HLG 600h in a 4' x 8' tent

[Dannabis1331]

Just looking to see if anyone has or considered cutting the heat sink apart on an HLG 600 in order to get more even coverage. It seems that as built running the light at 50% (or even less) it is still too bright directly underneath it even with it tight to the tent roof. My though is to separate each quantum board with its own chunk of heat sink so that I can hang them individually in a line down the middle of my 4x8 tent and possibly move the driver out of the tent. Not sure exactly how I would configure it but I do think this to be a better option than a second light which I already know would be way to much heat to deal with and would amplify the intensity issue along with bringing the electric bill up.

I mentioned the idea to the wife and she was not very enthusiastic about me cutting a $700 light apart but weighing the pros and cons this seems like it would help to provide a better environment. If anyone has anything to the contrary I would love to hear it.

Thanks for reading!

[bboyfromwayback]

I have no experience with that light so I’m no help as far as reconfiguring it goes but I like the idea. I’ve found that in big tents it’s impossible to get good coverage with one light no matter what the manufacturer says it’ll cover. I prefer multiple smaller lights spread out, you get end to end coverage that way.

[ChadWestport]

If specs (watts / PAR / PPFD) are all the same or close, I'll usual go with two units instead of one because you can control placement and get better coverage. It also allows you to adjust one light up or down if you have differences in your canopy. HLG and many of the quantum board companies do what you are describing, they have a main unit and their higher models are essentially the same base unit combined onto another. No real difference other than footprint and increased specs that come with it.

As far as cutting a light up, I wouldn't do it. Try selling it and buy a couple different lights. Unless you understand integrated circuit boards and are confident you aren't chopping inlayed or resin bonded components.

[Dannabis1331]

If specs (watts / PAR / PPFD) are all the same or close, I'll usual go with two units instead of one because you can control placement and get better coverage. It also allows you to adjust one light up or down if you have differences in your canopy. HLG and many of the quantum board companies do what you are describing, they have a main unit and their higher models are essentially the same base unit combined onto another. No real difference other than footprint and increased specs that come with it.

As far as cutting a light up, I wouldn't do it. Try selling it and buy a couple different lights. Unless you understand integrated circuit boards and are confident you aren't chopping inlayed or resin bonded components.

The cutting of the heat sink would not effect the quantum boards at all. There are 4 boards mounted to a single large sink, my thought is to separate the boards with their respective chunk of heat sink. This would allow me to hang the 4 boards independently which would allow me to adjust for height differences experienced between strains during the flowing stretch with each board. I did fail to mention this is in my flowering tent and am using the V2 Rspec 35k boards. I am currently vegging a 5x5 using only 2 quantum boards in the 4k spectrum with great results. I also had to turn the 4k down to approx 60% to get the best response out of the plants in my veg tent. This leads me to believe that 4 quantum boards would be sufficient to flower a 4 x 8 tent without being anywhere close to 100% intensity providing more uniform coverage and more a usable/versatile growing space. It works out to a 4' x 2' area for each board. I do believe they are more than capable from what I have seen. These lights would work great with a 10' or 12' ceiling but in an 80"T tent its just too much. The alternative would be to buy 4 separate boards, sinks and drivers but the cost would be more than the 600h which I already have. If i do move forward with this I will try and keep this updated.

Thanks for your input, please let me know if you have anything else to add

[ChadWestport]

All sounds good, I just can't wrap my head around this - if you cut it apart, and have 4 completely unattached pieces, how does the power get to the 3 without the transformer attached? I could be missing the obvious, but I thought to ask.

[Dannabis1331]

I have no experience with that light so I’m no help as far as reconfiguring it goes but I like the idea. I’ve found that in big tents it’s impossible to get good coverage with one light no matter what the manufacturer says it’ll cover. I prefer multiple smaller lights spread out, you get end to end coverage that way.

That's exactly what I have noticed and what I am trying to accomplish.

Thanks for the reply!

[bboyfromwayback]

If you haven’t had your light that long you can probably exchange it for 2-3 200-300w lights from the same supplier. 2 HLG 360 XL RSpecs would give you much better coverage and wouldn’t be that much more watts to run than the 600. I think they make a 260 also. Either would be better overall