Lighting T5 to LED Conversion Easy Project!

[pop22]

@Waira @Son of Hobbes @BigSm0


I have a T5 growlight in my livingroom for my house pkants and veggie seedlings. I milked 3 years out of the original bulb but it was time to replace it. I looked into the direct replacement LED tubes but their efficiency didn't impress me. I decided LED strips might work out well and after looking art several I decided to go with Horticultural Lighting Group's QB96. Its a 22" strip with 96 Samsung chips in two rows. these are 24V strips and I'll be running 2 in series on a Meanwell HLG80H-54a driver.

I'll have 4 times the light of a T5 with a more useable spread, and it will be dimmable. And bye bye bulb changes!

One goal of this project is to have it look as close to original as possible. This growlight came with a remote ballast, its on the powercord near the plug instead of the typical unit that's in the fixture. I'm going to simply cut out the ballast and splice in the driver, the cord from the ballast to the light has a nice plug that fits into the end cap of the reflector.

I removed the bulb and then the endcap that the power connects to. I removed the inner cover and the contacts for the bulb pins. I connected 2 of the three wires in the powercord to Wago wire connectors. I then added two short pieces of wire to go from the Wagos to the QB strip. I spot glued the Wagos into the slot meant for the bulb socket.

I lay the strip inside the reflector and drilled holes for screws to mount it. I then attached the strip with 2 screws temporarily in case I need to make changes.

I'll be back with the finish of this later today. I need to go out and get some 20-22 gauge wire to reach to the second strip.

 

[Son of Hobbes]

@Waira @Son of Hobbes @BigSm0


I have a T5 growlight in my livingroom for my house pkants and veggie seedlings. I milked 3 years out of the original bulb but it was time to replace it. I looked into the direct replacement LED tubes but their efficiency didn't impress me. I decided LED strips might work out well and after looking art several I decided to go with Horticultural Lighting Group's QB96. Its a 22" strip with 96 Samsung chips in two rows. these are 24V strips and I'll be running 2 in series on a Meanwell HLG80H-54a driver.

I'll have 4 times the light of a T5 with a more useable spread, and it will be dimmable. And bye bye bulb changes!

One goal of this project is to have it look as close to original as possible. This growlight came with a remote ballast, its on the powercord near the plug instead of the typical unit that's in the fixture. I'm going to simply cut out the ballast and splice in the driver, the cord from the ballast to the light has a nice plug that fits into the end cap of the reflector.

I removed the bulb and then the endcap that the power connects to. I removed the inner cover and the contacts for the bulb pins. I connected 2 of the three wires in the powercord to Wago wire connectors. I then added two short pieces of wire to go from the Wagos to the QB strip. I spot glued the Wagos into the slot meant for the bulb socket.

I lay the strip inside the reflector and drilled holes for screws to mount it. I then attached the strip with 2 screws temporarily in case I need to make changes.

I'll be back with the finish of this later today. I need to go out and get some 20-22 gauge wire to reach to the second strip.


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Haha that looks friggin awesome!

 

[pop22]

I've wanted to do this for about a year, then HLG came out with the QB96 and I knew I had to do it!

Haha that looks friggin awesome!

!

 

[RivetGrrl]

@Waira @Son of Hobbes @BigSm0


I have a T5 growlight in my livingroom for my house pkants and veggie seedlings. I milked 3 years out of the original bulb but it was time to replace it. I looked into the direct replacement LED tubes but their efficiency didn't impress me. I decided LED strips might work out well and after looking art several I decided to go with Horticultural Lighting Group's QB96. Its a 22" strip with 96 Samsung chips in two rows. these are 24V strips and I'll be running 2 in series on a Meanwell HLG80H-54a driver.

I'll have 4 times the light of a T5 with a more useable spread, and it will be dimmable. And bye bye bulb changes!

One goal of this project is to have it look as close to original as possible. This growlight came with a remote ballast, its on the powercord near the plug instead of the typical unit that's in the fixture. I'm going to simply cut out the ballast and splice in the driver, the cord from the ballast to the light has a nice plug that fits into the end cap of the reflector.

I removed the bulb and then the endcap that the power connects to. I removed the inner cover and the contacts for the bulb pins. I connected 2 of the three wires in the powercord to Wago wire connectors. I then added two short pieces of wire to go from the Wagos to the QB strip. I spot glued the Wagos into the slot meant for the bulb socket.

I lay the strip inside the reflector and drilled holes for screws to mount it. I then attached the strip with 2 screws temporarily in case I need to make changes.

I'll be back with the finish of this later today. I need to go out and get some 20-22 gauge wire to reach to the second strip.


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I have that exact same JumpStart unit and don't use it anymore, I will look for this unit and see what it costs in Canada. Thanks for the tutorial!

Edit to say I rep'd you too recently I'll have to slap some other people first

 

[Burn victim]

I've wanted to do this for about a year, then HLG came out with the QB96 and I knew I had to do it!


!

nice recycling ! That should work great for open space with that reflector . HLG is putting out some good shit ! I got the HLG 320 xl with the 324 v-1 with nichia chips & love it . I wonder why they don’t sell it anymore? Maybe the 96elites ? I like the option of running harder & higher for winter temps!

 

[pop22]

I'll be finishing this project today. Had other things get in the way yesterday lol!

 

[pop22]

Update:

Today I completed the wiring. I also broke pop22's rule [HASHTAG]#1[/HASHTAG] of DIY.......... test EVERYTHING before you put it together! DUH! We'll get to that in a minute.

I wired the power to the power supply. I used crimp connectors so that I could slide heat srink tubing over the splice. Next I did the cord from the power supply to the light, also using crimp connectors and heat shrink tubing. I then wired the QB 96 strips together in series. I attached them to he wiring in the end cap. checked all connection and plugged in the power supply. AND............ nothing. I tested with a voltmeter, nothing. So I proceeded to disconnect wiring that I could, still nothing.
Ok, time to start from scratch. I should have made all connection using Wago lever lock connectors first and be certain everything functioned, that's my usual protocol.

So, I cut out all the crimp connectors and started over. and of course.... its was the last connection I checked. I hate 20-22 gauge solid wire, the crap is always so brittle. The wire into the positive connector of the second QB 96 broke inside the connector but there was just enough friction to hold the insulation in place in the connector. I removed the boards. Its a little tricky to depress the release on those connectors, they are tiny. I had to hold up the board vertically, Depress the release with a pin and shake the piece of wire out of the connector. That done I rewired the boards and bolted them back into the reflector.

I broke the glue on the Wagos that I had used in the end cap, the cap wouldn't fit on the reflector properly with them. I replaced the with wire nuts. have about $70 in this conversion and it was money well spent.

 

[RivetGrrl]

Update:

Today I completed the wiring. I also broke pop22's rule [HASHTAG]#1[/HASHTAG] of DIY.......... test EVERYTHING before you put it together! DUH! We'll get to that in a minute.

I wired the power to the power supply. I used crimp connectors so that I could slide heat srink tubing over the splice. Next I did the cord from the power supply to the light, also using crimp connectors and heat shrink tubing. I then wired the QB 96 strips together in series. I attached them to he wiring in the end cap. checked all connection and plugged in the power supply. AND............ nothing. I tested with a voltmeter, nothing. So I proceeded to disconnect wiring that I could, still nothing.
Ok, time to start from scratch. I should have made all connection using Wago lever lock connectors first and be certain everything functioned, that's my usual protocol.

So, I cut out all the crimp connectors and started over. and of course.... its was the last connection I checked. I hate 20-22 gauge solid wire, the crap is always so brittle. The wire into the positive connector of the second QB 96 broke inside the connector but there was just enough friction to hold the insulation in place in the connector. I removed the boards. Its a little tricky to depress the release on those connectors, they are tiny. I had to hold up the board vertically, Depress the release with a pin and shake the piece of wire out of the connector. That done I rewired the boards and bolted them back into the reflector.

I broke the glue on the Wagos that I had used in the end cap, the cap wouldn't fit on the reflector properly with them. I replaced the with wire nuts. have about $70 in this conversion and it was money well spent.

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Awesome Pop22, I'm sure many people will benefit from this tutorial. I looked on the website and these boards are not available in Canada, but I did see some kits I'd love to try in general. I'll look into these and shipping/duty from the US I suppose. Price is decent and product looks good.

 

[pop22]

HLG's products are top shelf and their customer service is also. All my lights are now built from HLG products, with the exception of a pair of auto cobs. They have gone above and beyond the ordinary to correct the only problem I've had. I don't give many companies recommendations like this!

Awesome Pop22, I'm sure many people will benefit from this tutorial. I looked on the website and these boards are not available in Canada, but I did see some kits I'd love to try in general. I'll look into these and shipping/duty from the US I suppose. Price is decent and product looks good.

 

[trailanimal]

Update:

Today I completed the wiring. I also broke pop22's rule [HASHTAG]#1[/HASHTAG] of DIY.......... test EVERYTHING before you put it together! DUH! We'll get to that in a minute.

I wired the power to the power supply. I used crimp connectors so that I could slide heat srink tubing over the splice. Next I did the cord from the power supply to the light, also using crimp connectors and heat shrink tubing. I then wired the QB 96 strips together in series. I attached them to he wiring in the end cap. checked all connection and plugged in the power supply. AND............ nothing. I tested with a voltmeter, nothing. So I proceeded to disconnect wiring that I could, still nothing.
Ok, time to start from scratch. I should have made all connection using Wago lever lock connectors first and be certain everything functioned, that's my usual protocol.

So, I cut out all the crimp connectors and started over. and of course.... its was the last connection I checked. I hate 20-22 gauge solid wire, the crap is always so brittle. The wire into the positive connector of the second QB 96 broke inside the connector but there was just enough friction to hold the insulation in place in the connector. I removed the boards. Its a little tricky to depress the release on those connectors, they are tiny. I had to hold up the board vertically, Depress the release with a pin and shake the piece of wire out of the connector. That done I rewired the boards and bolted them back into the reflector.

I broke the glue on the Wagos that I had used in the end cap, the cap wouldn't fit on the reflector properly with them. I replaced the with wire nuts. have about $70 in this conversion and it was money well spent.

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clean job 22how may watts?