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    Difference between led lights

    Can someone please explain to me like I'm 5 the difference between a 60$ish led grown light from Amazon that says 1000w and a for example Mars Hydro 100w for 5 times the price or other expensive lights?
    I get it that the components are better but for actual growing of like 4 plants in a tent. I grow only for myself
    ​​​​​​

    ​​​​Thanks

    #2
    You need high wattage to grow fatter buds per square foot.
    when stores list it as a 1000watt in reality it only probably has 100 actual wattage from the wall. So watch what light you maybe buying.
    1 Marshydro tsl 2000 @ 300 watt.
    1 sf2000 @200 watts
    2 philzon @230 watts
    2x4x5 tent
    3x6x8 closet
    Fox Farm ocean forest
    Black gold for seedling
    3 gal pot holes in sides and bottom
    RH 40-60
    Temp 70-80
    Feeding with FF trio with molasses
    calmag and a little flower fuel
    Light at 10 -16 inches above canopy

    Finished growing: Durban poison x Atomic Shiva, Dark Matter x Atomic Shiva, Golden Goat x Atomic Shiva and Summit Sweet Skunk x Atomic Shiva

    Next up: Apple Fritter 2x, ATF, Og Kush.

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by LemonBud View Post
      You need high wattage to grow fatter buds per square foot.
      when stores list it as a 1000watt in reality it only probably has 100 actual wattage from the wall. So watch what light you maybe buying.
      So I should focus on wattage drawn from wall?

      Comment


      • golfnrl
        golfnrl commented
        Editing a comment
        Deriksson, yes. Focus on the wattage from the wall. Your light is the biggest investment and most critical piece of equipment. Lots of opinions on here about grow lights. Lots of good quality lights available out there as well. I like HLG LED's. I started off with an HLG V2 100 in a 2.5x2x6 tent. It was $150 at the time. Grew great weed in that tent. There's some good information about lights on the GWE web site. You'll want a light sized right for your grow space. It's easy to go down a rabbit hole chasing light numbers. For me, it was easier to focus on a few things, efficiency (wattage from the wall), intensity (how far down into the canopy can the light go), spectrum (is it the right kind and color of light for cannabis), and footprint (does the light fit your space).
        Last edited by golfnrl; 01-16-2022, 07:32 AM.

      • Deriksson
        Deriksson commented
        Editing a comment


        I have 2 of those now and working pretty well but wanting to upgrade to a professional lamp, but a mars Hydro 3000 is pretty expensive  will look into that lamp u suggested
        ​​​​​​
        ​​​​​I have a 3x3 space

      • SoOrbudgal
        SoOrbudgal commented
        Editing a comment
        Yes you need to look at watts from the wall

      #4
      Independent grow light testing & reviews. Science based articles & tools to help evaluate & compare grow lights for cannabis. Test reports & Discount Codes.


      This is a great site for understanding how to pick a grow light. I replaced my burple with a Mars Hydro SP3000 and couldn’t be happier.

      Comment


        #5
        A 50$ light is less likely to grow good weed and more likely to burn your house down.
        keeping it green with the soil thing
        love me some frosty autos
        braap
        BRAAPZAI https://forum.growweedeasy.com/forum...162-braaap-zai
        Mephisto run. yeah i know spellcheck https://forum.growweedeasy.com/forum...-memphisto-run
        the fruit basket https://forum.growweedeasy.com/forum...et-auto-runrun
        blue strawberries in a four assed galaxy https://forum.growweedeasy.com/forum...r-assed-galaxy

        Comment


          #6
          Originally posted by RetiredGuy View Post
          https://www.cocoforcannabis.com/grow-light-guide/

          This is a great site for understanding how to pick a grow light. I replaced my burple with a Mars Hydro SP3000 and couldn’t be happier.
          Thanks, great site. I've been looking at the sp3000 but it's a big investment for me.

          Edit: I have been looking at the ts3000qb not the sp3000. And its about 900$
          Last edited by Deriksson; 01-16-2022, 09:46 AM.

          Comment


            #7
            Also check out Shane from https://www.migrolight.com.
            They have great lights , but find him on YouTube, he reviews cheaper ones there. You can trust his testing although he has gone to paid reviews.
            He works with Dr. CoCo too from coco for cannabis

            Comment


            • Deriksson
              Deriksson commented
              Editing a comment
              I'll take your word for it and look him up 👍

            #8
            Until recently (as in the last 2-3yrs) HPS lights were the undisputed king for growing indoors. Due to this LED manufactures always compared their lights to a HPS. The cheap lights on Amazon in the description will say for example that’s it only uses 100 watts but is compared to a 400 watt HPS which is BS. The better brands used to do the same and although closer in comparison they still didn’t match a HPS of the same wattage much less surpass a HPS.

            Only judge a lights power by how many watts it actually uses. Most of the top brand LED’s don’t even compare to a HPS anymore like they used to. A full spectrum LED will serve you better than the burple type as well.
            Last edited by bboyfromwayback; 01-16-2022, 11:36 AM.

            Comment


            • bboyfromwayback
              bboyfromwayback commented
              Editing a comment
              You don’t have to go expensive, especially in a 3x3. Mars hydro and HLG have some reasonable priced lights for that size tent. Goto the GWE main page and search lights, it’ll pull several articles with GWE recommendations for your setup. You should be able to get a good starter light for under $400 unless the prices have went way up with Covid

              Personally I recommend a ES180 for that tent. Its generally $420 but it’s been on sale lately. I’ve been growing under Electric Sky’s for almost 3yrs now. Nebula has been using them lately, every time she does a compare grow with another brand the ES wins.
              Last edited by bboyfromwayback; 01-16-2022, 03:01 PM.

            • Deriksson
              Deriksson commented
              Editing a comment
              Thing is im pretty limited in which grow lights to choose from, to get the es180 shipped to my country from any site I'll have to pay twice what the light costs. Only real option is mars hydro since a site here carries there brand.

              How about the Mars Hydro TSW-2000 QB, it's about 450$

            • bboyfromwayback
              bboyfromwayback commented
              Editing a comment
              I’ve never used that light but Mars Hydro is good brand and coverage should be wall to wall in a 3x3. I have a 150w mars hydro I throw in the center of my 5x3 on occasion and it’s bright AF

            #9
            Deriksson Bottom line being you get what you pay for. Stick with a name brand and you should be ok. And, who knows a couple of months from now when you're knee deep in bud and being the generous fella you are maybe a couple of your mates may toss a few quid your way to help out with the overhead. Just remember the golden rule of growing your own---- NO sell, no tell, no smell, = No cell. Peace out !

            Comment


            • bboyfromwayback
              bboyfromwayback commented
              Editing a comment
              The 3 Home Grown commandments…I like it

            #10
            Just my opinion from some direct totally subjective trials . i switched to leds awhile ago from HID due to cooling. first tried some blurples which worked OK, but didnt give very much penetration so buds were in general limited to the top of canopy and I wasnt getting the same production as HID. Borrowing from firends has allowed me some free trials. At the end, I Have found that Mars-Hydro produce very nice overall at great price point, and now have one small 3 by 3 tent with a TS3000 in it, but not yet a full grow - which was crapped due to spider mite infestation - but was growing incredibly well with long colas till killed em. Also Spider farmer - and now the other tent (2 by 4) has 3 of spider farmer SF1000s and they did a great job with tight, quite long buds, high production and nice shiny results - loved em. Previously, I also had decent results with budget Best VA 600 Watts reflector series that I bought, but think the SF and MH are superior. That being said, I am keeping the best VA's which are going to a clone/ vegetation tent) and as backup. I dont think you can go wrong with any of the well rated brand names these days except for penetration=intensity (PAR- for growing). I am personally now a believer in spider farmer and mars hydro to get bang for your buck as long as not really tall grow set-ups. I believe i saw good ratings on them from Nebula at some time. but- for the price the BEST VA's would be nice for short tents. havent tried too many other non-blurples but I am happy now. Cheers.
            A happy Canuk. this grow will be using Flora Flex nutrients in coco/perlite. 9 plants in 3 by 3 tent and 8 plants in 2 by 4, in 1 or 2 gallon pots (whatevere is there). manual fertigation planned. veg till around 1 ft high. 2 by 4 tent light is Bloom Plus 2500 and 3 by 3 tent has Mar Hydro Ts3000, both of which seem awesome.

            Comment


            • SoOrbudgal
              SoOrbudgal commented
              Editing a comment
              Exactly why i keep my old vipars they work well for vegging do fine for flowering but these newer Qboards are the bomb for flowering and penetration deep down to the soil.

            #11
            Welcome, Dericksson.
            I've been growing indoors for about 6 years now. I started with a trio of Mars blurple fixtures and grew some decent flower.
            Temp control is an issue for me so using HID lighting wasn't an option, so I looked at better(more efficient) leds.
            Buying a top-tier fixture wasn't in the budget, so I built my own lights with a lot of info from https://ledgardener.com/
            Mars and quite a few other economy brands have begun to use better diodes and drivers in their fixtures, so the efficiency gap between them and top-tier fixtures isn't that much.
            As far as a suggestion for what you need, I would work 'backwards'.
            Most of the plants I grow will occupy a 2'x2' footprint, so 4 would need a 4x4 space. That is approximately 1.5 sq meters. Cannabis grown in ambient co2 levels flower best when subjected to no more than 750 umoles ppfd(this is the scientific description of how 'much' light is radiated over that area), so you would need a light that can generate 1125 umole ppf(750x 1.5 sq m).
            1125 umoles is the total amount of light the fixture will need to output, if you can find info on the fixture that specs ppf output in umoles that will help.
            Mars TS3000 would be a closer fit for the needs in a 4x4. It outputs 1151 umoles ppf, so it would do the job. The 2000 only outputs around 700 umoles ppf.
            Most of the diodes used in the economy brands will operate at 2.0-2.2 umole/watt, so as a minimum I would be looking for at least 500-600 watts from the wall.
            I use a 480w 3500k QB fixture that uses top-tier lm301b diodes in my 4x4 pheno tent and it struggles to provide enough intensity on the corners without overloading the center.
            If this was my main grow, I would suggest 600 watts of really good diodes using a bar-style array to enhance even lighting.
            Last edited by gbauto; 01-17-2022, 03:14 PM.
            WHAT???
            5x5 grow space
            900w of Vero's and F-strips
            4-17gal totes self-made UC system.

            Comment


              #12
              Thanks for the input, I went with the telos pro 10 mesh 300w. Very expensive light but fits perfect for my grow space. I don't use inches and foot so may have miscalculated my growspace at first
              ​​​​​. It's 100x100cm. This light will produce 750umol 1x1m at 80cm hanging height. And I can lower it a lot without heat issues if I want to.


              ​​​​​​

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              Comment


                #13
                Nowadays, many people choose goods primarily based on price, believing that if the characteristics are more or less the same, it is better to take what is cheaper. In operation, expensive LED lamps often "win" compared to cheap ones.

                Comment


                  #14
                  I recently switched from some off brand cob lights to a Spider Farmer SE 3000. It is working great with good strong light and complete coverage. My tent is similar to yours being 2.5x2.5x5. this light fills the entire tent. It sells internationally, has a five year warranty and a detachable ballast so you can cut down heat in the tent. I'm happy so far,
                  Current Grow: 1 Purple Haze, 1 Bay Burger, 1 11 Roses Photoperiods
                  5 gallon cloth pots
                  30"x30"x60" tent
                  Spider Farmer SE3000
                  Coco Pearlite mix
                  GH Trio, Silica, Cal-Mag

                  Comment


                  • changeofpace2014
                    changeofpace2014 commented
                    Editing a comment
                    Your comment regarding detachable ballast...made me hummm....I will have a look at the wiring on top my hot light....There is way to much cable...Thanks

                  #15
                  Bots! Everywhere!

                  Comment

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