AgroLED or QB lighting? Pics on page 2

Like you said, They don't know led. I've been balls deep in led research for years now. It would be hard to stump me with a question at this point about them. I've ran several different brands. I was an early adopter of the HLG lights. I've been growing with them since May of last year so I'm fully aware of what they are capable of.

There is much better options then the agro. The sting of a light that costs $100 buck more wears off really fast when you grow an amazing crop with them.

My HLG setup paid for itself first crop and then some. It depends on weed prices in your area but my first bloom crop with 2 qb260's was just under 2 pounds. The lights cost $575 at the time. The price went up. I paid $285 each for my qb260's. 2 pounds is like $4,000 bucks in my area. If I ran inferior lights and saved $100 or two on my setup I don't think I would be near as happy.

 

With a 33" tall grow space I think you should definitely use the qb132 or qb120 DIY setups with dimmers. That way you can have a healthy blooming plant 12-14" away from them. The higher power options need more light distance. The flatter boards that don't need a heatsink could also be mounted right to the lid of your grow space. It might be best if you put a piece of sheet metal behind them to help disapate heat.

 

They also have a 165w that is half 3000k and half 2700k. I was not aware what a dramatic difference the spectrum makes. I tried at one time in my life to veg under hps and these 3000k to my oldway are very similar. I definately need some blue. So, not sure yet what flowering will be like or if my present 3500k will be satisfactory.
But I can tell you hands down these qbs beat any hid in any situation I can think of. But Blackdog really deserves some credit for putting together a pot specific spectrum. That I will miss, but compared to hid, anyone who tries a qb board will never miss their hid. I mean these things can be held in one hand and swapped out anytime, all you do is unplug them. The brackets that hold the light are just screws the braided loops go over. My Blackdogs came with warnings not to attempt to mount without a second person helping, and that is probably pretty good advice I ignored many times. I would advise anybody interested start with a 135 v2 4000k. And then if you like it build from there. No brainer if height is an issue, they are very thin, but don't forget the fans. I started buying these Voranado Zippi fans. They fit right in between the light holders and you can get them as close as you want without tearing anything like your new light or your old guitar playing fingers up.

 

If you're not scared to build your own heatsink out of large pieces of aluminum sheetmetal sourced from sheetmetal shops it's quite easy and economical to DIY with the qb288v2. They're sold for $75 each and are 150 watt capable with a high quality heatsink. They run great with each two in series on an HLG 240h-c2100a. They can be ran on the 320h-c2800a if you want full capacity but it could be too hot for a DIY heatsink.

The qb288v2 are the highest quality boards HLG has ever sold. I think I mentioned it earlier but all previous boards made by HLG are made by a US subcontractor they've never named. The qb288v2 is the first board that is the result of a contract HLG made with Samsung themselves. Samsung built an assembly plant for these boards and gives HLG first pick of their new diodes now. Samsung also changed how the boards are built a little from the older 288v1 layout and put a special coating on the board that reflects more light down then the older boards. They're about 8% more output and use 8 watts less electricity per boards so they run much cooler.

 

One of the complaints about the older high wattage qb boards is they do make significant heat. My answer has always been if you want the highest output per watt in the lighting world you're going to make some heat. No way around that. A reduction in the heat output of these fixtures was something they did need a little though and the V2 does take a step in that direction.

 

Good info. As I understand it they only have the v2 in 4k or 3k. By the time this seed goes into flower things will change. I think I'll just stick with the v2. If you've been flowering at 3500k that's good enough for me. If not I'll swap out the 4k at 60 days and replace with another 3000k. These boards really are in a whole new class and almost nothing written on the internet about led applies. I know whatever I thought I knew about pot's light needs, needs to be relearned again.

 

Totally agree with running the 288s on a diy heatsink on the 320 driver. I'm running 2 boards on a 320 full power and they do get warm. I've beat this by using my old 8inch hurricane inline fan pulling cool air in and blowing across the tops of the heatsinks. I can rest my hand on top of the heatsinks for as long as I want with that fan going. 8inch inline fans move alot of air tho.

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That's exactly what I will have, veg for 30 days under the 4000k with the 3000k on the old plant, and then move t the new plant under both the 3k and 4k. There are a lot of unconventional ways to use them. They are small but have a wide footprint for their size. You could put 4 of them in each corner and have big plants on the outside and little plants inside. Don't know how long they last. Maybe good idea to stagger purchase. Most likely they will be obsolete before they go bad. I'm glad I waited for the v2 and I'll be pissed when they come out with v3.

 

"Most likely they will be obsolete before they go bad"

Highly agree, they are rated to last 2-5 years. If I'm still using the same lights in 2-5 years I will be highly disappointed in myself.

 

I personally use 4x HLG65s in 4000K for veg, and 2x QB304s for flower (endgame is 4x QB304s, which will be purchased in the next 48 hours or so)

I will run this setup until the boards start to go out.

 

They're good for 5 years but a crop in my area pays for the light x about 5 so I'm planning on upgrading in about the 2 year range. For now I'm completely happy and most people that see my setup in person shit themselves at how bright these leds are in real life, even the lm561c s6 powered ones like I have. The 288v2 is another level from that in a few ways. I'm sure they are a sight to behold at full power. I know what my qb304's look like at full power. They'll put streaks in your vision for a good 2-3 minutes like the sun if you make the mistake of looking directly at them.

 

5 years is only when they've degraded in output more the about 10% and should be replaced. They'll still grow good for years after that. After 5 years they still outperform a brand new cree 3590. They are 20% more efficient then those.

 

Just seen samsung 288 board with everything for 70$ on alibaba sent seller message had 96% seller feedback

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There's lots of alternative boards. Pay attention to the voltage they run off of. There's a thread in the lighting section called Alternative to QB boards. There's a few GC users that have some verified sources for alternative boards.

You do realize that the real qb288v2 boards built by samsung sold from HLG are only $75. You're only saving $5 rolling the dice with alibaba there. I guess when you say everything you mean driver/heatsink too?

There's also reports around if you look of people buying alibaba qb boards then testing the output later and figuring they've probably been sold samsung lm561b diodes which were the best diode about a year and a half ago. The new 288v2's use the samsung 301b I don't think they're even sold to other builders yet.