Looking for the best deal on Quantum Boards for my 4x4x8 tent. I'm currently running 4x HLG QB288 V2 with Samsung LM301B's and 3000k spectrum. Link to my current light. x2 I'm looking for something with similar output except with a 3500k or even 4000k spectrum for veg only. I was also wondering about these kits I've been seeing on AliBaba.. are these legit boards or knock offs? If they're knock offs, does anyone have any experience with them and how do they stack up against the HLG branded QB's?
Currently running 20 of the 128 boards. No heat sinks. None needed. 3500 for both veg and flower. So far very good for veg. Seems to be flowering well too but final test will be on consumption. Alibaba is for the most part legit. Like anything else trust your gut
I hope to get to 20 one day.. These places on there seem legit. Is that were these US venders are getting their supply and just jacking the prices up? If that's the case, I potentially lost over $300
QBs are just a panel light. Many factories makes them. Differences are in the bins of the LEDs. All said and done I paid around a buck a watt including drivers and fixtures.
The 2 different places I'm currently looking at are both using the LM301B.. That's the same diodes I got from HLG. Is there anything better than that at the moment that you know of?
The hlg qb 96 is top end ATM. But won't be in 6 months, it really depends on how big of a space you are working with and what you're temp issues are. My growing areas can get pretty hot so not having to use heat sinks and being able to locate the drivers driver's outside the room is a huge plus for me and why I went with the boards I did. I don't really keep up with bin updates but @Tbone Shuffle does and is much more knowledgable than myself. What is the size of the veg area you want to do?
I have 2 tents I'm trying to setup for perpetual. Both are 4x4x8. I may get a smaller 3rd tent for clones and seedlings.
The HLG brand qb288 v2's are actually built by Samsung themselves, not an alibaba Chinese company. The v1's were built in an unknown factory but since then samsung built an assembly plant for HLG they sell so many boards. It could be some of the alibaba companies are building legit boards. I don't own any but from what I've seen it's a little hit and miss if they'll have identical output to the HLG boards. If you build your HLG fixtures DIY and source the driver/splice connections/hangers you can build a fixture almost as cheap as many of the unknown brands are selling for on alibaba. A 4 board pack of qb120's in 4k is $120 at HLG's website. Team that up with a meanwell HLG-240h-c2100a in series and you have a 250 watt veg setup that easily covers a 4x4 for likely under $200 depending on what you spend on hangers and wire. It takes a little less then half the amount of power to flower a space compared to bloom. Your bloom area uses two 240h drivers so your veg area should use one. If you buy the A on the end model you'll have a built in dimmer as well for limiting the power even further at the beginning of veg when the plants are sensitive.
I've heard from people that are in the board building market that in 6-8 weeks new samsung diodes are coming out that outperform the 301b's. I have no info on their actual performance numbers but If they continue with the current trend of the advancement of each model they should go down slightly in voltage and go up at least 5-8% in efficiency. That's about the difference between the v1 and v2. That actually mirrors what happens with cpu's in computer building. They go down in voltage requirements each time they shrink the manufacturing process and redesign the chips. CPU's went down over 50% in voltage requirements in 10 years.
I'll see. If there is a really reasonably priced new product like the qb96 elites were $99 I might try one. It also depends on how much they improve. If you have paid attention to the different boards as they come out the 301b diode based boards have been out about year now. It's about time for a new diode.
Did you decide what your going to go with on a 4×4' area. I'm about to make the move over to QBs as well, I've got two 4×4' areas and I want to make one flower and one veg. 1600$ budget and I have no clue what I'm going to do. I would be really interested in hearing what you've come up with. Sent from my SM-G955U using Grasscity Forum mobile app
I would definitely go that route.. except everything QB V2 related is sold out. I'm flipping to bloom in about 3 weeks, so I will need the lights before that time. I may be forced to go with the AliBaba brand if HLG doesn't replenish their stock in the next few weeks. I have 2 tents and both are 4x4. I currently have 6 (3 mature and 3 sprouts) in one tent under 4 QB288's. In about 3 weeks time I'm gonna remove the 3 sprouts and put them in the 2nd tent with the new 4000k lights. The 3 matures are gonna stay in the tent they're in now and ima switch to 12/12. Before I put the matures in bloom cycle ima take some clones and put them in the new tent too. At that rate I should have a harvest every few months or so.
I run the alibaba boards and love them - my space is 10' x 5' - I use 2 of the bava boards and 1 burple over each of my spots 2018-BAVA-hlg-65-grow-led-board by RecliningCough posted Feb 12, 2019 at 10:22 PM new lights by RecliningCough posted Jan 24, 2019 at 5:15 PM Got them from Alwen Peng - great experience dealing with him great price = 8 - 120QB's with drivers and hangers for 420.00us shipped to my door if you want Alwens info message me
I have Bava and Meijiu both bookmarked. I was leaning towards Meijiu though idk why. Just a gut feeling I guess. Good to hear from someone who has experience with them though. Especially because it's a strong possibility I may be going with one of these companies being as though HLG is sold out.
That is what I ran into - HLG never had what I needed - so I went to the suppliers ..... the boards I got are both 301 and 561 I believe it was - and in 3000K but the price was unbeatable and in researching the difference is not really noticeable between the two...
Have you checked today? 3500k and 2k qb120 4 packs in stock. QB120 V2 Quantum Boards 3500k is a good veg spectrum.
Probably the best bloom setup right now in a 4x4 is 4-6 qb96's with 2 meanwell HLG-320h-54a drivers. Those are also in stock.
For a veg only light, wouldn't 4000k be a better option being as though it has almost double the 450nm wavelength intensity? Wouldn't I most likely need 6? Which would turn into nearly a $800 setup after drivers, connectors and shipping. I do think these 660nm LEDs are interesting though. I'm currently vegging with a 3000k spectrum, I wanted to get a 4000k as my second light for vegging purposes. I think the only way I would get a 2nd 3000k spectrum light is if it included the 660nm LEDs like the QB96's. But I don't want to get into the $800 range. QB800 (700 LM301B Diodes & 100 660nm Red Diodes) Alternatively, for $500 I could get a kit with these boards.