Stepping up

What’s up guys
Looking to get into a larger set up from my normal 10x10 room that was mixed with 2 1000watt hps and 2 spectra leds. This being said I have been growing for about 8 years and feel I have just hit the top of the iceberg.

I’m ramping up and going larger this time with a 20’x18’ room and wanted to use more leds and few supplemental ballasted units. I have been steered towards black dog led and California light works but for the cost and the coverage I gravitated to the BC Blonde leds. I’m looking at 3 600s which have a flower coverage of 5’x5’ and then putting the recommended open faced double ended metal hallides inbetween. (Again recommended). I will be linking them all to a single 240v controller and will be very open to any opinions.

I’m not looking to build, I want a decent coverage led and don’t mind spending a few buck but don’t want to blow money either. Guess middle of the road.

Also the open faced metal hallides were suggested to help with spectrum and also to provide more light for less draw compared to HPS.

I respect everyone’s opinion and am looking for good small scale commercial advice. Please and thank you. I will post periodically when the grow gets built.

Thanks

Whoever steered you in that direction just wants to make some serious bank off you. Those light are both outdated and over priced.

bk78 said:

Whoever steered you in that direction just wants to make some serious bank off you. Those light are both outdated and over priced.

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The friend obviously is telling me what he knows. The reason why I’m posting it is to seek some guidance, which is why I’m doing this now before I drop some coin. I’m looking for the most current equipment but that is also tested and favored by us members.

"This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill - the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes"

It begins.

widowmaker42 said:

The friend obviously is telling me what he knows. The reason why I’m posting it is to seek some guidance, which is why I’m doing this now before I drop some coin. I’m looking for the most current equipment but that is also tested and favored by us members.

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If you have the cash get the growcraft x6 or the HLG 650R

both are the best of the best for pre built out right now imo.

Amare Bar-8 or the new Bar-6 with UVA.
Both are the fullest spectrum available in premium led i know of.
The Bar-6 is on pre-order rn for 950 delivered. $1275 msrp.
The Bar-8 is 900w , fully versatile in almost anyway you can think of & covers a 7'x4.5' .
Top-End Fixture not super well known around here to some. Buying direct they are $1500.
The members will likely recommend HLG who's is also a good company if thats what you like. Youll get 10 links soon if not already.
Amares Web-site sux but warranty n everything else is solid. Owner is a grower himself & was the creator of the enhanced white spectrum, taking it quite a few steps farther then the x2 before him, Apache & A-51.
One of the nicest lights out imo.
.
7.3 #'s off x2 of these lights last grow (with room for improvment) n ones just an old prototype.
I have spectrums & further details if it interests you.
Theres a few other nice lights out but they all have the same spectrum.
Oh, Ausie-High Light Boards may interest you as well & they have threads here providing test data.
Slighty Different Animal but still a broadened spectrum board style light from good guys. https://growlightsaustralia.com
Goodluck!
Try not to overlook thermal-mngmt-heat- sinks, driver placement, & diode spacing when making your purchase. This could make a huge difference in the claimed, vague longevity of most fixtures. Avoid cheap Alibaba lights or the ones you mentioned in first post.
No need for hps unless your heating.

Bc blonde's stuff is a good bang/buck for sphere tested & verified output. I see no problem going with them at the price point.

Diy is cheaper+latest tech, something to think about

bk78 said:

If you have the cash get the growcraft x6 or the HLG 650R

both are the best of the best for pre built out right now imo.

Click to expand...

Thank you. I’m going to do some digging on these today, at quick glance I noticed the x6 does need to be assembled. But will look at both lights recommended and go from there

hybridway2 said:

Amare Bar-8 or the new Bar-6 with UVA.
Both are the fullest spectrum available in premium led i know of.
The Bar-6 is on pre-order rn for 950 delivered. $1275 msrp.
The Bar-8 is 900w , fully versatile in almost anyway you can think of & covers a 7'x4.5' .
Top-End Fixture not super well known around here to some. Buying direct they are $1500.
The members will likely recommend HLG who's is also a good company if thats what you like. Youll get 10 links soon if not already.
Amares Web-site sux but warranty n everything else is solid. Owner is a grower himself & was the creator of the enhanced white spectrum, taking it quite a few steps farther then the x2 before him, Apache & A-51.
One of the nicest lights out imo.

SolarBar SB800 (Bar8) | amare-technology

SolarBar SB800 (Bar8)$1,695.00SolarBar SB800 (Bar8). The most stunningly powerful and flexible SolarSPEC™ horticulture lighting solution to date. The Bar8 is designed specifically for single and multi-tier commercial cannabis cultivation with a recommended mounting height over canopy of...

www.amaretechnology.com

.
7.3 #'s off x2 of these lights last grow (with room for improvment) n ones just an old prototype.
I have spectrums & further details if it interests you.
Theres a few other nice lights out but they all have the same spectrum.
Oh, Ausie-High Light Boards may interest you as well & they have threads here providing test data.
Slighty Different Animal but still a broadened spectrum board style light from good guys. https://growlightsaustralia.com
Goodluck!
Try not to overlook thermal-mngmt , heat sink placement, & diode spacing when making your purchase. This could make a huge difference in the claimed, vague longevity of most fixtures. Avoid cheap Alibaba lights or the ones you mentioned in first post.
No need for hps unless your heating.

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Some good feed back bro. I’ll check all of these out and appreciate the multiple suggestions. As far as diode spacing, my last 2 led lights did in fact burn out and only are a about half strength now because of that. Huge bummer when you spend upwards of 1k on these things. What would you say is the recommended spacing to look for?

widowmaker42 said:

Some good feed back bro. I’ll check all of these out and appreciate the multiple suggestions. As far as diode spacing, my last 2 led lights did in fact burn out and only are a about half strength now because of that. Huge bummer when you spend upwards of 1k on these things. What would you say is the recommended spacing to look for?

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Cool!
Wow! You saw first hand what happens w/o proper heat dissipation, prob. over ran diodes that were clustered. Many dont even realize they're fixtures are getting dimmer + dimmer & the manufacturer often lead the customer to believe their light will have around a 30% loss at 50,000 or 100,000hrs. Whatever they claim, its usually based on 70% output before being considered upgrade time. Not bad, only of it were true. Seen some outlandish ratings since learning about it.
I recently posted a bunch of info on how to roughly determine the diode longevity based on the build & heat. There's actually an equation for it .
Diode spacing depends allot on the fixtures design & purpose. Large heat-sinks are going to help preveting early failure as well. The reason so many lights will not make it to their expected quota is primarily caused by a lack of Thermal mngmt, tightly knit diodes , exposed. And the cheap shit is being used. Many are tossing in 1/2 top bin diodes & half middle of the rd or so. We cant tell until half of them get dimmer or a color shift happens.
The one i use has x3 rows of spaced diodes rather then one or two close rows & runs around 40•f cooler then anything else i have.
Can't measure rn but all you have to do is compare the fixtures you like. Heres mine:

Lay this next to Gavita 1700 & then you'll see exactly what i mean.
Last pics are of the suspended, remote Driver case, housing x4 MeanWell 240's.

widowmaker42 said:

Thank you. I’m going to do some digging on these today, at quick glance I noticed the x6 does need to be assembled. But will look at both lights recommended and go from there

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Assembling them would literally take you 5 min. And do some searching on the forum for people who are shills for certain light companies

bk78 said:

Assembling them would literally take you 5 min. And do some searching on the forum for people who are shills for certain light companies

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Im a Shilll Mr. Laugh at whatever i post?
God forbid a guy recommends something that will help another as well as save them $ on annual upgrades. From One of the Premium Companies available yet rarely discussed.
I get nothing for helping others except the satisfaction of knowing i tried.
But hey, if you rather take the advice of several members whom have never compared fixtures, touched the one they recommend or have examples of their Satisfactory grows, then by all means. Do not let me prevent the ignorance from running rampid.

hybridway2 said:

Im a Shilll Mr. Laugh at whatever i post?
God forbid a guy recommends something that will help another as well as save them $ on annual upgrades. From One of the Premium Companies available yet rarely discussed.
I get nothing for helping others except the satisfaction of knowing i tried.
But hey, if you rather take the advice of several members whom have never compared fixtures, touched the one they recommend or have examples of their Satisfactory grows, then by all means. Do not let me prevent the ignorance from running rampid.

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I never mentioned any names.

guilty conscience?


there are many on here

bk78 said:

I never mentioned any names.

guilty conscience?


there are many on here

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I know who you are referring too. Man up! Stop licking around the rim & dive in big boy.
Oh yeah, there are many. But don't get it Twisted. There is Huge difference.

bk78 said:

Assembling them would literally take you 5 min. And do some searching on the forum for people who are shills for certain light companies

Click to expand...

There’s a plethora of knowledge from these forums and I am definitely trying to read through the lines but I appreciate all the feed back and help given. Which is why we are all here in the first place. I’m going to grid through all the info given this far and will come back for some more advice. Are you guys suggesting that I toss out the double ended hallide as supplemental lighting or should I still go with this?? Was going to run them inbetween my Led fixtures.

widowmaker42 said:

There’s a plethora of knowledge from these forums and I am definitely trying to read through the lines but I appreciate all the feed back and help given. Which is why we are all here in the first place. I’m going to grid through all the info given this far and will come back for some more advice. Are you guys suggesting that I toss out the double ended hallide as supplemental lighting or should I still go with this?? Was going to run them inbetween my Led fixtures.

Click to expand...

Not necessarily unless its in your budget. Wouldn't buy them to put between the leds
Growers find the 315 cmh to be a good choice.
Neither will be necessary if you own broad-spectrum led bars or boards.
The cmh or mh fill in the gaps not available in leds yet. Leds do this for HPS.
Im thinking if you own DE-HPS that i would be using them as primary with leds as supplemental. Prob with DE is it has to be hung so high. Whereas the leds to supplement it do not need to be unless you go with high-bay leds. Don't want led fixtures blocking hps photons. High-Bay LED fixtures are nice to. They can replace DE 1:1. The versitilty factor goes down with High-Bay lighting though. Not everyone wants versitilty too. Some run mono-crop or close enough to just set it n forget it. Myself, I'm into side-light, angled light & close light after going high-bay with short ceilings & learning my lesson the hard way.
Versitilty has been increasing my yeild big time since i started using 4 bulb, 4' , T-5's from HomeDepot as side light in my hps room. That's when i knew there was much more to the plants then just the tops.
I took it to another level & decked out 1/2 my room with SunCloak (vertical led units).
At the end of it all, you will want to 86 the hps & run straight leds bars or boards. Providing you you choose wisely, you will not need to supplement & can have a nice even ppfd across the canopy. Can also go high bay leds with bars or strips as side-lighting in places.
I took a yr to grow with a few different leds in a 10x10 to get the feel for it while my hps room did the bulk work before diving in.
Now the leds are much more efficient, leading to larger yeilds or less wattage then they were 5 or 6 yrs ago.
I know its alot to take in. We will help.
Worst thing to do is buy cheap, low efficiency leds thinking they are a good starting point. That will only discourage you & leave a bad taste for leds in general.

@widowmaker42

buy fom HLG, TImber or ChilLed. There are others..just dont buy Amare.

lukio said:

@widowmaker42

buy fom HLG, TImber or ChiLed. There are others..just dont buy Amare.

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Troll much?

widowmaker42 said:

What’s up guys
Looking to get into a larger set up from my normal 10x10 room that was mixed with 2 1000watt hps and 2 spectra leds. This being said I have been growing for about 8 years and feel I have just hit the top of the iceberg.

I’m ramping up and going larger this time with a 20’x18’ room and wanted to use more leds and few supplemental ballasted units. I have been steered towards black dog led and California light works but for the cost and the coverage I gravitated to the BC Blonde leds. I’m looking at 3 600s which have a flower coverage of 5’x5’ and then putting the recommended open faced double ended metal hallides inbetween. (Again recommended). I will be linking them all to a single 240v controller and will be very open to any opinions.

I’m not looking to build, I want a decent coverage led and don’t mind spending a few buck but don’t want to blow money either. Guess middle of the road.

Also the open faced metal hallides were suggested to help with spectrum and also to provide more light for less draw compared to HPS.

I respect everyone’s opinion and am looking for good small scale commercial advice. Please and thank you. I will post periodically when the grow gets built.

Thanks

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Just look at the grow journals section. Find someone laying down what you wanna pick up and mimic their setup. It's that easy.

hybridway2 said:

Troll much?

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nope.

any 3rd party testing at Amare yet? if i were spending big bucks i'd want it.