LEDs for 4x4? Best lighting?

Turbogrow

Member
Honestly even the 4 year old Mars stuff works fine, I started with HPS and had fantastic results.... Too much in fact believe it or not but I always struggled with heat in peak summer. Swapped to the Mars LED and yeilded less admittedly but pulled a shit load less power and zero heat problems. I now run a mix of the 2 depending on time of year. I would like to have some modern LED panels but unless something is miles ahead of the rest I'm not really sure where next?
 

Moldy

Well-Known Member
I have a 4 X 4' and use a AC-DE HPS open hood. I grow in the "winter" since it's too hot in the summer here in N. NV and AC won't keep up. I'm old and have resisted the LED movement due to ignorance. I just grow for my own needs. Sorry to crash the thread but would this light be good for a 4x4?? Damn, the price is right!?

 

christopher jordan

Well-Known Member
I'd rather would grow under HPS then under any light from Mars (or any of those other blurple lamps)
Just a general respons.
People who grew 1 pound under HPS and 2 pound under LED later, did something terribly wrong the first time :)
Sure with the same amount of Watts you would get more grams per Watt under LED.
Hps at 125 lm/w Led 225lm/w. Dam if that's not almost 2 to 1 without taking spread into consideration.
 
I have a Spectrum King SK400+ that I pulled 19 oz of Jack Herer in a 57"x57". I did however have it on a light mover and CO2. I currently use it in a 47"x47" setup. The SK hangs pretty low, so you will lose a bit of headspace in the tent, especially on a light mover. This has been a problem with the more stretchy strains I have grown. The drivers are attached to the unit, so that will add to the heat in the tent. If you are doing hydro, you will need a rez chiller for sure. Also the Current cost is about $700, but you can bust balls at the Hydro store and get it cheaper I'm sure.

I also have a 600 watt Timber Grow light setup that I have over $1300 invested in that I have not (yet) been able to match the production of the Spectrum King, which only draws 440 watts. I will however say that the quality of the bud grown has been top notch. The drivers can be located outside the tent to reduce heat as well.

I will until my dying day, espouse the greatness of Spectrum King lights. My verdict is still out on the Timbers, but they are promising. Overall, I say you cant go wrong with the Spectrum King.
 

coreywebster

Well-Known Member
Thanks Jordan! I think I'll pull the trigger and buy it. I've got about 2-3 weeks left of cool weather here.
125lm/w is on the low end for HPS and 225lm/w nobody is getting with LED without spending a shit load of money.
Most of us aren't hitingt 200lm/w

Anyhow that sf4000 should light a 4x4.
 

SleepStorm

New Member
First Post,,
The Bridgelux Eb Gen 3 are Available and cheap to Build and should be also considered a option
If I'm having a light that lasts a decade im going to build something on the cheap in person.
I don't have experience sourcing from Alibaba or anything and don't know if they all will be top bin diodes.
But there's a site dedicated to building Led's.
I made a 1100watt light with the 3000k and 3500k Bridgelux eb gen 2.
Now im dabbling with their more recent gen 3's.
I built several HLG-320h-42a that are around 350watt drivers roughly with (10) 4' strip eb gen 3 2700k (the k is a g on part #) 90cri strips and have a hydro setup with a bunch of 45 gallon totes with 8" net pots im switching over to try something new for next grow so I might try and do a journal on here.
Im not as experienced indoors and more used to growing outdoors in Michigan but I can tell by bud density that switching from SE hps over to this has helped me out with heat issues and while I had big buds under hps they never we're even within comparison to the density factor of today's Led's.
I know people on here aren't very fond of Teknik , glad between getting advice from him and seeing what ANC does on RIU here made me want to get more into building my own lights.
I had no built lights and no Led knowledge before the whole coronavirus shutdown but since have lightly looked into it and made 13 of them in the last few months or however long we've all been locked down for.
If your cool with growing whatever and not caring about the results yeah sure go with advice like the old Mars stuff of 4 years ago like the guy above recommended
but if you want Modern results you'd be better off getting with the times and building a setup maybe similar to what ANC has since him hitting 2.3 grams per watt should be motivation for people and not always just going with the first thing the internet tries to throw at you in advertisements. Green Gene knows his stuff and there are more resources than ever to deep dive into things.
Take the time as we owe it to ourselves to constantly improve techniques and technology.
Light's raised way above normal and have half of the strips dimmed in the photo.
 

Attachments

Last edited:
Top