hi guys
i know its passed the point of co2 ect but has anyone lit a 4ftx4ft area with a 1kw bar led?
ive got an 8ftx8ft tent and i was wanting 4x1kw in the area
ive been running 3800w of omega g spectra 430w in the area so not a great rise in watts
just want a more even spread rather than multiple hot spots in the middle of the board lights
Yup, board lights invariably have hot spots. That's part of the design but it also helps lower product cost (R&D costs money). There's also the yield issue because of the PPFD map.
I grow in a 2' x 4' with a variety of lights and went searching for a replacement for my 330watt Growcraft flower light last summer. After lot of searching, the Spider G/SE4500 was my choice.
I realize that you're looking for a 4' x 4' but I think there are a few really good arguments to go with 2 of the Spiders.
A big issue is that two lights allow you to deal with an uneven canopy better than one larger light. That's a personal bias because, when I try to grow more than one plant, I always end up a Twinz grow (from the movie with Schwarzenegger and de Vito).
There's also the redundancy factor but that's not a big issue with modern electronics, until is becomes a big issue, that is.
Re. the 4500 itself—it's got a good spectrum and an excellent PPFD map. The latter was the biggest issue for me. Another factor to consider is that Spider has done a good job with automation/digitial integration. Dunno if that's of value to you but I'm just tossing out ideas.
Another option is the new Migro lights. Historically, Migro lights have been underpowered compared to the other big name vendors but Shane finally got his head around the idea that cannabis loves light (long story) and he's revamped the entire line. I wouldn't use their 240L but the 150 is a game changer in the 2' market and both the 500 and 750 put have excellent PPFD maps.
Another item to consider is that the spectrum has a lot of red in it. That helps increase the PPFD values and I have no doubt that's one reason why that spectrum was chosen. But it also means that you
are getting more photons and DLI is what drives growth/yield. The other side of the coin is that you're not getting a lot of blue photons so your plants will tend to be taller than those grown under a light with a more evenly weighted spectrum.
Yes, I pooh poohed the idea of using just one light but, if you're going to go in that direction, those two lights are hard to beat. In terms of automation, I'd suspect that you can run them with AC Infinity or the other smart controllers but the bottom line is that Migro has really upped the ante with those new lights.
Needing CO2? I have been running at 1kµmol average in ambient for a few years and I think that's responsible for some of the minor cosmetic things that I see on some grows but, as I posted in another thread, for me, 18 ounces of "ugly" beats 6 ounces of "pretty".
