Just picked up a qb96 but haven’t picked the driver yet

I’ve decided to set up one last little 2x2 tent for chucks, and this looks like the perfect little light. Going by HLG’s site, it looks like you can run a single board off of up to a 185h-54. That seems like a little much for seed runs in a 2x2 tent.

This is going to be my first foray into breeding, and this board is the right price. I’m also not feeling like using strips in this small tent. I’ve been wanting to check out one of these boards for a while. I want to keep the electric bill as low as possible and it seems like 120 watts is plenty for a 2x2 tent. The chips in this thing look badass. So I’m planning to order a 120h-54a from mouser for this. Does anyone else here run a single one of these in a small tent? Can anyone give me any reasons why I might want to get the 185?

TerrapinBlazin said:

I’ve decided to set up one last little 2x2 tent for chucks, and this looks like the perfect little light. Going by HLG’s site, it looks like you can run a single board off of up to a 185h-54. That seems like a little much for seed runs in a 2x2 tent.

This is going to be my first foray into breeding, and this board is the right price. I’m also not feeling like using strips in this small tent. I’ve been wanting to check out one of these boards for a while. I want to keep the electric bill as low as possible and it seems like 120 watts is plenty for a 2x2 tent. The chips in this thing look badass. So I’m planning to order a 120h-54a from mouser for this. Does anyone else here run a single one of these in a small tent? Can anyone give me any reasons why I might want to get the 185?

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The 185 gives you the option to use it in a slightly bigger space if needed. Dimming it down in the 2x2 will help lengthen the life of the diodes.

That’s sort of what I thought. So no real advantage to running it hotter in a 2x2 tent. These boards look cool as hell. I’m really interested to see how it compares to my other boards, which also use 120 watts.

TerrapinBlazin said:

That’s sort of what I thought. So no real advantage to running it hotter in a 2x2 tent. These boards look cool as hell. I’m really interested to see how it compares to my other boards, which also use 120 watts.

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I have the 100w spider farmer sf1000 in my 2x2. Kicks ass at 80% power 13 inches from canopy.

Yeah 120 watts satisfies the 30 watt per square foot guideline, and with these newer chips that put out well over 200lm/w that guideline is probably a little outdated. Should be fine for seed runs and have little effect on my power bill. I’ve never bought anything from HLG before. I usually build with strips but this thing seems perfect for chucks in a 2x2.

The HLG-120H-54A runs about $48 at Mouser and the HLG-185H-54A runs about $52 so might as well go for the 185H.

30w/sq ft is the recommended “minimum”. More won’t hurt.

I run 2 QB 96’s on a 320.

damn go to arrow and check their drivers. lne54v-185waaa . or daa if you want to solder on a potentiometer. 26-32 cad ish, 91.5% eff at 120v 94@120

edit for the w after the 5

I run 4 QB96's in a 4x4 space, so basically one 96 per 2x2 area. I run two sets of two boards in parallel on 240h-54a. The only reason to go with the 185 is if you are planning on going to a larger space in the future. The 120h-54a will put out closer to 150watts when hooked up to a QB96 cranked to full. You really don't need more than 120watts from aQB96 in a 2x2 space. and I sometimes even dim mine down to 100watts per board. A dimmer will be more efficient when run at high compared to dimmed down, while diodes are the opposite. So, a 120h-54a at 120 watts is more efficient than a 185h-54a at 120watts. The only downside to the QB96's is that you need a bit more headroom, because they are more powerful diodes than your standard QB's.

Oops, I just ordered two more QB96's to spread the light around a bit more, and get the plants a bit closer to the diodes without frying them. I guess this QB96 talk made me hungry.

NukaKola said:

The HLG-120H-54A runs about $48 at Mouser and the HLG-185H-54A runs about $52 so might as well go for the 185H.

30w/sq ft is the recommended “minimum”. More won’t hurt.

I run 2 QB 96’s on a 320.

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I saw that and ended up ordering the 185. Now I’m thinking I might pop this one in my veg tent and use the older board with the influx outriggers for chucks. That rig maxes out at about 180 watts as well. I’m not totally sure yet. I just really wanted to play with one of these.

God damn I love everything about this little light. Major props to HLG. This is their first product that’s really caught my attention. I was all about Samsung strips and off brand boards with 301s until this thing came out. The driver should come in later today. I’ve got all the wiring done on the board and made up a 20 foot 16/2 landscape wire quick connect extension cord for it. All I’ve gotta do is throw some plugs on the driver and fire it up. I might go out and get an 8-32 tap to run through the holes on the side of the heatsink. The included screws for the side holes (and I have no earthly idea what they could be used for) are definitely 8-32, but the longer ones I bought to attach to the chains don’t thread in as smoothly as I’d like (maybe the short 8-32 screws are for mounting angle to the outer holes on the bottom but those looked like 6-32 like the board mounting holes). I’m really tempted to run this thing in my veg tent until I get the chuck tent set up, or maybe just run it in my veg tent permanently.

With all that being said, I’m glad I ordered the 185 for this. I don’t have to run it at full power but since it’s only about 4 inches wide it will be nice to run a little brighter

TerrapinBlazin said:

God damn I love everything about this little light. Major props to HLG. This is their first product that’s really caught my attention. I was all about Samsung strips and off brand boards with 301s until this thing came out. The driver should come in later today. I’ve got all the wiring done on the board and made up a 20 foot 16/2 landscape wire quick connect extension cord for it. All I’ve gotta do is throw some plugs on the driver and fire it up. I might go out and get an 8-32 tap to run through the holes on the side of the heatsink. The included screws for the side holes (and I have no earthly idea what they could be used for) are definitely 8-32, but the longer ones I bought to attach to the chains don’t thread in as smoothly as I’d like. I’m really tempted to run this thing in my veg tent until I get the chuck tent set up, or maybe just run it in my veg tent permanently.
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It's a solid light, I plan on picking up more soon. Only vegging with it so far, have it dimmed at 50% to ~80w per board and it's barely warm to the touch.

I like the way you did that frame! It’s nice how the heatsink is enough wider than the board that it sits in the angle like that. I would love to build 4 of these on a 600 for a 4x4 tent but I won’t be able to build anymore lights until I have space for a bigger setup. If only I had a bigger house lol. Oh well I’m already playing fast and loose with my plant counts anyway and my utility bills are manageable. With the inclusion of this light, my entire set up — a flower tent with 4 strips and 2 boards and a 6 inch exhaust fan and carbon filter, veg light (one board and 2 small strips) and fan, clone light (single f series strip) and aero cloner, and air circulation fans in all the tents, should still use just under 1000 watts altogether. Even at the height of summer with air conditioners blasting my electric bill was about $160 at the worst.

Wow this is a dope little light. I decided to just throw it in my veg tent until the rest of the chuck setup gets here. The pic shows the other light on but I turned it off to take my measurements. All measurements were taken from the top of the plant directly under the board. With the driver turned all the way down it pulls 58 watts from the wall and hits the plant directly underneath at 20k lux. At full blast it pulls about 158 watts from the wall and measures 50k lux. The distance from the plant to the board is exactly 15 inches. These are really solid specs and this thing will kill it in a 2x2 tent. I wish these had been out when I first got into LEDs. Luckily I’m late enough to the game that I didn’t sink a bunch of money into COBs.

TerrapinBlazin said:

At full blast it pulls about 158 watts from the wall and measures 50k lux.
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You have the QB 96 wired to an HLG-185H-54A, correct?

The maximum wattage should be substantially higher than that. If you ever have a need for the higher wattage, you'll need to increase the drivers output voltage (Vo). Adding a small fan to sit on top of the heatsink would be a prudent move as well, especially at the higher wattage levels.