DIY with Quantum Boards

2com said:

Someone correct me if I'm wrong here...

That driver, or rather that choice of number of leds and series wiring is going to be a problem. qb96 is 54v. You wanna run 6 in series, and the voltage adds up, 6 x 54v = 324v. The driver can provide that, https://www.meanwell.com/Upload/PDF/HLG-480H-C/HLG-480H-C-SPEC.PDF, but that's too high a voltage to working with. Most of the wires (the 18awg solid core), and the connectors on the qbs themselves I think (molex), are rated to 300v.

I would've do six in series. Too much voltage I think.

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2com said:

Thanks for your input.
Those drivers are $71 CAD at mouser, a comparable (or better?) meanwell driver 'hlg-120h-36' is $74 CAD. So it's no real difference. A hlg-240 driver is $95 CAD, a hlg-320 is about $125 CAD, so it's gets cheaper with wattage increase. But I don't want more than 4 boards per driver, really. And 2 per driver would be considerably more expensive.
I'm not familiar with those delta drivers at all, cool.
Vo and Io is nice to have, but I wan't remote dimming options, and dim-to-off - or at least dim to 10%.
Yea, I like the CV drivers for that reason; you can add and remove boards at will (within specs/reason).


Yea, qb132. I confused the model with the price.

Ok, I kinda see what you mean. Though, I haven't messed with series-parallel or anything like that. I've like CV drivers so far due to the ability of adding or removing one or more of the same board with ease.

I think the only reason I'd run an odd number like 5 would be if splitting 10 in half with two drivers, or some other specific setup/fixture. I like even numbers; pairs of two. When you say repurposing options, could you give me an example please?

Well, it's just that the qb132s, are rated up to 2000mA, so I wanted to have that capability "on tap" so to speak, with the driver.

Maybe I wasn't clear about dimming/pots. I mean: the drivers have dimmer leads, you can connect up to 4 of those to a single rapidled pot. So, 2 drivers of the same power on one dimmer, for example. They'll be dimmed evenly with one pot. But you can just disconnect one driver from the wago and connect it to it's own (second) rapidled pot, and now you have to separate halves/drivers both on their own dimmers, in seconds, if needed.

edit:
I have a couple hlg-240h-c2100 drivers, see. And initially, from memory, I was thinking that the qb132 was rated at 2100mA or a bit higher. I thought perfect, I could probably run four qb132 of one hlg-240h-c2100, but they only have enough voltage for three boards, and on top of that, they'd be a little bit overpowering (amperage) the boards...?
Yea.

edit2:
correction on the voltage range of the hlg-320h-c2100 that I posted; it's "76-152v", not "76-162v"

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pop22 said:

it should work fine. And actual Fv for the QB 132 is 35V or close to it and the driver has a little headroom on the voltage.

View attachment 4778732

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PJ Diaz said:

Personally I like to keep my DC voltage low, so I run everything in 54v parallel circuits. Getting zapped with 200V+ of DC isn't going to be fun.

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TWest65 said:

With the hlg-320h-2100b, I can use that same driver to power 4 QB132s, or 3 QB288 R specs, or 2 QB96s. I can't do that with the hlg-320h-36b driver. That's what I mean by repurposing.

The hlg-240h-2100b will work, but you won't get much over 1750mA out of them with 4 boards. At 35v, these boards use 1750mA.
35v x 1750mA x 4 boards = 245W. That being said, if I already had 2 hlg-240h-2100b's, that is what I would use, instead of buying 2 more drivers.

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2com said:

And so, you like to run constant voltage drivers, right?
Thanks.

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2com said:

What should work fine? Are you talking about running a qb132 at 2100mA? Or what?
Thanks.

And so, you like to run constant voltage drivers, right?
Thanks.

Ok. I was wondering if you meant you liked being able to put different boards in series on the same driver, like qb288s and qb96s on the same CC driver (so long as they can both handle the current). Cool.

That's exactly what I'm talking about. See, that 320h driver has a lot of usages. I was concerned that the 320h-c2100b might be too powerful for four qb132 in series (especially, I wasn't sure if the CC 'b' version's dimming leads actually "reduced" current, or some other sorcery. Like the 'a' version's internal pot does, I think. I couldn't remember.).

The hlg-240h-c17500 doesn't have enough voltage for four qb135s is the problem. It's only 119 volt...

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2com said:

Someone correct me if I'm wrong here...

That driver, or rather that choice of number of leds and series wiring is going to be a problem. qb96 is 54v. You wanna run 6 in series, and the voltage adds up, 6 x 54v = 324v. The driver can provide that, https://www.meanwell.com/Upload/PDF/HLG-480H-C/HLG-480H-C-SPEC.PDF, but that's too high a voltage to working with. Most of the wires (the 18awg solid core), and the connectors on the qbs themselves I think (molex), are rated to 300v.

I would'nt do six in series. Too much voltage I think.

(edit: sp).

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2com said:

What should work fine? Are you talking about running a qb132 at 2100mA? Or what?
Thanks.

And so, you like to run constant voltage drivers, right?
Thanks.

Ok. I was wondering if you meant you liked being able to put different boards in series on the same driver, like qb288s and qb96s on the same CC driver (so long as they can both handle the current). Cool.

That's exactly what I'm talking about. See, that 320h driver has a lot of usages. I was concerned that the 320h-c2100b might be too powerful for four qb132 in series (especially, I wasn't sure if the CC 'b' version's dimming leads actually "reduced" current, or some other sorcery. Like the 'a' version's internal pot does, I think. I couldn't remember.).

The hlg-240h-c2100 doesn't have enough voltage for four qb135s is the problem. It's only 119 volt...

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pop22 said:

I was talking about the hlg-240h-c1750b. Yes you could drive the QB96 harder but I see no need to.

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Tht_Blk_Guy27 said:

newbie here... is there a thread I can go to to help me get started quantum boarding? I have an unusual tent measurement (4x2x6) so I'm trying to fix the obvious heat and light issues I have from running two janky lights instead of one quality one.

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2com said:

HLG quantum boards? Because there's other threads for "knock offs" or other brands/types of led lighting?

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Tht_Blk_Guy27 said:

yes hgl or its affiliates

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ilovereggae said:

this would be the right place. ask away.

just to be clear your tent is a 2x4 that is 6ft tall? or a 2x6 that is 4 ft tall?

what lights are you using now?

what is your budget, and are you ok with doing DIY to save some $?

are you just flowering in this space or will you also veg in there?

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Tht_Blk_Guy27 said:

tent is officially 48"- 24" -60" so the second option (sorry im terrible with the math)
the light i started with was one 2000w blurple i got with the tent off of ebay to start me off

i now have the 2000w light and a 600w veg/bloom switch light from a company called fytek(?)
as for budget i can go up to 400$ and id love DIY instructions just not very handy but im willing to learn

i am currently using it for both but i due to the limited size i will be converting this then into a veg bay whenever i can upgrade into a 4x4

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260W XL QB® V2 Rspec® LED Kit

Ultra High Efficiency LED Boards for DIY. QB288 has 288pcs Samsung LM301H LED. 260 Watt Lamp Kit suited for main light and supplement lighting.

horticulturelightinggroup.com

Tht_Blk_Guy27 said:

tent is officially 48"- 24" -60" so the second option (sorry im terrible with the math)
the light i started with was one 2000w blurple i got with the tent off of ebay to start me off

i now have the 2000w light and a 600w veg/bloom switch light from a company called fytek(?)
as for budget i can go up to 400$ and id love DIY instructions just not very handy but im willing to learn

i am currently using it for both but i due to the limited size i will be converting this then into a veg bay whenever i can upgrade into a 4x4

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PJ Diaz said:

This DIY kit would suit you fine:

260W XL QB® V2 Rspec® LED Kit

Ultra High Efficiency LED Boards for DIY. QB288 has 288pcs Samsung LM301H LED. 260 Watt Lamp Kit suited for main light and supplement lighting.

horticulturelightinggroup.com

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TWest65 said:

In a constant current driver, the current is held constant, but the voltage is allowed to float to whatever level it needs to be at, to maintain that constant current. In a constant voltage driver, it's the other way around. The voltage is held at a constant level, and the current is allowed to float as necessary.

Yea, I know that much.

On the hlg-240h-c1750, when you adjust the driver to 1750mA, you are in effect telling the driver to adjust the voltage to whatever level it needs to be at, so as to maintain an output current of 1750mA. If you look at the forward voltage vs current graph that @pop22 linked, you'll see that at 1750mA, the QB132 board will be at approximately 35v. So, if the driver is set at 1750mA and you have 3 QB132s hooked up in series, the driver output will be 105v @ 1750mA. If 4 QB132s are hooked up, then the driver will output 140v @ 1750mA.

It's confusing when you say this "On the hlg-240h-c1750, when you adjust the driver to 1750mA...", right after saying "In a constant current driver, the current is held constant, but the voltage is allowed to float to whatever level it needs to be at, to maintain that constant current."
So, basically, the qb132 doesn't "need" 36v, it varies with current, etc. etc. And that 1volt under (143v) on the 240h-c1750 doesn't matter, is what I'm hearing. Ok.
I know about fV and I've seen the graph. Whenever I try and apply the little I know and formulate a reasonably simple question...things gets confused. I thought forward voltage was defined as the minimum amount of voltage required the power/light the light. Guess not. Or not without some asterisk.
The qb132 looks like it's fV is just under 33.5v based of that graph... The flux chart goes from 32.7v to 34v.; it doesn't even show 36v on that particular page/chart, hah.
The info above says "QB132 are 36V and can be used with standard drivers...". So...is 36v the max then? "Allow tolerance of an additional 1V while matching drivers." An additional 1v allowed to the ratings in the flux characteristics chart below? Or to whatever voltage rating (cc range) a potentially paired driver can provide? (not expecting answers, just pointing out questions).

35v x1750ma x 4 boards = 245Watts, which is about the max wattage of the hlg-240h-c1750b
I also wanted to point out that if you set the driver to output 1750 mA, it wouldn't matter which driver you were using (the hlg-240h-c1750b, hlg-320h-c1750b, or the hlg-320h-c2100b) all three drivers would be outputting the same 140v @ 1750mA to the 4 QB132s.

The different drivers have different constant current regions and other shit though. Four qb132 may fall outside that range on one of these drivers (asterisk), no? But yea, I see what you're saying about the math producing the same wattage, yup.

I think you should figure out how many watts you want per sq ft. Then decide what driver you want. If you want 15W/ft², then you'd only need (15W x 30 sq ft = 450 total watts) 225W per driver, so the hlg-240h-c1750 would work. If you want 17.5W/ft², then you'd need 262W per driver, which would eliminate the 240h.

I did. It's a veg area. The area is 3x9 ish, call it 30sq/ft. 15-20w per sq/ft is generally recommended for veg for QBs, right? The boards can run a max of 75w without a heatsink. And the list of suggested drivers basically show that they're trying to power the boards between around 50w - 75w. I want the ability to run up to that 'max' of 70-75w. 30sq/ft x 17.5w (avg) is 525w (so 450-600w).

4 boards in a pack, 4x75w = 300w. 300w / 15 sq/ft = 20w per sq/ft. (this is half the area)
4 boards in a pack, 4x60w = 240w. 240w / 15 sq/ft = 16w per sq/ft. (this is half the area)

Too bad I can't devote 12 boards to it for simplicity. I might have to go with two 320w drivers then, just to have the power *available*.
Run four qb132s off a 320h-c2100b, and dim it down? Will that actually reduce current output below 2100mA, or is it just sorcery via the 3-in-1 dimming (like applying a resistance or voltage, etc.)?

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ilovereggae said:

ok so its not too bad of a size. its a 2x4' footprint, and is 5' tall.

this is a little shorter than most tents but its a good size, i have been considering buying one.



agree this is the best and simplest answer.

only thing PJ, since he wants to eventually use it for veg, do you think the Rspec is still the right choice? i've never tried using those to veg with, figured the Bspec was the better option there but I guess if he had to choose one the R spec is fine.

i was going to suggest a 4 pack of qb120s in 3500k but they are sold out.

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ilovereggae said:

only thing PJ, since he wants to eventually use it for veg, do you think the Rspec is still the right choice? i've never tried using those to veg with, figured the Bspec was the better option there but I guess if he had to choose one the R spec is fine.

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ilovereggae said:

ok so its not too bad of a size. its a 2x4' footprint, and is 5' tall.

this is a little shorter than most tents but its a good size, i have been considering buying one.



agree this is the best and simplest answer.

only thing PJ, since he wants to eventually use it for veg, do you think the Rspec is still the right choice? i've never tried using those to veg with, figured the Bspec was the better option there but I guess if he had to choose one the R spec is fine.

i was going to suggest a 4 pack of qb120s in 3500k but they are sold out.

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