I just ordered 2 LRS-75-24 from amazon I can afford these now and will be able to add 2 QB120s to my purple lights right away for the grow going now, they are in flower... it will give me time to get all 4 set up for next grow and I do plan to buy more QB boards later so no matter what these will come in handy to have around
I like the single board single driver approach. It makes them all their own fixture. You can move them around. Set up a clone area in another spot with one. Having four on the same driver traps them all in the same spot. There's also no confusion about wiring.
I can't wait for April shopping cart has my boards in it!!! My ladies are growing like crazy under this viparspectra 600 I can only imagine when I add 4 qb132's!!!
They're pretty jaw dropping. I always wait for the post when people see them come on for the first time. Pictures don't do them justice. They're blinding. They look like the sun. You'll be happy you made the change.
I had my room taken down a while last fall and when it was I took my qb260 over to a buddies house that grows with 2 600 watt hps. I made sure he was looking at it when I plugged it in. He couldn't believe how bright it was. It actually looks brighter then his 600's and it's about 275 watts.
After growing with burple for about a year and a half it was really nice to switch back to a white grow light. You don't realize how much that burple bothers your eyes until you don't have to deal with it anymore. Some people are more sensitive to it then others. Some people get headaches from burple light. My wife can barely stand it. Seeing the real color of the plants in the work environment is really nice.
I actually had a problem with one of those solderless connectors that you crimp with shrink tubing with my first light and I fixed it with wire nuts. You don't have to worry that those are making contact if you buy the correct size. They squeeze tight on the wire.
At least use butt connectors and heat shrink? I just don't trust wire nuts even wired all my fans in my house with butt connectors and heat shrink!! Guess that's the car builder in me!!
We aren't building the space ship here. Wire nuts hold most of your home electrical system together even though they hide in plastic boxes, like that makes them more safe. By code wire nuts should only be used inside of an electrical box but tape em up and they'll last a lifetime.
I trust a wire nut over a solderless crimp connector even though those are used on the space shuttle. =)
I think if you love to spend money then buy the fancy connectors but if your the type that likes to save a few bucks here and there and do something that works and works well then use wire nuts... just my OP
Wagos are great. If you buy the HLG kits they send you like 2 or 3 extra. By now I have a half dozen wagos hanging around if I need them. They're good for 18-24, the ones I have I think. I may be wrong. There's different models for different gauge wire. If you want easy mode connectors wagos are hard to beat. They have a terminal you insert the wire in and level you pull down to connect tight. They work well. They can be bought for splicing many wires together.
If you order the cheaper LRS series drivers or the MDR/NDR, they all have screw terminals which makes connectors completely unnecessary. Those are also the cheapest drivers worth buying IMO.
Most of them are 89.5% efficient or basically 90%. Even the high end HLG series drivers are only 93% efficient. You're paying alot of money, about double, for 3% efficiency in the driver when all you need to do is slightly oversize the LRS driver and the board will draw max current.
Tbone how many watts will I get out of each panel with these drivers and have you found good heights to have them for veg and flower?
I'm not sure exactly how many watts but the board should draw whatever max is from the driver. They do have voltage pots so you can dim them a little if the full max current is too much but if you limit voltage that much they freak out. The dimmers don't function like the current dimmer on the HLG series. You can wire a cheap DC motor speed controller to the output and that will provide dimming if you need. Small plants like a lot of distance. These are powerful lights. I put them about 3 feet from clones or more. When you get in late veg you can get them as close as 14" or so from some strains. Light tolerance is strain dependent. Some like it hot and some burn when the heat is on.
I found out about the LRS-75-24 in a discussion about how hot the driver run. That driver run really cool because it's above the max capacity of the board. It's 3200mA capable. Max rating from HLG is 2500mA. 3200 is 75 watts. If the board draws 3.0mA then it's about 72 watts.