Lighting WTB light, should I wait for Black Friday sales

[Death The Cultivator]

i'm in a 5x10x7h space and was thinking $450-$500 should get a mid grade 300-400w light. i have 2 mars ts1000 at 150w each , now. I can do light DIY also.

with the knockoffs. if the basic components are the same, ie: samsung lm310h leds and a meanwell driver wouldn't it perform similarly?

Budget isn't enough to really cover a 4x4 with everything you're wanting.

HLGs qb132 4 packs are decently priced with a low skill set to diy them. Still, once you account for cost of drivers, making a frame, you're going to exceed your budget to cover half the space.

If you do two packs at 480w and stay within your budget but really three would cover a 5x5 a bit better. The 132s are sold out right now though.

You have to factor in the quality of the PCB the diodes are mounted to, are they really top bin 301h - 301b is nearly identical anyways, and the amount of diodes.

Bridgelux EB Gen 3 or gen 2 are a good choice but you'll need aluminum channel to heatsink. They are $9 per 4ft strip, around 20 of them for a 5x5. I'd slap a 600w driver on them. There are mounted to FR4 so they aren't the best at heat management.

DIY LED Strip Build Designs for Samsung H-Series, F-Series, Q-Series, and Bridgelux EB Gen.2 - LED Gardener

DIY LED strip builds have become very popular recently. The mid-power section of our forum is full of threads created by DIYers looking to build their own custom lights, and new builds and ideas are surfacing every day. If you don’t live somewhere where you have easy access to premade lights...

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[MesaBoogie]

with the knockoffs. if the basic components are the same, ie: samsung lm310h leds and a meanwell driver wouldn't it perform similarly?

The only real difference will be the binning of the diodes. The knockoffs likely use a lower bin. As far as quality goes, you are correct, it's all the same parts as any other more expensive brand. Samsung diodes, meanwell driver, a pcb and heatsink. I've worked in electronics manufacturing for 10+ years and I can tell you nothing could be simpler than setting up a SMT line to drop these diodes on a pcb.

You'll want to check out Allibaba. I hear alot of people are pretty happy with kingbright. I have no expericene with the brand myself, but it's where I would be shopping if I was in the market right now. The prices are pretty insanely low compared to the brand names, and rightfully so. The cost to produce these leds is next to nothing and as consumers we are being hosed.

Have a look around the forums here for alibaba posts, there is a few other brand names that I've seen talked about.

 

[Death The Cultivator]

https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/bridgelux/BXEB-L1120Z-35E4000-C-B3/7907661

 

[g041579]

Amazon has some good finds in off brands.

Amazon product ASIN B081ZT6BMC

 

[MesaBoogie]

Amazon has some good finds in off brands.

Amazon product ASIN B081ZT6BMC

$0.74/watt with samsung diodes and meanwell driver. Nice find.

 

[g041579]

$0.74/watt with samsung diodes and meanwell driver. Nice find.

I know, jimmib67 would have 480 watts for $360.00. I placed the driver out of the grow room, it comes with a wago type
connector, which makes that easy to do. I hope that helped.