Hello fellow growers , new indoor grower here starting up a new tent a 4x4 or most likely a 5x5 will be my footprint and I want the best light a can buy already assembled , I will build my own for my next project My goal is to produce the highest quality buds I can and am looking for info on what light to go with. Cost takes a back seat to quality rt now bcuz I’m buying and not building so I need all the help I can get to produce some top shelf smoke (I’m in Cali so the completion is stiff) any and all help is greatly appreciated I have kinda narrowed it down to those 3 light setups , and am considering a perpetual harvest with a flower tent and veg tent , flower being 5x5 and veg 2x4 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Quantum boards. Quite frankly top shelf comes with the skill of the grower don’t hope for that for awhile. You can get some fire for sure but don’t expect top shelf until you’ve gotten a few harvests under your belt. Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
Oh absolutely, I didn’t mean to come across like that but I’m not giving up until I do lol so this light has to be a good choice and not a regret Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I didn’t want you to get your hopes up. lol it’s not easy but if you stay with it and learn each go around you’ll improve each time. Lighting and environment hands down the most important thing to growing good buds. Anything HLG will come with no regrets lol. I’m pretty sure the 550 will cover a 5x5. Wait for some one else to chime in that truly knows that answer. @Or_Gro @Soil2Coco @tboneshuffle will be able to answer that question. Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
Lol thanks , I have been wanting to do this for years and now I am finally able to I’m so pumped lol Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Go slow with the perpetual grows. Before you know it you’ll be neck deep in plants. The worst mistake I made lol too many plants and too new to growing to keep up. Do 2-4 plants at most at a time to get a feel for it and bump it up by twos as you go. I’ve got roughly 16 plants currently lol it’s a pain in the ass sometimes but I love it. You’ll be good man. Just get your system down and get one style of growing down at a time. You can do multiple training techniques to figure out which one suits you. But I’d run one medium at a time. I currently have soil and hempy buckets running I’d never wish that on a newer grower. lol hydro and soil at the same time while learning would be a MOFO. It’ll take time and patience. But you’ll fall in love with it everyone does. Go with the quantum boards! They’re hands down the best thing I’ve ever added to my grow room period the end. lol Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
@Tbone Shuffle can tell you anout a 550, I have the equivalent of two of them in my 4x4....two timber 48sams...
Don’t mean to tag you guys all the time!! I’m just not trying to lead anyone in the wrong direction. Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
550 covering a 5x5? I would say no. The reason they put out the 600h fixture is the 550 is a little borderline for even a 4x4. It's good but you can put more power in a 4x4. I'm currently running about 600+ watts approx in my 4x4. One 320h-54a maxed and two 240h-c1050a's dimmed all the way on the current dimmer to half power. To fully outfit a 5x5 I would say you would want about 900 watts. Do the math. Appox good watt per square foot level for qb's is 35. 25 square feet x 35 is 875 watts. I have ran as low as 30 watts per square foot but my colas were notably smaller then when I've ran 600+ watts. 16 square feet in a 4x4 x 35 watts = 560. IMO one of the better setups for a 5x5 right now is this driver and 6 qb96's. EFD-1K2S420DT in Box by Inventronics | LED Driver Modules | Future Electronics QB96 Elite V2 Engine It's capable of pushing all of them at 4200mA or the same as max power on an HLG-240h-54a with a single board. That's a series wired driver though. You'll need 600 volt rated wire with that kind of voltage. Over 300 volts. It of course has a dimmer so you can tailor it to the output needed for the 5x5.
I would think 4 about a foot from the corners and two in the middle would give best spread with 6 boards in a 5x5.
I bet there is some grow savant that could put a 550 in a 5x5 with the perfect sea of green on a table setup and smash g/watt because of running such a low watt per square foot even 3 pounds in a 5x5 would smash in g/watt. Most grow methods IMO in that size space would benefit from more power then that. ] Every time I start recommending more power I remember the Growmau5 setup he has since removed that was 850 watts of 32 cree cobs in a 4x8. He got 1.9g/watt at 26.56 watts per square foot. Seeing that always inspired me to attempt to run lower watts per square foot but the reality is that he ran over $1,000 worth of cobs at the time. It was way too many lights dimmed so it allowed him to run that low of watts. Cobs with lenses and such penetrate a little better then no lens boards as well so may be able to run at a lower watt per sq/ft even though the efficiency of the led itself is lower then most samsung powered boards considerably.
This sounds amazing , i would need to build this though correct ? How hard are they to build ? I’m unfamiliar with the process but I’m a quick learner Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
That was my original concern with the hlg was that it wouldn’t be enough power and was considering a cob fixture , I’m not as concerned about efficiency as I am about results if that helps Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
It's very easy. Especially because that driver would be series wired. You would only need splice connectors on two positive and negative driver output wires. You could use a 2 input wago lever connector for that. I would get 600v rated 16awg solid core wire for wiring between the boards. That is a 350+ volt 1200watt driver. You can't just use some bullshit wire. You could build a frame out of angle aluminum or similar material like angle punched steel for garage doors and hang the boards from that. Run the positive output of the driver to the first board. Negative of the first board to positive of the 2nd board. Negative of the 2nd board to positive of the 3rd board until you get to the 6th board and run back to negative of the driver. I would wall mount the driver both for better operating temps and for easy access to the dimmer. These are qb96 boards. I parallel wired on a 54 volt driver so I used 120v extension cords on the output. Can't do that with this 1200v series wired driver I linked but you can take hanging tips if you just wanted to individual hang each board. Two 6" clip on fans blowing on the heatsinks from the top of the grow area would be a good idea.
Thank you @tboneshuffle lol like I said I didn’t wanna lead him wrong I’m still learning about the QB’s I just let you and S2C tell me what to do. lol Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
Hey thanks for tagging them , I’m in the same boat in meaning to be told what to do haha Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
You’re more than welcome! Some of it flys over my head. Those guys know their shit. Especially on the electrical side of things. They won’t steer you wrong. One thing about the 96’s is you will more than likely need to veg with them dimmed. That’d be something to ask them as well. There’s a 96 thread somewhere with all of the layouts in regards to how to position the lights and how far away to have them. I’ll see if I can find the link to it. 18-20” full power during Flower is what’s normally recommended. However during veg you’ll wanna dim them. They’re brighter Then hell. This is my flowering light for a 4x4. (4) hlg 120’s (2) hlg 96’s Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum