.Smoke from the drivers, Qboards in the sky

.Smoke

Well-Known Member
Fully swapped to leds. 6 boards, 1320 watts found here...https://www.amazon.com/Uoiuxc-Samsung-Spectrum-Dimmable-Updated/dp/B08F35YT6Z

Thanks to some very smart and extremely important people here on RIU so graciously sharing their unsolicited expertise, I plan to use lst, topping, fimming, lollipoping, mainlineing, power tools, and bribery along with prayers and sacrifices to the Gods in hopes that I average 3-5 grams per plant since the lights aren't LM301 diodes.
That is of course if they don't burn the house down in the middle of the night.

Feel free to join along, and witness this trainwreck that's about to happen. Comments welcomed.
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.Smoke

Well-Known Member
For anyone new to one of my journals, here's my setup atm...
I started growing June 2019. Never grown anything before that.
Every grow previously was done with HPS. This is my first try @ Led.

I run a 12 plant perpetual tent grow in a 25'x30' room in my basement. Ambient environment runs 67F 40-60RH. 8 in flower and 4 in veg. Mostly fem/photo seeds, but lately I've been cutting clones and trying out a few seeds I created due to a mishap caused by a Green Crack that turned out to NOT BE a female seed.

Veg tent
Light- https://www.hi-groplanner.com/products/led-grow-light-groplanner-o-series-150w

4'x4' Vivosun tent for summer to have room for garden items, and a 2'x2' Ac Infinity for winter to keep heating costs lower.

6" Vivosun Extraction fan/passive intake.
Space heater/humidifier with everything on controlers set to 81F 60RH.

Flower tent
Standard 4'x8' Gorilla tent, no height extension. (Ceilings are 3" to low to use it)
Dual 8" 720CFM fans for active intake/exhaust.

Lights
6 total= 1320 watts Lm281B+ diodes/UV/IR


I have this dehumidifier showing up tomorrow that will be taking the place of my old brown one inside the tent.

Everything here is set on controlers also. Humidity set to 48RH, and the exhaust turns on @ 83F, off @ 81F.

System
I use 3.5gal DIY Hempy buckets with Hydroton.
2- 30gal reservoirs. 1 for flower, 1 for veg. 800gph vivosun submersible pumps that feed 2 Floraflex 8 port multi flow bubblers. They connect to my buckets with 1/4" quick connect fittings that top feed from under the lids.
The drain is 3/8" quick disconnect with the hoses running to a little giant condensate pump inside the tent that automatically pumps runoff to the sewer system.
Everything is 100% automatic, and feeds each bucket 1 quart in 2 minutes every 4 hours.
I use a 150gpd Hydrologic RO system and just switched to Jacks 3-2-1 about a month ago. EC is 1.5 veg/ 1.8 flower. Everything ph'd to 5.8

I'm sure I forgot some shit, so I'll post when I remember more.
 
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tkmk

Well-Known Member
Nice setup.
My setup is no where near yours but thats the mission right lol.
Heres what i have going on
 

.Smoke

Well-Known Member
Nice setup.
My setup is no where near yours but thats the mission right lol.
Heres what i have going on
Looks great.
I started out with the vivosun 4x4, 3gal fabric pots filled with Miracle Gro and a 315cmh. It's just kinda "grown" into what it is now. I think I'm finally ready to quit changing things after switching my 2kW of HPS for these new boards and changing to Jack's nutrients.

Now its just a matter of trying to not fuck things up best I can.
 
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tkmk

Well-Known Member
Looks great.
I started out with the vivosun 4x4, 3gal fabric pots filled with Miracle Gro and a 315cmh. It's just kinda "grown" into what it is now. I think I'm finally ready to quit changing things after switching my 2kW of HPS for these new boards and changing to Jack's nutrients.

Now its just a matter of trying to not fuck things up best I can.
Yeah im done changing shit up too. Well i hope lol. Now i just want to get a 4x8 tent next, use that for flower and the 4x4 for veg
 

.Smoke

Well-Known Member
So,
As @jonnynobody and I were beginning to discuss in another thread that thankfully got closed, there's a reason I decided to get 6 boards instead of 2 large fixtures.
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There are no "dispensaries" available where I'm located. Hell, they're still in fights over CBD. So I run a perpetual garden so myself and 2 close friends can have our meds. (Yes, it's meds for me. It's this or I'm back to drinking a 1/5th of vodka a day like I did for 15+ years.) I also usually have 5+ different strains running at the same time. I like my variety.

These boards give me the ability to make adjustments accordingly on a per plant basis, allowing me to fully optimize the tent as best I can.
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With this kind of manipulation ability, if I can get my feed straightened back out, I don't see why I can't pull 250g per light.
If I can make that happen, I'll be a happy man to net 3.3lbs with 1320 watts from some "jank ass" Amazon boards.

They're performing as advertised so far. Pulling a little over advertised max watts @ 100%
20210404_154612.jpg
Anyway, so far I'm happy. Unless you're really concerned above having the best of the best and don't mind paying 2x the $, I don't see any reason why I wouldn't recommend giving these a shot if you're in the market for a 220w board.
 
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.Smoke

Well-Known Member
I'm thinking I'll call the lights "Farmers" cause they've got this shit covered.
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I started to get some tacoing, so I repositioned a bit. Also noticed I'm getting some burn after raising flower feed to 4.2A/1.8B/0epsom so I still need to do some tinkering around on that.

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The peppers are going to find a new home really soon. I've got another Nirvana Original Glue that needs make it's way over from veg to fill the last spot.
 
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jonnynobody

Well-Known Member
Fully swapped to leds. 6 boards, 1320 watts found here...https://www.amazon.com/Uoiuxc-Samsung-Spectrum-Dimmable-Updated/dp/B08F35YT6Z

Thanks to some very smart and extremely important people here on RIU so graciously sharing their unsolicited expertise, I plan to use lst, topping, fimming, lollipoping, mainlineing, power tools, and bribery along with prayers and sacrifices to the Gods in hopes that I average 3-5 grams per plant since the lights aren't LM301 diodes.
That is of course if they don't burn the house down in the middle of the night.

Feel free to join along, and witness this trainwreck that's about to happen. Comments welcomed.
View attachment 4869987
View attachment 4869990
That is some sexy wood grained paneling on your dehumidifier there sir. It just says "vintage" and reminds me of childhood. Last time I saw that stuff was on an old caravan. It felt right in the 80's. Not so much in the 90's. Fast forward to 2021 and it's adding elegant class to your grow space. Now I feel like I need some wood grain accents somewhere in the flower room. Love it sir. They don't make shit like that anymore :)

Subbed! As a side note I had a pretty good feeling how your LED thread was going to end up. I had a thread that went down the same road when I was getting into LED for the first time about 8 months ago. It was a little exasperating but the bullshit people were flipping my way didn't sway my decision one bit nor did it discourage me. Very entertaining though to see how emotional people were willing to get over garden lights What can you do? Twist one up and enjoy the clown show ;)

I'm looking forward to hearing your first post harvest smoke report after switching to jacks. If I remember right you might have been a former maxi grower also. Great grow dude! Keep us posted :)
 

jonnynobody

Well-Known Member
I'm thinking I'll call the lights "Farmers" cause they've got this shit covered.
View attachment 4871704
I started to get some tacoing, so I repositioned a bit. Also noticed I'm getting some burn after raising flower feed to 4.2A/1.8B/0epsom so I still need to do some tinkering around on that.

View attachment 4871698
View attachment 4871699
View attachment 4871700
The peppers are going to find a new home really soon. I've got another Nirvana Original Glue that needs make it's way over from veg to fill the last spot.
Girls are looking great! It really took me a few weeks to get my HID brain to understand that LED lighting is very different. Maybe longer :)

The first thing that was a real brain buster for me was the concept of light intensity in the absence of heat having the capability of frying my foliage. With HID I always knew if I could hold my hand at canopy level without any discomfort then I was good to go. That system doesn't work with LED and I found out the hard way. Stuffed a 660w board in my 5x5 at full blast for 48 hours on 18/6. Temps? 78. Bleached the foliage on all my plants. Wilted tips. The whole 9 yards. It was very sad. Then I did some reading. LED boards don't have to be as close to the canopy because they are more efficient at making light.

Long story short I now mount my LED boards higher than I do my HID fixtures. Any closer and they just fry the foliage and operate my 5x5 nursery at 220w with fantastic growth and zero bleaching. As you experiment try moving your boards just a bit higher to see if your canopy responds positively. Those babies kick out a lot of light and when that is combined with a high EC fertilizer solution you may experience some crispy leaves / fried leaf tips. I started jacks at 1.8 which burned my plants. I eventually landed on 1.65 EC which is something like 775 ppm on the 500 scale. I noticed my plants are happy with jacks 3-2-1 at a lower EC than when I was using maxi bloom. Maxi was always 1.8. Happy foliage but the happiness ended when it came time to smoke a bowl. Dark black ash. Not hard, but clearly contaminants were present using maxi bloom. I attribute the contamination to heavy metals in GH's maxi bloom raw elements. My jacks flowers burn to clean gray ash and are both smooth and enjoyable to smoke.

Very much looking forward to hearing your $.02 on the matter after you harvest and smoke some jacks grown flowers. If you also notice an improvement in flavor and burn qualities I'll feel more confident in my conclusions :)
 

.Smoke

Well-Known Member
That is some sexy wood grained paneling on your dehumidifier there sir. It just says "vintage" and reminds me of childhood. Last time I saw that stuff was on an old caravan. It felt right in the 80's. Not so much in the 90's. Fast forward to 2021 and it's adding elegant class to your grow space. Now I feel like I need some wood grain accents somewhere in the flower room. Love it sir. They don't make shit like that anymore :)

Subbed! As a side note I had a pretty good feeling how your LED thread was going to end up. I had a thread that went down the same road when I was getting into LED for the first time about 8 months ago. It was a little exasperating but the bullshit people were flipping my way didn't sway my decision one bit nor did it discourage me. Very entertaining though to see how emotional people were willing to get over garden lights What can you do? Twist one up and enjoy the clown show ;)

I'm looking forward to hearing your first post harvest smoke report after switching to jacks. If I remember right you might have been a former maxi grower also. Great grow dude! Keep us posted :)
Girls are looking great! It really took me a few weeks to get my HID brain to understand that LED lighting is very different. Maybe longer :)

The first thing that was a real brain buster for me was the concept of light intensity in the absence of heat having the capability of frying my foliage. With HID I always knew if I could hold my hand at canopy level without any discomfort then I was good to go. That system doesn't work with LED and I found out the hard way. Stuffed a 660w board in my 5x5 at full blast for 48 hours on 18/6. Temps? 78. Bleached the foliage on all my plants. Wilted tips. The whole 9 yards. It was very sad. Then I did some reading. LED boards don't have to be as close to the canopy because they are more efficient at making light.

Long story short I now mount my LED boards higher than I do my HID fixtures. Any closer and they just fry the foliage and operate my 5x5 nursery at 220w with fantastic growth and zero bleaching. As you experiment try moving your boards just a bit higher to see if your canopy responds positively. Those babies kick out a lot of light and when that is combined with a high EC fertilizer solution you may experience some crispy leaves / fried leaf tips. I started jacks at 1.8 which burned my plants. I eventually landed on 1.65 EC which is something like 775 ppm on the 500 scale. I noticed my plants are happy with jacks 3-2-1 at a lower EC than when I was using maxi bloom. Maxi was always 1.8. Happy foliage but the happiness ended when it came time to smoke a bowl. Dark black ash. Not hard, but clearly contaminants were present using maxi bloom. I attribute the contamination to heavy metals in GH's maxi bloom raw elements. My jacks flowers burn to clean gray ash and are both smooth and enjoyable to smoke.

Very much looking forward to hearing your $.02 on the matter after you harvest and smoke some jacks grown flowers. If you also notice an improvement in flavor and burn qualities I'll feel more confident in my conclusions :)
Gotta represent the woodgrain right? :)
It's going to stay in the tent too. The new 30 pint one just can't keep up so it's going into the drying room.

I knew that led thread would end up going that way too. It seems thanks to a handful of people here, you cannot have a discussion about any Led's unless it's diy, HLG, Timber, or some knockoff china brand, but only the ones ordered from Alibaba...
I figure fuck it. If people have a problem with me, they're the ones with the problem, not me.

I definitely need to tone down on the feed and light. 1 day and things are frying.
I still have the lights around 16" above the canopy, but after an hour with my lux meter, I adjusted everything to an even 35-42k lux across.
It's only pushing 960W from the boards, so I'm hoping that does the trick. I'm wanting to try and keep the boards as close as I can and dim them if it's possible? Not sure if that causes any issues with them or not.

Do you have/use a lux meter?
What ranges do you run if so?
 

jonnynobody

Well-Known Member
Gotta represent the woodgrain right? :)
It's going to stay in the tent too. The new 30 pint one just can't keep up so it's going into the drying room.

I knew that led thread would end up going that way too. It seems thanks to a handful of people here, you cannot have a discussion about any Led's unless it's diy, HLG, Timber, or some knockoff china brand, but only the ones ordered from Alibaba...
I figure fuck it. If people have a problem with me, they're the ones with the problem, not me.

I definitely need to tone down on the feed and light. 1 day and things are frying.
I still have the lights around 16" above the canopy, but after an hour with my lux meter, I adjusted everything to an even 35-42k lux across.
It's only pushing 960W from the boards, so I'm hoping that does the trick. I'm wanting to try and keep the boards as close as I can and dim them if it's possible? Not sure if that causes any issues with them or not.

Do you have/use a lux meter?
What ranges do you run if so?
I do not have a lux meter. I have not ever seen one :) My 660w board is an estimated 24" or so from the canopy. It still bleaches the foliage towards the end of flower on the biggest fan leaves. Not horrible, but noticeable. Closer and it would damage my flower development. You'll have it all dialed in within a couple weeks. It just takes some tinkering around. You have absolutely convinced me to dump my 1000's. As my outside free air conditioning is going away more and more each day which means I will eventually have to run my portable ac unit again increasing my electric bill even further. I felt the pressure building. I've got another 4 weeks or so on this cycle, and I should finish just about the time things are really warming up outside. As soon as the chop happens I'm yanking those lights out and replacing with two 660w boards. They quoted me $608 for 2 last time I checked. That ought to get me a pretty good amount of savings on the monthly electric bill while allowing the room to run much cooler. Your garden was the inspiration that is driving the change. Last summer was a real challenge keeping things cool and now I've got more lights in there.

The lights you purchased look great! Don't let the fan boys knock you off your horse. They're just pissed off they spent their kid's college fund for 3 lights and you didn't :)
 

.Smoke

Well-Known Member
I do not have a lux meter. I have not ever seen one :) My 660w board is an estimated 24" or so from the canopy. It still bleaches the foliage towards the end of flower on the biggest fan leaves. Not horrible, but noticeable. Closer and it would damage my flower development. You'll have it all dialed in within a couple weeks. It just takes some tinkering around. You have absolutely convinced me to dump my 1000's. As my outside free air conditioning is going away more and more each day which means I will eventually have to run my portable ac unit again increasing my electric bill even further. I felt the pressure building. I've got another 4 weeks or so on this cycle, and I should finish just about the time things are really warming up outside. As soon as the chop happens I'm yanking those lights out and replacing with two 660w boards. They quoted me $608 for 2 last time I checked. That ought to get me a pretty good amount of savings on the monthly electric bill while allowing the room to run much cooler. Your garden was the inspiration that is driving the change. Last summer was a real challenge keeping things cool and now I've got more lights in there.

The lights you purchased look great! Don't let the fan boys knock you off your horse. They're just pissed off they spent their kid's college fund for 3 lights and you didn't :)
I'm really glad I could help motivate you! I loved the HPS, but it's really nice knowing that I'm running 1/2 the electric that I used too. A $250 electric bill is going to be a lot easier to justify than the $450 I've had here lately.
What's crazy is I still feel like the plant's are getting as much if not more light than before.

I noticed really quickly what you meant about the difference with the type of light. I went back downstairs after my last post to find the top leaves on a Gorilla Glue folding themselves over. So I raised the boards as high as they can on the ropes and left them @ 160w each.
If that's really how powerful these lights can be, then I don't see how the 1300 won't out perform 2kW of SE hps.

I hope you can still get that deal. It will definitely help with the heat inc. soon.
 
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.Smoke

Well-Known Member
Lesson learned.
Boards are strapped to the top of the tent. These things are no joke. I never had plants tuck tail and run for shadow as hard and fast as these have. 18" @ 70% and they react like you have a 1kW SE 6" above them.

@V256.420
I saw you were talking about getting an led to try out.
Regardless of what you decide on (mine are lm281b+ for instance), it does seem like there's something to these things. Either they're powerful as f#ck, or the plants just hate them. I should know in a couple more days. :)
Anyway, I say go for it.
 
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