Bang for the buck

Best bang for your buck in a ” legal" state would be outdoors; free light ......... Squeeze two runs in with autos (generally speaking) depending on zone.

Rocket Soul said:

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.

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My larger space maxes out at 4x5 and is a tent, ventilated and environment controlled. The 2x2 space earlier mentioned is not ventilated. Cold shouldnt be a problem for either. I think the 135 rspec is a great choice for the 2x2. The 4x4/5 would be covered great by one of the larger hlg light, however now that im replacing both these the picketbook comes into play. I was wondering about pissibilities for that space. I already have a third 4x5 with a 1000w hps. This is a legal grow btw, max 12 flowering girls in the 4x4/5s between the two tents and another 3x3 area currently covered my the mars hydro ts2000 with yet the last space being my new setup in the 2x2. Lots of areas! Lol

Rocket Soul said:

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

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and in a 2x2 all the height you can gain from running softer is a god send .

christopher jordan said:

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.

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HLGs heatsinks are 20mm including the base thickness, without they are 18mm give or take 0.5 for my shit tape measure.
Mind you for $69 they want to be thick. I got a ten pack for £100, damn I got a good deal.

GrowinWeedEazy said:

My larger space maxes out at 4x5 and is a tent, ventilated and environment controlled. The 2x2 space earlier mentioned is not ventilated. Cold shouldnt be a problem for either. I think the 135 rspec is a great choice for the 2x2. The 4x4/5 would be covered great by one of the larger hlg light, however now that im replacing both these the picketbook comes into play. I was wondering about pissibilities for that space. I already have a third 4x5 with a 1000w hps. This is a legal grow btw, max 12 flowering girls in the 4x4/5s between the two tents and another 3x3 area currently covered my the mars hydro ts2000 with yet the last space being my new setup in the 2x2. Lots of areas! Lol

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If you need your light to pass some kinda code/firemarshall then go for a bought light.
For a 4x5 id go either 2 x hlg320 or a bcblondes gamechanger. Not the much difference between the 2. The hlg550 is good for a 4x4 in ppwer but not in spread, imho


For the 2x2 : depends on this code thing, not sure the qb 135 has UL and stuff like that.

If you can diy then wellcome to the dark side, check out some builds on the the china knock off thread.

There is also the amare bar-8 which looks good, but make sure you get riu discount 25%.

So im looking at this r spec 135 w light and im wondering how many grams per what people are averaging off this in a 2x2...anyone have any insight on this?

GrowinWeedEazy said:

So im looking at this r spec 135 w light and im wondering how many grams per what people are averaging off this in a 2x2...anyone have any insight on this?

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How longs a piece of string mate. Some companies use GPW as part of the sales pitch but obviously its entirely dependant on the grower for training and getting the most out of the space without underfilling it or overfilling it.
Then its genetics as to how those plants grow, big thick colas or little buds ect.

Ive seen people claim 2gpw like its the common and easy thing to do but it rare I see weights shown in a way that cant be disputed.

That said ive pulled 1.7 (thats with v1 boards) with heavy strains and I do accept more is possible. If you aim for 1.5 and hit it then you did well.

Grams per watt is somewhat of a red herring: its should read grams per watt while still pulling good yields per squarefoot and week in flower.

In our grow we found that with a well spread out light, lets say 1 qb per square foot, you can get great light levels at 25-30w per qb an pull good yields as long as all the other parts are allready there. The V1 boards are almost 3ppf per watt if you run the around 25w, this used to be the holy grail for some light makers around here. Now you can do it easily with diy. That is why i rec 4 V1s for your 2x2 on the same hlg120 driver. See it for your self before going all in. 4x more diodes and better spread beats top of the line diodes with great light levels only right below it. Getting 2 per watt with a hlg135 i think would be hard, but i bet a 100w 4x V1 would easily do 200 with everything else in place.