Harvest Results After Moving from 315 LEC to Viparspectra LED (preferably 600 W)

[Organic357]

I had posted earlier about moving from my 315 LEC to the Viparspectra TC600 600w lights. This is a model with the digital display that allows one to vary the brightness of each channel independently from 0% (off) to 100%. It also has a built in timer and IR (infrared). I received a response from Skunkaroo that he was very happy with his Viparspectra 600. I was ready to make the move and excited that I would have almost twice as much light. I mentioned my intentions and reasons to a person who has been growing for 40 years. He is admittedly a big fan of HID’s. He made what I think is a fair point. He has been very happy with his low end LED for veg but is concerned primarily about the intensity of this LED for plants in flower with resulting lower yields. Let me say that I have no issue with good HID’s or LED’s. In fact, if I had the 630 LEC I would be sticking with it for this grow as I think LED’s like so many things will just get better and cheaper.

What I would like to find out is if anyone has moved from a 315 LEC to the Viparspectra 600 while growing the same number of plants and what their results were. The reason I ask is because when I look at the graph at Viparspectra’s site it appears that the strength of the light just under the light is good but as one moves out from the center the light becomes very weak especially at 3’. The graph is located here: https://www.viparspectra.com/goods.php?id=92. I was considering purchasing two of these to go in my 5' x 5’ Gorilla Grow Tent and/or one in my 3' x 3’Gorilla Grow Tent.

The appeal of these lights to me are reduced heat and energy consumption and the ability to vary the brightness of each channel. I don’t care if I get slightly smaller yields but am interested in potency as well. For example, if someone said the instead of a harvest of 100 grams with their 315 LEC they only harvested 85 grams with the Viparspectra, that would be fine with me as long as the potency remained essentially the same.

[s62]

I can’t speak to your question, as I’ve only used the LEC. But concerning potency, doesn’t the LEC deliver better/more trichomes, thus leading to higher potency?

[Organic357]

That is what I am hoping someone can enlighten me about. I have also thought about purchasing a 2nd 315's and adding it to my 5' x 5';however, am concerned about heat and unsure of whether that would overload the electrical outlet if I had my fans plugged into the other plug in the same outlet.

[s62]

How many amps is your circuit? The LEC doesn’t pull much. ~354 watts on average. I’d think you could run those plus fans no problem.

[Toker1]

Best way to judge a light is by the lumens per watt spec or the micro moles per joule spec.
As of right now (July 2019)...the quantum board LED lights will outshine CMH with less electricity used. The cheaper bluish purple light LEDs will typically be the least efficient when comparing this spec.
When discussing lighting efficiency, IMHO
the order from most efficient to least efficient goes as follows.
1. Quantum boards with LM301H chips
2. QB with LM301B chips
3. QB with 5370 chips
4. HPS (looking at Digilux bulbs)
5. CMH (looking at Phillips bulbs)
6. MH (looking at Digilux bulbs)
7. Cheaper LEDs (looking at Viaspectra & Mars hydro)

[Toker1]

All the Quantum boards I mentioned above are white light. They are the only truly full spectrum lights out of all the lights mentioned above. HPS is short on blue. CMH and MH are short on red. The blupurple LED lights that claim to be full spectrum are not. They are just red and blue only. They are the worst on spectrum as well as efficiency.

[Rwise]

What would your thoughts be on this one in the 1000 W to cover 6 plants in a 4X6 foot area?

https://ecospeedled.en.alibaba.com/product/62134275157-810727617/Ecospeed_QB288_Quantum_Board_LM301H_greenhouse_led_grow_light_led_grow_light_hydroponic.html

[Toker1]

That looks like a good one.
I would just say to make sure you have high ceilings with thst recommended 2-3 ft height above the canopy.

[Organic357]

Thank you Toker1. I am very impressed with the Quantum Board LED on a number of levels. I feel that my best course of action is to either come up the money for an Electric Sky 300 Wideband LED Grow Light or continue with my LEC and get the Quantum Board LED next season.

Three features that I like are the glass over the LED’s, the high PARs that are exceeding the other LED’s I have considered and the ability to daily chain it. What many growers may not be aware of this that if you have pollen, dust or other buildup on your LED’s less light is getting to your plants. What I do wish is that they had a regular 120v power cord without the adapter at the end.

[Toker1]

If memory serves me correctly uva is 400-320nm and uvb is 290-320nm.
I believe glass blocks anything below 300nm.

[s62]

Not sure; I read that 25% of UV-A and almost all UV-B gets blocked by glass.

[Toker1]

That’s laminated glass that blocks out mostly all UV. Like on car windshield glass. I am talking standard window glass (think standard window in a building that is clear).

[Organic357]

Fair point s62. Ideally I wish I lived where I could grow outside easily or had a secure nice greenhouse that would let in sunlight. I guess someone could remove the glass covers on their lights and clean their bulbs or LED's periodically probably just before their lights kick on.

[s62]

It’s all about choosing trade offs lol. But I’m glad you mentioned about bulbs getting dirty. I had no idea. Can I just wipe my bulb down with a microfiber towel?

[Organic357]

s62 I think that should be fine. I would do it a two or three minutes before your lights come on and clean the aluminum reflectors as well. Don't forget to wear gloves so that you don't get oils from your hand on the bulb.

[ribbitt]

I love my par450 and par 600 vipaspectra leds they produce stinky sticky plants verry potent

[SoOrbudgal]

Got 2 viper 450R in a 4x4x7ft grow tent worked for me simple set up. I grow in winter with this use all the suns glory in summer outdoor.

[Organic357]

The big picture is that pretty much any light works. Sometimes we are just arguing over who gets the largest harvest or the cost of our lighting relative to yield and potency. It seems that the first pro level grow lights were the MH and HPS lights. Then innovative people started seeing if LED's could work well. The science on lighting and in our case harvest yields is still advancing. The frustrating thing is when one invests a lot of money in a technology only to have something better come along very shortly after our purchase. I understand this but don't want to fall into the trap of defending a less than best purchase. I just have to admit I could have made a better purchase and learn to be more diligent in the future. As we should be aware there are a number of companies putting out overpriced, underperforming LED's. I think I have finally settled on the Electric Sky 300 Wideband LED Grow Light. Nebula Haze one of the two people who started growweedeasy.com had good results with hers. The company that produces them is getting excellent reviews. What most impressed me were the following:
HPS vs LED Grow Lights: The Spectrum Efficiency Showdown: https://thegreensunshineco.com/hps-vs-led-grow/,

Nebula Hazes results here but you have to scroll down to get to the Electric Sky 300, https://www.growweedeasy.com/led-gro...ed-grow-lights and finally

Electric Sky 300 Wideband LED Grow Light: https://thegreensunshineco.com/produ...00-grow-light/. Be sure to check out the graph showing the EPAR values on this page.

You can search on Electric Sky 300 in this forum and see JimmyPapaya's results.

Also you can upgrade the lights later if better LED's come out.

Finally the Greenhouse Growing Company seems to stand strongly behind it's products. I mean a 90-day return policy. Also every review group I saw the company earned 5 out of 5 stars, or 4 out of 4. Having a company that offers that kind of support tells me that they are trying to be the best and not just make a few dollars and split. I just have to figure out if I can come up with the money now or if I will need to wait until my next grow. Just my 2¢. I am just happy when people get good results for their efforts regardless of which lights they use.

[Organic357]

On a side note I am still learning how to use this forum. It seems I have been "Posting a Reply" when I should have "Commented". Having said that correct me if I am wrong about this. I have grown to like being corrected because it allows me to improve.

[s62]

There’s no hard and fast rules about it, as far as I know. Based on my observations, you just sort of use it judiciously. Just keep in mind that a comment won’t bump a thread, whereas a reply will.

[Spidermite]

I can get great yields with Viperspectrum 450s. But I now use 2 in a 2x4 area. The penetration is not as great as other lights. But they do make very trichome covered buds. And for the average grower one 450 is enough for a 2x4. For penetration I like 1000 watt hps/mh but I think the viperspectrum are a bit more user friendly for new indoor growers.

Now the viperspectrum do seem to put out more heat than higher priced leds and for sure the quantum boards. Which means its costing more for the same amount of light. Energy converted to heat instead of light. However when you compare a $120 450 viperspectrum to a $1500 or more led etc the cost is offset significantly

[Organic357]

Good point Spidermite. In my case I was looking at two Viparspectra 600 w for my 5' x 5' tent. They would have come in at $400 for the two. I will admit that a lot of the pics for Viparspectra crops look nice and frosty. So there is the graph that they put out that looks like the light penetration really falls off the further one moves away from the area directly under the light, yet people are having nice harvests. I will have 4 plants in my 5' x 5' so I want max penetration for higher yields. But lights are just one part of our grow puzzle. I may opt for one Electric Sky 300 and use it with my 315 LEC. I could put them side by side and observe the differences.

[Spidermite]

Oh was reading about cleaning the glass. Yes you do need to clean them as much as you can every so often. Hps and mh with glass can get really dirty. Just one suggestion, after you clean them raise the lights a bit. The glass can get so dirty that when you clean them without adjusting the height you can get light burn.

The lights you posted the link to looks good. For most the distance during veg may be a problem but I really like that they are effective at 4 to 5 feet away.

[Toker1]

Yes, cleaning the glass is important. And never directly touch a glass bulb. My practice is with every bulb change, I hold the bulb with a paper towel, wipe the bulb down, and then clean the glass on my hood on the inside and the out.

[Toker1]

s62 Standard glass allows some UVB penetration. Here is what I was talking about. You can see that about 50% of UVB is will pass through glass just as easily as visible light. The rest gets filtered out.

[Spidermite]

Toker1 what do you think about the lights forever green sells. Not cheap but not expensive either.

[Toker1]

Never seen that one until today, but it’s the rating is2.1 micro moles per joule on their website. That’s good, but the r-spec quantum board is still more efficient at converting electricity into light photons. They are maxed QB technology out at 3 micro moles per joule just this year.