Cob lighting?

Don’t know if you can build a COB setup to cover a 5x5 from corner to corner for $500, but you could easily build a quantum board LED setup that would more than get the job done and you would come in under budget.


“Tyranny anywhere is a threat to freedom everywhere.” — someone awesome

 

In my opinion, they are the best value for the money, yes. COBs are great, but on the expensive side. Quantum boards were actually created to serve as a less expensive alternative to COBs. Also, in my opinion, quantum board LED lights can more easily be tailored to any grower's needs. And they are wicked easy to build.

I should say that I am biased because I own 2x quantum board lights that I built, but only have one COB light. Quantum boards are bad ass, dude. $500 of qb lighting will light more of that space up than $500 of COBs.

 

I was just looking at the quantum boards yall are talking about, the one listed seems to be a legit setup for $500, however Im not sure about it replacing your 1000w HPS. Says on the site that it would replace a 600w HPS in a 5x5 area. Says 2 of them would replace a 1000 HPS double ended in a 5x5 area

Horticulture Lighting Group 320 Watt XL Quantum Board LED Kit V2

 

I am not familiar with the COBs and quantums. I am using a full spectrum LED right now that I think is going to produce some awesome results. Only using about 450 actual watts. But I did find an 800w cree for the price that you posted above. But again I am not familiar enough with any of these, just trying to show you some $500 options

 

All grow light manufacturers say their lights are "full spectrum" and no one really knows what that means anymore. Then, when they post pictures of their light's spectrum, it has blue and red in it. That's not full spectrum.

Not full spectrum....



Full spectrum...



To my knowledge, both COB and quantum board LED lights provide the best full spectrum. There are some LED grow lights other than COB and QB's that also deliver "full" spectrum(s), but they are ridiculously expensive. You should be prepared to pay well over $1,000 - $1,500. So, what most grow light manufacturers will tell you that the only colors needed for cannabis cultivation is a certain wavelength in blue and a certain wavelength in red, along with some UV and IR. They will say that the greens and yellows aren't needed and are wasted energy, which is complete horse shit. The reason why the sun is so effective at growing huge cannabis plants is #1, the sun's intensity, and #2, the sun's FULL spectrum (pictured below).

Get a light that has a color spectrum as close to the sun as possible.

 

Also, you don't have to purchase a pre-made quantum board light. The idea is to DIY your own light because you'll save a lot of money and can get a lot more light for less dollars.

For a 5x5, I'd go with 8x qb 132's in 4000K. You can get 4x qb 132 boards for $135.

 

I had seen that almost any LED grow light will point that out, that you do not need greens and yellow. Only red and Blue
I am new to all of this, was just trying to throw him some options. But did notice that quantums did not say full spectrum they sold 3000k and 4000k setups on that site

 

Nice. the site I went to sold the kits or could get it assembled and tested for like $35. What kind of setup would you recommend for a 4x8 tent to replace a 2400w LED (450 true watt) on a light mover?

 

Hey bro I'm not saying that your light won't grow good bud. It will....most LED grow lights will grow cannabis. I'm just saying that if you're going to spend hundreds of dollars on a grow light, get a light that will give yourself a good chance at growing the biggest, dankest cannabis that you can possibly grow. The light is the plant's food.

I highly recommend to do some heavy reading about indoor grow light technology before you make a purchase. I have made some bad purchases over the years when it comes to grow lights, but this time I did my homework, and asked a lot of questions. My quantum board LED lights cast a huge shadow over any other lights I have owned and used to grow plants with indoors. Those other lights are just in a different category altogether...it's not a fair comparison.

 

It depends on how many plants you plan on growing in that space. For large grows, I think it is better to buy several small to medium-sized lights and spread them out so you can get even coverage....instead of buying one huge light that costs way too much money and losing light intensity in the corners and sides of the grow space / tent. Many growers are doing this on this forum (using many qb 132's or a bunch of qb 120's in large spaces), and are getting incredible results.

 

Honestly, if I were growing in a 4 x 8, I would do exactly what WeedSexWeightShakes is doing in his 4 x 8 tent. Nothing but an assload of quantum board lights. He is one of the best growers on this forum, in my opinion. Go through his thread, and look at the size of his plants.

4x8 1100 Watt Quantum Board Grow

 

I was looking at options for frost and came across the quantum boards, this is something I had never even really heard of. After looking into im seeing good results but pretty costly setups, their light spectrum is totally different from most LEDs and they seem to kick ass. I have 8 indicas in my tent right now but am going to add some Autos as soon as they are sprouted and ready. I am just hoping that 2400w on a light mover works as well as advertised, they were saying they are pretty damn effective. But im not there yet, light is stationary over the seedlings right now
But the quantum boards sound pretty damn efficient

 

This is one of his pics....

 

I was just looking on there, that is a legit setup and some beautiful ladies, not trying to jack the post but here is a pic of my current grow. The girls are still seedlings
The quantum Boards seem pretty legit, although I have heard more about COB lighting. But technology is always changing and getting better

 

QBs can be expensive, yes. But if you source the parts yourself, and buy all the components and things needed, and build it yourself, you can save a lot of money.

I built this light last month. It has a total of 480 LED top-bin Samsung diodes (currently the best), and is being pushed by a 240 watt LED driver. The overall spectrum is 4100K (3x strips of 3500K for flower, and 2 strips of 5000K for veg). I think I spent a total of $240 on everything. So, $1 per watt basically.

 

Most people that are up on these things are going with quantum boards or DIY rigs with Bridgelux EB or Samsung F strips. DIY strip builds can come in under $1/watt, most retail products will be at least $2/watt, with these types of lights 30-35 watts per square foot of canopy is recommended.

 

I know I'm bumping an old thread, but dude PornKing you need to stop referring to your light as a "2400" watt light. You said yourself it doesn't even draw 1/4 of that from the wall -- it draws 400w. So call it a 400w light. You just fell for a marketing gimmick. They sell it as an "equivalent", but if anything it's really more equivalent to a 400w HPS, or possibly a 600w HPS. Maybe even equivalent to a 200w cob, who knows. Those purple lights were top of the line 5 or 10 years ago, but they are worthless right now. Don't know why people still buy them when there is so much better technology on the market. Most times the purchasers have just rushed into a purchase without doing any research, are buying on a budget and think "oh wow I can get 2400w with only $300 on amazon or ebay! wow!" not realizing that the same light was sold for $250 on alibaba and all the companies on amazon are buying the exact same lights lol. For instance, the best "prebuilt" cob on amazon is the cfgrow/canagrow/panda grow. They are all the same company, yet the lights are priced differently. But if you go to alibaba, you can see that they are all chinese trademarks of the same company. So while you said you thought that the COB and Quantum boards were only "3500k and 3000k and 4000k" and "not full spectrum", well that is full spectrum. Those are the lights everyone is using with great results. Those are just the temperature of the lights color appearance, they have nothing to do with spectral output or par intensity. 5000k is used for veg and provides a good blue spectrum and looks white/blueish. 3000k is used for flower and has a HPS look to it. 3500k and 4000k can be used for veg and bloom, though 3500k will provide a much better bloom spectrum and for this reason is preferred over 4000k for people who will be using the lights for both veg and bloom. However, a lot of people have a veg room/tent and a flower tent/room. So yeah, sorry for the rant but you don't have a 2400w light.

 

Yes that is true, and thats why that light is no longer in either of my tents. I am now running 3500k quantum boards in my flower tent and the ladies are LOVING them. Just ordered 2 more in 4000k for my veg/auto tent