Calling all Quantum Board Gurus

[Marzbadrock]

Needing some expertise from someone familiar with quantum boards. I'm looking to light 4 grow tables, each table is 40 sq ft @ 5ft × 8ft. I was thinking of using per table 6 of the 260w rpsec quantum boards on the xl heatsinks. In my thinking this will give very even coverage with no more than 12 inches of space between panels. However I'm open for suggestions.

20200928_184032.jpg

• Marzbadrock
• Sep 28, 2020

 

[BeanTownFan420]

 

[TorturedSoul]

52 amps of grow lighting (@120V, with no losses), that's more than the electrical capacity of my house, lol.

 

[Edzzed]

With that schematic, You are at 39 watts per square foot. My lights in a 4x4 tent draw 609 watts from the wall and it's about 38 watts per square foot. Read up on my sig below. I built my own lights with Costco cookie sheets. I would say your set up should do well.

 

[013]

52 amps can”t be right, 13 amps sounds better.

 

[Marzbadrock]

With that schematic, You are at 39 watts per square foot. My lights in a 4x4 tent draw 609 watts from the wall and it's about 38 watts per square foot. Read up on my sig below. I built my own lights with Costco cookie sheets. I would say your set up should do well.

I'll check it out! I dont mind DIY but my time is spread thin these days. Kind of looking at the sp3000 as well but need research some more.

 

[TorturedSoul]

52 amps can”t be right, 13 amps sounds better.

Six 260-watt panels per table, four tables.

6 * 260 * 4 = 6,240 watts.

6,240 watts @ (single-phase) 120V, assuming a .99 power factor... is 52.5252525253 amps. If they're not quite that efficient, a .92 PF instead of .99... it'll be 56.5217391304 amps.

Remember to account for voltage losses in the line/etc. from the circuit panel to the electrical outlets, too. If the voltage is, for whatever reason, reduced to 112V by the time it reaches the electrical outlets (which is not, by any stretch of the imagination, impossible), the amperage goes up - 56.2770562771 amps if the devices have a .99 PF, and 60.5590062112 amps if they have a .92 PF.

Also remember the importance of load-balancing the electrical panel. And that it's commonly recommended to not go over an 80% load on a circuit. Finally, remember that you cannot "split an electrical device's load between two circuits," lol. But that shouldn't really be significant, since the individual device requirements are not huge.

 

[Marzbadrock]

Six 260-watt panels per table, four tables.

6 * 260 * 4 = 6,240 watts.

6,240 watts @ (single-phase) 120V, assuming a .99 power factor... is 52.5252525253 amps.

I've got four 220v 30 amp breakers just for flower room. Currently running 1000w hps

 

[Nunyabiz]

You could build two 4'x4' strip lights for each 5x8 which would be about 1300 watts.
Probably about $700 per light

 

[013]

Sorry Tortured - I did a fubar on the formula, apparently it’s been years since I’ve done ohms law. Shit that’s a lot of amperage for lights! Better pour epsom salt on your power meter! Ha ha!

 

[Marzbadrock]

You could build two 4'x4' strip lights for each 5x8 which would be about 1300 watts.
Probably about $700 per light

I've actually been reading alot from you over the last year! I read alot more than i post. Im not against the DIY at all, i just dont have the time to track down everything, build and assemble. Even if its all delivered to me I dont have the time. Im still trimming a crop from june! On top of that I've got a whole crop in buckets from august....n guess what ill have in october....another crop! Im the grower, the trimmer, the packaging, the store operator, accounting...need 36 hour days! I been poor, dirt poor all my life. Im a DIY kinda guy! But to save a couple hundred right now, just gotta bite the bullet n buy something less tome consuming.

 

[Marzbadrock]

[

Sorry Tortured - I fubared on the formula, it’s been years since I’ve done ohms law. Shit that’s a lot of amperage for lights! Better pour epsom salt on your power meter! Ha ha!

I'm in a good part of the country for electrical cost thankfully.

 

[TorturedSoul]

I've got four 220v 30 amp breakers just for flower room. Currently running 1000w hps

Nice! Looks like you've got it covered, then. I hadn't considered 220V LED panels.

With that schematic, You are at 39 watts per square foot.

He is if each 5' x 8' table is in a 5' x 8' room. If all four tables are in one larger room, you'd need to divide the total wattage by the area of the room. Example: 1' perimeter space between the walls and tables, 3' walkway between the tables, tables in a 2x2 grid.

(1' + 5' + 3' + 5' + 1') * (1' + 8' + 3' + 8' + 1')

...equals 315 square feet, illuminated by 6,240 watts of lighting.
Which equals approximately 19.49 watts per square foot.

That's just an example. If the two tables on the left are shoved together end-for-end, and the two tables on the right are shoved together end-for-end, it changes things slightly, because there's no "+ 3'" in the second (...) part. So you'd get 270 square feet, and 23.11 watts per square foot. And there's a good possibility that neither of these examples exactly matches the OP's grow room setup.

Unless you can completely confine the light-energy to the active grow space - which means walling each table off or, alternatively, pushing all the tables together so they end up being one larger unit and then walling that off ), then you have to count the rest of the space in your calculations, too. You can't just tell the photons where to go, lol.

EDIT: Note that some physics got left out because I'm old(er) and tired. In a confined space, light spreads but it the portion of it that isn't absorbed from the surfaces it hits gets reflected, blah blah blah zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

 

[Edzzed]

Nice! Looks like you've got it covered, then. I hadn't considered 220V LED panels.



He is if each 5' x 8' table is in a 5' x 8' room. If all four tables are in one larger room, you'd need to divide the total wattage by the area of the room. Example: 1' perimeter space between the walls and tables, 3' walkway between the tables, tables in a 2x2 grid.

(1' + 5' + 3' + 5' + 1') * (1' + 8' + 3' + 8' + 1')

...equals 315 square feet, illuminated by 6,240 watts of lighting.
Which equals approximately 19.49 watts per square foot.

That's just an example. If the two tables on the left are shoved together end-for-end, and the two tables on the right are shoved together end-for-end, it changes things slightly, because there's no "+ 3'" in the second (...) part. So you'd get 270 square feet, and 23.11 watts per square foot. And there's a good possibility that neither of these examples exactly matches the OP's grow room setup.

Unless you can completely confine the light-energy to the active grow space - which means walling each table off), then you have to count the rest of the space in your calculations, too. You can't just tell the photons where to go, lol.

Then it appears he (might) need 104 amps. lol. I was looking at is as mine is in a tent. Didn't realize it could be a room or a warehouse. Me bad....

 

[Marzbadrock]

Nice! Looks like you've got it covered, then. I hadn't considered 220V LED panels.



He is if each 5' x 8' table is in a 5' x 8' room. If all four tables are in one larger room, you'd need to divide the total wattage by the area of the room. Example: 1' perimeter space between the walls and tables, 3' walkway between the tables, tables in a 2x2 grid.

(1' + 5' + 3' + 5' + 1') * (1' + 8' + 3' + 8' + 1')

...equals 315 square feet, illuminated by 6,240 watts of lighting.
Which equals approximately 19.49 watts per square foot.

That's just an example. If the two tables on the left are shoved together end-for-end, and the two tables on the right are shoved together end-for-end, it changes things slightly, because there's no "+ 3'" in the second (...) part. So you'd get 270 square feet, and 23.11 watts per square foot. And there's a good possibility that neither of these examples exactly matches the OP's grow room setup.

Unless you can completely confine the light-energy to the active grow space - which means walling each table off or, alternatively, pushing all the tables together so they end up being one larger unit and then walling that off ), then you have to count the rest of the space in your calculations, too. You can't just tell the photons where to go, lol.

EDIT: Note that some physics got left out because I'm old(er) and tired. In a confined space, light spreads but it the portion of it that isn't absorbed from the surfaces it hits gets reflected, blah blah blah zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Its in 1 room with not much space between tables an walls. I understand what your saying, im trying to accomplish 100% full coverage over the tables. Whatever escapes the edges shouldn't matter a whole lot if there is light directly above all of the plant.....should it? The 1000w hps is killing it, i am getting 30% thc, 1.8% terpene and 4lbs per table with 2 hoods per table. Im not unhappy with hps, just see the long term saving with LED.

 

[Marzbadrock]

Here's 1/2 the flower room.

20200519_200253.jpg

• Marzbadrock
• May 20, 2020

20200519_200311.jpg

• Marzbadrock
• May 20, 2020

 

[013]

If just the grow room lighting is drawing 104 Amos.... hope this place is sitting on a 400 amp service!

 

[TorturedSoul]

Well, you can look at it two different ways, I suppose. Your current setup presumably provides enough light to your tables, because you're happy with your yields. On the other hand, if you were somehow able to harness all the light-energy that's not hitting your plants... You might be able to add another table, lol. I mean it's not like you're wasting 99% of your light, obviously. But when you're running lots of light, even a relatively small percentage ends up being a significant amount of light.

But it's a trade-off. You need room to work in your garden. You also probably have equipment in there that takes up some amount of the room's total area (unless 100% of it is under the tables and/or above the lights). Wall-to-wall plants is a practical impossibility for all but small personal grows (unless you have nothing better to do all day than pull plants out so that you can access the other plants, then put them back in each time you finish your work), and even then it can be inconvenient. Like trying to do a SCROG in a tent, for example. A gardener needs access.

So... You know... If you're happy with the yield and the amount of electricity that you use each month to get it, it doesn't matter how efficient your garden is. Comfort and practicality counts for a lot, too.

Just curious, but do those 260-watt Rspec products come in a 220V (or 240V) version? Reason I thought to ask is that - being curious - I just looked at the product's information/order page on the vendor's website and didn't see any specific mention of that voltage, or of auto-sensing voltage capability. And I did see that mentioned in the HLG 550 V2 Rspec "commercial" product's page. Specifically, it states "Auto sensing Inventronics power supply works on both 120VAC and 240VAC and 277VAC," and in the specifications chart it states "100-277 VAC 50-60Hz" under the Voltage section. That's a different driver/power supply type than the 260-watt Rspec product - and I'm far, far away from being some kind of LED whiz who knows all about the various brands/models of power supplies and such - so I didn't want to make any (more ) assumptions.

I'm sure that the company could set you up with what you needed even if their standard version isn't already configured that way. It'd just mean you'd have to contact them instead of simply doing the automated website ordering thing.

 

[Marzbadrock]

Well, you can look at it two different ways, I suppose. Your current setup presumably provides enough light to your tables, because you're happy with your yields. On the other hand, if you were somehow able to harness all the light-energy that's not hitting your plants... You might be able to add another table, lol. I mean it's not like you're wasting 99% of your light, obviously. But when you're running lots of light, even a relatively small percentage ends up being a significant amount of light.

But it's a trade-off. You need room to work in your garden. You also probably have equipment in there that takes up some amount of the room's total area (unless 100% of it is under the tables and/or above the lights). Wall-to-wall plants is a practical impossibility for all but small personal grows (unless you have nothing better to do all day than pull plants out so that you can access the other plants, then put them back in each time you finish your work), and even then it can be inconvenient. Like trying to do a SCROG in a tent, for example. A gardener needs access.

So... You know... If you're happy with the yield and the amount of electricity that you use each month to get it, it doesn't matter how efficient your garden is. Comfort and practicality counts for a lot, too.

Just curious, but do those 260-watt Rspec products come in a 220V (or 240V) version? Reason I thought to ask is that - being curious - I just looked at the product's information/order page on the vendor's website and didn't see any specific mention of that voltage, or of auto-sensing voltage capability. And I did see that mentioned in the HLG 550 V2 Rspec "commercial" product's page. Specifically, it states "Auto sensing Inventronics power supply works on both 120VAC and 240VAC and 277VAC," and in the specifications chart it states "100-277 VAC 50-60Hz" under the Voltage section. That's a different driver/power supply type than the 260-watt Rspec product - and I'm far, far away from being some kind of LED whiz who knows all about the various brands/models of power supplies and such - so I didn't want to make any (more ) assumptions.

I'm sure that the company could set you up with what you needed even if their standard version isn't already configured that way. It'd just mean you'd have to contact them instead of simply doing the automated website ordering thing.

Damn! Good eye on the driver 240v capabilities, I will find out. I've got some hlg-240h-54a drivers n they are compatible. The 260w do use a different driver though. Maybe just use a different driver? I'm trying to learn, different ballgame from hps!

 

[Marzbadrock]

also I'd love to add another table but im a micro canopy, im allowed 250sq ft canopy space. With my veg, flower im at 248 sq ft.