Hey guys, I'm sure you get a lot of these kinds of posts but i've been researching lighting for weeks and i'm having a tough time making the final decisions for my 2'x4'x6' tent. Hoping you guys can give me your opinions on some LED options. A couple quick notes on my criteria. 1. I'm not too concerned with price. I'm aware that i could build my own QB's for half the price but i'm looking for a "plug and play" solution. My budget is under $1,000. 2. I'd prefer a wide spectrum white LED vs. the "blurple" options. 3. My tent is 6ft high but i need to also house my carbon filter and 4" duct fan in the tent, meaning that depending on the dimensions of the light, i potentially lose the use of the top 1ft of my tent unless the light is small enough to fit beside the filter & fan. 4. I have limited cooling & heating capabilities for the environment. Average ambient temperature inside the empty tent is between 68F-80F. I'm considering the following: - 1 x HLG Elite 360 LED (w/ 2 x QB96 Elite V2's) HLG Elite 360 or - 1 x Electric Sky ES300 LED Green Sunshine Company - ES300 or - 2 x Optic 2 Gen3 LED's Optic 2 Gen3 COB LED I liked the HLG Elite 360 because of the light output/efficiency and the inclusion of the red/far red LED's on the QB96 boards. I also like the novelty of the bluetooth controller and the fact that it's a unique looking lamp. The size dimensions of the light are also ideal, as i will be running a carbon filter and inline duct fan inside of the tent and could potentially fit the light and the carbon filter beside each other at the top of the tent. I liked the Electric Sky model due to my tent's height restriction and the fact that the ES300 seems like it can be mounted much closer to the canopy than other LED's. The size of the unit takes up most of the space of the 2x4 tent though, meaning i lose the top 1ft of the tent to my carbon filter & duct fan. I liked the Optic 2's because i figure i can run 1 of them for seedlings and young veg before turning on the 2nd light and then eventually turning on the "bloom enhancer" LED's during flowering. I like that 2 lights might potentially get better light coverage with less mounting distance required but i'm a little worried about the additional heat that running 2 of these at 100% will put out. What do you guys think? I know there's a ton of options out there but i need to make a decision soon. Any help is greatly appreciated!
I know you have the money but qb120 or qb 132 will give you the thinnest profile and the least amount of heat. I use the 120 In my 2x4. It raises the temp maybe 5 degrees I have no exhaust out the tent just fans inside. I look in enough to exchange air. You could also look at running your filter outside the tent because 6 feet is not a lot of head room! Also look into Alibaba.com many have gone this route and like them. Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
I've looked at some of the other quantum board offerings, like the HLG 100 V2 boards. They were in my "top 5" list while I was considering doing a 4000K QB100 for veg and then adding a couple of 2700K or 3000K COB's for flowering but i didn't want to get too complicated for this little tent. I narrowed in on the QB 96's because of the red/far red diodes, which i hope will help give me a solid start-to-finish tent with a single lighting fixture. I'll likely revisit the qb120's or 132's once i get a dedicated veg tent going. 5 degrees temperature increase is definitely something i can manage. Much more than that means i'd have to start coordinating my grows with the seasons, or invest in some heating and cooling apparatus. Obviously in a 6ft tent i won't be growing any monsters but it'll be a good chance to brush up on my training and scrog techniques Thanks for the suggestion.
Ya, i'm seriously leaning towards the QB96's in the ELITE 360 fixture. The small size of the apparatus, the light output, the red/far red diodes and the funky "toothbrush" look are all pretty appealing for my situation. LOL
If you aren't dead set on going LED I would do a little research on the CMH. They produce less heat and will give you equal results in the end product IMO. Also you can almost buy 3 full CMH setups for the cost of 1 HLG 360. So you could have extra lights when you are ready to upgrade to a larger tent in the future or only buy 1 and find out 6 months from now you have to quit growing and only be out a few hundred bucks vs 800$. Just a thought. I'm not saying the HLG won't perform well. I run QB 288's and I like them just fine.
I'm looking for assistance in choosing a light for my 2x4x6... as per the subject description of this thread. I had a few makes and models in mind and was curious what people thought... and which one people would choose. Thanks for stopping by.
CMH's are where i began the journey when looking for a light for this tent. I'm definitely more familiar with MH's and HPS's from "back in the day"... but i'd really like to give LED's a go. Seems like a lot of people are enjoying the QB's. It's been a bunch of years since i've done any indoor cultivation so it's been pretty cool seeing the latest and greatest LED offerings.
Happy to say that i ordered one of the HLG Elite 360 fixtures. Stoked to check out those QB96 boards.
Rapid LED 2x4 diy kit with the cree Cobs have done well for me for 400$ or a little more Hard to go wrong with the HLG Quantum Boards too. Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
I love what Rapid LED is doing... with their supplemental lighting options, "Growmau5" pucks and DIY kits. Definitely something i'm keeping an eye on, either for future supplementary lighting or for when i start my veg-only tent. Cheers.
Stoked to have gotten the bare-bones of my little 2x4 tent set up. Fitted my 6" filter today, just waiting for my "Cloudline T6" to ship (yes, i've left the plastic wrap on the filter... just fit testing it today, i'll be taking it back out until the fan arrives). Figured i'd jump right in, so i'm running some high CBD seedlings... "Freedom Dream", the seeds of which i got for free as part of the "Overgrow" campagin, so they're perfect to use as a live test while i get things temporarily rigged up to see how everything fits, how temps & RH look, etc... It's definitely going to be a bit of a tight fit but i'm already loving the "HLG Elite 360" with the 2 QB96's and the bluetooth multi-dimming capability.
Well damn, those QB96's are some powerful lights! Had them at about 38" above the seedlings, dimmed to 30% and it was still too intense. Woke up this morn to find the seedlings looking very light stressed. Moved to 50" and dimmed to 20%. Makes me wonder how efficient it is to be running at 20%... Probably better off with a small, dedicated veg light until they can handle the QB96's.
I've discovered a not-so-funny little quirk with the HLG Elite 360 light and it's bluetooth controller. I set the thing so that the default intensity is at 20% when it turns on. You program this via an app, which communicates with the light controller. Unfortunately, you can only program light intensity settings, there isn't an "on/off" setting via the app. Because of this, i have the light connected to a mechanical timer. When i got home today, the light was on full power! Tent itself didn't get too hot (24.1C) but the driver was over 40C! Obviously the programmed 20% "on" setting either didn't save properly or just didn't activate. I manually reduced the light intensity via the app and I increased my fresh air intake from outside, putting the intake duct directly over the driver, which helped cool things down pretty quick. I'll have to figure out this bluetooth controller... not sure those little seedlings are too happy with me right now, as they endured another lumen blast... Not only that but i watered from the wrong can, with water in the 7.2/7.3 PH range... oops!
Dang, that’s pretty scary. I’ve looked into Bluetooth controllers, and this fear was always in the back of my head. I would hate to have an accident happen while I’m away. Hoping you get this figured out.
I wonder if the controller forgets what power level was stored when the mechanical timer kicks on/off. Hopefully it’s user error. If not, I would hope hlg gets it situated. This issue could be widespread depending on how many of these fixtures shipped.
I don't think my driver ever gets that hot. Full power or not and I'm running the same driver on the same boards. The way they mount it right in between the lights on a metal frame makes the driver on the pre made fixture run 20 degrees hotter at least compared to wall mounting. I guess it makes the fixture one unit but it's far from ideal. There should not be a problem maxing out the driver on that fixture. It's way below the max rated output of those boards.
My thoughts exactly. I understand the function and convenience, but get that driver outside if you can.