My 550 Build

[SommerVirelli]

This thread will be dedicated to my HLG-550 R-spec build. I couldn’t afford straight out buying a kit, so I’m buying it in separate pieces. It will be a month before I have everything assembled, but I had finally decided on how I wanted to do the build. Many thanks to those who’ve helped me this far!

I’ve learned many things about the HLG builds. Not just the kit, but all their quantum board builds. I knew I wanted one of the quad board units, but wasn’t sure which one would suit me best or even what the differences were. Turns out the only real difference between the 550 and 600 kit is the driver. That’s it. Well, that and what spectrum of board you want to run.

There are a few drivers HLG has actually used for these kits and builds and even more options that would make a nice fit for a build, depending on wether you were to run series or parallel, and how hard you wanted to run them:

Meanwell HLG-480-54A (or B)
Meanwell HLG-480-2100A (or B)
Meanwell HLG-480-2800A (or B)
Meanwell HLG-600-54A (or B)
Inventronics EUD-600S280DT
Inventronics EUD-480S280DT

I almost went mad in the beginning trying to understand what driver I needed. I’ve learned a lot about driver and now all the numbers aren’t scary. After much thinking on what would meet my needs, I decided to go on the HLG-480-2100B. With this model I can still hit over 1000 PPFD while consuming much less power. I could go with a 600w model that could hit numbers over 1500 if I was pumping my room with co2, but right now, it’s not needed. Right now less is more. And at 2100mA I’m not pushing the boards as hard.

Yesterday I got my 4 HLG 288 v2 r-spec boards. Next payday is the driver, then the Slate 5 Heatsink.
I’ll also get things like wire and connectors along the way as well as a potentiometer. I’ll be updating as I go!

 

[Jack420]

I’m in

 

[Old Salt]

Get the B version drivers to add intensity control. This will save money, as you'll be able to move the light closer to the plant, reducing the intensity and power used.

 

[SommerVirelli]

Forgot a pic....

 

[SommerVirelli]

Step 2 completed. Got my HLG-480H-C2100B. Next step is the Slade 5 heatsink.

 

[SommerVirelli]

My wallet took a hit, but I went ahead of schedule and ordered the heatsink. All I need now is about $50 of wiring supplies and I’m set to build my light. I can’t wait!

 

[Elevated Lighting Company]

We will follow along on this. We are very familiar with that driver. Any build questions, please let us know! Looks like you will have a nice light!

 

[Stunned]

can't wait to see your new rockin' light @SommerVirelli

 

[SommerVirelli]

We did it guys. We built our light. And man am I happy. I might be tip-toeing around the posting guidelines but I’m not going purposefully break the rules. I’m simply doing this for informational purposes. The best deal I’ve found for the boards can be found right at LED Grow Lights Depot.

Materials:

Meanwell HLG-480-2100B Driver
Slate 5 extruded heatsink
QB288 V2 R-spec boards (4 of them)
18AWG solid core wire (rated for 300v)
100k ohm linear potentiometer
WAGO connectors
Waterproof 3-wire junction box
Open end wire power cord
4mm x 30mm screw with matching washer and nut (2 of each)
Heat shrink tubing

Tools I needed for this included wire stripper, drill, and solder iron. If I went with the 2100A version of this driver I would not need the solder iron or the potentiometer.

I used a 7/64 drill bit to make a new hole thru the heatsink in order to properly mount the driver. There were pre drilled holes made for a couple drivers, but mine was just a little too long for the mounting holes. Just a quick fix. After placing the driver on the flat side of the heatsink I only had to mark one hole, making sure that hole would clear the heatsink fins on the other side. Measure twice to be sure, drill once. I couldn’t find my cutting fluid (it happens in my workshop) so I used a lightweight oil to drill the hole.

After the hole was drilled I flipped the heatsink over and placed the driver on top of the fins over the holes. I brought the 30mm screws in from the bottom and secured the driver to the heatsink with a washer and matching nut. I doubt this part even took me 15 minutes to do.

With the driver secure I was able to flip the heatsink back over. I used alcohol and paper towel to clean up the entire board and removing the machine oil that was used for the hole the was drilled. The boards were placed in a specific order so that the “+” and “-“ terminals would make a nice clean loop when wired together. You can tell how in one of my pics if you look closely. The heatsink was predrilled specifically to fit these boards, so it was as easy as matching the holes up. The 3mm screws needed to mount the boards came with the heatsink. Each board has 8 holes. The screws were made snug, but not forcefully tightened down for the sake of not damaging the boards themselves.

The 18awg solid core wire was cut to length for each terminal connection, starting with the driver’s Output leads. I connected the hookup wire to the driver using WAGO 2-pin connectors. Both wires were fed thru a hole in the heatsink. The “+” wire from the output lead went to the “+” terminal on the first board. I then ran from each board’s opposite terminal, going from one board’s “-“ terminal to the next board’s “+” terminal. The last board’s “-“ was connected to the “-“ wire lead from the driver output. This part also took about 15minutes.

The driver Input leads were put into the 3-wire junction box and matched the wires to the power cord on the opposite side, “+” to “+”, “-“ to “-“, “ground” to “ground”. This part was extremely important and had absolutely no room for error. In the pic you can see one side wasn’t able to be completely tightened. This was due to the size of the driver’s wire jacket. It’s threaded on enough to be closed but wasn’t able to completely close it. I don’t plan on dunking this thing in water, so it will work.

The dimming side of the output was connected with longer pieces of the solid core wire with butt splice terminals I had laying around. The 2 lengths of wire were made long so that the dimmer could be mounted elsewhere in the tent. This allows us to adjust the lights intensity comfortably without actually having to climb into the tent. The wires will be soldered to the appropriate terminals on the potentiometer and insulated with heat shrink tubing. I can’t show this part yet because I need to go buy some and didn’t realize I didn’t have any of the right size tubing. No big deal. I’ll update on that part later.

The light was now ready to hang. It is important not to let rest the light with the boards facing down. This will damage them. I held the light in place while the wife attached ratchet hangers. This light is like having a tiny sun in the room. We were not prepared when we turned it on. Not even looking directly at the light and still managed to blind us! The pictures aren’t even able to show just how crazy intense this light is.

 

[Old Salt]

Congratulations! It's a great feeling of accomplishment, isn't it?

You can use the self-adhesive plastic feet to raise the light, and protect the LEDs if you need to set it down again.

 

[SommerVirelli]

You can use the self-adhesive plastic feet to raise the light, and protect the LEDs if you need to set it down again.

Great idea! Thank you!

 

[Jon]

What a great job! Super impressive. So how much coin do you think you saved building that light versus buying a light that would have similar characteristics?

 

[Donnavintripp]

This thread will be dedicated to my HLG-550 R-spec build. I couldn’t afford straight out buying a kit, so I’m buying it in separate pieces. It will be a month before I have everything assembled, but I had finally decided on how I wanted to do the build. Many thanks to those who’ve helped me this far!

I’ve learned many things about the HLG builds. Not just the kit, but all their quantum board builds. I knew I wanted one of the quad board units, but wasn’t sure which one would suit me best or even what the differences were. Turns out the only real difference between the 550 and 600 kit is the driver. That’s it. Well, that and what spectrum of board you want to run.

There are a few drivers HLG has actually used for these kits and builds and even more options that would make a nice fit for a build, depending on wether you were to run series or parallel, and how hard you wanted to run them:

Meanwell HLG-480-54A (or B)
Meanwell HLG-480-2100A (or B)
Meanwell HLG-480-2800A (or B)
Meanwell HLG-600-54A (or B)
Inventronics EUD-600S280DT
Inventronics EUD-480S280DT

I almost went mad in the beginning trying to understand what driver I needed. I’ve learned a lot about driver and now all the numbers aren’t scary. After much thinking on what would meet my needs, I decided to go on the HLG-480-2100B. With this model I can still hit over 1000 PPFD while consuming much less power. I could go with a 600w model that could hit numbers over 1500 if I was pumping my room with co2, but right now, it’s not needed. Right now less is more. And at 2100mA I’m not pushing the boards as hard.

Yesterday I got my 4 HLG 288 v2 r-spec boards. Next payday is the driver, then the Slate 5 Heatsink.
I’ll also get things like wire and connectors along the way as well as a potentiometer. I’ll be updating as I go!

I got lucky and found my on a dispensary owner upgrading to the hlg Blackhawks and he says he only had it in a staged room for budding only for two crops but it was the price I talked him down to made it all worth it 250 plus shipping ended up paying 315 for it and it's in new shape ( not brand new new ) but you get the picture when 550 are going for 5 to 6 used and 8 at brand new