Replacing 5 Year Old Blackstars

somebody1701

somebody1701

Well-Known Member
I"m currently running two 240W LighthouseHydro BlackStars along with two A51 2014 XGS-190s. I noticed today that half of the lights on one of my BSs are out. I may be able to fix (I have a 3rd one that died awhile back for spare parts), but these are getting old (5+ years now), and I want to order a replacement. I love the XGS-190s (they are very well-built and grow amazing ganja) but the A51 website is out of stock on everything and doesn't look very active.

I have these lights alternating (A51 BS A51 BS) over a 2.5 x 6.5 ft area.

Has anyone ordered from A51 recently? What's a good bang for the buck light these days? TIA!
 
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PurpleBuz

Well-Known Member
somebody1701 said:
I"m currently running two 240W LighthouseHydro BlackStars along with two A51 2014 XGS-190s. I noticed today that half of the lights on one of my BSs are out. I may be able to fix (I have a 3rd one that died awhile back for spare parts), but these are getting old (5+ years now), and I want to order a replacement. I love the XGS-190s (they are very well-built and grow amazing ganja) but the A51 website is out of stock on everything and doesn't look very active.

I have these lights alternating (A51 BS A51 BS) over a 2.5 x 6.5 ft area.

Has anyone ordered from A51 recently? What's a good bang for the buck light these days? TIA!
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check out

- https://northerngrowlights.com/
- http://www.pacificlightconcepts.com/
- http://www.tastyled.com/default.asp

three reputable specialized light mfg with very efficient lights that produce.

Not sure whats up with a51, but unfortunately they seem to have some business issues.
 
somebody1701

somebody1701

Well-Known Member
Can anyone comment on the shipping package from any of these guys. One thing I loved about A51 was that it was "aquarium" lighting. I guess "Tasty" isn't a dead giveaway, but anything that says "grow light" isn't exactly what I want the FedEx/UPS guy seeing.
 
BM9AGS

BM9AGS

Well-Known Member
somebody1701 said:
Can anyone comment on the shipping package from any of these guys. One thing I loved about A51 was that it was "aquarium" lighting. I guess "Tasty" isn't a dead giveaway, but anything that says "grow light" isn't exactly what I want the FedEx/UPS guy seeing.
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I'm sure all of them can ship unmarked.
 
Yodaweed

Yodaweed

Well-Known Member
imo wait until cobs come out with a new type of chip , this generation is intense but the spectrum isn't very good and you can still get bigger and better buds with the same wattage on mono diodes not to mention zero UV and zero far red light both of which are vital to growing top quality big buds.

If you have to have the light I would recommend amare they actually have better tech where their COBs got supplementary mono's , should grow big huge good quality buds.

http://www.amaretechnologies.com/se.350.uv.html

Something like that, in my opinion just COBs will lack spectrum, yes they will grow buds, but you can grow better buds than that with HID lights or mono diode LEDs.
 
somebody1701

somebody1701

Well-Known Member
I've wondered about that. The BS's I have have a couple of UV monos and are heavy red and blue. The A51s are all white. I don't think the buds could get much better. I was using 1000w HID before I went to all LED and the LED produces much better bud. It's not even close. Maybe I'll just fix the BS if I can. I've fixed them before but there are like 50 screws you have to take out and then put back in. Usually one led goes out, and I can just solder a bypass.
 
Yodaweed

Yodaweed

Well-Known Member
somebody1701 said:
I've wondered about that. The BS's I have have a couple of UV monos and are heavy red and blue. The A51s are all white. I don't think the buds could get much better. I was using 1000w HID before I went to all LED and the LED produces much better bud. It's not even close. Maybe I'll just fix the BS if I can. I've fixed them before but there are like 50 screws you have to take out and then put back in. Usually one led goes out, and I can just solder a bypass.
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If it working for you why change? If you went to all COBs you would need to relearn a lot, different lights make your plants uptake nutrients and water at different rates not to mention I haven't been impressed by any COB grows they just look like smaller buds than a HPS makes with shorter stature (isn't that what all LEDs do?) so I would advise holding off until COBs get a bit more advanced, the COBs we are using aren't even for horticulture they are for flood lights and street lamps.
 
Yodaweed

Yodaweed

Well-Known Member
PSUAGRO. said:
:roll: last time I checked sodium/halide arcs where designed for streetlights ..................
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Yeah but modified for growing, that's the next stage for COBs they haven't been modified yet, once a company like gavita gets into cob then we will see some improvements until then they are just gonna be street lights/ flood lights.

I want to see advancements, but cree, bridgelux and other vendors aren't in the grow light bizz.
 
Indacouch

Indacouch

Well-Known Member
somebody1701 said:
Can anyone comment on the shipping package from any of these guys. One thing I loved about A51 was that it was "aquarium" lighting. I guess "Tasty" isn't a dead giveaway, but anything that says "grow light" isn't exactly what I want the FedEx/UPS guy seeing.
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Ganga grower 4000 won't work for labeling .....lol
 
somebody1701

somebody1701

Well-Known Member
Yodaweed said:
...they just look like smaller buds than a HPS makes with shorter stature (isn't that what all LEDs do?)
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I was reluctant to switch away from HID but I was moving and considering off-grid solar at my new place (I ended up running grid power) so I decided to try a pure LED grow before I moved and it blew me away. The only difference for me was more and better bud. The ironic thing for me is that pure LED actually made my grow room a little hotter because I had my HID pulling in from and exhausting outdoors. Aside from that, there really was no comparison. Yield was up and the bud was frostier.
 
Yodaweed

Yodaweed

Well-Known Member
somebody1701 said:
I was reluctant to switch away from HID but I was moving and considering off-grid solar at my new place (I ended up running grid power) so I decided to try a pure LED grow before I moved and it blew me away. The only difference for me was more and better bud. The ironic thing for me is that pure LED actually made my grow room a little hotter because I had my HID pulling in from and exhausting outdoors. Aside from that, there really was no comparison. Yield was up and the bud was frostier.
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I been running HPS/MH in one room and LEDs in another for 2 years, LEDs do good but HPS is better. I got 2 areas right now I'm growing some golden goat under the leds and some afternoon delight, tangie, green crack and gorilla glue under the hps. With HPS you get the additional far red light and if you put a MH between your HPS you also get UV light which no LEDs have unless they have a CFL/t5 attachment, those UV diodes your talking about aren't real they are just a made up thing they put on their website, I know cause I got those blackstars you use, I used them when I first started. They only have red, blue and white leds in them no UV unless you have a really old model and then the UV they produce is so small its useless.
 
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Yodaweed

Yodaweed

Well-Known Member
Here's the spectrum blackstar uses on their lights, it has no UV in it, this is directly off their website under their "UV" lighthouse hydro 240w light.

UV light starts at 400nm and goes down to 10nm.
 

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Olive Drab Green

Olive Drab Green

Well-Known Member
somebody1701 said:
Can anyone comment on the shipping package from any of these guys. One thing I loved about A51 was that it was "aquarium" lighting. I guess "Tasty" isn't a dead giveaway, but anything that says "grow light" isn't exactly what I want the FedEx/UPS guy seeing.
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The mail guy won't see shit. Everything's discreet.
 
Olive Drab Green

Olive Drab Green

Well-Known Member
Yodaweed said:
Here's the spectrum blackstar uses on their lights, it has no UV in it, this is directly off their website under their "UV" lighthouse hydro 240w light.

UV light starts at 400nm and goes down to 10nm.
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It does have UV. And IR. At least the 5-6 year old BlackStar 500UV I have does.
 
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