Samsung strips still going

So first you go here: https://www.meanwell.com/productPdf.aspx?i=309

You can see all the HLG-120H drivers and specs. If you click on "Report" at the top of the page, there is a drop-down menu to select a different report on each driver - that will show you exactly what their adjustment ranges (voltage and current) are, as tested at the factory.

It surprised me, too, to learn that all the Meanwell drivers actually went out of their ranges - in some cases by significant margins - and that they actually output more watts than they are rated for. The constant voltage drivers will go beyond their rated voltage (120H-36 = 41V; 120H-42 = 47V for example), and the constant current drivers will go beyond their rated currents (120H-C700 = 760mA). The only parameters that don't fall outside those rated are the voltages on the CC drivers - the HLG-120H-C700, for example, will not supply more than 214V according to its report sheet.

And that's why Mean Well drivers are so popular, I guess, because they are good quality and can be "overdriven".

Prawn Connery said:

So first you go here: https://www.meanwell.com/productPdf.aspx?i=309

You can see all the HLG-120H drivers and specs. If you click on "Report" at the top of the page, there is a drop-down menu to select a different report on each driver - that will show you exactly what their adjustment ranges (voltage and current) are, as tested at the factory.

It surprised me, too, to learn that all the Meanwell drivers actually went out of their ranges - in some cases by significant margins - and that they actually output more watts than they are rated for. The constant voltage drivers will go beyond their rated voltage (120H-36 = 41V; 120H-42 = 47V for example), and the constant current drivers will go beyond their rated currents (120H-C700 = 760mA). The only parameters that don't fall outside those rated are the voltages on the CC drivers - the HLG-120H-C700, for example, will not supply more than 214V according to its report sheet.

And that's why Mean Well drivers are so popular, I guess, because they are good quality and can be "overdriven".

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Great info!
I ended up going with the 36a driver today and 4 strips.
Just need to figure out a frame to thermal them to.
Thanks for your help

WeedSexWeightsShakes said:

Great info!
I ended up going with the 36a driver today and 4 strips.
Just need to figure out a frame to thermal them to.
Thanks for your help

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There is only one thing I like to mention.
When you set a 36v HLG driver to 39v(or 42v driver to 45v) he can not work in CC mode because its above the constant current region(18-36v). This means the voltage regulator stays usable all the time.
But this is not be a problem with a parallel strip setup and a siutable driver. Only with a single string of 12 XMLs this would be an issue and one would need something like a current limiting resistor or a secondary LDD driver.
Thats not important for your current strip setup but is maybe usful to know...

Prawn Connery said:

I guess it depends on what sort of flexibility you want. I built two 2' frames for my 4'x2' so I could hang them at different heights for a perpetual grow. You can obviously see how I hang them in the photos above - which suits me fine. I also designed the frames so they could be bolted together (see below), but in reality they have always been split and I have always run them at different heights as, even when I didn't have a perpetual grow growing, my plants were rarely the same height.

4' strips are convenient (less wiring), but 2' strips are more rigid - possibly another consideration. Is there any particular reason for you wishing to swap things around? I would have thought the 320 kit would be OK. I also prefer 3000K or less strips purely for flowering.
View attachment 4213568

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Nice to see that your H-strips are still running. Garden looks great as always! My move to coco DTW is imminent and if everything goes as planned my next run will be already in coco.
Not least because of your detailed explanation, bro.
I was already annoyed that I did not split mine in two individual fixtures. My old COB lights were also made for 2x 2' areas. Two separate 2x 2' fixtures are so much easier to handle than a large 2x 4'. Its a giant effort to take them out of the tent, lol. Next time I'll build again two smaller fixtures ..

Ah, we live and learn. But I really like your UV fluoro set-up. Is that a 36" T5? Aquarium bulb (actinic)?

Randomblame said:

There is only one thing I like to mention.
When you set a 36v HLG driver to 39v(or 42v driver to 45v) he can not work in CC mode because its above the constant current region(18-36v). This means the voltage regulator stays usable all the time.
But this is not be a problem with a parallel strip setup and a siutable driver. Only with a single string of 12 XMLs this would be an issue and one would need something like a current limiting resistor or a secondary LDD driver.
Thats not important for your current strip setup but is maybe usful to know...View attachment 4214251

Click to expand...

Good info - as usual. I did note note that on the report sheet, but figured with a parallel circuit, constant current mode wouldn't matter - which you confirmed. If one strip burns out, you're not going to go into thermal runaway as the voltage is already limited to whatever it is set at with the constant voltage driver. The main advantage to running a 36V CV driver compared to a 42V driver is the 36V driver will supply a higher current for the same voltage (if I am reading the driver report correctly!).

With parallel strips, I always adjust the "A" drivers by voltage adjustment only, leaving the current adjustment at maximum - so I never have them in constant current mode.

Prawn Connery said:

Ah, we live and learn. But I really like your UV fluoro set-up. Is that a 36" T5? Aquarium bulb (actinic)?

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Nope, a 3ft. Arcadia desert reptile bulb with 12% UVB, 30% UVA and a 7000°k/CRI90 spectrum to let the reptiles show their natural colors. In bloom its running 12/12h with good results. Much more colorful plants and a feelable better potency. Its my 2nd run with LED and UVB and till now it works preety good.
But I already have two 2ft. Agromax pureUV bulbs and 2ft Arcadias, 24w each and the pureUVs are 75% UVB and 25% UVA. 3 times stronger and I hope I can shorten the treatments to 3 or 4h per day(at noon) so the bulbs can be used 3 times longer and I use 3x less energy. The reptile bulbs are still needed to harden the plants up at first.

This reptile bulbs can be used with 1ft. distance and you get a level of 150-180μW/cm² depending on the reflector. These pureUVs have 440μW/cm²! Thats like in 2500m height! I hope I can still use them at 1' distance otherwise I would have a problem. I already considered to built something like a adjust-a-wing reflector but for bulbs ... with superspreader, lol!

Prawn Connery said:

Good info - as usual. I did note note that on the report sheet, but figured with a parallel circuit, constant current mode wouldn't matter - which you confirmed. If one strip burns out, you're not going to go into thermal runaway as the voltage is already limited to whatever it is set at with the constant voltage driver. The main advantage to running a 36V CV driver compared to a 42V driver is the 36V driver will supply a higher current for the same voltage (if I am reading the driver report correctly!).

With parallel strips, I always adjust the "A" drivers by voltage adjustment only, leaving the current adjustment at maximum - so I never have them in constant current mode.

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That describes perfectly how it works. Keeping the driver in CV mode can be an advantage because only then you get its full potential(both regulators at max.).

Randomblame said:

Nope, a 3ft. Arcadia desert reptile bulb with 12% UVB, 30% UVA and a 7000°k/CRI90 spectrum to let the reptiles show their natural colors. In bloom its running 12/12h with good results. Much more colorful plants and a feelable better potency. Its my 2nd run with LED and UVB and till now it works preety good.
But I already have two 2ft. Agromax pureUV bulbs and 2ft Arcadias, 24w each and the pureUVs are 75% UVB and 25% UVA. 3 times stronger and I hope I can shorten the treatments to 3 or 4h per day(at noon) so the bulbs can be used 3 times longer and I use 3x less energy. The reptile bulbs are still needed to harden the plants up at first.

This reptile bulbs can be used with 1ft. distance and you get a level of 150-180μW/cm² depending on the reflector. These pureUVs have 440μW/cm²! Thats like in 2500m height! I hope I can still use them at 1' distance otherwise I would have a problem. I already considered to built something like a adjust-a-wing reflector but for bulbs ... with superspreader, lol!

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Reptisun T5s are what I have had my eye on - specifically the UVB 5.0: https://zoomed.com/reptisun-5-0-uvb-t5-ho-high-output-linear-lamp/

I did the calculations a while ago and figured 2x 24" T5 5.0 bulbs would be about right for a 4'x2' with a similar UVB/UVA ratio as sunlight at the equator or higher altitudes. I'm glad you have noticed the difference in quality, as I've always felt LED could use a UV boost.

Reptisun also have 10% bulbs, Arcadia even 14% ones. Mine are 12% and run the whole day and I still have the feeling they could handle more. Only the first few days are like when you put an indoor plant outdoors to full sunlight. They need a few days "in the shade" to acclimate to the new conditions. They also stay a little bushier and seems more focussed on flowering. Even in the last week I've seen lots of fresh pistels and already a little foxtailing. But to be honest, I've tried a 12.5/11.5h cycle + far red EoD this time which also could be a reason for that.

Hi Random Blame, I'm new here, and while it is slightly off topic, I was wondering if I could pick your brains about supplemental uvb. I'm using a spydrx plus from Fluence in a 4x4 tent (at 80% power) and I noticed on their website they have uvb and far red supplemental lights - the ray 44 series. If I got 2 uvb bars, how long should I run them so I don't burn the plants? Do I do that only at certain times in the cycle? (I assume only in flowering?) If I also got the far red bars for eod, would 15 mins total be a good place to start?

Sorry if this isn't in the right place, and thanks for your time.

Q

Quietly said:

Hi Random Blame, I'm new here, and while it is slightly off topic, I was wondering if I could pick your brains about supplemental uvb. I'm using a spydrx plus from Fluence in a 4x4 tent (at 80% power) and I noticed on their website they have uvb and far red supplemental lights - the ray 44 series. If I got 2 uvb bars, how long should I run them so I don't burn the plants? Do I do that only at certain times in the cycle? (I assume only in flowering?) If I also got the far red bars for eod, would 15 mins total be a good place to start?

Sorry if this isn't in the right place, and thanks for your time.

Q

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I need more data about these supplemental light, bro. How much μW/cm2 at 1 and 2'? % UVB, % UVA and how much daylight? Do they use the flowerpower bulbs or the T5 agromax? Without these infos its impossible got give an answer.
We have an UVB thread, btw. Simply use the search function. You'll find qa lot of useful info about UVB and how it works.
Provide me a link, please, so I can check them myself.
For far-red I would recommend to use LEDs instead of T5/T8 bulbs. Much easier to calculate the correct amount of light. It needs only 2000-4000μMol total(not per sec) and if you know the PPF its easy to calculated how long it takes to get the desired value. You need T5/T8 bulbs only for UVB..

Hi @random blame, just tried to post you all the links, but apparently I need 1 more like on my posts before I can post them... soooo.... if someone could like this post, It'd let me send that info to you, and It'd be much appreciated, lol

Posts must exceed 2. So here's my 3rd.

Omfg. Now it's something else stopping me posting links. This is ridiculous.

Btw, thanks @lukio

Edit: Oh! Likes must exceed 2. That's why it's stopping me.

Hope that's enough likes to get you going.

Holy crap! Thanks guys! Hahahahaha

@random blame, thanks for your time responding man, I really appreciate it.

The light I'm using is here:
https://fluence.science/store/spydr-series/spydrx-plus/

The supplemental lights are here:
https://fluence.science/store/ray-series-led-grow-lights/ray44/#tab-1450731469586-2-8

And the choices of different light specs are here:
https://fluence.science/technology/physiospec-broad-spectrum-led-lights/

I just noticed they mention "by Osram" if that helps. I'm not running co2 yet, so I have to use the dimmer to run the thing at 80% so I don't bleach the plant.

I'm using a 4x4 gorilla grow tent (no extention), 6" phresh inline fan, growing in coco (20 gal cloth pot) and all air in the room is being pulled through a hospital grade HVAC.

Thanks again, I really appreciate your help!

Quietly said:

Holy crap! Thanks guys! Hahahahaha

@random blame, thanks for your time responding man, I really appreciate it.

The light I'm using is here:
https://fluence.science/store/spydr-series/spydrx-plus/

The supplemental lights are here:
https://fluence.science/store/ray-series-led-grow-lights/ray44/#tab-1450731469586-2-8

And the choices of different light specs are here:
https://fluence.science/technology/physiospec-broad-spectrum-led-lights/

I just noticed they mention "by Osram" if that helps. I'm not running co2 yet, so I have to use the dimmer to run the thing at 80% so I don't bleach the plant.

I'm using a 4x4 gorilla grow tent (no extention), 6" phresh inline fan, growing in coco (20 gal cloth pot) and all air in the room is being pulled through a hospital grade HVAC.

Thanks again, I really appreciate your help!

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Okay! These fluence strips with pfr spectrum(far-red) have up to 70w which is more than enough for a 4x 4' space. You should get 100-120μMol/s/m² with just one of these bars. The UV bars only have 390nm diodes and thats not really stressful. But 85w is a lot and could be problematic if you use additional UVB/A bulbs. Purple and near UV wafelength improve colors, taste and the aroma of plants. It also increase the terpene content in plants like C. But 85w is to much for a 4x 4' area. I would rather use up to two 4ft. flowerpower bulbs to add true UVB and A to a spyderX light.

For EoD treatment you only need a few seconds to put the girls into sleepmode(20-40 sec. to get 2000-4000μMol) you should get good effect with only 1-2mins EoD, at least when you use it at 70w.

I'll add a few science papers about far-red below. In these tests they use up to 90μMol/s/m² of additional far-red. One of these 70w bar deliver already ~100μMol/s PPFD when calculated with 40% system efficiency. If these bars are dimmable I would say, use less or no far-red untill end of the stretch and start using far-red over the day when the stretch is done. EoD treatment already cause some additional stretch and such a powerful bar would cause a lot of stretch or SAS(shade avoidance syndrome) in the worst case when used too early.
I like the SpyderX fixtures a lot. Its for sure one of the better available growlights to date. Osram has a wide range of midpower diodes and fluence seems to use their latest DurisS5 diodes. One can even get strips with such diodes but most of them are made for 24v CV and have not enough diodes to reach for instance F-strip efficiency. But fluence seems to use a lot of them to get oberliga efficiency.
The far-red and UV bars are too powerful for a small 4x 4' area in my book and I would rather build my own far-red bars (two 4ft. bars with 20w each and a separate driver and two flowerpower bulbs next to them)

I recommend to read the papers below to get a better idea what should work for your situation.

Thankyou so much man.

I'll get reading!

Q