The center is the canopy is getting ideal numbers. It falls off pretty aggressively towards the front and back of the tent, facing the the tent opening. I should have time to rearrange the lights this week, and get things evened out. At this point, I’m fairly confident my strategy to add additional diodes / power, while dialing the power back down, will achieve an even spread. I’m am still very surprised how cool these run with a small Heatsink, and relocating the drivers outside of the tent.
Nice fixture but seems a bit overkill no? Just the four 96elites should be plenty for a fixture that size. Then again he can run this super soft and get a bit extra efficiency out of the boards. Do you know what kind of power he is running with it?
Overkill or not, it’s fun to look at! Lol This was a random picture my bud sent me, pulled from Instagram. I don’t know the power specs, but im sure it’s an public profile.
Here’s a small update - I’ve been struggling a bit coming up with a rigid way to connect the lights to the pigtail harness. I dug around my toolbox and found these banana plugs and terminals. I think this might work, without the need to custom fabricate a part that accomplishes what I’m trying for. I don’t think this will be the final connector I use, but since I have the parts, I’ll try it out.
Update on my plants - 60k lux is too much for them to handle right now. I’m noticing light bleaching on the tops. I’m dialing it down to 55k at the center. Now that I have my wiring in order, I’ll get the third light up soon. The light penetration is better on these lights than anything else I’ve ever seen. This is 18” of growth, maybe more. I’ll wait until my third light is up before I prune further. Backing down the lights 10-15% should keep things steady for now.
I’ve mentioned before, I’m a novice when it comes to nutrients. Here’s what I’ve been using since my first grow. My tap water is a low to-mid 8ph. The tiger bloom drops the ph almost 1.5 point, and the big bloom, maybe another .2 at most. I really don’t have to use the ph down much, if I mix the other two consistently at 10ml each. I try and use the least amount of supplemental nutrients the soil doesn’t provide, but after seeing how a good diet can increase yield, I’m going to study up.
I ordered some of these spring terminal blocks I plan to hotglue a pair on each board and wire them to the boards port so I can just wire them on the fly or remove without having to deal with the PITA ports these boards have. These come on x2 and x3 blocks and they are pretty cheap with good reviews. For my last fixture I also did everything with fancy shmancy waterproof connectors but for my next one I think I'm going to take a simpler approace by just using a junction box and terminal blocks, or wagos, to wire everything up. This way I dont have to install any connectors and it can still be waterproof in the box.
I’m on the same level as you. I am going to pursue a water resistant system, and while maybe unnecessary, it’s a good precaution. This is coming from a guy that zaps himself often I still plan on using a project box, with some sort of “quick” connect style fitting, with a terminal block, like I’ve been using on my design so far. I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel, just transferring my knowledge from engine bay tucking to lighting I’m trying to come up with a plan to have an easy enough system the average joe can figure out, with the ability to satisfy the guy that wants readily available parts to get thing done. - good call on the hot glue. I had my chick find hers a few days ago so I could seal bare wire to the board
Last update - here’s a side by side of a 4K vs. a 3k + 660nm. While running a test a few days back, I slightly burned the tops of these three. I attempted 10 hours of of 561c board, driven full blast by a hlg-240. Temperature kept consistent 3 degrees plus or minus ambient. If you prefer a thicker soil, I’m really liking this off the shelf mix. ————-///// I backed the lights down 10-15%. I hope this gives them a chance to cool down a bit. Anyone who might read this - find a meter as soon as you can. Inches make a difference.
All three plants are growing pretty evenly. I have a few low spots, but nothing major. Some pistols starting to show
Here’s the readings I’m going to start taking daily - Lux - the power was kept the same. The overnight growth brought it closer to the lights. Surface temp of the tops, under the hot spot, in between two boards. Surface temp of the board.