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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 said:
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).
Click to expand...

It sounds like someone paid too much for a light fixture and they need to justify its cost
 
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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.
 
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.
 
Nope, money is no issue, NUTE... just pointing out that the majority of home growers ignore the safety aspect in favor of cost effective lighting. We've all heard of grow op fires and issues regarding electrical fires. Most people unfortunately assume these light panels are safe when in fact they can potentially fuck up your whole life and nobody is gonna give two craps if the source of the fire was some poorly constructed light fixture from China.

Based on your tag at the bottom of your posts you also opted for power over safety...AGLEX brand LED panels have no safety certification. If it does, it is likely "CE" certification and it is a fake. I contacted AGLEX (aka Canadian Fine grow Lights) when I was in the market for my first LED panel and they never responded...I tried several attempts to get information from them on safety certification and they never got back to me or Amazon.
 
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Individual fixtures aren’t the primary cause of grow related fires. They are caused when the grower tries to draw too much current through old circuits, circuits that aren’t rated for the power they are trying to draw, or circuits that aren’t properly wired for the fixtures the grower is trying to use.

The average household circuit is rated for 15 amps and any good electrician will tell you not to exceed 75% of that rating. 3-600watt Viparspectra lights that are daisy chained together as you suggested to the OP will draw 6.51 amps by themselves. Add exhaust and circulation fans and the grow is pulling around 7-7.5 amps so we’re left with 3.25 amps of headroom for safe operation. Except we don’t know what else is tied into that circuit, that’s right the 4-100 watt halogen flood lights on a motion sensor for the back yard are also tied into that circuit so every time a bird flies by the current to circuit surges another 4 amps. What else is getting plugged in? Most rooms have 4 dual plug outlets and we’ve only used 1 because we plugged in a 20 amp rated power strip that has 10 outlets on it. We think because we bought a UL rated power strip from Home Depot that it’s going to be safe and it’ll trip before anything bad happens but the reality is that it’ll never trip because the circuit we plugged it into will never see the 20 amps required to trip it. Did I mention we had to cut off the ground prong on the power strip because the outlet only accepts 2 prong cords.

I obviously embellished with those examples but they happen all the time and they are more commonly the causes of grow room fires than whatever fixture happened to be plugged in.
 
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
 
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.
 
I will say the viperspectra looked to be built better, (I still dont like blurple, which was the deciding factor)
And a question, what is the deal with sulfur and LEDs? There is a warning on it that when using sulfur remove the light from the grow.
 
I don’t think Chinese lights and light manufactures should all be lumped together as substandard. I know that a lot of the Chinese lighting co specs and claims are inflated and I’m not cool with that but that doesn’t mean they are necessarily bad lights. Just because a light mfg has not chosen to pursue a certain certification does not mean that a light is unsafe. There are many, thousands of the viparspectras in use and if these things were burning people’s tents down I think we would have heard about it. Having been inside my Viparspectra everything looked well constructed if not heavy duty. I feel comfortable having it in my house with my family. I have exchanged probably 50 emails with VS and they almost always reply within a couple of hours 24/7. Communication has been decent and they haven’t given me any bad advice that I know of. They are bending over backwards to make me happy in a way that I’ve never experienced with any company before. My plants are thriving under this light so they’re doing something right. On the flip side, I took delivery of an American made light that was UL/ETL certified that I felt was so unsafe that I sent it back. I don’t think we should give American companies a pass when they’re making substandard products just because they’re US. That’s not what makes American companies competitive and efficient. I just think each light company should be judged on its own merits regardless of where they’re based.
 
This wasn't about Chinese companies versus American. It was about the fact that a great deal of Chinese manufacturers are known to bypass safety certification in order to sell their product around the world. I'm sure there are other countries that manufacture LED panels that are also not certified or even well built. My point was if a person is going out to buy a light panel for growing they should consider cost versus safety. Better to spend a little more knowing the manufacturer has taken the effort to have some or all of it's product properly safety tested considering the way the lights are used. These panels aren't a common thing. The sit in a small room (typically) running a minimum of 12 hours per day in a relatively hot and humid environment sometimes all year long. As I mentioned in an earlier response, Vipar Specra is the only Chinese manufacturer that i have seen so far that has some models that have had recognized government safety testing and certification. I did not comment on whether they were better or worse than any other manufacturer in terms of construction/durability. From what I have read and my own personal experience they have a decent product.
 
cannatom said:
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.
Click to expand...

I posting a pic of the two I use one is attached to heater and a exhaust fan I also have a six inch running all times adjustable speed. The humidity controller has humidifier and dehumidifier plugged in haven't needed the dehumidifier cause heat and the exhaust fan takes care of humidity
 

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Consider the Cloudline T-6... the remote controller can be setup to minimally run the fan all the time and automatically speed up if temps or humidity rise. On low, mine will not blow out a match but it keeps air moving
 
Just recieved this from mars support

I asked what type of testing and certification was done on their equipment

Answer

Quality Parts-Not Jelly Bulit,Safe to use!

Light's pass Strict quality standard. UL, CE, RoHS, SAA, PSE cetificate.Stronger hanging kits are available for easy installation. 100% Safe to use, zero risk!no worry of fire or security threat,long-life. Great warranty
 
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