What lights? Please help! Need to get setup for harvest soon!

[Maggs707]

what is the life span of each on average do you know? are they both dimmable? is it good to have dimmable ones?

You'll appreciate the dimming capability. You won't want them cranked all the way up until later in flower. Being able to dim when you need to saves a lot on the ole electric bill too. Don't listen to old heads talking crap about LED's or that Spider Farmer is bottom of the barrel. These are the same dudes who put 10" lift kits on their 2wd trucks. If you've got Samsung Diodes and a Meanwell driver you've got a quality product. There's nothing else on the light that can fail. No fans, nothing. Just a slab of aluminum. I don't know the lifespan but you can look it up. 50,000 hours on the Samsung Diodes I think.

 

[Maggs707]

HLG makes their own PCB and uses top bin diodes. SF and Mars are the same company and their quality and customer service is terrible, I would never support them. You can find tons of horror stories with a little research. You might as well save some money and go with a Kingbrite or Meijiu if you are thinking of going with SF/Mars.

SF customer service has been great in my experience! Are you saying that Meanwell drivers and Samsung diodes are trash? Because that is what HLG uses my guy. You can build your own quantum board pretty easily and stamp your own name on it if you want to. Would it still be trash? Same components, same results, half the price. You sound like a hipster who only drinks triple IPA.

 

[Adobear420]

Go with 4 315w 3100k CMH. That will kill it in a 4x8. Good coverage, good amount of UV. Totals around $1k.

Ceramic MH 315w Low Profile Stealth Package

This complete lighting kit contains: The Sun System 315 Neutron CMH Reflector, the Prism Lighting Science 315w CMH Ballast 120V-240V, and your choice of Phillips MasterColor 315W T12 lamps for flowering (3100k) or for propagation (4200k).

growershouse.com

60-65 is pretty cold for LED’s, and quality LED’s have a much higher cost. Spider farmer and Mars are bottom of the barrel LED.

They are really good? will run on 120v outlets? did you grow that picture of bud in your profile photo haha looks good.

 

[Maggs707]

HLG makes their own PCB and uses top bin diodes. SF and Mars are the same company and their quality and customer service is terrible, I would never support them. You can find tons of horror stories with a little research. You might as well save some money and go with a Kingbrite or Meijiu if you are thinking of going with SF/Mars.

what is the life span of each on average do you know? are they both dimmable? is it good to have dimmable ones?

Info on the Spider Farmer

 

[Adobear420]

You'll appreciate the dimming capability. You won't want them cranked all the way up until later in flower. Being able to dim when you need to saves a lot on the ole electric bill too. Don't listen to old heads talking crap about LED's or that Spider Farmer is bottom of the barrel. These are the same dudes who put 10" lift kits on their 2wd trucks. If you've got Samsung Diodes and a Meanwell driver you've got a quality product. There's nothing else on the light that can fail. No fans, nothing. Just a slab of aluminum. I don't know the lifespan but you can look it up. 50,000 hours on the Samsung Diodes I think.

okay i am highly interested in buying these. i see great ratings on them. like i said i am gonna wait a couple days to see what other things get reccomended.

 

[Maggs707]

okay i am highly interested in buying these. i see great ratings on them. like i said i am gonna wait a couple days to see what other things get reccomended.

Mars Hydro uses Epistar diodes which are not very great from what I've heard. I'm not sure if they even have a rating.

 

[Doug Dawson]

Info on the Spider Farmer

If you want to get technical HLG moved to the Samsung LM301H diodes and switched the Meanwell driver for Inventronics drivers on the 600 Rspec.

 

[Maggs707]

If you want to get technical HLG moved to the Samsung LM301H diodes and switched the Meanwell driver for Inventronics drivers on the 600 Rspec.

So today's Spider Farmer is almost identical to last year's HLG. I'm cool with that for 60% off HLG prices.

 

[Doug Dawson]

So today's Spider Farmer is almost identical to last year's HLG. I'm cool with that for 60% off HLG prices.

I get that, was not bashing anything. Just got a new HLG last week so I noticed the changes they have made.

 

[Adobear420]

So today's Spider Farmer is almost identical to last year's HLG. I'm cool with that for 60% off HLG prices.

so spiderfarmer 4000s would be the way to go huh?

 

[Doug Dawson]

so spiderfarmer 4000s would be the way to go huh?

Depends on you and how much you want to spend. HLG is the better light but you should be very happy with the Spider Farmers as well. The Spider Farmers are leaps and bounds above the blurple's you have so if that is the way you want to go you will likely be very happy with them.

 

[Maggs707]

I get that, was not bashing anything. Just got a new HLG last week so I noticed the changes they have made.

I love how fast LED technology is evolving. Congrats on the new HLG's man! Definitely top shelf cutting edge lights. Do you know anything about the new drivers?

 

[Doug Dawson]

I love how fast LED technology is evolving. Congrats on the new HLG's man! Definitely top shelf cutting edge lights. Do you know anything about the new drivers?

Not much. After speaking with HLG it appears the new drivers have a lower failure rating at high voltages so they changed them but that's about all I know regarding them. Hoping for good things Got my seeds in water for 24 hours and and popped them in paper tower before bed. This morning all 4 cracked so by the time I get home should have 4 viable tap roots to go into coco plugs. Looking forward to seeing how this new light performs.

 

[NukaKola]

They are really good? will run on 120v outlets? did you grow that picture of bud in your profile photo haha looks good.

Yes CMH are like a blend of HPS & MH. LED’s are great don’t get me wrong but they are also much more expensive. CMH also has UV which increases THC & Terpenes.

The bud in my avatar pic was grown under 600w HPS.

 

[NukaKola]

SF customer service has been great in my experience! Are you saying that Meanwell drivers and Samsung diodes are trash? Because that is what HLG uses my guy. You can build your own quantum board pretty easily and stamp your own name on it if you want to. Would it still be trash? Same components, same results, half the price. You sound like a hipster who only drinks triple IPA.

Sorry that I upset you but it’s the truth. Mars & SF have a terrible reputation. There was just a thread the other day where a bunch of Mars owners were talking about their lights shocking them. They are both made in the same factory.

If you would rather pay $300 for an SF2000 instead of $400 for an HLG unit, why wouldn’t you pay $160 for a kingbrite. It has the same diodes and driver as the SF for half the price.

All I’m saying is you are paying close to US prices for a rebranded Chinese product.

 

[Adobear420]

Yes CMH are like a blend of HPS & MH. LED’s are great don’t get me wrong but they are also much more expensive. CMH also has UV which increases THC & Terpenes.

The bud in my avatar pic was grown under 600w HPS.

okay awesome. it is between the SF and CMH right now doing some research. what about the 600w HPS you mention? would that be good? how much are they? how many would i need? or should i just go with CMH like you said and not worry about HPS?

 

[Adobear420]

Sorry that I upset you but it’s the truth. Mars & SF have a terrible reputation. There was just a thread the other day where a bunch of Mars owners were talking about their lights shocking them. They are both made in the same factory.

If you would rather pay $300 for an SF2000 instead of $400 for an HLG unit, why wouldn’t you pay $160 for a kingbrite. It has the same diodes and driver as the SF for half the price.

All I’m saying is you are paying close to US prices for a rebranded Chinese product.

do i purchase the one from that website you linked or is this the same thing from amazon for cheaper?

 

[Maggs707]

do i purchase the one from that website you linked or is this the same thing from amazon for cheaper?

But bro, HLG is a rebranded chinese product too. Made in China, assembled in America. That's not super impressive. I have really cheap LED's as well. I know Spider Farmer isn't the cheapest way to go. I think the real issue here is the fact that you're talking this kid into plugging 600w metal halides directly into a 120v wall socket. Bro, DO NOT DO THAT!

 

[Adobear420]

Bro, do not buy those lights and try and plug them into a regular wall socket. Bad things are bound to happen. I'm not even sure that a 120v socket will power those. I think they need to be plugged into a 240 or you're only going to get half the power from the light. You're stepping into dangerous territory with all kinds of flipped circuits and possibilitu of frying wires. All bad. If you want plug and play action you gotta go with LED. If you want to use HPS or similar, you need a sub-breaker. Probably $1,000 to have an electrician install one. Be safe man.

Okay thank you for that man! I think my best bet is gonna be the spiderfarmers and they look nice.

 

[Doug Dawson]

But bro, HLG is a rebranded chinese product too. Made in China, assembled in America. That's not super impressive. I have really cheap LED's as well. I know Spider Farmer isn't the cheapest way to go. I think the real issue here is the fact that you're talking this kid into plugging 600w metal halides directly into a 120v wall socket. Bro, DO NOT DO THAT!

Why not plug into a 120v wall socket? I saw your added post before it was deleted but I am curious why you feel this is an issue? I currently have my 1000watt HPS/MH plugged into a 120v outlet along with my fans and have no issues, it is running full power. If you have a standard 120v 15 amp breaker you can pull 1800 watts, if you have a 20 amp breaker you can pull 2400 watts and if you have a 25 amp breaker you can pull 3000 watts. There is no reason you cannot plug them into a standard outlet. 15 amp is standard I believe but still more than capable. Were you mixing up volts with watts? That happens fairly frequently.