My flowering footprint initially will be 10/12 sqft planning to grow to a footprint of 20 to 25 sqft I'm currently thinking of starting with two QB288 panels and the HLG-480H- C1750 drivers. My question is can I add panels to this drivers as my set up grows? Maybe as many as four total? Any suggestions or critics are welcome.
I have also looked at these as well.photo-boost-strip-light-engine. Using them to build a 450 watt system using the HLG480H-C1050A Driver.
Grab a 480H - 54ab instead of a 480h - c1750. Then you can add more 288's as you go. Add them in parallel. You'll need heatsinks for the 288's. Itll take at least (3) 288's to be able to pull all 480W of the driver. After that youll just be evenly distributing the maximum driver wattage between all the boards, so you could put quite a few in parallel but theyd all add up to the same 480W of the driver regardless the number. Less than (3) 288's and youre under using the driver and should buy a smaller one because youre paying more for the bigger driver but not able to use it all. A smaller cheaper one will do the same thing. (4) QB288s (with heatsinks) per 480h is a common ratio used. Youll want about 800W of light come bloom for 25ft2. This means that (2) 480H - 54ab's will be enough driver power for your needs, and the only thing youd have to do is get the other (6) 288's, hook them up and dim your drivers down to at least 355W each if youre closer to 20ft2 or dont want to blast them. Id run them somewhere between 390W - 410W each if your area is 25ft2. Your grow area is the area in which the light will shine, not just the canopy surface area of your plants. If youve plants in the middle but space on the sides, the light that shoots off to the side wont bend and come back in lol so you have to determine light needs based on the area in which the light spread will actually take up. In a tent or room the light spread is stopped at the walls and it is reflected back in, but if youre in an open area, the higher you hang the light the wider the spread becomes meaning a smaller % of the total light produced by the fixture is hitting your plants (because most is shooting off to side), so then youll need more light despite the surface area of your canopy only being yay big. I dont know if youre undecided as to what room theyll go in, or havent finalized a tent size, ect but I thought Id mention that in case you were explaining your areas in terms of what you thought your plants might take up during the various stages of the grow. Veg wattage isn't as big a deal as bloom wattage though you still need light.
Great, Thank You. I have looked into the 54AB a week or so ago and don't remember why I did not consider it. After reading the data sheet, it's the best choice for my needs. I'm initialy setting up a section in my shop of 4 = 12ft . Was thinking of starting with two 288s then going up to four so purchasing a larger driver would be ok as long as I could dim it. I have a lux meter on the way so I can use it to check the amount of lights reaching the canopy. I'm excited to get back into the hobby.. LOL! It's been 40 years. How time flies!. This is a plant I started 2 weeks ago under T8s, but she will go outside soon. The seed came from my medical cannabis. I'm hoping to clone her and use the clones to start the indoor growth in a few weeks or as soon as the organic soil finish cooking.
Can seem to be able to find the 54AB in stock anywhere. The 54A and the 54B are available. If I understand it correctly The A stands for adjustable output voltage and current level and the B is for the Dimming.
A means the current dimming is done via built in POTs on the driver, B means the current dimming is done via an after market dimmer that you buy and hook up to the dimming leads coming from the B style driver. A style drivers don't have dimming leads to hook up an after market dimmer to. I use A style drivers, dimming via the built in POT works just fine for me. The 480h 54A and the 480h 54B are both CV drivers, or constant voltage drivers. CV drivers are designed for lots of current output, while CC drivers (constant current) are designed for high voltage needs (it's almost kinda backwards, if you need high voltages then you want a CC, but if you need lots of current then you want a CV). The difference between an "A" or a "B" style CV driver is mainly the dimming leads that the "B" styles have while the "A" styles don't. Both drivers will have dimming ability, but where/how you do the dimming will be different, ie with a small screwdriver using the built-in POT's ("A"), or with your fingers using a knob on an aftermarket POT ("B"). "A" style CV drivers will have 2 built-in POTs, 1 for voltage output regulation (Vo), and 1 for current output regulation (Io). "B" style CV drivers will have only the current dimming leads. You really don't find yourself messing with the dim setting too much. Maybe adjust between veg and bloom but its not a daily thing so I don't mind the "A" style. The "B" style are nice though especially if you have a cool looking aftermarket dimmer haha
Sounds good man, if vegging in 12ft2 and with only 3 boards, I'd back off driver to around 300W until bloom, then once boom hits, turn back up to an average of 32W per ft2 of grow space. Good luck Top left chart might be useful to you..
Hey Guys, I have an HLG 4 Board set up 4 QB288V1’s) with a HLG-480-54A, and while I don’t know “the numbers”, that puppy is bright!
that's what I thought. I'm planning on using three QB 288 with the HLG-480-54A driver. Could I used three QB648 instead?
Ya that'll work. Those boards can handle more power than a QB288, so you'd only need (4) total even for bloom in a 25ft2 grow area. (2) would crush it in veg. You still would need to dim the driver. Put (2) 648s per 480h 54 come bloom time. Put 2-3 per 480h during veg. Dim per guidlines listed earlier. I think it's the better way to go. Less panels means less mess. They'll need heatsinks.
All I need now is for HLG to stock heatsinks and the diablo boards. They have the 288 and could purchase 4 and drive it with 480, but I'm kind of set on the 648. However, if they don't re-stock their product soon, I may need to go in a different direction.
HLG wont stock the diablo board anymore for diy, they stopped due to people wiring them wrong and burning out the red diodes. You will be able to get them as lights but not diy iiuc
I saw that yesterday. Didn't know the wiring was difference between the boards. Looks Like I'll go with four QB288 instead.
If you have the option go for AB, best of both worlds. I prefer A over B, if running several boards in parallel voltage regulation is handy for board protection.