Lec 315 anyone pulling weight?

Big smo said:

i have read a lot of journals with people swearing by the lec315's but they always end near harvest time and never really give accurate results. I can guess but who wants to drop money on that?

As far as I know there are 2 main company's sun system and the phantom by hydro farm.

Local grow shop sells the phantom with 2 bulbs veg and flower for 380 which is an excellent price.

Online the sunsystems sell for around 460 with one bulb only. The remote ballast part is pretty sweet on the phantom. Subsystem I don't believe sells a 120v unit with a remote ballast it just goes to 240 if your in the USA.

The main problem with these that I see is most talk is about them being supplemental lighting and not as much for a sole resource.

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Big smo said:

Hmmmm!! It's a little different compared to most of us growers. but it's definitely intriguing. If life was perfect we too could pull those yields

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Big smo said:

i have read a lot of journals with people swearing by the lec315's but they always end near harvest time and never really give accurate results. I can guess but who wants to drop money on that?

As far as I know there are 2 main company's sun system and the phantom by hydro farm.

Local grow shop sells the phantom with 2 bulbs veg and flower for 380 which is an excellent price.

Online the sunsystems sell for around 460 with one bulb only. The remote ballast part is pretty sweet on the phantom. Subsystem I don't believe sells a 120v unit with a remote ballast it just goes to 240 if your in the USA.

The main problem with these that I see is most talk is about them being supplemental lighting and not as much for a sole resource.

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DesertGrow89 said:

Pretty sure the phantom doesn't have the philips low frequency square wave ballast that the sun systems do. These ballasts are what make the unit so efficient and powerful.

Supplemental lighting? Not at all its a primary light source...

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Big smo said:

Thanks for the info desert! I'm just now learning that wattage isn't the only factor when it comes to efficiency.

I really want to get the sunsystem but getting 240v isn't that easy. If they had a remote ballast option in 120v I would be on it right away.

I know the 3100k is more for flower but do you think it would be a good start to finish bulb?

Trying to maximize yield with keeping cost a priority now . Original budget was 5k I'm now at 15 and 2 rooms instead of just one. 4 extra bulbs won't kill me but it's almost the cost of another light.

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Big smo said:

I want 120volt with remote ballast. That's where I ran into problems. Growers house was my first choice. Their discounts rock. Saved 300 a piece on my leds

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Big smo said:

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I felt the ballast on the phantom and it was just about to warm to touch. Multiplied by 4 that's just extra money in cooling. I would bet 4 with built in ballast puts out the same as 5 with the ballast in another room. Extra heat won't kill it for me but adding in the ballast and the cost of extra bulbs the phantom is looking a little more intriguing.

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DesertGrow89 said:

3100k should do fine from start to finish, I know o any people who have used hps, which is lower in Kelvin I believe so it should work fine in theory. Just make sure you have a backup bulb or two. I was just sent two defective bulbs in a row from hydro builder and their customer service is terrrible. They emailed me a shipping label in a format that couldn't even be opened and I ended up wasting a couple hours on the phone etc just trying to send them their garbage bulbs back!

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highdave said:

replying now will come back in a few weeks after harvest. This was yesterday at day 26. I think someone with more experience and fuller canopy would have no problem pulling some good weight

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