Using chinese light, read this post now.

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PadawanWarrior

PadawanWarrior

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MyBo said:
“If you have a cheap light like some unknown company say crxsunny, you will find that your plants won't do what you want them to, before throwing your money away, HLG has a light for 150 that has proper spectrum to grow, power means little compared to spectrum. If that is too expensive they have a veg light for 100 dollars. These are the smallest affordable grow lights in the market. Please heed this post, I've only been on site 3 days and have wasted so much time trying to figure out what is wrong with plant that are getting inadequate light.even mars hydro lights are ok”


Great thread! Thanks for posting, Southernontariogrower. Can I call you SOG for short, cause that’s a long-ass name!

To add my two cents: After growing with HID lighting with great results for many years I still wasn’t very impressed with the LED grow lighting at the onset. Results weren’t very impressive at the time. Today’s technology in LED lighting is, to say the least, very impressive! Bigger yields, and much lower electric bills....What’s not to like about that?!

How do I know? First of all, I went to great length at doing the research on the LED market offerings, the best value. Par value, spectrum, lumens, coverage area, power draw/amps, and of course, COST are all considerations. Having this particular space already equipped with all ventilation, HVAC/humidity equipment and controls. I needed to illuminate an 4X8 tent and a 225SqFt flower room. I’m using a total of 8 quantum board panels, two in the tent, 6 for flower.

I decided on the Spider Farmer SF4000’s and am amazed at the results so far. Currently in week 6 of 10 and have colas forming 24” long, calyxes swelling fat. Both the Wedding Cake and Crystal Gelato love these LED’s! So do I. No more heat, and spinning meters for this guy!

As for the “cheap” Chinese versions, was looking in to a version sold on Alibaba with the brand name of Archibald. They appear to be similar to the Spider Farmer design, and they claim to use Samsung diodes, but I’ve yet to hear of anyone with personal experience/knowledge of theses. Hit me up if you know of these.

First post. Greetings and thanks for having me.

#Quantum boards, #Samsung diodes, #spectrum, #mean well drivers, #dimmable, #high PAR, #SF4000
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You do know both Mars and Spider Farmer are made at the same factory in China right?
 
Hollatchaboy

Hollatchaboy

Well-Known Member
drsaltzman said:
My sentiments exactly.
There’s a use for them regardless .. and we might get lucky.
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So far for just a veg light, I got lucky. The plants under it are looking good. As long as it lasts a while, I'm happy. It's not for everybody though. I don't suggest it, I'm just saying it works for me. :bigjoint:
 
xtsho

xtsho

Well-Known Member
Gemtree said:
We know grandpa, we know ;)
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So did my Durbistan + Mazar I Sharif cross I've been working on. I guess you could call them my grandchildren. Several people will be growing them this summer. Pretty potent stuff at least for me. Knocked me out this afternoon along with the Vodka I got into. Had to take a nap. Us old geezers need our rest. :mrgreen:

 
Millo

Millo

Well-Known Member
PJ Diaz said:
Mars has openly admitted that they do not use top bin diodes over on IC Mag several months ago. Even the Meanwell drivers that they do use are the lower efficiency series drivers with shorter warranties.
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Thanks for the update bongsmilie
 
OldMedUser

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
Green Refuge said:
It's not even that much. A space heater is 1000 watts. 600 watt light at 18/6 won't make a big difference in electric bills.
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When your power cost almost 25¢/kwh it adds up to run a 600.

0.6kw x 18hrs/day x 30days/mth x$0.25/kw = $81/mth. Say two months veg for $162. Then 2 months flower. 6kw x 12hrs/day x 30days/mth x$0.25/kw = $54/mth X2 = $108 + the $162 for veg = $270. Tack on a bit for fans etc and call it $300 just for power. $75/mth to do the 4 month grow on average.

Bit of a difference for some people. It's the bulk of my expenses for growing. I use outrageously expensive AN nutes and that's probably $20 for a grow under one 600 light. I'll spend more on RO water for the same grow at $3.50/5gal.

A space heater might run for a total of an hour a day as they only come on for a few minutes at a time and if your exhaust fan runs full time then it will run a lot more so have the exhaust on a timer so it's off at night at least. Then put the exhaust fan on a temp/rh controller so it only runs when the heat or rh gets too high. I only have a 400W going right now so my exhaust fan is never going on as it's too cool in my basement. Switching to a 600 soon to flower the girls in there and that will add some more heat and I'll add CO2 during the stretch.

:peace:
 
Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
OldMedUser said:
When your power cost almost 25¢/kwh it adds up to run a 600.

0.6kw x 18hrs/day x 30days/mth x$0.25/kw = $81/mth. Say two months veg for $162. Then 2 months flower. 6kw x 12hrs/day x 30days/mth x$0.25/kw = $54/mth X2 = $108 + the $162 for veg = $270. Tack on a bit for fans etc and call it $300 just for power. $75/mth to do the 4 month grow on average.

Bit of a difference for some people. It's the bulk of my expenses for growing. I use outrageously expensive AN nutes and that's probably $20 for a grow under one 600 light. I'll spend more on RO water for the same grow at $3.50/5gal.

A space heater might run for a total of an hour a day as they only come on for a few minutes at a time and if your exhaust fan runs full time then it will run a lot more so have the exhaust on a timer so it's off at night at least. Then put the exhaust fan on a temp/rh controller so it only runs when the heat or rh gets too high. I only have a 400W going right now so my exhaust fan is never going on as it's too cool in my basement. Switching to a 600 soon to flower the girls in there and that will add some more heat and I'll add CO2 during the stretch.

:peace:
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Spot on. Add to that, one of the biggest savings with LED can be on the cooling energy. With LED not only are we fighting less heat but we need to have a warmer canopy temperature due to the lack of IR.
 
OldMedUser

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
I watched that original video and couldn't believe that guy used a saw to get the globes off. I just used a 1/2' flat screw driver and they popped right off.

My little DIY rig is a lot prettier than his too tho I know he just threw it together for the experiment. Mine has 11 bulbs on 6" centers and I'm going to add a 4 bulb outrigger on each side for more coverage.

LEDFinish05.jpg

LEDFinish02.jpg

Bought some used gear yesterday. 2x4x5'h near new tent and a no-name COB light that just says 1500W, nice little 250gal/hr air pump and a 4" inline fan for the tent for $175. Just using the light and tent for vegging while I flower in the grow room. Wife stole the spare bedroom and my bank of T-12s for her veggies. Might put the tent in there for now too.

Son of a bitch is bright as hell! 2 cooling fans on the back. Anybody know what kind of LEDs those really are?

New1500wLED.JPG

:peace:
 
G

Green Refuge

Well-Known Member
OldMedUser said:
When your power cost almost 25¢/kwh it adds up to run a 600.

0.6kw x 18hrs/day x 30days/mth x$0.25/kw = $81/mth. Say two months veg for $162. Then 2 months flower. 6kw x 12hrs/day x 30days/mth x$0.25/kw = $54/mth X2 = $108 + the $162 for veg = $270. Tack on a bit for fans etc and call it $300 just for power. $75/mth to do the 4 month grow on average.

Bit of a difference for some people. It's the bulk of my expenses for growing. I use outrageously expensive AN nutes and that's probably $20 for a grow under one 600 light. I'll spend more on RO water for the same grow at $3.50/5gal.

A space heater might run for a total of an hour a day as they only come on for a few minutes at a time and if your exhaust fan runs full time then it will run a lot more so have the exhaust on a timer so it's off at night at least. Then put the exhaust fan on a temp/rh controller so it only runs when the heat or rh gets too high. I only have a 400W going right now so my exhaust fan is never going on as it's too cool in my basement. Switching to a 600 soon to flower the girls in there and that will add some more heat and I'll add CO2 during the stretch.

:peace:
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Where you paying .25 a kwh ? Unless you in Hawaiian the Average in United States is .13 . I pay .12 in my state. I got a 550 watt led and a 315 cmh and barely noticed a difference in my bill.
 
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