Questions For The Quantum Board Experts

[guabasa]

Hi all! I have a few questions for the QB geniuses out there, this will be my first grow and I’m confused about some stuff regarding QB’s.

I just finished building my light fixture which is 4 QB288 V2’s from HLG running with a Mean Well HLG-600H-54A driver. Everything is mounted on a Slate 6 Quad heatsink, also from HLG. This will be covering a 60x60x78 (5x5x6.5) grow tent. I will be growing 4 plants in DWC in this setup (2x Northern Light, 2x Wonder Woman).

On to the questions:

1. Watts/Volts/Amps. How much should this driver be pulling from the wall? I’m measuring everything with a Kill-A-Watt. With the Io (which I understand is current) dimmed down to 50% it says it’s pulling 205 watts, 1.76 amps and 119.9 volts. At 100% this goes up to 651 watts, 5.64 amps and 116.2 volts. The Vo (which I understand is voltage) is set to max on the driver in both cases. Are these measurements in the right range? If not, how do I correct it?
   
   
2. I don’t have any measurements for heat right now, but I’m planning on buying a temp gun to measure that, as of now I’ve only had the lights on for 15 minutes at a time for testing, the boards do give off some heat but I can hold my hand under them without an issue, the driver and heatsink do get a bit hot. What’s the ideal temp for the heatsink and driver?
   
   
3. I saw a LedGardener video for the HLG driver series in which he shows how to fine tune the driver using both the Io and Vo pots on the back of the driver. Could someone ELI5 how to do this and what’s the ideal settings for the pots?
   
   
4. I understand the A series of the HLG drivers come with the built in dimming pots and I can’t add a second pot for it. I see the driver has some extra wires for Remote Control, if I were to add the Mean Well remote, could I dim the lights under 50% or would I only be able to go from 50-100% same as with the driver pot? Here’s the remote I’m talking about, is this the right one for my driver? https://www.jameco.com/z/RFP-M1M3-3...ess-Dimming-Remote-Controller-M1_2248069.html
   
   
5. I’m a bit confused as to the total height I’ll have available for my plants. I’ve always seen huge plants in tents similar to mine, but now that I’m setting everything up I feel I don’t have much space to work with. The tent is 78 inches tall. My lights are at the highest I can hang them right now at 12 inches from the top, I may be able to shave off 6 inches by changing my hanging method. My reservoirs are 12 inches high so my plants will sprout at that height. If I factor in the 28 inches (max) distance I need between my lights and canopy, that leaves with 26 inches for growing space for my plants…I feel like this is tiny!!! That would mean I need to start flowering when they’re 13 inches tall. I do plan on doing SCROG and widening out the canopy to the edges the most I can since the light can cover almost the entire tent. Any thoughts?
   
   
6. Related to last question, how close can my plants be to the lights? What’s the ideal height/dimming combination for Seedling, Veg and Flower stages?
   
   
7. Lastly, I want to change the way I’m hanging my lights, if anyone has the exact carabiner size that would fit into the Slate 6 Quad heatsink hanging holes that would be awesome, I haven’t ordered them on Amazon since I want to be sure before I do.
   

I know this being my first grow I have a lot to learn and there are tons of things I’ll only learn by trial and error, but I want to be as informed as I can before I start.

If you want to know more about the things I have in my setup check this google sheet:

https://goo.gl/14QKSn

For some pictures of how my setup is coming along go here:

https://invalid.com/a/1MI7lHw?

Thanks for reading! Hope you can pass on some knowledge as I’m eager to learn!

Happy Growing!

 

[Dltbr]

Awsome organization on your setup and components.

Would you please be able to break down the components and source for your LED light setup and maybe a picture of the finished product.

I too am looking to a diy LED setup. If not, no biggie but would help out newcomers to the DIY led lighting & based on your detailed spreadsheeet. I just thought I would ask.

I know would help me out and maybe a few others. Looking for diy lighting options. It sounds like a nice setup. For the $ you invested.

Thanks in advance Dale.

 

[guabasa]

Awsome organization on your setup and components.

Would you please be able to break down the components and source for your LED light setup and maybe a picture of the finished product.

I too am looking to a diy LED setup. If not, no biggie but would help out newcomers to the DIY led lighting & based on your detailed spreadsheeet. I just thought I would ask.

I know would help me out and maybe a few others. Looking for diy lighting options. It sounds like a nice setup. For the $ you invested.

Thanks in advance Dale.

For sure, no problem! As to sourcing the components you can check it all out in the spreadsheet I linked, if you click on the link for lights it will open another tab in the same sheet where you can find all the links for the components. Now that I say that, I'm not sure I updated the actual light links, I ended up purchasing them directly from HLG, you need to be patient and wait for the re-stock, they have a mailing list you can subscribe to and they notify you when it's back in stock...just be sure to have the money squirreled away since they go fast!

I did a lot of research on how to build these and in the end got some help from a buddy that is an electrical engineer for the actual hands on build, although I'm fairly confident I could've done it by myself (in hindsight)...Just yesterday and re-wired everything because I decided to take the driver out of the tent since it gives me a little more headspace and lower temps...

I also made a hang rig from scratch, although it wasn't that practical and in the end I ended up ordering some M5 eye bolts from Amazon and hung the fixture with rope ratchets.

As you know, this is my first grow so any take everything I say with a grain of salt. Always do your research!

Here's some pics of the setup, hope this helps and I'd be happy to answer any more questions about my setup :)


This is the hanger I made from scratch to hang the fixture:

Here it is in action:

Some pics of the actual lights:

Here's some pics of the entire setup:

This is after moving the driver (and a new a/c unit). In these pics the fixture already has the M5 eye bolts and rope ratchets for hanging, looks much cleaner than my frankenstein hanger. I ordered some heat-shrink tubing so I didn't have wires hanging around.

And finally here's one the girls as of tonight :)

 

[Its420anytime]

You need a clamp on Amp meter for true current from the wall or break the circuit to place the meter in line with circuit which isn't advisable unless you wired new plug also.

Paper values are ballpark, but when new solder joints are added, that's a resistance issue that can change basic ballpark figures out the window. Diy kit with 288 boards, isn't that over 288 solder connections per board? X number of boards.

Room looks great. Senor "Blastfact" on all forums has inside info from HLG, he has wired many do it yourself hlg lights, give him the lead he is a top dog. I think he has them on speed dial, hlg that is.