Lighting Quantum board thread.

[F.N.]

Here is new 304 board powered by a meanwell driver.

 

[Stickystick]

MEIJU came back to me, they're now able to produce LM301B boards, price is 180$ (was 150$ for LM561C)
According to the woman I'm talking to, a price drop for LM561C is not planned yet :
-------
Complete kit for 2 boards:
FOLUX 2.0-240H-2(one driver drive double board), it contains: 2pcs 288 board(Samsung lm301B), 1pc dimmable Meanwell driver HLG-240H-48B, 2pc individule heatsink, 1xdimmer switch, hanger, hang wires, connectors, wires, 2x plug and screws, the best price is USD180.48/set.
The price for lm561c is very low, and as we know from clients, it's perfect for plant grow, flourish, too much seeds...
I think price will not drop in short time.
-------
So now I have to decide, do I want 2xLM301B boards for 180$ or should I rather buy 2xLM561C boards for 150$...
Considering I need 4 boards, it's 400$ VS 460$ (planning ~100$ delivery). For 60$ I'd rather go onto the new models, but this is risky because of the lack of feedbacks with these new boards and the lack of experience for the manufacturer with these new diodes.
Any opinions ?

 

[bakEQuatorial]

MEIJU came back to me, they're now able to produce LM301B boards, price is 180$ (was 150$ for LM561C)
According to the woman I'm talking to, a price drop for LM561C is not planned yet :
-------
Complete kit for 2 boards:
FOLUX 2.0-240H-2(one driver drive double board), it contains: 2pcs 288 board(Samsung lm301B), 1pc dimmable Meanwell driver HLG-240H-48B, 2pc individule heatsink, 1xdimmer switch, hanger, hang wires, connectors, wires, 2x plug and screws, the best price is USD180.48/set.
The price for lm561c is very low, and as we know from clients, it's perfect for plant grow, flourish, too much seeds...
I think price will not drop in short time.
-------
So now I have to decide, do I want 2xLM301B boards for 180$ or should I rather buy 2xLM561C boards for 150$...
Considering I need 4 boards, it's 400$ VS 460$ (planning ~100$ delivery). For 60$ I'd rather go onto the new models, but this is risky because of the lack of feedbacks with these new boards and the lack of experience for the manufacturer with these new diodes.
Any opinions ?

I really hate to burst your bubble or cause Meijiu to lose a sale. But I owe my growing skills to AFN and hate to see any AFNers get ripped off. Well, maybe not ripped off but more of intentionally leaving out details.

Please confirm with them that they are using Top Bin LM301B chips. From what I understand, even HLG's supplier does not have top bin LM301B chips in stock at the moment.

If you refer to my earlier post, Ive explained in detail. Basically, they only have lower bin LM301B chips. You want SK bin chips for 3000K and SL bin chips for 4000K. They only have SJ and SK for the same. For other colors, check out their data sheets on Samsung site.

So whats the difference, you may ask? So basically LM561C and LM301B top bin chips have little difference between them to begin with. About 6% difference in efficiency. But that is IF its top bin chips! If you compare TOP BIN LM561C against LOWER BIN LM301B chips, they are virtually pretty much the same!

The only difference in this case would be diode size. LM561C is 5630 platform/size and LM301B is 3030. But that is not very relevant imo.

So you would be paying $60 extra for nothing more. Check with them. Im sure they will be honest with you if you ask. You can't blame the sales person cos shes just doing her job.

If you need 4 boards, get their 800 led board. Drives it at lower watts so its pretty efficient and most importantly is very affordable. Get a double 800 board and 600w driver...even more efficient!

Best of all, every one is making only 288 boards for the new LM301B. So bigger boards will still mostly be LM561C. No loss of value imo.

Hope this helps.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[F.N.]

There is so many people selling these on alibaba have you punched in qunatume boards. Check out more companies Equatorial my opion for the money I got a great deal from meijui.

 

[bakEQuatorial]

There is so many people selling these on alibaba have you punched in qunatume boards. Check out more companies Equatorial my opion for the money I got a great deal from meijui.

Ohh....Believe me, I have! Pretty much approached all of them!

There are countless LED PCB manufacturers. But unless we are willing to meet their MOQ, we really only have 5-6 choices at the moment. In other words, we need to find companies who have already designed (board design, tooling, film etc) the boards and/or have them in stock. This way, you won't need to have the technical expertise to develop a board from scratch with a new supplier and pay way too much for a personal grower.

There are many ppl who orders boards by the hundreds. This way, you can even customize your board any way you wish. So down the road, expect many new rebranded version of the QB lights in different sizes/custom diodes/multi channels etc.

Price wise, if you do some research, you will find that they are pretty much the same. Just some slightly different drivers with or without external dimmers...maybe heatsinks. The choices are basically variety imo. For instance, Meijiu has boards in the 100++ diode range, 200++, 300++ and then straight to 800 boards. They use B type drivers so all kits can come with external dimmer. Other companies may not have 800 boards but they have something in between like 500+ diode boards and more.

These are the companies that invested in the design and production of ready to sell boards and for small quantity buyers like us, they are our only choices. I hope my English didn't make it too difficult to understand.

I usually get a better deal cos I can pay them direct with local currency. Also, I get them to ship to my local shipping agent, who will then ship cheaply to my door bypassing all authorities (there is a word in my vocabulary for this I will not use). Unfortunately, I can only do this for shipments from China. Being able to speak their mother tongue helps a lot, especially with my investigative efforts.

I hope my efforts can at least help shed some light on purchasing QB direct at way cheaper prices.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[F.N.]

Ohh....Believe me, I have! Pretty much approached all of them!

There are countless LED PCB manufacturers. But unless we are willing to meet their MOQ, we really only have 5-6 choices at the moment. In other words, we need to find companies who have already designed (board design, tooling, film etc) the boards and/or have them in stock. This way, you won't need to have the technical expertise to develop a board from scratch with a new supplier and pay way too much for a personal grower.

There are many ppl who orders boards by the hundreds. This way, you can even customize your board any way you wish. So down the road, expect many new rebranded version of the QB lights in different sizes/custom diodes/multi channels etc.

Price wise, if you do some research, you will find that they are pretty much the same. Just some slightly different drivers with or without external dimmers...maybe heatsinks. The choices are basically variety imo. For instance, Meijiu has boards in the 100++ diode range, 200++, 300++ and then straight to 800 boards. They use B type drivers so all kits can come with external dimmer. Other companies may not have 800 boards but they have something in between like 500+ diode boards and more.

These are the companies that invested in the design and production of ready to sell boards and for small quantity buyers like us, they are our only choices. I hope my English didn't make it too difficult to understand.

I usually get a better deal cos I can pay them direct with local currency. Also, I get them to ship to my local shipping agent, who will then ship cheaply to my door bypassing all authorities (there is a word in my vocabulary for this I will not use). Unfortunately, I can only do this for shipments from China. Being able to speak their mother tongue helps a lot, especially with my investigative efforts.

I hope my efforts can at least help shed some light on purchasing QB direct at way cheaper prices.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You are very lucky to have connections and a understanding of how business works there. IAM very happy with my lights and the company they have been very quick on delivery and the lights are bright 3000 k works great the coverage is unreal I will do my best to stay up on the boards and efficiency but for now these are very efficient the ones I have bought compared to my LEDs I was running I am running 800 less watts then in my 4x8 but they were some 2014 lights that were seldom shut off. They are pale in comparison to the quantum boards. I will keep on buying them.

 

[Haunts]

I'm looking at switching over to a quantum board but i'm hoping someone might be able to give me their guidance on what would work given my small grow space. I currently have a dual spec 150w hps in my cabinet which is 45cm(18in)x45cm(18in)x80cm(31in) but i struggle with temps in the summer which can reach upto 30C. So i've been doing as much research as possible and i'm thinking the HLG 65 would probably be suitable, would others agree? Also which colour temp would be best for both veg and flower again i'm thinking 4000k from what ive seen on the charts?

 

[F.N.]

I would think that 65 watt HLG is built to replace a 150 but that I am not 100 % for sure it suppose to be very close in production of tomatoes in a side by side led gradener video

 

[bakEQuatorial]

I finally managed to get the green light from my wife to buy QBs.

Just paid for them and will ship on Monday cos the 4000K that I wanted needs to be produced. 3000K are in stock and can ship asap if anyone is interested.

Here is what I bought and will probably be in my hands within 2 weeks, cos they have to ship it to my shipper.

1 x 800 QB board/ heatsink with 320H 48B driver + timer and dimmer - 3000K

1 x 800 QB board/ heatsink with 320H 48B driver + timer and dimmer - 4000K

I actually only need one driver as the two boards wont be used together. 4000K for veg and 3000K for flowering. But I don't wanna mess around and an extra driver might enable me to expand my DIY endeavours. I thought of just getting one 600H driver but probably too much for one board. Anyone has a better suggestion, pls let me know.

I chose the 800 eventually due to the coverage and efficiency. I like the idea of 800 diodes putting out around 300 watts max (I don't plan on running higher than 300) than 288/304 putting out 120 Watts max. Meijiu and BAVA has said that their heatsinks for single 288/304 boards can only run up to 120W unlike HLG which can go up to 135W. Not a big deal and i actually prefer that. The difference in efficiency is of course not very significant but would be close enough or similar to the V2 boards that uses LM301B. If they do eventually come out with new V2/V3 800 boards, it will be much cheaper to upgrade. Just buy the board which is cheaper than a single bottle of branded nutes.

Its also my first time playing with spectrums. Last grow was 3500K COBs all the way. Seems that for white lights, 3000k to 4000k has the most relevant spectrums. Since I have lotsa 3500K that I can break out at any time, I went with 3000K and 4000K as recommended by HLG. I figured that they must have done more research than me and after 2 years, are still sticking to these 2 spectrums when they can introduce more to maximize profits. They definitely can pull this off cos the layman grower who don't read much will believe anything they say (Yes...me!).

I originally wanted 4 x 288/304 boards for maximum flexibility. But quickly realized my laziness and switched to 800 boards which gives me way more photons/diodes at same prices. So just ONE board for each veg/flower. Who am I kidding anyways? I'm too lazy to be moving lights around all the time.

With larger boards, even if we have few plants, we can always dim and lower the lights. Perfect for my rectangular grow space of about 5×3. Will have some more space to complement with COBs if necessary. Might be overkill in a fully shut tent. But perfect for my area which is about only less than 40% covered with mylar. I need the air flow but hate the light loss.

One more thing I learned is that V1 uses 5630 sized diodes and V2 uses 3030 sized diodes. This refers to the size of the diodes, meaning V1 is 56×30 and V2 is 30×30 sized diodes. Of course, it does not necessarily mean larger=brighter. But if we wanted lots of diodes packed into a small space, we'd go for COBs. Of course, this little difference is probably not significant at all and my deduction may very well be incorrect as well. Anyone care to chime in?






Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[F.N.]

I finally managed to get the green light from my wife to buy QBs.

Just paid for them and will ship on Monday cos the 4000K that I wanted needs to be produced. 3000K are in stock and can ship asap if anyone is interested.

Here is what I bought and will probably be in my hands within 2 weeks, cos they have to ship it to my shipper.

1 x 800 QB board/ heatsink with 320H 48B driver + timer and dimmer - 3000K

1 x 800 QB board/ heatsink with 320H 48B driver + timer and dimmer - 4000K

I actually only need one driver as the two boards wont be used together. 4000K for veg and 3000K for flowering. But I don't wanna mess around and an extra driver might enable me to expand my DIY endeavours. I thought of just getting one 600H driver but probably too much for one board. Anyone has a better suggestion, pls let me know.

I chose the 800 eventually due to the coverage and efficiency. I like the idea of 800 diodes putting out around 300 watts max (I don't plan on running higher than 300) than 288/304 putting out 120 Watts max. Meijiu and BAVA has said that their heatsinks for single 288/304 boards can only run up to 120W unlike HLG which can go up to 135W. Not a big deal and i actually prefer that. The difference in efficiency is of course not very significant but would be close enough or similar to the V2 boards that uses LM301B. If they do eventually come out with new V2/V3 800 boards, it will be much cheaper to upgrade. Just buy the board which is cheaper than a single bottle of branded nutes.

Its also my first time playing with spectrums. Last grow was 3500K COBs all the way. Seems that for white lights, 3000k to 4000k has the most relevant spectrums. Since I have lotsa 3500K that I can break out at any time, I went with 3000K and 4000K as recommended by HLG. I figured that they must have done more research than me and after 2 years, are still sticking to these 2 spectrums when they can introduce more to maximize profits. They definitely can pull this off cos the layman grower who don't read much will believe anything they say (Yes...me!).

I originally wanted 4 x 288/304 boards for maximum flexibility. But quickly realized my laziness and switched to 800 boards which gives me way more photons/diodes at same prices. So just ONE board for each veg/flower. Who am I kidding anyways? I'm too lazy to be moving lights around all the time.

With larger boards, even if we have few plants, we can always dim and lower the lights. Perfect for my rectangular grow space of about 5×3. Will have some more space to complement with COBs if necessary. Might be overkill in a fully shut tent. But perfect for my area which is about only less than 40% covered with mylar. I need the air flow but hate the light loss.

One more thing I learned is that V1 uses 5630 sized diodes and V2 uses 3030 sized diodes. This refers to the size of the diodes, meaning V1 is 56×30 and V2 is 30×30 sized diodes. Of course, it does not necessarily mean larger=brighter. But if we wanted lots of diodes packed into a small space, we'd go for COBs. Of course, this little difference is probably not significant at all and my deduction may very well be incorrect as well. Anyone care to chime in?






Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I really dig the 3000 k for all around performance my plants under my 3000 k spectrum are HUGE. You are going to grow monster plants with that kind of power. I have a 250 watt QB and a125 watt QB doing a 4x4 area and it is unreal I will take some pictures.