Leds

[Walty]

Here’s a great video about lighting and cannabis.....you’ll be an expert in no time. But you don’t want to skimp on lighting. Look at the true watts that a light pulls from the wall and that will give you a rough idea of how much light you are giving your plants. For top quality LEDs, you want 30-35 watts per square foot of coverage.

https://youtu.be/ID9rE5JewVg

[Farmall]

Use leds exclusively except for the first 3 weeks and have made a few side by side comparisons. The Samsung lm301b with Cree photored on f-type strips is a diy setup with some versatility. I have HPS, CMH and blurple, blockbuster xxl and sun systems hoods with vents and glass covers. The extreme lightweight leds have shown to be the clear winner over any of them for me. In fact., I’m using them to flower my lime and lemon trees. Bigger changes in led technologies are on the horizon and will supplant the old standards in HPS powerhouses.

[Sledrock]

I have 2 Vipar Spectra 450w leds, but am only running one at the moment. These lights pull apprx 210 watts from the wall, the chips are 5 watts.

I know there are better, more powerful lights out there, but so far, I'm happy with these.

I'm not looking to grow massive amounts of weed, just enough for my wife and me and in my 3x3 tent, these seem to do a bang-up job. If I think I need more light (and a higher electric bill), I'll run both 450's in my tent.

[SoOrbudgal]

Sledrock I too run the same lights as you have 2 in my 4x4 and 1 old one in a 3x3 for veggies/clones. Use to run 2 in my 3x3 boy it kicked bud I like them for same needs as you. But if I only had 2 plants going I would run just 1 in the 3x3 working great.

[dilvish]

I'm a stickler for safety. Unfortunately most LEDs sold on Amazon have had no safety testing/certification. If you plan on running a light set up that will be on for a minimum of 12 hours a day, you should get something that is certified safe. The most recognized certifications are UL - Underwriters Lab USA, CSA - Canadian Standards Association and Intertek (ETL, Europe). If the light panel doesn't have a certification from one of these (you can request certification info from the manufacturer) you should keep looking.

Having said this the only LEDs I have found on Amazon that are UL certified are made by ViparSpectra and only certain models. If your budget is in USD then get two or three of the V600 and daisy chain them together since your grow space seems quite large. They are on sale now on their website https://www.viparspectra.com/goods.php?id=59 and probably on Amazon as well. These LEDs have both heat sink and fans for cooling.

I have one and so far it's doing it's job well. It gives sufficient light and my girls are loving it.

[Rwise]

For what its worth I just picked up a Mars Hydro TSW 2000 ~$175 across the counter, 90 day full replacement, 3 year warranty. Easy install, dual remote dimmable drivers, ratchet straps. Much more light than the ~700 watts of CFLs with only 307 watts of power used. They also had several other brands, Viparspectra to Black Dogs, the viparspectra was in the running (price range) but I just dont like the blurple light.

[Nute]

You'll be very happy with the Mars light

[Rwise]

So far I do! The heat dropped 5* (from 80* to 75*) with the exhaust fan off, that's a plus also.

[Guest]

I’m using a 600w actual Viparspectra for my first tent grow. So far I’m surprised with the results. Plants look fantastic and my biggest worry now is too tall plants. It does have to be kept pretty far away from the canopy, limiting plant height. I’m sure I could be getting better results with a better light but so far I’m impressed.

[Nute]

You’re not going to get good lights for 3-500 except for High Intensity Discharge lights (HPS or Metal Halide). Good LEDs cost a lot and significantly outperform the cheap LEDs.

I beg to differ the Mars TSW/TSL line Is very good for the Priceline as well as a bit better the sp250 & SP 150
also great light all under 500 dollars Canadian dollars at that

[Nute]

For what its worth I just picked up a Mars Hydro TSW 2000 ~$175 across the counter, 90 day full replacement, 3 year warranty. Easy install, dual remote dimmable drivers, ratchet straps. Much more light than the ~700 watts of CFLs with only 307 watts of power used. They also had several other brands, Viparspectra to Black Dogs, the viparspectra was in the running (price range) but I just dont like the blurple light.

The heat will rise again but should not go over 82ish maybe bit higher when they start maturing and drying out. You can use you fan to regulate this I use inkbird products if heat gets to hit kicks on fan. To cold kicks on heater. To humid kicks on exhaust and if to dry kicks on humidifier. Great products. And reasonably affordable.

Is your fan completely off when not outside the temp/hum limits? I want my fan to have a low idle speed so the fan will always be on. The only ones I can find are commercial and $200-300. I looked at the inkbirds but can’t find one that does that.

[Rwise]

I do watch the temp and humidity, I am not in a tent but under a stair case. I pulled the back out of the top step and the draft is good without an exhaust fan, for now. I was not expecting the temp drop but I'll take it! Maybe I should have with cutting the power in half,,,

[C420grow]

Work in progress! Got the Mars TSW 2000 don’t plan on flowering whole area at once. So I think the Mars light is the way to go. Thank you all

[Rwise]

My thought is we will get great buds under them, and it is an improvement over what I had,,, and by the time these were out there will be far better lights out for about the same money.

[Farmall]

Nice to see a fresh room getting prepared...good luck

[FunkyButtLovin]

Don't forget your sunglasses!

[dilvish]

Mars Hydro users may have a decent light but when I was looking for a decent light panel I sent MarsHydro several emails asking for their safety certification information. They state on their website that the lights are CE, ROHS ETL and UL. They refused to provided anything other than that statement.

If they were in fact safety certified, they would need only one certification, not 3. The fact that they refuse to provide certification registration numbers (you can look these numbers up online for verification) speaks volumes. They, like many Chinese manufacturers, are faking all of their certifications in order to sell more product.

I find it laughable that people believe them when their light panel arrives and the only marks on the unit are a faked CE certification and the ROHS stamp. The CE certification is like self certifying and anyone in the world can do that. The ROHS certification just means it supposedly doesn't contain any hazardous material!!! I sure fuckin hope it doesn't!!! this is why electrical items that have passed federal or state/provincial certification don't include the ROHS. As far as I am aware the only common electrical item that contains hazardous material is a smoke alarm which you will likely need when the light shorts out or worse...

People may swear by their lights and I'm not saying they or any other manufacturer make a poor product. What I am saying is if you are going to spend the money, spend it on something that has been properly safety tested and certified like select models of ViparSpectra. There may be others but for the price and type of panels they offer it's worth it in my opinion.

[Rwise]

Ask me in a year how I like this LED. What I can tell you at this point is I have 90 days to return it to the local dealer for a full refund or replacement. 3 years warranty on it and the local dealer deals with Mars Hydro not me. So far the girls say they like the improvement.
IF they are truly NOT certified, why are they being sold here?
And what about all the knock off co's? There are several shops in Tulsa making and selling LED panels.

[dilvish]

Ask me in a year how I like this LED. What I can tell you at this point is I have 90 days to return it to the local dealer for a full refund or replacement. 3 years warranty on it and the local dealer deals with Mars Hydro not me. So far the girls say they like the improvement.
IF they are truly NOT certified, why are they being sold here?
And what about all the knock off co's? There are several shops in Tulsa making and selling LED panels.

Unfortunately many of the manufacturers sell direct from their websites so there is nobody to check them. Additionally, Amazon worldwide does not test or audit compliance with their "Marketplace seller's agreement" in which states anything that plugs into an electrical outlet must have one of the 3 main safety certifications (UL, CSA and ETL a.k.a. Intertek) in accordance with government safety regulations.

Go look through a Home Depot or Lowe's in North America. Good luck trying to find any electrical item that plugs in that doesn't carry one of these safety certifications. Think about it. if the light panels are becoming more and more popular why don't these big box stores carry them? They could make a serious profit in states/provinces where growing is perfectly legal. They don't care what people use them for but since almost all of them are not properly certified, they don't sell them for liability reasons.

As far as many of these manufacturers are concerned, it's buyer beware. They could easily argue in the case of electrical issue/fire that the light was used in an illegal setting or if legal, that it must have been exposed to too much heat or humidity in the "legal" grow. They are also willing to replace the light if it fails or causes damage but only the light gets replaced...any other damage they won't compensate for.

In my opinion it is better to be safe than sorry. When you are running these lights a minimum 12 hours a day to a maximum of 24 hours per day for months at a time, wouldn't you feel better knowing they were safety tested the same way?.

Think of it this way...like a desktop computer in a hot humid environment running at least 12 hours everyday...the thing will fail because the computer will overheat regardless of the fan and heatsink inside the tower case and the fan blowing on the outside (which just blows the hot air around).

[Obi-Wan]

So I should just by another 600w Viparspectra because they’re safety certified? Never mind my current Viparspectra 600w is sitting on a shelf because the bloom switch doesn’t operate. I tried talking to Viparspectra to get it fixed, they wanted me to pay to ship it to China or replace the driver myself. Well, the shipping to China was gonna cost $50 which was a 1/3 of the cost of the light brand new and if I replaced the driver myself the warranty would have voided. Not to mention that safety certificate becomes toilet paper once I open the fixture up. Viparspectra is no better than the other Chinese companies, they just happened to get a few fixtures to pass the test.

It seems odd to me that with all the different models they sell, only a few are certified, same boards, same fans, same drivers. Each successive model is just a stacked version of it’s lower wattage counterpart. A 600w model is just the components of 2-300w models in a different case. I would think if one passed they all would, or maybe they just got lucky on a few?

My 400 watt HID fixture is UL certified, but that doesn’t eliminate the risks of using an HID fixture. Certified electrical fixtures are associated with electrical fires all the time, in most cases the fixture fails when it’s being used or fed in a manner that is unsafe.

[dilvish]

OBI-WAN your comment is valid but did you know that almost all of these LED manufacturers have the same warranty? That warranty specifies either you ship it to them to fix or you fix it yourself with parts they supply for free. This is one reason I don't look at warranties because most of them have some sort of loophole in the manufacturers favor. I never said ViparSpectra was superior just that they appear to be the only ones who have at least some models that are safety certified by government recognized testing facilities.

[Rwise]

Comparing to PCs is a bad choice as I worked at TVG building servers for their scrolling channel. Many sat in the field and ran 24/7 for more than 5 years. Of course there were those that failed before that, or did not survive shipping. Those that ran for all that time were full of dust, and the fans were dead for who knows how long, the batteries were all leaking, etc..
I try to NOT but from Amazon,,, I can beat their price most of the time anyway.
Here the market is to to young for these big box stores, like, OMG we are not going to carry pot growing supplies! Give them time to get on board. I did buy it at a local supply called "Skunk Grow" IDK if they are a chain or not,,,
I too am concerned with safety, so I will keep an eye on it, I am almost always here, and its off when I am asleep,,,

[dilvish]

My point about the PC was that if you run it in a warm/hot humid environment it will fail quicker. Most computers are run at room temp or colder.

[Nute]

Unfortunately many of the manufacturers sell direct from their websites so there is nobody to check them. Additionally, Amazon worldwide does not test or audit compliance with their "Marketplace seller's agreement" in which states anything that plugs into an electrical outlet must have one of the 3 main safety certifications (UL, CSA and ETL a.k.a. Intertek) in accordance with government safety regulations.

Go look through a Home Depot or Lowe's in North America. Good luck trying to find any electrical item that plugs in that doesn't carry one of these safety certifications. Think about it. if the light panels are becoming more and more popular why don't these big box stores carry them? They could make a serious profit in states/provinces where growing is perfectly legal. They don't care what people use them for but since almost all of them are not properly certified, they don't sell them for liability reasons.

As far as many of these manufacturers are concerned, it's buyer beware. They could easily argue in the case of electrical issue/fire that the light was used in an illegal setting or if legal, that it must have been exposed to too much heat or humidity in the "legal" grow. They are also willing to replace the light if it fails or causes damage but only the light gets replaced...any other damage they won't compensate for.

In my opinion it is better to be safe than sorry. When you are running these lights a minimum 12 hours a day to a maximum of 24 hours per day for months at a time, wouldn't you feel better knowing they were safety tested the same way?.

Think of it this way...like a desktop computer in a hot humid environment running at least 12 hours everyday...the thing will fail because the computer will overheat regardless of the fan and heatsink inside the tower case and the fan blowing on the outside (which just blows the hot air around).

It sounds like someone paid too much for a light fixture and they need to justify its cost

[JDU]

Couldn't say it better Obi-Wan

[Nute]

Very good examples I agree 100 % with what you said. Most growers don't even think of power consumption alloted per outlet
As you said 15 amp circuits but some or most are daisy chained within a room not knowing. The grower that is they start plugging stuff here there then add the tent all the lights and artifacts needing power. And before you know it your running 90% of that 15 amp circuit

[Rwise]

This is why when I run a circuit, I run over size wire, if the job calls for 12 awg I use 10 awg.!

[Guest]

Nute Is your fan completely off when not outside the temp/hum limits? I want my fan to have a low idle speed so the fan will always be on. The only ones I can find are commercial and $200-300. I looked at the inkbirds but can’t find one that does that.