Bang for the buck

[GrowinWeedEazy]

I would pick the Rspec if you plan to use it for flowering too.

Thank you, def need my babies to flower.

 

[GrowinWeedEazy]

3000k with 660nm ( r spec boards ) great from start to harvest ( popular kelvin option )
4000k ( a little more blue spec ) - tighter nodes / better veg / flowers well too.
3500 k boards are available ( also a great setup )

Look at the QB 96s too .... powerful light engines . ( I added uv ) but you get the idea .
Ridiculously easy to DIY into any config , either single or multiple .
View attachment 4468234

Also look at the new HLG 225 ... a powerful single that can be run up to 250w by itself .

Thank you for the knowledge, i will def read into these options

 

[GrowinWeedEazy]

. Ive got restriction on the number of plants i can have with my state. 6 can flower. Right now i have a 3x3 or 4 ish area with 2 larger plants as pictured but dang those girls took forever to cover that space...still a little short of it actually with long veg times. Im used to growing larger, however im considering 4 flowering small plants in that 2x2, probably scrog. Never done sog before, in that space im thinking maybe a waste of time with the 2x2. Any experience on sog in a small area?

 

[GrowinWeedEazy]

My bigger setup with another grow.

 

[Chip Green]

any experience with this?

Not personally, I don't own a single HLG item. I do my own strip builds, I have worked with the same Samsung diodes on those V1 boards though. All mine are 3500K.

I recommend the V1 kit, only because I know for certain, I can't even build from scratch, a better value, given the components involved for that price, from that reputable organization. If I needed light right now, I'd be buying there.
I don't know the shipping situation, that may be a factor.

Budzbuddah pretty much spelled it out above.

 

[GrowinWeedEazy]

Not personally, I don't own a single HLG item. I do my own strip builds, I have worked with the same Samsung diodes on those V1 boards though. All mine are 3500K.

I recommend the V1 kit, only because I know for certain, I can't even build from scratch, a better value, given the components involved for that price, from that reputable organization. If I needed light right now, I'd be buying there.
I don't know the shipping situation, that may be a factor.

Budzbuddah pretty much spelled it out above.

I appreciate you both. Thank you for the input. Ill be reading up on these tonight.

 

[Rocket Soul]

Hlg have been expensive in the past but have some amazing deals right now. Best bang for buck 2x2 imho is:
2x qb 288 V1 : 29 each
Heatsink locally: 18x18 inch 1/8" alu sheet, well whatever yiu can get that for but shouldnt be more than 10
Hlg120 driver, should be around 40$ iirc.

It will work better than mars and have twice as many diodes and twice better spread thatn the qb 135 which uses the same driver.
Ymmv

 

[PJ Diaz]

I recommend the V1 kit, only because I know for certain, I can't even build from scratch, a better value, given the components involved for that price, from that reputable organization. If I needed light right now, I'd be buying there.
I don't know the shipping situation, that may be a factor.

Shipping on the V1 kits form HLG is free, plus you can get 10% off with the RIU10 code.

 

[Chip Green]

I wondered about that, some products actually list free US shipping, but some do not, wasn't completely certain.

 

[1212ham]

I'm no Mars hater, and for anyone who has one of their newer white fixtures, I'm sure they're absolutely fine. But between those two, I would always go HLG myself.

FWIW, In a recent video, Greengeens said the diodes are the cheapest 2835's he's ever seen in his life, only a matter of time 'till they go out. Time will tell if he's right.

 

[Rocket Soul]

What kind of yields are you guys pulling with these hlg quantum boards? From my understanding the only difference from the mars is the offbrand leds verses maybe the samsung diodes for example...is that correct or am i missing something. Just like everyone else yield is king

Its a bit more nuanced. All led diodes, samsung, chinese epistars (offbrands) and others come out in different qualities. Some, from the same manufacturer and brand just come out brighter or darker, higher or lower voltage from the manufacturing process. They then get tested, sorted and binned. Top bin, all of those with high brightness and low voltage (pay less watts for same light). Bottom bin, well the onees that didnt come out that well. These will generally be discarded or just dont pass QC. Other reason to not pass qc is not having the right spectrum (3200k when they were supposed to be 3000k).
All these diodes tend to not get thrown away but passed on to alibaba sellers and the like.

So really, what your paying for is not really the brand its for the confidence in the entire logistics of the process. HLG have made it clear that theyre all in with their comercial process and have samsung factories producing exclusively for them, only taking the absolute top bins. While they were making boards in china they eventually started to find that their manufacturer was taking slight short cuts. A bit less copper here. A bit less flux there. So they moved the process of mounting the chips on boards to US. Afaik...

If you go alibaba then you might get less desirable dies. Maybe their spectrum is slightly off or a mix of slight deficiencies but in the end, next to 500 other diodes its all the same or slightly less. I generally think that if you get alibaba top bin your actually getting somewhere between second best and top. Or youre getting top flux bin but theres either something slightly off with spectrum or a little higher voltage than hlg top bin.

But in no way should anybody think that china cant produce good products. Ive seen tests of offbrand 660 epistar deep reds which tested pretty much the same as cree top bin xpgs. Remember that most of the parts that a diode is made up from are coming from the same places.
What your actually paying for is for someone to go and get the best of all parts, put them together in a consistent way, and then to keep on producing the same quality month and year after year. HLG does this. Mars, well who knows.
Another important thing is you can make it so that top bin doesnt matter: buy 2 of last years hotness and run them half as hard as one of this years hotness and you get similar results in out put, but 2 diodes will always beat 1 for other reason imho.

 

[GrowinWeedEazy]

Its a bit more nuanced. All led diodes, samsung, chinese epistars (offbrands) and others come out in different qualities. Some, from the same manufacturer and brand just come out brighter or darker, higher or lower voltage from the manufacturing process. They then get tested, sorted and binned. Top bin, all of those with high brightness and low voltage (pay less watts for same light). Bottom bin, well the onees that didnt come out that well. These will generally be discarded or just dont pass QC. Other reason to not pass qc is not having the right spectrum (3200k when they were supposed to be 3000k).
All these diodes tend to not get thrown away but passed on to alibaba sellers and the like.

So really, what your paying for is not really the brand its for the confidence in the entire logistics of the process. HLG have made it clear that theyre all in with their comercial process and have samsung factories producing exclusively for them, only taking the absolute top bins. While they were making boards in china they eventually started to find that their manufacturer was taking slight short cuts. A bit less copper here. A bit less flux there. So they moved the process of mounting the chips on boards to US. Afaik...

If you go alibaba then you might get less desirable dies. Maybe their spectrum is slightly off or a mix of slight deficiencies but in the end, next to 500 other diodes its all the same or slightly less. I generally think that if you get alibaba top bin your actually getting somewhere between second best and top. Or youre getting top flux bin but theres either something slightly off with spectrum or a little higher voltage than hlg top bin.

But in no way should anybody think that china cant produce good products. Ive seen tests of offbrand 660 epistar deep reds which tested pretty much the same as cree top bin xpgs. Remember that most of the parts that a diode is made up from are coming from the same places.
What your actually paying for is for someone to go and get the best of all parts, put them together in a consistent way, and then to keep on producing the same quality month and year after year. HLG does this. Mars, well who knows.
Another important thing is you can make it so that top bin doesnt matter: buy 2 of last years hotness and run them half as hard as one of this years hotness and you get similar results in out put, but 2 diodes will always beat 1 for other reason imho.

Thank you greatly for the input!

 

[GrowinWeedEazy]

so, i went by my hydro store today to stock up on some things and ole boy laughed at the idea of any led light producing 8 oz in a 2x2. Ive always been a mh and hps guy, new to the led market. Isnt this achievable with led or am i daydreaming?

 

[Rocket Soul]

so, i went by my hydro store today to stock up on some things and ole boy laughed at the idea of any led light producing 8 oz in a 2x2. Ive always been a mh and hps guy, new to the led market. Isnt this achievable with led or am i daydreaming?

2 oz per square foot is definitely achievable. Ive seen 2.5 in our grow, 3 in grows of others on the forum. Maybe not achievable with the grow lighrs of your hydrostore though.

 

[GrowinWeedEazy]

ok ok...you guys sold me! I've done my homework and the hlg are pretty much the bee's knees! Now, can anyone point me in the direction on how to do this in a larger area without the cost. I think it's totally worth it, I now have to change my larger grow out and need to brace the pocketbooks! Lol. Any options on diy that even run close and yet worthwhile? Blow my mind some more here please...

 

[Rocket Soul]

ok ok...you guys sold me! I've done my homework and the hlg are pretty much the bee's knees! Now, can anyone point me in the direction on how to do this in a larger area without the cost. I think it's totally worth it, I now have to change my larger grow out and need to brace the pocketbooks! Lol. Any options on diy that even run close and yet worthwhile? Blow my mind some more here please...

Is it a legal grow? Is it vented or ACed? Is it ever really cold where you are?

If you need it to be cheaper there are several options. Alibaba is not bad for price but you do got some nice offers thru hlg, especially their V1 boards. Bridgelux eb strips, both gen 2 and 3 are also good diy candidates.

We found that its quite hard to replace HID completely as in winter time theyre really good for heating. We keep a few trays with hps/lec to keep temps up.

 

[christopher jordan]

Hey guys/girls, im setting up an extra grow 2x2 for some in between grows from my other room to keep the jars full. Right now I've got a mars hydro ts2000 white led for my other room, im wondering though what the best option to kick a 2x2 into beast mode besides a mh or hps light. Any suggestions? Im new to the cob and strip world...anyone here have any 2x2 experience? I appreciate any comments. This is my mars grow, mag deficiency has them a little off green first week flower. Any suggestions are appreciated, thanks guys!

I like Hlg. But I think the best bang for the buck is probably a 240w kit from Meijiu. About $140 delivered. Hlg's Great, but the price and diode spread aren't. The Meijiu kit comes with a 15mm heat sink better than everyone else Iv seen.

 

[christopher jordan]

Its a bit more nuanced. All led diodes, samsung, chinese epistars (offbrands) and others come out in different qualities. Some, from the same manufacturer and brand just come out brighter or darker, higher or lower voltage from the manufacturing process. They then get tested, sorted and binned. Top bin, all of those with high brightness and low voltage (pay less watts for same light). Bottom bin, well the onees that didnt come out that well. These will generally be discarded or just dont pass QC. Other reason to not pass qc is not having the right spectrum (3200k when they were supposed to be 3000k).
All these diodes tend to not get thrown away but passed on to alibaba sellers and the like.

So really, what your paying for is not really the brand its for the confidence in the entire logistics of the process. HLG have made it clear that theyre all in with their comercial process and have samsung factories producing exclusively for them, only taking the absolute top bins. While they were making boards in china they eventually started to find that their manufacturer was taking slight short cuts. A bit less copper here. A bit less flux there. So they moved the process of mounting the chips on boards to US. Afaik...

If you go alibaba then you might get less desirable dies. Maybe their spectrum is slightly off or a mix of slight deficiencies but in the end, next to 500 other diodes its all the same or slightly less. I generally think that if you get alibaba top bin your actually getting somewhere between second best and top. Or youre getting top flux bin but theres either something slightly off with spectrum or a little higher voltage than hlg top bin.

But in no way should anybody think that china cant produce good products. Ive seen tests of offbrand 660 epistar deep reds which tested pretty much the same as cree top bin xpgs. Remember that most of the parts that a diode is made up from are coming from the same places.
What your actually paying for is for someone to go and get the best of all parts, put them together in a consistent way, and then to keep on producing the same quality month and year after year. HLG does this. Mars, well who knows.
Another important thing is you can make it so that top bin doesnt matter: buy 2 of last years hotness and run them half as hard as one of this years hotness and you get similar results in out put, but 2 diodes will always beat 1 for other reason imho.

Greengene's says that nobody has that type of relationship with Samsung.That that's only hype. The chips are ordered through distributors. If you buy 301h you get top bin because its only sold in top bin. I think Hlg uses Vietnamese Samsung. His last two tech talks cover these topics.

 

[Humple]

Greengene's says that nobody has that type of relationship with Samsung.That that's only hype. The chips are ordered through distributors. If you buy 301h you get top bin because its only sold in top bin. I think Hlg uses Vietnamese Samsung. His last two tech talks cover these topics.

In those talks does he explain how he came to discover this?

 

[christopher jordan]

In those talks does he explain how he came to discover this?

Yes in depth. I could sight specifics, but the videos are short anyway.