Idea for a Complete Grow System out of a small Armoire

looks do-able but pretty difficult, that thing will be hard to smell proof because you will have to get it pretty close to air tight, I would just get a small tent instead but just my opinion

 

I have a wooden cabinet almost exactly like that that I was planning on using on the side to grow males for breeding projects. I was looking at these things the other day and they look perfect for that sized cabinet. That and the AC Infinity fan that they recommend to go with it. However, if you look on AC Infinity's website, you can get that same fan with a power adapter that increases its CFM even more to like 65. Plus, it has a speed controller.

Flower Carbon Filter - Starter Kit - Flower™ Carbon Filters

MULTIFAN S3-P, Quiet AC-Powered Cooling Fan, 120mm

Also, something I've done before on a budget to add reflectivity to the walls was taping up white plastic trash bags.

 

You can go qbs in this cabinet.. in every section..

Place drivers outide tent.. 3 separate drivers so u can dim them at different %’s..

Plants can grow right into a properly dimmed light.. being the space isnt very tall..

Any other light touches ur plant, its burning it, no doubt about it..

 

Yeah, I thought he would be best off with QB's also, but he is on a budget, and it looks like the light he is getting is about $70. For a few extra dollars he could get four QB132s or QB120s for $100 (the only place I know of that sells single boards is Atrium Lighting with their 144 diode board, but they are sold out at the moment).

They could be powered individually with the LRS-75-36 ($15) (for the QB132s), or two boards with the LRS-150-36 ($20) (for the QB132s). However, those drivers are not dimmable, they sure are affordable and good quality, but for that space, he's going to need dimmable drivers.

So, it would be cheaper to get drivers for the QB120s. I guess the best thing to do would be to get two drivers at two boards per driver using the HLG-120-24A, at $45 each. That would total at (with estimated shipping and cost of wires added) around $200 (a very good price at only $0.83/watt of the best quality light money can buy.) The light would be vastly superior to the Mars blurple, and the quality at harvest time would be so much better, but that is $130 more than the Mars (not counting the cost of whichever lights he chooses to use in the veg and clone area/s.)

Maybe, get the Mars light, and after the first harvest, sling an oz or two and get the quantum boards.

 

On a budget huh.. okay.. a couple cfl’s up high in those small lower spaces will do good as long as the plants dont touch them.. the cfl’s can be used for veg/clone area.. and get 1 2700k qb for the flower area up top..

If felt like its needed, O.P can get more boards for other areas later.. just seen one on ebay brand new $45 for a qb288.

 

I'm assuming that 288 was without a heatsink right? That's why I've never preferred those over the QB 132 and the QB 120s. The need for a heatsink really adds to the cost and trouble. But, you just can't find the QB132s or the QB120s as singles. I wonder, how hard/easy it would be, to buy a four pack those boards and sell three of them on eBay for $30 a piece.

 

Hey, no worries at all, brother! Six months ago, I was in the same position as you. After a few months of meticulous research and the abundant kindness of the folks on this forum, particularly T-Bone, I learned a lot about quantum boards. I love having the opportunity to give back and help others. Please don't hesitate to ask all the questions you want. I will be here, as will many others who are happy to help you.

You are making a wise decision, doing whatever it takes to get the quantum boards. There are no better grow lights, in respect to quality of light, efficiency, and initial cost. The next best thing are COBs, which are the same quality as quantum boards, but they do not have as good of coverage, and they are about twice the price.

Let me give you a quick rundown on the quantum boards. The biggest and most popular company that makes the boards is called Horticulture Lighting Group, or HLG. But there are other companies beginning to pop up.

You can either get fixtures that are already built and plug-and-play, or you can get the boards and wire them up yourself. The ready-made fixtures are very expensive compared to the do-it-yourself boards. The boards are very easy to wire. There is no soldering required. Plus, this forum is a wonderful resource with an abundance of help.

Basically, the number in the name of the board indicates how many diodes there are on the board. A diode is basically a small dot of led light.

The QB132 has 132 diodes, the QB120 has 120 diodes, the QB288 has 288 diodes, etc. Generally, the diodes give off white/yellow light like the sun. Plants LOVE them!

They come in different color temperatures (kelvin). Generally, higher color temperatures are better for vegging (4000-6500) and lower color temperatures are better for flowering (2700-3000). A good middle ground for both veg and flower is 3500k. But this is not terribly important, there are plenty of folks who have flowered plants out beautifully using boards in 4000k.

The boards require a driver to run them. Everyone uses drivers made by Meanwell. It's very rare to find someone using a driver other than Meanwell. I find the easiest way to determine which driver to use is by focusing on the wattage. You can roughly estimate the wattage a board can take by taking half the number of diodes (USUALLY, not always). For instance, the QB132 has 132 diodes and has a max wattage rating of 75 watts. The QB120 has a rating of 65 watts. The QB288 is 135 watts, etc. This is not always the case though, and the company gives the the wattage for each board. I will explain more later.

The boards generally run cooler than most lights. Some require heat sinks and some don't. A heatsink is basically a piece of metal attached to the back of the board with the purpose of absorbing and dissipating the heat created by the diodes on the board. In many cases, the boards that require heatsinks are sold with the heatsinks.

Personally, I prefer the lower wattage boards that do not require heatsinks. Two of these are the QB132 and the QB120. The most popular board, I think, is the QB288. This board has a wattage rating of 135 Watts. But, people generally run them at 120 watts because the popular drivers come in wattages of 120, 240, and 480. The QB288 requires a heatsink.

Now, to address your question about the boards having "less wattage". Obviously, you can put as many boards as you want in a given space, and, therefore, run as many watts as you want for that space. Generally, with quantum boards, fewer watts are required then traditional HID lights like HPS. With HPS, you generally want a minimum of 50 watts per square foot in order to flower your space. With quantum boards, you only need 30-40 watts per square foot of space. So, in a 4 x 4 area of 16 square feet, you would need a minimum of 800w of HPS for flowering. With QBs, you would need a minimum of 480w. So, as you can see, with QBs, there is significant savings in electricity consumption, and heat generation. Also, the quality of light is unparalleled, IMO.

Not to get too detailed about which drivers to choose for which boards and all that, if you were to start with my favorite board, the QB132, it doesn't require a heat sink, and it takes 75 Watts. So, let's say you want to flower a 2x4 ft space. That's 8 sqft x 30w per sqft, which equals 240 minimum watts required. So, four QB132s, at 75w each, would equal 300 watts, which exceeds 240w, so, four is great for that space. If we tried to run three QB132s in that space, at 75w each, they would add up to 225w, less than 240w, so we need four, not three.

So, we need a driver at 300 watts. Meanwell has a few options. We could under-drive the four boards with their 240 watt driver, the HLG-240H-36A. Notice the 240 in the model name? That means the driver pushes 240 watts. The 36 in the name is the voltage of the driver. Each board runs at a particular voltage, and the voltage of the driver must match. For the QB132, the voltage is 36. (For the QB120, the voltage is 24, and the rated wattage is 65w, so a good driver for four of the QB120s would be the HLG-240H-24A)

Well, at 240 watts, that driver would only run four QB132s at 60 watts each, which is lower than their rated 75 watts. Personally, I prefer the capability of running the boards at their full power. So, I would look for a more powerful driver. The next one up is the HLG-320H-36A. That driver would run the four boards at 80 watts each, only 5w above the rating, which is no problem. You don't have to worry about overdriving these boards a little bit. LEDGardener did a torture test with one of them, the qb288, and it took four times its rated wattage without burning up.

Did you notice the letter A at the end of the driver model name? That is Meanwell's way of saying the driver is dimmable. Being able to dim the driver can come in handy at times, however, it's not a necessity. And you pay more for dimmable drivers. There are cheaper options for drivers that are not dimmable. For instance, you can run four QB132s on the LRS-350-36 driver. They only cost $30-35, as opposed to HLG-320H-36A which costs around $85. That's a pretty big difference, but, in addition to being dimmable, the HLG models have better efficiency at around 93%, while the LRS models are around 89%.

So, I believe you said the space you are going to flower in is 23" x 30" x 16"? Does that mean it's 30" in height? If so, that's like 5 sqft. 5 x 30 watts = 150 watts needed for flowering that space. So, two QB132s at 75 watts each would be perfect for that space. You could run them with the dimmable HLG-150H-36A ($45). I would not recommend the LRS-150-36 ($20) because of your limited vertical space. I can see you having to dim the driver as the plants grow up into the board. For the veg section, you could run a single board with the dimmable HLG-80H-36A ($35), or slightly under power the board with the HLG-60H-36A ($30).

 

Also, I just realized I didn't answer your initial question. Why the QB132 is better than the Mars 300. The mars isn't really a 300 watt light. It actually draws around 150 watts. Two QB132s at 75w each would total 150 watts, and the color of the light is better for the plants, and you can have less of a distance between the plants and the light. Also, the color of the quantum boards is so much more pleasant to work in when you're in your garden.

Cost-wise, two QB132s are $50 (even though you can only buy them in packs of four). When you add in the cost of the 150 watt HLG-150H-36A driver at $45, that's $95, not much more than the Mars' $70. Plus, the QB132 will last you 10 years. The Mars won't. So, at only $25 extra, it's a no-brainer. With quantum boards on the market, blurples, like the mars, are quickly becoming a thing of the past.

 

Yeah, I get it. One thing I told my wife was that they were finally in stock, and if I didn't get them now, they would be out of stock for another few months!!! A sense of urgency can always help. Plus, it's the truth! LOL