help me decide?

crimsonecho

crimsonecho

Well-Known Member
ok here it goes. i got a 4x4 and my diy fixture is getting kinda old now its been 4 years plus and i think its time to upgrade and renew. now my old fixture is 3 bars with 16 cxb1830s driven soft to reach 450w total. this setup has been great to me and it still is pretty good and i’m happy with it. if i had the drive and the time i’d just further this diy project with another bar and dimmable drivers mounted on each bars etc etc. but i cant find the strength to go through a project that size at this point in my life :)

so now i got 2 options based on price, efficacy and availability. i’m either gonna buy 4 lumatek attis 200w and hang one over each 20 gallon pots i’m gonna use this upcoming run. this would actually work great as i have a cannalope haze which is just a stretch monster. well into the week 5 it just grows and grows and gets 2 times taller than any other cultivar in the tent so individual adjustability of height from 4 different fixtures is just perfect in this situation. price is also agreable and not much more expensive than the second option. plus i got 2 of these fixtures already and they run cool and seem pretty well built with fully covered diodes which just makes me feel better when handling the fixture or spraying stuff plus dust is everywhere when in soil so all around a great option except the efficacy is a little low compared to the second option at 2.3 umol/j.

now second option is mars hydro fce6500. this fixture is a little bit cheaper but diodes are exposed to elements and from the vids i watched it gets close to 60C when running at full power which is a little bit hot and this is a fixed bar design so i cant lower or raise according to stretch of the plants. now basically the selling point for mars hydro is being a bit cheaper and having a higher efficacy at 2.7 umol/j.

is that .4 umol/j difference a deal breaker for you?

and for reference this was my tent last grow the tallest one are the cannalopes and they are just massive plants
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coreywebster said:
I would trust the lumatek figures over the mars figures .

You planning on 4x 200w lumatek in a 4x4 space?
Or have I misunderstood?
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yeah i’m thinking of doing 4 lumateks and running each at about 60% maybe a couple of them at 80% for sun loving sativas etc.

i’m more inclined to lumatek aswell and tbh the 2 fixtures i’m running atm look pretty nice and bright and running pretty cool
 
so if no one else has any valid inputs on this situation, i’m just gonna buy the 4 lumatek fixtures tomorrow. last call people hahha
 
It’s a hard question to answer. I see the pros and cons of both sides.

it seems like you just have to decide if individual control over each plant is worth the trade off of less efficacy. If you are growing drastically different strains then the indivual control is preferred…or you could also just add a raised platform to the shorties to get them at the same height.

I would investigate which diodes are on each board. I briefly looked at both and I’m unfamiliar with the diodes and driver. They probably both work great but I don’t think their the industry leaders. Are we limited to these two brand/lights?

gun to the head decision: I would go with the Mars hydro. They’re known for good budget lights.
 
pahpah-cee said:
It’s a hard question to answer. I see the pros and cons of both sides.

it seems like you just have to decide if individual control over each plant is worth the trade off of less efficacy. If you are growing drastically different strains then the indivual control is preferred…or you could also just add a raised platform to the shorties to get them at the same height.

I would investigate which diodes are on each board. I briefly looked at both and I’m unfamiliar with the diodes and driver. They probably both work great but I don’t think their the industry leaders. Are we limited to these two brand/lights?

gun to the head decision: I would go with the Mars hydro. They’re known for good budget lights.
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yeah raising the pots would have been a good option but i’ve already kinda set on 20 gallon pots for the sativas and i just can’t raise those up and down as i want haha. diodewise fce has bridgelux which are good and lumatek has lumleds which are also fine imo. this specsheet of lumatek is actually pretty nice tho the fixture somehow is at 2.3 umol/j the diodes are at pretty high efficacy. maybe when you drive them harder thats what brings it down a tad i don’t know i really have no idea.

lumatek is by no means the cheap option atm its more expensive than mars but just not by much. and considering i’m buying 4 fixtures and 800w of total power compared to the 680 of mars hydro that makes sense to me. their drivers are also lumatek by the way and mars hydro uses meanwell and moso or something.
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crimsonecho said:
yeah raising the pots would have been a good option but i’ve already kinda set on 20 gallon pots for the sativas and i just can’t raise those up and down as i want haha. diodewise fce has bridgelux which are good and lumatek has lumleds which are also fine imo. this specsheet of lumatek is actually pretty nice tho the fixture somehow is at 2.3 umol/j the diodes are at pretty high efficacy. maybe when you drive them harder thats what brings it down a tad i don’t know i really have no idea.

lumatek is by no means the cheap option atm its more expensive than mars but just not by much. and considering i’m buying 4 fixtures and 800w of total power compared to the 680 of mars hydro that makes sense to me. their drivers are also lumatek by the way and mars hydro uses meanwell and moso or something.
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just hanging one of those 51x51cm fixtures over each of my 56x56cm square plastic 20 gallon pots sounds sweet. but that slight efficacy loss is the only thing thats bothering me. these attis leds have also a pro version which is 2.7 umol/j i guess but those are over my budget for sure. how sweet would that be though haha
 
crimsonecho said:
yeah raising the pots would have been a good option but i’ve already kinda set on 20 gallon pots for the sativas and i just can’t raise those up and down as i want haha. diodewise fce has bridgelux which are good and lumatek has lumleds which are also fine imo. this specsheet of lumatek is actually pretty nice tho the fixture somehow is at 2.3 umol/j the diodes are at pretty high efficacy. maybe when you drive them harder thats what brings it down a tad i don’t know i really have no idea.

lumatek is by no means the cheap option atm its more expensive than mars but just not by much. and considering i’m buying 4 fixtures and 800w of total power compared to the 680 of mars hydro that makes sense to me. their drivers are also lumatek by the way and mars hydro uses meanwell and moso or something.
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I looked at your photos again and if you are running that haze you then I would go with the individual LEDs. That height difference in plants would drive me crazy.

you’ve done the research. I think you need to smoke a fat one and go with your gut.
 
crimsonecho said:
just hanging one of those 51x51cm fixtures over each of my 56x56cm square plastic 20 gallon pots sounds sweet. but that slight efficacy loss is the only thing thats bothering me. these attis leds have also a pro version which is 2.7 umol/j i guess but those are over my budget for sure. how sweet would that be though haha
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I get more concerned about the par map then the efficacy. I’m a classic over doer so being a little less efficient doesn’t bother me as much as having a drop in par over my canopy.
 
pahpah-cee said:
I looked at your photos again and if you are running that haze you then I would go with the individual LEDs. That height difference in plants would drive me crazy.

you’ve done the research. I think you need to smoke a fat one and go with your gut.
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yeah should do that definitely havent smoked in hours haha. i’m running that haze and its just impossible to keep down.

pahpah-cee said:
I get more concerned about the par map then the efficacy. I’m a classic over doer so being a little less efficient doesn’t bother me as much as having a drop in par over my canopy.
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well they have a par map says integrating 2 meter sphere. i have no idea what the hell that is and how that works but seeing that i’m gonna run them dimmed at 60%-80% i’m guessing 15-30cm would be fine. there arent any crazy readings but also when i hang 4 of them the squares i marked with red are gonna get overlapping light from the other fixtures and gonna be higher and more uniform but the blue part will remain pretty much the same.
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i dont know man looks sufficent, not running co2 so anything over 1000ppfd may not be much necessarry and these lights can bleach like that. i have 2 of these in my 2x2s and got 3 tomatoes under them those gals turned white overnight at 5 cm at 40%. so 60%-80% at 20cm should work fine imo.
 
Just got a email from hlg for the hlg 225 being discounted to $200. Felt like I ought to share with you.

this would work in a 2x2 space keeping it at 500+ Par at 18inches

I’m biased to hlg. I bought some hlg lights used and love them. I had an issue with one light and they sent me a replacement ballast for free without any proof of purchase. I was impressed that they stand behind their product. I just bought a uva bar through them as well.
 
pahpah-cee said:
Just got a email from hlg for the hlg 225 being discounted to $200. Felt like I ought to share with you.

this would work in a 2x2 space keeping it at 500+ Par at 18inches

I’m biased to hlg. I bought some hlg lights used and love them. I had an issue with one light and they sent me a replacement ballast for free without any proof of purchase. I was impressed that they stand behind their product. I just bought a uva bar through them as well.
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thanks for sharing man but i really like these lumateks overall and i’m kinda set on these atm so dont even try to confuse me with your offers and deals you devil man hahahah
 
Lol totally understand man. There is so many LEDs out there. It’s gotten to the point where the majority of LEDs coming out are going to get the job done. The tech has advanced pretty quick. Pull the trigger!
 
i added up the ppfd figures of the 9 middle squares (which is 60x60 or 2x2) at 15cms divided by 4 to get ppfd per ft2 (2x2) and multiplied it with .6 to get the ppfd value that corresponds to running it at 60% more or less and i’m getting 1.120. my math could be off and this equation could be all bs because i have no idea how they actually calculate the ppfd haha but considering this is not a reading from a grow tent on top of everything when i add the reflective surfaces into this equation seems like a solid reading.
 

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I would just wire up a bunch of sockets ( I use these now: https://www.walmart.com/ip/50Pcs-4A...ew-Bulb-Pendant-Lamp-Holder-Plastic/102523595 ), fill them with cheap 14 watt daylight screw in LED bulbs from dollar tree store (were 1$ but extra .25 now, still worth it!), as many watts as you need, and call it a day.

https://www.dollartree.com/soft-white-100-watt-equivalent-medium-base-led-lightbulbs/297620 One 40 pack = 560 actual watts!

I wouldn't pay the 800% markup the LED manufacturers charge for lights that wear out in 5 years.

I see no difference in plants grown under a $1000 commercial fixture, or ones grown under $100 worth of cheap bulbs/wire/sockets, except that you can save enough money you could light 6 times the amount of tents for the same price some people pay to do one, and still hit more GPW than them because the extra money went into environmental controls/hydro systems, lol.
 
Drop That Sound said:
I would just wire up a bunch of sockets ( I use these now: https://www.walmart.com/ip/50Pcs-4A...ew-Bulb-Pendant-Lamp-Holder-Plastic/102523595 ), fill them with cheap 14 watt daylight screw in LED bulbs from dollar tree store (were 1$ but extra .25 now, still worth it!), as many watts as you need, and call it a day.

https://www.dollartree.com/soft-white-100-watt-equivalent-medium-base-led-lightbulbs/297620 One 40 pack = 560 actual watts!

I wouldn't pay the 800% markup the LED manufacturers charge for lights that wear out in 5 years.

I see no difference in plants grown under a $1000 commercial fixture, or ones grown under $100 worth of cheap bulbs/wire/sockets, except that you can save enough money you could light 6 times the amount of tents for the same price some people pay to do one, and still hit more GPW than them because the extra money went into environmental controls/hydro systems, lol.
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thanks for your input, thats another angle of course and i’ve grown under led bulbs before and they work fine but atm the little bit more efficacy, better spectrum, compact design and ease of use i’d get from a prebuilt rig is more important to me because i can run lower wattages which saves me some electricity and that may not amount to much in the end but it helps keeping me off the radar with lower bills plus i just want a bit of comfort at this point in my life, if i were to diy i’d definitely just further refine my prior bar design because its a kick ass light for sure with a very uniform distribution but i really dont have the energy to do another diy. diys are cool, very effective and very cheap per watt compared to a prebuilt unit no debating that.
 
Lumatek is several leagues above Mars, Spider and other similar brands. It's a much more quality light. Go for Lumatek and don't even think twice!

Although personally i would go for Lumatek 465w 2.9 or even 600w but as you wish.
 
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