Calling all Quantum Board Gurus

I appreciate all the math and formulas about amperage and wattage but I am beyond good with my power supply. However if anyone can recommend a better setup than I planned on initially I would love hearing about it. This is a very expensive purchase and if I am going to fork over the coin for it I want it to be best available.
 
I been comparing the hlg and mars hydro past few hours. Think i'm more confused than when i started! All the ppfd charts for hlg are open air {i assume that means not in a tent} and mars hydro is in a tent. The mars have a higher ppfd but the hlg has more in the 620 nm frequency. it's hard to compare when the test are not equal. Maybe im better off sticking to HPS and saving 10k!
 
Hey Marz, I’m no expert - but I have built my own QB/strip fixture and have done a lot of reading about the commercial options, like you.

I’d say if the DIY route is not your caper at this time then the Rspec rigs you’re looking at really are the best choice. All better options would be the DIY route. IMHO.

Have you talked to Budget LED? (Sponsor here who does QB rigs)

@Graytail is my go to for LED guidance. He might have a useful take on it.
 
Hey Marz, I’m no expert - but I have built my own QB/strip fixture and have done a lot of reading about the commercial options, like you.

I’d say if the DIY route is not your caper at this time then the Rspec rigs you’re looking at really are the best choice. All better options would be the DIY route. IMHO.

Have you talked to Budget LED? (Sponsor here who does QB rigs)

@Graytail is my go to for LED guidance. He might have a useful take on it.

I had talked with a rep of budget and had planned on using them, they actually give me the idea using the 260w xl. Unfortunately they no longer offer the 260w i was planning on using. I do have a rspec 320w that works great but i think the added panel in the middle is kind of a waste and can get more even coverage using the 260w. The coverage of the mars sp3000 looked great....in a 2*4 tent. I will go research some from Graytail, thankyou for the advise!
 
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.


Budget LED's all the way. Have you looked at their "green beast" rig? Each one covers a 4x4, etc. Pretty much the same as running (2) of the 250w with the xl heatsink.


The new full specs are sweet, and what I'll pick up next when the need arises.


Talk to them and they may be able to work you up a bit of a package deal, but even at regular pricing (before forum discount applied) it would run about $6800 max (8 of the green beast in full spec), or $6080 for 16 of the 250w series 3+ full spec w/ xl heatsink.


Big purchase, yessir indeed.


ChilLED and Growers Choice both make some really nice strip-style LED light rigs too, through LED Grow Lights Depot.


Crecer makes a nice light, as does California Lightworks, and many others.



For manufactured lights using the quantum board style, @Budget LED wins hands down, IMO. Great price, high quality, exceptional service.

For a strip-style light, the growers choice ROI-E680 is awesome. I have one in a 4x4 and it's tits.
 
:nomo: I think you nailed it, Marz.:thumb:

That'll be a very nice pattern with those choices - plenty of flexibility, too, which is nice.

A lot of us using QBs are noticing that we have more power than we need, so 1500+ watts per table is more than sufficient. 30 W/sqft is enough. And the added reds seem to be helpful from what I've seen, so they're worth the extra bucks.

Mars-Hydro has some nice bars at a lower cost per watt - you could do 4 per table at 300W each, but I like the BudgetLED panels, too, and that format suits your spaces very well. With QB diodes, they're like hps - not much difference in performance between the brands, boards, strips, etc.

You'll be amazed at the drop in heat and the increase in intensity. They're bright!
 
Hey, I was looking over the Mars-Hydro catalog and they've reduced the price of the SP-150 to $139.99. That's under a buck a watt. If it were me, I might just buy a crap-ton of those. They're a great fixture with heat sink, and especially high efficiency.

:Namaste:
 
Budget LED's all the way. Have you looked at their "green beast" rig? Each one covers a 4x4, etc. Pretty much the same as running (2) of the 250w with the xl heatsink.


The new full specs are sweet, and what I'll pick up next when the need arises.


Talk to them and they may be able to work you up a bit of a package deal, but even at regular pricing (before forum discount applied) it would run about $6800 max (8 of the green beast in full spec), or $6080 for 16 of the 250w series 3+ full spec w/ xl heatsink.


Big purchase, yessir indeed.


ChilLED and Growers Choice both make some really nice strip-style LED light rigs too, through LED Grow Lights Depot.


Crecer makes a nice light, as does California Lightworks, and many others.



For manufactured lights using the quantum board style, @Budget LED wins hands down, IMO. Great price, high quality, exceptional service.

For a strip-style light, the growers choice ROI-E680 is awesome. I have one in a 4x4 and it's tits.

It is a big purchase! I also plan on using 24 of the 260s not 16! Im judging this off my 360 i run, really notice intensity lost quickly around edges. Thinking smaller lights sqread out more even kind of thing. There is a lot of good options out there, can not count how many lights I've looked at last couple months. Life was easy when there was only one option!
 
Hey, I was looking over the Mars-Hydro catalog and they've reduced the price of the SP-150 to $139.99. That's under a buck a watt. If it were me, I might just buy a crap-ton of those. They're a great fixture with heat sink, and especially high efficiency.

:Namaste:

I will definitely check them out. What I noticed with the mars lights I researched was that compared to the Rspec qb's that there was far less around that 620nm range. Maybe I'm overthinking this or just missing something! With Budget I was looking at series2 lights, now the series3.....now i see a new one called the demon! Damn LED market is like cell phones, something newer n better almost every day.
 
:nomo: I think you nailed it, Marz.:thumb:

That'll be a very nice pattern with those choices - plenty of flexibility, too, which is nice.

A lot of us using QBs are noticing that we have more power than we need, so 1500+ watts per table is more than sufficient. 30 W/sqft is enough. And the added reds seem to be helpful from what I've seen, so they're worth the extra bucks.

Mars-Hydro has some nice bars at a lower cost per watt - you could do 4 per table at 300W each, but I like the BudgetLED panels, too, and that format suits your spaces very well. With QB diodes, they're like hps - not much difference in performance between the brands, boards, strips, etc.

You'll be amazed at the drop in heat and the increase in intensity. They're bright!

I had it figured at 39 w sqft. I can always turn them down a bit but you think thats overkill then.
 
I had it figured at 39 w sqft. I can always turn them down a bit but you think thats overkill then.

Yeah, 1500 is tops - you'll find out later. :cheesygrinsmiley: 9 of those sp150s per table would be great. You'll only be able to use 40W/sqft when the plants are in tune and happy. Otherwise they'll start showing light stress pretty quickly. And these diffuse lights spread the pattern more broadly. Basically, the plants just see a big white blob from everywhere.

I'm not a big fan of spectrum tweaking, but if you want to dial in the reds, you could always add a few pucks to the room.
 
Yeah, 1500 is tops - you'll find out later. :cheesygrinsmiley: 9 of those sp150s per table would be great. You'll only be able to use 40W/sqft when the plants are in tune and happy. Otherwise they'll start showing light stress pretty quickly. And these diffuse lights spread the pattern more broadly. Basically, the plants just see a big white blob from everywhere.

I'm not a big fan of spectrum tweaking, but if you want to dial in the reds, you could always add a few pucks to the room.


I have some of the G8 pucks. 90w each and they’re a nice addition for flower.
 
Talk to them and they may be able to work you up a bit of a package deal

The businesses that sell lighting products on Internet forums... 19 out of 20 will give the customer a "package deal" when the customer is trying to purchase 24 products at one time. Some of them will probably have some sort of "auto-discount" routine coded into their website's shopping experience. Which is okay - if the customer is lazy and is only buying two or three products ;) .

Figure out which brand / model of lights you want to use, then contact a company representative, either by telephone or email, and ask them what kind of discount they will give you if you purchase n lights at once. You'll probably get a better deal that way than using the website to make the purchase. If you aren't happy with the reply you get, you can always figure out what your second choice is, and repeat the process. In other words, don't automatically choose products that aren't your first (etc.) choice just because the "automatic" total cost appears to be higher; see what a live person - who knows you're ready to drop a non-insignificant amount of coin - is willing to do for you. As far as that goes, if it's a large company, there's a chance that you'll get someone who is allowed to give a certain percentage discount... and, if asked to put you in touch with their boss, could facilitate an even better deal by doing so.

Wouldn't surprise me if the discount is enough that you get one (or more) of those lights for free.

Even businesses like Home Depot have volume pricing programs.

By the way, is this a "sealed" room with CO2 supplementation?

Re: Mars Hydro SP-150 - These seem like decent products for the money, but they aren't dimmable (unless there's a newer version than the first one). You've got the right idea, IMHO, wanting products that can be adjusted. Between that, multiple lights, and a PAR meter (I assume that anyone who has spent and is spending substantial money on grow lighting owns one), you can get exactly the amount of light you want, all across your grow space.
 
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