coreywebster
Well-Known Member
The reason for the lower wattage been better than the higher wattage vipar is the efficiency of the diodes used. You are getting more light per watt.
Th vipar is old cheap technology as with most of those type of lights. The newer lights are far better at creating light , usually that cost more money to build.
The mars light is less efficient than the spider farmer and both are greatly more efficient than the vipar.
One of the most important things to look at is the umol/j , the higher that number the more efficient it is.
If you are going for a 200w fixture make sure its dimmable since 30w per square foot is good for that sort of light.
You should see an increase in yield as well as a reduction in heat provided you have things like environment dialled in.
The heat is directly related to the amount of watts used. The vipar has active cooling because they are inefficient and its the cheapest way for them to make that light work. It would require a much greater surface area of passive heatsink to do the same thing with the same diodes, that would mean less profit for them.
But the mars and spider are passively cooled. Due to the diodes been more efficient, they create less heat in the conversion of electricity to light which means its affordable to go with passive heatsinking and its also far more reliable. Its also zero noise which is a plus.
Some of these companies are using grams per watt as a selling point, I would take them with a pinch of salt. Just look at the umol/j
