Tutorial for 240W qb304 kit from Alibaba -> Canada

Discussion in 'Lighting' started by Sanez, May 30, 2018.

  1. #1 Sanez, May 30, 2018
    Last edited: May 31, 2018
    Preamble

    Hello GrassCity!! Thank you for all the amazing help you've given me over the years. I hope that this tutorial can give something back.

    First of all, a big shout-out to @Tbone Shuffle for getting me into HLG's grow lights, by showing off his phenomenal grows. He is definitely worth a follow to anyone looking to see some killer journals with real information to back it up. Also a big thanks to the folks over at alternative to HLG's quantom boards... the supplier! including @trojangrower for helping me find the supplier and wire the kit, and to @reod12x2 for kicking off that thread.

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    Background

    For those who don't know anything about HLG's infamous quantum board grow lights (where have you been lately?) they are currently touted as an industry-leader in the rapidly growing space of high-efficiency cannabis LEDs. This is because they have been reported to produce very heavy yields while using very few watts per square foot. For instance @Tbone Shuffle has reported more than 1.5g per watt, while using only 35W per square foot. That's 2 pounds total growing under 570W in a 4x4! [1]

    By the way, I am not a paid shill. I am a research scientist who just happens to enjoy cannabis. But I digress... either you're convinced or you're not at this point. But here's the problem... HLG and Amazon resellers keep running out of stock! They can't supply fast enough to keep up with demand! To make matters more difficult for Canadians such as @trojangrower and myself, at the time of writing, it has been difficult to find affordable options on their Canadian site, or even available options on their American site. Not to mention the shipping/customs fees. To look for the best value, we turned towards Alibaba.

    Product Links
    Buyer beware: I'm not going to try to defend the legitimacy of these boards. Some people have been ripped off by cheap Chinese knock-offs on Alibaba. @Aolelon knows more about this than I do. But there are some details from @trojangrower over at alternative to HLG's quantom boards... the supplier! that might give you some reassurance, including a microscopic image comparing their diodes to Samsung's LM561C S6 diodes, and some promising preliminary results. On my end, I underestimated their power and made the mistake of running them at 100% for a week in veg, before realizing that I gave my plants some intense light stress (and it wasn't from heat)!

    Let's get on to what this tutorial is about, the FOLITE-240H-2 grow kit from Shenzhen Meijiu Lighting:

    folite240h-kit.png

    Kit Contents (FOLITE-240H-2)
    • Two qb304 boards of chosen colour [2]
    • HLG-240H-C2100B driver (240W) [3]
    • One shared heat sink -- but I recommend asking for two individual heat sinks for flexibility
    • Dimmer switch + remote control
    • 2 plugs (one for dimmer, one for driver)
    • Hangers, clips, screws, and wires
    • Wire connectors (these are no good -- you should get your own)
    This is analogous to the 260W LED Board Kit from HLG (260W QB LED Kit from Canada, or 260W QB LED Kit from USA). Purportedly the same boards, diodes, and driver, but worked out (at time of writing) to a grand total of $347.40 CAD, which includes: taxes, USD/CAD conversion, bank fee, customs, and 5 day shipping to Ontario / Canada. It also came with a dimmer switch and remote! Don't forget to factor in all of these added costs, regardless of where you decide to purchase. The cheapest shipping option for me was $75 USD, and the customs was nearly $50! Still, cheaper than any other option we could find (including HLG Canada at the time of writing)!

    The most difficult part was the wiring, so let's jump right in!!

    Complete Wiring Diagram (Below)

    Refer to my additional disclaimer at the bottom of this post, before proceeding with this tutorial or doing any work. If you do not feel confident or know what you are doing, then hire a certified electrician.

    wiring_diagram.png

    The above image shows the wiring diagram that I put together, with help from @trojangrower. The individually labelled figures (purple boxes) may be found below.

    Figure 1 (Below) - The LED Driver (HLG-240H-C2100B)

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    Figure 2 (Below) - Wiring one Power Cord to the Driver (AC)

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    Figure 3 (Below) - Wiring the other Power Cord and Driver (DIM) to the Dimmer

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    Figure 4 (Below) - Wiring the Driver (V) to the Provided Wires

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    Figure 5 (Below) - Wiring the qb304 Boards in Parallel

    IMG_20180506_082357.jpg

    Additional Details

    The provided connectors are not very good, and so I used electrical wire caps (orange) rated for two to three 16/18 gauge wires. Make sure you follow proper safety precautions when working with electrical wires. Do not handle any live wires (plugged in). Use properly rated connectors/caps, and secure them well. Never leave any wiring exposed, and do not rely on electrical tape / cable ties for safety (although you may use them for extra piece of mind). Note that the ground on the power cord to the dimmer is capped off.

    One of the more confusing parts is that the driver says that DIM+ is GRAY and DIM- is BLACK. However, that is actually just the colour of these small wrappers barely visible on the bottom-left of Figure 3. The actual wire insulation is BROWN and BLUE respectively. Also, the brown colour appears pink to my eyes, and so I say "brown (pink)" in the wiring diagram.

    When you wire up the dimmer, make sure to feed the wires through the opening in the white plastic box first before connecting them, otherwise you won't be able to close it! Similarly, I didn't realize at first that a thin front cover must be pried off (see below) in order to screw the box closed. Make sure to put it back on the right way, otherwise you might block the remote antenna receiver!

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    You might also be wondering why there are two separate power cords. The one for the driver will be plugged into a timer to control the light cycle (e.g., 12/12 for flowering), and the one for the dimmer must always remain powered. If the dimmer were to ever lose power, then you must twiddle the knob or use the remote to turn it back on and restore the previous setting (it is a digital circuit without memory).

    Lastly, many people leave the driver outside of their tent in order to keep the heat down, since it is the hottest part of the kit (just a few degrees hotter than the surface of the heat sinks). If you have "enough" circulation around the light and exhaust, then heat should not be a problem.

    Optional Frame

    For convenience, and to keep everything clean and self-contained, I arranged both boards width-wise (see below) and mounted everything on 3/4" aluminum angles (Steelworks Solid Aluminum Angle | Canadian Tire).

    This is purely optional, as you can simply hang the heatsink(s) by themselves and mount the driver wherever (except for the floor, in case of floods or spills). But I wanted everything together as a square, which is why I asked for two separate heat sinks -- instead of the long skinny single sink -- as this arrangement is more uniform for a 2.5' x 2.5' tent. If your tent is more rectangular then a single heatsink may work better.

    The angles aren't too difficult to cut with a determined hack saw, and the edges can be cleaned up with a file. A regular drill bit can also get through these with a steady hand and a pilot hole (just hammer a nail on it first so the bit doesn't slip).

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    One last word of caution: do not start these babies off at 100%. That can seriously kill your plants. Give them some time to adapt to the light. It has been recommended by @4ala2sk0a that, for these boards, 10-15W per square foot is enough for veg, and 30-35W per square foot is plenty for flower (Weird 8 fingers coming from stem, after qb304's). This means, for a 2.5' x 2.5' tent, that these should be run at 26-39% for veg, and 78-91% for flower. Good thing they include a dimmer switch and remote control with percentages!

    IMG_20180505_195658.jpg

    [1] @Tbone Shuffle was using 570 watts in a 4x4 tent and yielded 2 pounds (907 grams, or 32 ounces), which is 2 ounces per square foot. Source: 4oz per square foot indoors.

    [2] You can choose colours between 2700K, 3000K, 3500K, and 4000K. I went with 3000K and 3500K to get a mix that's biased towards flowering.

    [3] This is intended for a 2.5' x 2.5' tent (5' high), or larger, to max out at 38W per square foot. Some say that you shouldn't go over 40W for flowering with these lights, or you might stress your plants. This is strain-dependent.

    Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with or endorsed by either HLG or Shenzhen Meijiu Lighting. I cannot vouch for the legitimacy/authenticity of Alibaba products. This thread is intended purely for informational purposes, to give back to the amazing GrassCity community, and to assist others in making well-informed decisions. I am not a certified electrician. This tutorial comes, as is, without any warranty or guarantee of any kind. Follow these instructions at your own risk.
     
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  2. Thanks for all the shout outs. If you want better documentation of the possible grams per watt. Growmau5 on youtube did a qb board grow about a year ago now and got 1.69 grams per watt.


    Nice looking lights. I've noticed myself that young plants like a lot of light distance to these leds and I use qb120 boards for veg. I put them 28-30" from smaller plants in veg. I get light stress if I go closer. I slowly work them down to 18" range or closer if the plant can tolerate it.
     
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  3. It's not the highest efficiency numbers out there. Growmau5 has got up to 1.9grams/watt with Cree 3590 cobs. That is only .21 g/watt behind and if you watch both videos the quantum board grow he did didn't go as well.

    I was originally going to go with a DIY cree cob light but when I saw how much cheaper and easier it was to built with the quantum boards and I saw that their performance was close I knew what I wanted. The actual efficiency numbers of the diodes in the qb boards is higher but the crees have a more focused downward output when compared. I think if someone ran both the lenses that HLG sells and the reflectors you would make up for the lack of light focus.
     
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  4. This is awesome you guys. Really digging all the work provided.
     
  5. You should send them the diagram and tell them to put it in their kits!
     
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  6. "It's not the highest efficiency numbers out there. Growmau5 has got up to 1.9grams/watt with Cree 3590 cobs. That is only .21 g/watt behind and if you watch both videos the quantum board grow he did didn't go as well."

    I'm thinking the spread over the canopy is really working out for me. As well, one can always add a few extra strips to augment either cob or qb.
     
  7. The strips look interesting also.
     
  8. @Tbone Shuffle I found this also, their kits use the 240h c2100a also. Not denying u know which is which and why I'm just showing u why I thought the 240 c2100a was the choice ✌
     
  9. Copy that but you really have to pay attention to what voltage your particular board is calling for. These are not HLG built boards so the voltage is the one they chose to build with. You can make these boards in voltage ranges from 24 all the way up to 110volts DC like the qb304's from HLG. These 304's just happen to be built with the 288's voltage type range that fits under what the 2100a driver is capable of.

    When you look at all the 240h drivers there's always a trade off in current output and voltage range. The lower the current rating the higher the voltage range the driver will hit. It's because wattage is volts x amps. They are inversely related in a driver of the same wattage range. If you built a 4 board fixture with the qb132 you have to use the 1750a in order to hit the voltage range required for 36 volts x 4 boards. That's 144 volts. If you look at the voltage range of the 2100a driver in the specs it can't hit 144 volts. Even though the 2100a would be a great fit for the qb132 with 4 in series as far as current since the max rating is 2000mA it just can't hit the right voltage to run them so you have to get a lower current range driver.
     
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  10. I have two of these kits and I have a question about using them to start seeds.

    Even when you turn the dimmer to the off position the light does not turn off all the way. Would it be best to turn them on and all the way down or should I turn them "off" and start the seeds that way?
     
  11. So from that site whats the best legit seller? Anyone

    Sent from my SM-J727P using Tapatalk
     
  12. You can sprout seeds with no lights. Once you get the seeds sprouted and growing you can turn the lights on. You can use a combination of dimming and light distance to manage the intensity for a young plant. Start off at about 32" or so light distance and you won't need to dim it at all. I usually don't dim my fixtures. I like to maximize light and growth potential. You can use light distance instead of dimming.

    Up until very recently we've never really had effective dimming with grow lights. HPS lights when dimmed don't grow as well. It screws with their spectral output. A 1000 watt bulb in order to have it's most efficient output needs to run at it's design heat and current level. LED's aren't like that. They actually increase in efficiency of output when dimmed.

    Most of those included dimmers on HLG series drivers will dim the light down about 50% or so. I would start at 24 hr light cycle for the first two weeks to get them growing rapidly and work your way down slowly to about a 18-20" light distance. You can get them as close to 14-16" from some plants depending on the strain and your garden's conditions.
     
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  13. Than
    Thanks for taking the time to explain it all man
     
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  14. Received my FOLUX-240H-288 V2-2 3000K (QB288 V2 quantum board 288 LM301B) today and this post has been very helpful assembling the kit. Bought it 5 days ago from Shenzhen Meijiu (dealt with Rita Fang who was most helpful dealing with my wishes) for around $160 (and another $40 for shipping), so $200 overall (had it shipped to Europe). Had some trouble getting it to work, especially since the boards are being mounted parallel, instead of my other kit, a 260 watt kit from HLG Spain, which was wired in series. Also, the dimmer got me stuck for a while, so this was most useful! The Folux is currently in my 4x4 tent together with the HLG 260 kit and I must say, it's an incredible sunbath for my plants. Love the dimming function.
     
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  15. Sanez. Thanks for the nice shout out. That looks like an amazing kit. I learned that you can wire the 304's in parallel with a 2100a/b driver from this. For some reason I never realized that one. When I usually think parallel wiring I don't look for constant current drivers. Most that are wired parallel use 54a/b drivers or other low voltage ranges for constant voltage and constant current.
     
  16. Hey, how did you end up paying meijiu? Apparently they don't take PayPal right now and they want or CC. Seems sketchy?
     
  17. I got my Folux kit from Shenzhen Meijiu and paid by credit card. it's the easiest for me, I never use PayPal. Nothing sketchy about them. Just follow the step on Alibaba they give you, it takes you thru a trade assurance deal. You are protected in case they don't follow thru on the end, but enough people on here have purchased thru Alibaba and I haven't heard a single complaint about getting ripped off, not getting product they paid, whatever.
    it's your hard-earned money, you have to feel comfortable with the payment method when you buy something but I wouldn't consider buying thru Alibaba "sketchy" because they may not take PayPal.
     
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  18. Anyone try their 304 plus boards? The have infrared light diodes built in. Havnt really looked into them yet but my impression was infrared wasn't very usable no?
     
  19. It's not sketchy at all it goes through alibaba's escrow system.

    They only get the money unfrozen when you confirm the receipt of the package.
     
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