4x8 lighting question
- Thread starter aldoggy77
- Start date
TreeFarmerCharlie
Well-Known Member
LOL! No, you over estimate them. I’ve been growing with LED for over 2 years. Based on what you are saying, the mars would have twice the efficiency of an HLG Quantum Board. If you think that’s true then you’ve got a lot of learning to do.
Lpena007
Well-Known Member
TreeFarmerCharlie
Well-Known Member
Yes. Is this a serious question?
Lpena007
Well-Known Member
I mean I’ve never used or bothered looking up...
TreeFarmerCharlie
Well-Known Member
Then why are you giving advice on the amount of LED lights a person needs for a specific growing area size?
Powertech
Well-Known Member
they are promoting Mars lights...kinda answers the question doesn't it?
Lpena007
Well-Known Member
TreeFarmerCharlie
Well-Known Member
How can you say that when you just recently got one? Your previous grows had insufficient lighting, and you just got the Mars Hydro. Did they send you a free one to post rubbish like this?Because mars works awesome af for me
Lpena007
Well-Known Member
Why you mad bruh... you probably don’t grow
Powertech
Well-Known Member
You don't either with a Mars Hydro light
BigCityFarmer
Member
Seems harsh on Mars Hydro. OP could get a Mars Hydro TS3000 for under $500 that is sufficient to cover 4 x 4 in flower and in terms of PPFD at 12” is legit.
Granted I’m a novice, so not even close to expert, but I’ve also seen Mars lights reviewed on MIGRO YouTube channel and he seems to think they’re petty legit, too and it’s a pretty decent source that I’d trust, he reviews any / all lights and seems consistent in his accuracy and fairness.
That’s not to say it’s as good as or better than the other light mentioned, but what’s with the Mars hate? I think they’re great! If I’m wrong I’d love to know why (non sarcastic, I dont want to waste my money if I’ve missed something)
Granted I’m a novice, so not even close to expert, but I’ve also seen Mars lights reviewed on MIGRO YouTube channel and he seems to think they’re petty legit, too and it’s a pretty decent source that I’d trust, he reviews any / all lights and seems consistent in his accuracy and fairness.
That’s not to say it’s as good as or better than the other light mentioned, but what’s with the Mars hate? I think they’re great! If I’m wrong I’d love to know why (non sarcastic, I dont want to waste my money if I’ve missed something)
TintEastwood
Well-Known Member
Or one could sammich the 1000 between a pair of 315cmh.
V-Lux Vertical CMH 315w LEC Grow Light Reflector Hood Kit Fixture 120-240v | eBay
Vertical Lamp 50/60 Hz. Square Wave. Built in Thermal Protection. We take our reputation seriously.
www.ebay.com
My grobud runs a 5x9 with 2x1000hps and a single 315w cmh.
bk78
Well-Known Member
Mars is a trash company and some of the worst customer service out there.
RolledUhhp
Active Member
Do you have any opinions on the gen3?
I found a good deal on the 3 slims, but this will be my first build, so I'm not confident parts shopping.
XtraGood
Well-Known Member
Seems like the slims had more heat dissipation issues than the gen2s, less surface area. The gen2's I've used are nice because I don't use any heat sinking - just keep adding strips until the fixture can take the max output from the driver. I honestly haven't really looked in detail at the gen3's lately, seems like there are slim and normal width gen3's but that the gen2's did better than either of them with heat dissipation. That said, I am planning on building a gen3 light sometime when strip costs come down, if they haven't already..., someone that knows more might correct me on the current usage of the gen3s, I'm just giving you what I have on top of my brain.
I've made HLG-185H-54's run 3 and 4 sets in parallel of 3 strips in series using 2ft Blux eb gen2s (9 and 12 total strips in separate fixtures with an hlg185 in each) as well as HLG320H-42's running 8-9 sets in parallel of 2 gen2 eb 2ft strips in series (16-18 total strips). I prefer the builds with extra strips (12 is better than 9, 18 is better than 16).
The HLG185-54 & 12 2ft eb gen2 strips I use for 2x2ft coverage, the HLG320-42 with 18 of the same strips covers 4x2 ft for me. I run more than a couple in a fairly high grid. There's some overlap at the edges but I also tend to put at least a foot of empty space between lights. This works out to about 50 wall watts per square foot which is on the high side by quite a bit. Also there are cheaper meanwell and other drivers out there, but DIY saved me enough that I like the fancy HLG ones and I buy the Wagos for wiring too.
I'm fairly new to all this but the lights seem to be growing things, 37 days after 12/12:
Edit: tried to make my series+parallel description clearer.
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RolledUhhp
Active Member
Those look great!
I'm gonna grab an air-cooled reflector for my MH - I was gonna throw another cooled 1000w in there as a holdover until I built a strip setup, you've got me thinking I might just skip the bandaid and pull the trigger on the strips.
I'd like to cover a 5x5' area with. I have a potential build I cobbled together a few weeks ago. I'll try to remember to pop back on in the morning and post it, see if you can give me any input on it.
I'm gonna grab an air-cooled reflector for my MH - I was gonna throw another cooled 1000w in there as a holdover until I built a strip setup, you've got me thinking I might just skip the bandaid and pull the trigger on the strips.
I'd like to cover a 5x5' area with. I have a potential build I cobbled together a few weeks ago. I'll try to remember to pop back on in the morning and post it, see if you can give me any input on it.
XtraGood
Well-Known Member
Take a look over here: https://www.rollitup.org/t/samsung-f-strip-build.1007017/post-15502214
I'm buying some eb gen 3 lights today after spending the night reading a bit, I'll use a hlg-320h-42a (x2) and a hlg-185h-42a to power 20 4ft strips. Future electronics beat digikey's price on the drivers for me, but I have time to wait on the 320 watt drivers to restock and ship. I've got 5 drivers and a pile of gen2 strips looking at me waiting to be assembled while I buy these gen3s... I got the 2700k, I think they have 3000k as well.
Edit: Depending on how hot the gen3 strips get, I may use 10 strips for each 320 watt driver and use the 185 watt driver with some of the gen2s.
Pic of gen2 light:
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