Advice needed for light upgrade

[415friendly]

It's been a long time since I was here, and I know technology has changed drastically since 2017 when I first started growing. I eventually settled on a set of 4 COB LED's CBX3590 supplemented by a few citizen 1212's that are on for a portion of the light cycle. These are arranged in a roughly 2x2 frame. I've been growing in a 3x3 tent and heavily scrogging/height training.

My question is whether it's worthwhile trying to finally switch over to something like the Vivosun light panels. I know that their VS100 and VS200 say they're suitable for a 3x3 tent, but I really make maximum use of the entire tent and wonder if a 100W panel is really going to reach the edges and do a better job than what I currently am using.

Wondering if even 200W is sufficient or whether I should be looking at something like the VS3000.

Any advice or input would be greatly appreciated.

Here are a couple of pictures of my current grow to give you an idea of what I usually work with.

 

[Phytoplankton]

3x3=9 sq ft. The sweet spot for LED’s is about 32-35 watts per sq ft, , so you’ll be looking at about 300 watts.

 

[waytoofaded]

It would be worthwhile to upgrade if efficiency is important to you.

The VS1000 just barely enough for a 2x2, you will need quite a few panels. I would skip the VS series panels in general, they're not good value.

I would suggest buying a light that you think might be too strong, you can always dim it down.

The Viperspectra KS3000 is pretty much perfect for a 3x3, I also highly rate the MarsHydro FC/FC-E 4800 for a 3x3. These are some mid-tier options, there's some other budget options out there that I've seen people have good experiences with. The Aglex 320w is on sale right now on Amazon, my friend has a 600w version from Aglex and he's pretty happy with it. Or you can go with a quantum board style light, and go with the Spiderfarmer SF4000. Medicgrow has a good budget light called the Minisun 320, but they only sell in the US.

 

[bluter]

My question is whether it's worthwhile trying to finally switch over to something like the Vivosun light panels. I know that their VS100 and VS200 say they're suitable for a 3x3 tent, but I really make maximum use of the entire tent and wonder if a 100W panel is really going to reach the edges and do a better job than what I currently am using.

financially it's debatable. the newer lights are far more efficient, a good one should accomplish the same in 35w/sqft as the cobs would with closer to 50w/sqft.

the caveat is it has to be a good rig with decent components, or the cobs will do better every time. piles of new rigs fall flat on their face on component quality.

Wondering if even 200W is sufficient or whether I should be looking at something like the VS3000.

like others have mentioned i'd probably shoot for 300w at least. a general rule of thumb is get a rig rated for a tent one size up from what you are growing in. make sure it has a dimmer and learn how to use it.

Any advice or input would be greatly appreciated.

the advantage to a cob is it's limited k range. sounds counter intuitive. cob rigs can be heavily biased to either flower or veg. the newer strip and qb rigs are a mix of k to get to the 'full spectrum' spec. this means they are a compromise and will have some shortcomings somewhere.

in the old hid days we used different mh/hps bulbs for the different stages. cob rigs are kind of similar, they are usually weighted to veg or flower bias. if using only a single rig, they'd be weighted to flower.

 

[Chrondocious]

Panels work great, but so do cobs. Im using panels now, my veros were getting old. But, I liked how cons acted a bit more like hid bulbs. Seems they're a bit more forgiving when the tops get a bit close, I'm assuming from the space between them. Panels seem to bring out a bit more color.....but honestly, they both work equally well. Shoot for a fixture that says 4x4, of it fits in the 3x3, run it. You can always dim them. Usually. Lol

 

[bluter]

Panels work great, but so do cobs. Im using panels now, my veros were getting old.

the efficiency of new generation emitters is way above the cobs now.