Good afternoon everyone, I just wanted to create a post on the QB vs COB topic. I'm currently running 5 bridglux Vero 29SEs, in my 2x4 grow space. They have been nothing, but good to me. I'm putting together another 2x4 setup and am considering some Quantum Boards. What's everyone's experience and opinion on both? How do they compare yield wise? How many watts can I use with a QB to max out a 2x4 space? I like to hear all of your thoughts, before I pull the trigger on this purchase!
QBs rock. No contest. There are new COB replacements from HLG called V2 96 Elites. They ROCK. I own and grown from all kinds of lights in the past 20 years.
I just took a look at them on the HLG site and that could definitely be a route I take. How many watts do each of them draw? I'm wondering if I could squeeze 4 or 5 into a 2x4 space. Also, do you have to run active cooling with yours?
They each run on 240W driver. I'm not using tents for my flowering atm, just my veg. Here's my daily pictures for you. I am using L09 strips to augment. Don't mind the other plant in the background, that's under a different light altogether. Personally, I would just grow one plant using your sqfootage. Each of these plants are pretty well taking up a 4x4 space. Its all about training imo. Try the official 96 or BS 96 threads here on GC. Lots of information has already been discerned on these new lights.
Heres a quote from a article followed by a link to it if you wanna read it off that page instead Well, you can sort of think of each of these boards as one giant COB. A typical COB has hundreds of individual diodes mounted to its little board, packed very tightly together. There are hundreds of diodes in these QBs as well, but they’re spread much further apart. The principal of harnessing the power of several small lights to produce one powerful source of light is the same, but the QBs just do it on a larger scale. The main advantages for QBs are: Thermal management is much simpler. The board can be mounted to a thin piece of aluminum with no active cooling and the diodes stay nice and cool. More uniform spread of light. Compared to a COB that blasts all of its light from a surface 1″ in diameter, these boards are producing even light over the span of a foot. Greater efficiency. At 50 watts, these boards are getting 180+ lumens per watt. Highly efficient COBs like the Cree CXB3590 average 160-170 lumens per watt at 50W. What are the Disadvantages? A few of the disadvantages I can think of are as follows: There’s currently only one supplier and right now they’re completely out of stock. These boards are more difficult to DIY than COBs are (if you want to build the actual board yourself). Though light spread is better than typical COB setups, overall intensity in some areas is bound to be lower. Cost. The price of COBs has really come down lately and even factoring the cost of a heat sink per COB, you could get 3 decent COBs for the same price as one QB with a heat sink. Quantum Boards: The New Alternative to COBs - LED Gardener
Only need two for a. 2x4 space. Can be runnup to 6000Ma with active cooling. I’m running two at about 350 watts wall draw with passive cooling.
Wow! Each of those puts out 240w? I didn't expect that, lol. I was thinking of running 2-3, but 1 will definitely make my plant count go further. How long was your veg, in these photos? I'm currently running 6, under my cobs. I plan to end up with 3... maybe 4 after pulling out any males and inadequate females. Thank you for this! I'm going to dig through that link now. If QBs are that much better then I'll be running them in both of my tents... haha
Essentially they are the same technology but the QB has a better spread out footprint and it's easier to control the heat because its stretched out and has a bigger heat sink
~ 2 months from seeds and had problems at the start... Just to say this, I disagree with "There’s currently only one supplier and right now they’re completely out of stock", this is dated as there are currently many suppliers. HLG ranks high.
Qbs are more efficient with better Samsung diodes. You won’t find an efficacy of 219 lumens per watt anywhere else. Cobs are crushed by qbs in every way except penetration. But nobody is running lenses on their boards.
What driver/how many Ma are you using to push 350 watts? Those look amazing! I'm feeling pretty sold on them at this point... I'm in Canada, so I'm wondering if they'll be more difficult to get my hands on. I was taking a look at them on HLG. They seem to be in stock and on sale right now. QB96 Elite V2 Engine
Meanwell HLG-320H-54a. If you want a little more available power, you could bump up to the 480H-54a per 2. That will give you 245 watts per board but also dimmable
Think of QBs and COBs as different layouts of very similar tech. COB is a shitload of tiny diodes on a tiny chip - think 1" x 1". They put down a cone of pretty intense light, so you may need extra headroom to avoid bleaching. They provide pretty good penetration. QBs are a shitload of less-tiny diodes on a larger board. I think the QB96s are something like 3" x 3"; the larger boards (EG QB288) are more like a sq foot. Light is a little less intense, but the evenness of coverage can't be beat. Lower intensity is *very* easily overcome by adding more power or lowering the light - the spread of diodes also means on some models they can sit closer to the plants. The QB96 users on here have done some awesome stuff with them (and frankly I'm amazed at how well they spread light for being 3" sq). I use 288s and I love them. In either case I would say the QBs are the better choice overall for growing our favorite plant. I switched from blurples to COBs to QBs and each hop has effectively been an upgrade.
...Sexy T6 Warrior avatar! You're all amazing! Thank you for all of this info. My shopping list so far is, QB96 Elite V2 Engine x 4 Meanwell HLG-320H-54a x 2 or HLG recommends the HLG-320H-C2800 x 2 Do any of you know where I can pick those up online? Canadian preferably, but I don't think it matters.
Lol thanks - my Steakbomb handle is from my Tauren Warrior hahaha I know you said you haven't ordered from HLG before, but they have great customer service and I'm pretty sure other Canadian blades have ordered from them w/o issue...
LOL! That stood out right away when I got your notification. I main warrior too; Looking forward to classic servers! I'm definitely going to order the QBs off of HLG. I've repeatedly heard good things about them. I don't see any drivers on there, so I was more so wondering about those.
If you order their kits they include drivers (at least the QB288-based kits). If you order a bunch of separate parts then confer with the QB crowd on here for where to buy. RapidLED has a decent selection of drivers - I just ordered one from there (along with some other parts). You could also order straight from meanwell... Unfortunately no idea on shipping northward on either of those... Maybe @Soil2Coco could meet you at the border lol
I actually purchased my COBS from RapidLED and they were great to deal with. I did get hit with a $150 bill at the door though. I was just looking at QB96 Elite V2 Engine . It doesn't seem like they have kits available on HLG for this, unless I'm missing them.
I created a new thread for the build. Like Steakbomb mentioned, I'll need to refer to other members to get this thing put together. Here's the link! QB96 Elite V2 Build - Advice and help filling in the blanks.