Help with lightning

D

dizzyground

Well-Known Member
Hey.
Im wondering what would be best lightning for 2.4m x 1.2m x 2.5m(height) tent. 4x8 tent highceiling. One lamp will be gavita 1000 de, but they mention it will cover max area of 1.8m x 1.2m. Is it so black and white, or could I light up whole area with one lamp? Is it too little umol/sqm?

What do you guys think?
 
OldMedUser

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
A 1000W will do about 2/3 of a tent that size effectively but if you want great coverage with that invest in a Light Rail®. I've had plans to add a space that size to my existing grow room and bought one specifically to use a 1000W in there but since have got some 600W lights and will use 2 of those back-to-back instead. 50% more light than the 1000W for 20% more power. The Rail only uses 9W so will pay for itself in just a couple of grows rather than adding more lights.

:peace:
 
D

dizzyground

Well-Known Member
OldMedUser said:
A 1000W will do about 2/3 of a tent that size effectively but if you want great coverage with that invest in a Light Rail®. I've had plans to add a space that size to my existing grow room and bought one specifically to use a 1000W in there but since have got some 600W lights and will use 2 of those back-to-back instead. 50% more light than the 1000W for 20% more power. The Rail only uses 9W so will pay for itself in just a couple of grows rather than adding more lights.

:peace:
Click to expand...
Never thought of that. But arent those quite expensive too? If its around 200e, little bit more and I can get a 600w hps.
It would be great to have only 1kw heating though... You mention it paying itself back, do you think that giving plants little less lightning at times doesnt affect the yield almost at all? Little breather every now and then? Or does it ultimately come down to umols or lumens

Need to search for light rail grows
 
OneHitDone

OneHitDone

Well-Known Member
dizzyground said:
Never thought of that. But arent those quite expensive too? If its around 200e, little bit more and I can get a 600w hps.
It would be great to have only 1kw heating though... You mention it paying itself back, do you think that giving plants little less lightning at times doesnt affect the yield almost at all? Little breather every now and then? Or does it ultimately come down to umols or lumens

Need to search for light rail grows
Click to expand...
On a 4x8 if your looking to max out your yield per sq ft and have the hight and means to cool go 2 1000W
Otherwise 2 600W is a great match. Maybe look at a pair of the 600/750 Flex Gavita's or the Hellian DE adjust-a-wings look interesting.
Can also go OG air cooled as well. Do what fits your needs and budget and just enjoy the growing experience :peace:

IMG_0368.jpg
 
M

Markshomegrown

Well-Known Member
dizzyground said:
Never thought of that. But arent those quite expensive too? If its around 200e, little bit more and I can get a 600w hps.
It would be great to have only 1kw heating though... You mention it paying itself back, do you think that giving plants little less lightning at times doesnt affect the yield almost at all? Little breather every now and then? Or does it ultimately come down to umols or lumens

Need to search for light rail grows
Click to expand...
I have used a light rail a few times and they are really good but you have to make sure there put up 100% level( also the hood needs to hang level).
My advice would be to buy a just a Wings 1000W Hellion DE and use the super spreader, they cover 1.5m x 2.1m and running it on a light rail (adds more length but less width, length 2.8m, 1.3m) you could keep the hood 2ft above the canopy.

I used a lux meter and kept the lux 80,000 under the hood, on the light rail because the lux would go from 20,000 to 80,000 as it goes over the canopy.
So the average is 50,000 (I was using a 600w SE HPS)
If the hoods not moving I want every leaf to receive 40,000-60,000 lux

The super spreader reflects most the light out of the ends of the hood but the lux is less below the bulb so it looks like its a bad design. the idea is to get the hood closer to the canopy so you lose less light off the walls and the 1ft2 low lux area means the the rest of the canopy is really lite up, I was getting 70,000 60cm from the bulb, remove the super spreader and the lux droped to 40,000


 
OldMedUser

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
dizzyground said:
Never thought of that. But arent those quite expensive too? If its around 200e, little bit more and I can get a 600w hps.
It would be great to have only 1kw heating though... You mention it paying itself back, do you think that giving plants little less lightning at times doesnt affect the yield almost at all? Little breather every now and then? Or does it ultimately come down to umols or lumens

Need to search for light rail grows
Click to expand...
They're not cheap but I'm glad I got mine. Was 4 years ago and I've used it many times so I'm pretty sure I've saved the $300CAN it cost me by now. After starting my plants under fluoros or my smaller LED lights they go under a 400w and as they get larger and need to spread out I'll start using the rail before I switch up to 600W. Same with a larger grow that is outgrowing the 600 but can move the light before needing the 1000W.

For your space 2x600W would be great for a full tent if you had those but as you have a 1000W DE a mover would be the way to go. The plants are getting light from different angles with a mover so leaves in the shade are getting exposure they wouldn't get from a stationary source. A 1000W also covers a space wider than your tent so you will get a lot of light bouncing off the walls.

Moving the plants around or making two hanging points for the bulb that can easily be switched so the light can be shifted to get both ends some of the time would even out the coverage as well but that's more hassle. With the mover you can have the light closer to the canopy so it's more intense without frying any tops as well. 12"/30cm with my 1000W and they liked it fine.

I've been growing on a low budget for 20 years and pick up bits and pieces like that as I go along. Must have over 5G into this hobby by now. :)

:peace:
 
D

dizzyground

Well-Known Member
OldMedUser said:
They're not cheap but I'm glad I got mine. Was 4 years ago and I've used it many times so I'm pretty sure I've saved the $300CAN it cost me by now. After starting my plants under fluoros or my smaller LED lights they go under a 400w and as they get larger and need to spread out I'll start using the rail before I switch up to 600W. Same with a larger grow that is outgrowing the 600 but can move the light before needing the 1000W.

For your space 2x600W would be great for a full tent if you had those but as you have a 1000W DE a mover would be the way to go. The plants are getting light from different angles with a mover so leaves in the shade are getting exposure they wouldn't get from a stationary source. A 1000W also covers a space wider than your tent so you will get a lot of light bouncing off the walls.

Moving the plants around or making two hanging points for the bulb that can easily be switched so the light can be shifted to get both ends some of the time would even out the coverage as well but that's more hassle. With the mover you can have the light closer to the canopy so it's more intense without frying any tops as well. 12"/30cm with my 1000W and they liked it fine.

I've been growing on a low budget for 20 years and pick up bits and pieces like that as I go along. Must have over 5G into this hobby by now. :)

:peace:
Click to expand...
30 cm!! So you keep the rail constantly moving, never stopping? I would never try 30cm with gavita. But I think gavita is meant to be put higher by design. This idea of light rail is actually growing on me. If you have been on-off with the light rail, what kind of differencies do you notice in plants? I would guess less popcorn, but are the claims true that it equals 30-40% less power used = 30-40% more yield with same watts?

Moving plants / lights is not going to happen. I will run mix set of indica and sativa, and plan was to put indicas in the middle to have max height with NORMAL light setup. Not sure if light rail would change this. And imo lights are not to be touched/moved by hand if not absolutely necessary.

Do you guys run ur 1kw lamps at 1000w or can they be ran all the time 1150w in flower? I didn't find any info if they handle it ok.

Yeh man it gets expensive fast when picking up new gear :-)
 
go go kid

go go kid

Well-Known Member
dizzyground said:
Never thought of that. But arent those quite expensive too? If its around 200e, little bit more and I can get a 600w hps.
It would be great to have only 1kw heating though... You mention it paying itself back, do you think that giving plants little less lightning at times doesnt affect the yield almost at all? Little breather every now and then? Or does it ultimately come down to umols or lumens

Need to search for light rail grows
Click to expand...
if you want 1k of heating, buy a 1000 watt sodium light instead of the 600 watt and blow it around with an upside down extraction fan, thats what i do
 
D

dizzyground

Well-Known Member
OneHitDone said:
On a 4x8 if your looking to max out your yield per sq ft and have the hight and means to cool go 2 1000W
Otherwise 2 600W is a great match. Maybe look at a pair of the 600/750 Flex Gavita's or the Hellian DE adjust-a-wings look interesting.
Can also go OG air cooled as well. Do what fits your needs and budget and just enjoy the growing experience :peace:

View attachment 5021408
Click to expand...
I was running 1kw in 4x4 and imo it was wayyyy overkill. Maybe it works for some. Also would like to keep the watts a bit lower so I dont have to run exhaust fan on high speeds as it makes alot of noice. 950m3 fan if I remember correctly, and fresh air pretty cold, so maybe it could handle more watts. Am not sure. No air cooling with gavita. Only max temp :D:cool:
 
D

dizzyground

Well-Known Member
Markshomegrown said:
I have used a light rail a few times and they are really good but you have to make sure there put up 100% level( also the hood needs to hang level).
My advice would be to buy a just a Wings 1000W Hellion DE and use the super spreader, they cover 1.5m x 2.1m and running it on a light rail (adds more length but less width, length 2.8m, 1.3m) you could keep the hood 2ft above the canopy.

I used a lux meter and kept the lux 80,000 under the hood, on the light rail because the lux would go from 20,000 to 80,000 as it goes over the canopy.
So the average is 50,000 (I was using a 600w SE HPS)
If the hoods not moving I want every leaf to receive 40,000-60,000 lux

The super spreader reflects most the light out of the ends of the hood but the lux is less below the bulb so it looks like its a bad design. the idea is to get the hood closer to the canopy so you lose less light off the walls and the 1ft2 low lux area means the the rest of the canopy is really lite up, I was getting 70,000 60cm from the bulb, remove the super spreader and the lux droped to 40,000
Click to expand...
That is really interesting point about the awing. I thought the super spreader is bad also, but maybe with light mover it is good. I will not change whole lightning though, but I might try the light rail with gavita.

Is it really hard to setup level?

Thanks all for the tips!
 
OldMedUser

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
dizzyground said:
30 cm!! So you keep the rail constantly moving, never stopping? I would never try 30cm with gavita. But I think gavita is meant to be put higher by design. This idea of light rail is actually growing on me. If you have been on-off with the light rail, what kind of differencies do you notice in plants? I would guess less popcorn, but are the claims true that it equals 30-40% less power used = 30-40% more yield with same watts?

Moving plants / lights is not going to happen. I will run mix set of indica and sativa, and plan was to put indicas in the middle to have max height with NORMAL light setup. Not sure if light rail would change this. And imo lights are not to be touched/moved by hand if not absolutely necessary.

Do you guys run ur 1kw lamps at 1000w or can they be ran all the time 1150w in flower? I didn't find any info if they handle it ok.

Yeh man it gets expensive fast when picking up new gear :-)
Click to expand...
The light is constantly moving except for pauses at the ends that are adjustable as is the speed on mine. Made in Colorado as well so not cheap asian junk. None of my ballasts have overdrive and I wouldn't use it if they did. All but my 600w ones are magnetics with some being 35 - 40 years old and still work fine.

Not sure what claims you're talking about but when you can cover almost double the area without adding more lights then over 40% savings in power is not unrealistic. More area = more yields with the same wattage as well.

I tend to trim so I don't have a lot of popcorn as I do a lot of real ScroGs so lollipop the hell out of everything. Nothing magical going on with the plants. Just more plants under the same light for better production levels than if it were stationary.

Doesn't harm the lights to be moved on a rail. It's sudden shocks that can damage them and I've banged mine around accidentally without any problems.

:peace:
 
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