Here are some pics of each light so you can tell me what you think and on your vipar do you use 1 or both switches at a time is 1 switch only half power and mine is full spectrum first 3 are of vipar and other 3 is vivo and I have no idea what I'm really doing in the leds any ways I would like the help
Before any HID enthusiasts flame me, I am not here to pit these style LED's against HID. A properly configured HID set-up will always out perform one of these LED panels. Units like this VIVOSUN or the Viparspectra 600 W that I use are entry level lights that work well in smaller tents like a 2 x 4 x 5. The room required for items like cooling hoods and exhaust fans really overcrowd the grow space in a 2 x 4.
However, once you get into the 4 x 4 tents, they can support those additional items for HID or for bigger and more powerful LED's. On a different post, I proclaimed that were I to increase my footprint, managing a fleet of blurples would not be my lights of choice.
But for the purpose of this topic and since you already have the VIVOSUN units ...
My experience with entry level blurples is that you need a minimum of 70 true watts per square foot to produce a decent fruit. Those VIVOSUN units use 135 true wall watts. So in a 2 x 4 tent, you would need 4 VIVOSUN units to grow anything decent. 2 of my Reflectors pull 560 true wall watts and work well in the small space.
I use both the BLOOM and VEG switches from start to finish. Each LED chip is always on and always giving the girls light. They still need some blue during flowering and will use some red during veg. Both switches keeps the nodes closer together.
Don't go by the LED manufacturer's marketing "schpeel" with respect to a couple of factors: 1) - distance between the LED and canopy 2) - flowering coverage area. From my blurple experience:
1) - Distance above the canopy. A distance of 24" is way too far. 8" - 10" is fine once the plants have shown good growth during veg. Mine have been in that 8" - 10" range for pushing 8 weeks and there is no bleaching or burning. My SCROG has filled in to the point where I can't see the floor below the canopy and the 40+ tops on two plants are starting to crown with white hair.
2) - Flowering coverage. The Viparspectra's glossy claims 3 x 3 coverage at 24" above the canopy and I call total BS. 2' x 2' flowering coverage @ 10" is more accurate. Your VIVOSUN units is probably closer to 1.5' x 1.5' @ 10".