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Grow LED lighting

psychonaut

psychonaut

Florist
Company Rep
Anyone into LED lighting? I can't handle the excess heat from even 600w HID so going back to LED hoping 2x of these will do well in 4x4 tent. They boast 2g/watt.

https://www.mars-hydro.com/led-grow.../buy-mars-sp-200-led-grow-lights-for-for-sale

mars_hydro_sp-200_1.jpg


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Thinking 2 lamps will end up being better than my single lamp. Should get the corners of the tent more intense light.
 
Running your grow so the lights are off during the hottest part of the day can help with heat and a 315w CMH will run cooler and give more available light to your plants than a 600w HPS and is cheaper than most LEDs.
I believe a 6x2 room with 2 lights would give better light to each plant than a 4x4 room. The square room is better served with a single larger fixture ( so I was told by 2 different hydro shops just recently, those LEDs you listed may be different though)
One last thing. CMH is supposed to promote more resin production compared to other lighting styles):thumbsup:

Edit; you can just get a CMH 315w ballast, bulb and adapter socket and use your existing shade and 'ballast to light' cable pretty cheap.
 
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LesPlenty said:
Running your grow so the lights are off during the hottest part of the day can help with heat and a 315w CMH will run cooler and give more available light to your plants than a 600w HPS and is cheaper than most LEDs.
I believe a 6x2 room with 2 lights would give better light to each plant than a 4x4 room. The square room is better served with a single larger fixture ( so I was told by 2 different hydro shops just recently, those LEDs you listed may be different though)
One last thing. CMH is supposed to promote more resin production compared to other lighting styles):thumbsup:

Edit; you can just get a CMH 315w ballast, bulb and adapter socket and use your existing shade and 'ballast to light' cable pretty cheap.
Click to expand...

I run my lights off during the daytime in bloom too, but my home has no central air so it's pretty much windows open or venting hot air outside through clever ducting. I've made it work but the HID I have is just a cheap reflector unit so the heat that comes off the bulb is dangerous to the close tops. I had a fair bit of foxtailing on the canopy and the corners just didnt get the same quality tops as the center of the tent. Unfortunately I have two options for tents, 4x4 and 5x5. My room is not big so it's about the best I can fit in there, especially if I have my 2x2' tent going for whatever reason as well.

I just dropped $450 beans for 2 of those lamps, if it doesn't do as good then I suppose I'll be the guinea pig on this one. Will be reporting back as these lights are in transit now! If I can get a couple years use out of them I'll hopefully be able to make a decision on where to go next.

What I was wanting at one point was a hortilux blue for HID but decided to go back to LED fear of heat.

I should have probably consulted more before my purchase but there's actually a bit of talk about these new epistar LED strips, hoping it's not all hype.
 
Oh cool, mars hydro has got into quantum boards.

I've got a 135W HLG QB in a 2' x 2', just flipped to 12/12 Thursday. This run is a quickie with three short christmas trees to get things dialed in while I get a plant trained for round two but I can share more when I see how it does.
 
I run 2 'none branded ' Leds in my small .90 sq metre tent . They are rated @ 600w and 300w but in reality they prolly draw approx 130w each. Once in dual COB led (600w) the other is a normal none COB Led (300w). I bloom only in this tent and run a perpetual grow with an unknown strain that has a 10 week flowering cycle. I'm a heavy daily user who vapes only and I produce more than I can consume. The leds are great. To much heat in summer for HID but in winter I have to add a heater and a few extra CFLs to get the tent up to optimal temps.
 
VCNZ said:
in winter I have to add a heater and a few extra CFLs to get the tent up to optimal temps.
Click to expand...
Wouldn't a 400w HPS or 315w CMH be better in winter rather than a heater and CFL's, cheaper to run than most heaters with the benefit of more light?
 
LesPlenty said:
Wouldn't a 400w HPS or 315w CMH be better in winter rather than a heater and CFL's, cheaper to run than most heaters with the benefit of more light?
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Yeah probably but I like fiddling with my set up and trying different lighting configurations. Plus I find HID grown plants stretch a lot more than LED or CFL. Grew for years with a 400w HPS and had great results but feel the LEDS are just as good especially as my current tent is only 1.6m high. I get very little stretch with the LED and CFL setup.
 
Five weeks of flowering. So close and yet so far.

IMG_0465.jpg
 
I finally got my 2x Mars Hydro SP-250's. Wow these are really bright, definitely has brighter light penetrating further into the canopy at the same height as 600W MH bulb. Power draw at the wall is 535W and that includes one of my small fans running on low. There doesn't seem to be a switch for off/on or bloom/grow, it's full spectrum so it's a nice bright white with a lil more color than the MH but close as far as what my eyes can see. Heat in the tent dropped considerably, and the drivers mounted on the top of the lights can be removed and placed outside of the tent for those who have heat issues.

Right now with the lights in the tent closed for 15 mins I am getting 61F temp reading, room temp is 58F.

Each light boasts 2x4' coverage and I feel like it indeed does based on my light meter, I staggered the plants a little and have the lights evenly spaced so give it 4x4' coverage

MIvgawN.jpg


Ec6G3AH.jpg


GfTmVbI.jpg


cnVoORp.jpg


4ifz7jM.jpg
 
psychonaut said:
I finally got my 2x Mars Hydro SP-250's. Wow these are really bright, definitely has brighter light penetrating further into the canopy at the same height as 600W MH bulb. Power draw at the wall is 535W and that includes one of my small fans running on low. There doesn't seem to be a switch for off/on or bloom/grow, it's full spectrum so it's a nice bright white with a lil more color than the MH but close as far as what my eyes can see. Heat in the tent dropped considerably, and the drivers mounted on the top of the lights can be removed and placed outside of the tent for those who have heat issues.

Right now with the lights in the tent closed for 15 mins I am getting 61F temp reading, room temp is 58F.

Each light boasts 2x4' coverage and I feel like it indeed does based on my light meter, I staggered the plants a little and have the lights evenly spaced so give it 4x4' coverage

MIvgawN.jpg


Ec6G3AH.jpg


GfTmVbI.jpg


cnVoORp.jpg


4ifz7jM.jpg
Click to expand...
Looks like the girls are loving it!
 
Thanks, yes they seem to like them so far. Sure is bright but so was the 600W MH! Both damn near blind you when you accidentally look direct at 'em. No more heat coming off the bulbs so really hoping the drop in temps will favor the spring warming and balance everything out.
 
psychonaut said:
I finally got my 2x Mars Hydro SP-250's. Wow these are really bright, definitely has brighter light penetrating further into the canopy at the same height as 600W MH bulb. Power draw at the wall is 535W and that includes one of my small fans running on low. There doesn't seem to be a switch for off/on or bloom/grow, it's full spectrum so it's a nice bright white with a lil more color than the MH but close as far as what my eyes can see. Heat in the tent dropped considerably, and the drivers mounted on the top of the lights can be removed and placed outside of the tent for those who have heat issues.
Click to expand...

Score! :thumbsup:Predict you're gonna love 'em.

Remote drivers are a great idea. Might have to switch. Lighting is advancing so quickly, it's difficult for the hobbyist to keep up.
 
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Disrupt said:
Score! :thumbsup:Predict you're gonna love 'em.

Remote drivers are a great idea. Might have to switch. Lighting is advancing so quickly, it's difficult for the hobbyist to keep up.
Click to expand...

Oh I am loving them already, they have been in the tent for 24hrs now, temps are cool as a cucumber only a few degrees above ambient. I have both lower intake's open with 8" ducting and an 8" carbon filter w/8" fan up top moving the air. 2 fans blowing on the canopy not on the drivers, seems like it's not needed. The drivers get HOT, I cant hold my hand on them but the heat is nothing like the 600W lamp + ballast. I dont see a need to move the drivers out at all in fact! Some guy had a review and said his tent was way too hot from the drivers, honestly I dont know how they got so hot for him. I almost wish I had a little more heat TBH, daytime temps with the lights on is around 62F.

As to the plants, they are looking very good under these lamps, I checked the LUX reading with my samsung phone app and was hitting about 45k LUX at the tops of plants the whole way down the strip, about 18" above. The corners of the tent are gonna be aces I think.

I checked around on a 500W DIY setup for a 4x4" area building your own quantum boards. You can spread your light out a lot more as you build your frame for the LED's, but the cost DIY minus tools and time was around $480. I paid $445 shipped for this setup though I know a DIY QB setup would be more customizable.

We'll see how the flower turn out but I feel like this was definitely a good route to go for LED's.
 
Killick said:
Lee Valley is a company known for high end woodworking tools, and a few garden things. So now that Canada is legal their early spring catalog is 80% grow tools, lights, garden widgets and such, and some lighting, including this, which a few people in the group might have an opinion on:
http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?cat=1,43349&p=77391
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That is adoreable.................Mr.Barnum had a saying about fools and money.
With legalization we are seeing this in full effect,protect yourselves at all times brothers and sisters.
:rofl:
 
Chatting with a buddy who thought they might be useful as supplemental lighting beside the plant, but that there were other options that might work better. These are kinda cute tho. Maybe it's time for an LED ceiling spiral in the garage, for when the 70s tunes come on. Maybe a few black light posters? And Canned Heat and Flaming Grooviest at volume to PO the neighbors?
 
arb said:
,protect yourselves at all times brothers and sisters.
:rofl:
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Not wrong, I have purchased 20neter rolls of smd leds for other jobs that cost 15 bucks a roll, Leevalley $225 for 10neters:rofl:
 
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