretty meaningless.

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I think that the "secret" to (comparatively) low-light/high-yield is in uniformity. It makes sense that being able to distribute photons evenly across the canopy, using multiple points of light, would require less power. So it isn't just LED's efficiency that makes it so compelling, it's the fact that you can get the light to the plant in a much better way. And bringing your light down as close to the plants as possible makes up quite a bit for lower wattage. At 150w, I'm able to get much closer than at 200w, so it'll be very interesting to find out if uniformity beats overall power in my own personal test.

pop22 said:

I've a friend on another forum who builds and sells COB lighting. He has been experimenting with gradually lower the amount of light in his garden, and his yield has been increasing.......... rather contradictory to what everyone seems to think. More is better and too much is just right yes? Maybe not. Long past time to stop thinking in watts as a measure of lighting, hell, even lumens is a better gauge than watts, which ONLY tells you how much power your using, and that's pretty meaningless.

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This ^

Humple said:

I'm currently experimenting with lower light myself. I've got one of my 2.5'x2.5' tents at 150w in flower (at 5 weeks), and so far it's looking damn good. In the same space I've tried both 250w and 200w. I'd say that 250w (40w/sq ft) is definitely too much for the strains I'm growing right now, but it's too early to make the call between 150w and 200w.

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Been doing that myself, my last citizen cob run finished with the cobs pulling 160w total from the wall in a 2x4 space. The qb132's are pulling like 170 watts atm in the same area, once I swap out the driver they'll be pulling even less.

Imo with full coverage from qb's or cobs, and the ability to dim emm and run them closer, watts per square foot means almost nothing. Eg. 220 watts at 18 - 20 inches up, or 140 watts at 8 - 10 inches up, pick your poison.