Autos v. Photos - A 5x5 No Rules Fight for Yield: A Jon & NickHardy Gig

Jon said:
Well, I can send you link after link to yet another 100,000 sq ft facility which has switched over to them. Including the largest dispensary in Michigan. I gotta figure there’s a reason. One might argue those are pro growers.
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Yeah but you think these guys aren’t getting those kinds of deals? They do all sorts of plant growing too - in China. worth a couple of billion easy. When you get to 100,000sq/ft grows its not the light. Its the light’s power consumption, its the installation cost, its the availability of local support, myriad other things,

Making a Lance Armstrong reference is NOT my intention but it ain’t about the light at that scale. Taxes, financing a free cruise for you and the missus 😂

The diodes and drivers sure have to meet a certain spec but the things large volume decisions on are not really the actual light.
 
NickHardy said:
Yes through this guy @Jon - heard of him? Every Christmas, Birthday and lunch time he hopes, for


From Postman Pat the light fairy

But some/quite a few of the consumer brands are customers of the commercial manufacturers.

Beyond a point LED lighting is just commodity stuff. The brands just assemble the lights:

What they buy:

Diodes - no grow light company makes these

Drivers - no grow light manufacturer makes these Mars Hydro design them or have input into the design but LG Lighting make them

Those are the two biggest elements to a light. Wired with quality cabling and assembled with aluminium bars. That’s a light. Where they try and differentiate is with the number of diodes (but remember they’re buying off the open market for the drivers so there’s not that much difference in that and you can play around with the diode spacings or offsets or whatever and claim an improvement perhaps. Slightly better bin numbers on the diodes. Its impossible to differentiate until you’re running 20+ and fractions savings in electricity really matter.

So you’re looking for quality materials and workmanship for the cabling and bars and supports and stuff and great response time to a problem. Foshe are a rare ex Shenzhen manufacturer and will always cost more because China stupid.

Why did mine break? It was meant to be a 2 week lead time, MOQ is 20 and they were going to run mine through with another order. Next day - we have one! I think they gave me a cleaned up demo model. Hell it could even be the same one I was in multiple meetings with them that they demoed here 😂

Not my sparkey this time!

Consumer lights I see some stuff with lenses on the diodes and stuff. Cool - and maybe they optimise for tents or something? But above 600w its just like buying a desktop PC if you remember such a thing. A bunch of components made by different companies assembled in China with a label slapped on the front - only way less components and therefore ways to differentiate.

#1Buy the safest light

#2 Buy the most robust light

#3 Buy the light with the most bang for your buck in terms of $/watts

There you got “LED Land” 101 with buyers advice!

Nick
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I’m no light expert but if I were to guess, I think they’re lights have more diode’s than normal light to up the coverage with more intensity. They claim that their lights will increase yield over other lights. CL🍀
 
The Jungle
Day 49

Here’s a group pic from the front and a closeup on the Gorilla Cookies stacking away. Looks like her frost train is pulling in too. This plant is living up to its billing so far.

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CaptainLucky said:
I’m no light expert but if I were to guess, I think they’re lights have more diode’s than normal light to up the coverage with more intensity. They claim that their lights will increase yield over other lights. CL🍀
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Nope - as I said they’re all about the same and the number its possible to use is related to the driver they use and there aren’t that many driver manufacturers to chose from in the world. They all have the same options. There is no magic sauce.
 
CaptainLucky said:
I’m no light expert but if I were to guess, I think they’re lights have more diode’s than normal light to up the coverage with more intensity. They claim that their lights will increase yield over other lights. CL🍀
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I’m no expert either but I would bet my life that the 800 watt bar light from Fohse beats every light in my arsenal. I have seven.
 
Jon said:
I’m no expert either but I would bet my life that the 800 watt bar light from Fohse beats every light in my arsenal. I have seven.
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If you check out their site they are using very different technology than other companies. CL🍀
 
Speaking of lights, I came across this bad boy the other day. The ppfd except for the very edges is spectacular at 12”. The one for a 4x4 is even better. FWIW.

MIGRO ARAY 5X5 | 750W

The MIGRO ARAY 5X5 750W LED grow light delivers high PAR and incredibly uniform intensity over a 5ft x 5ft or 1.5m x 1.5m grow space.
migrolight.com
 
NickHardy said:
Nope - as I said they’re all about the same and the number its possible to use is related to the driver they use and there aren’t that many driver manufacturers to chose from in the world. They all have the same options. There is no magic sauce.
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Nobody is looking for magic sauce, just the best light available. I’ll take any % of yield increase for any reason. Especially if it’s due to light quality.
 
Jon said:
I’m no expert either but I would bet my life that the 800 watt bar light from Fohse beats every light in my arsenal. I have seven.
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i’d agree - I don’t know of a standout light at the moment? Apart from the @Mars Hydro FCE4800 which I have a couple of. I’d take one of those over the FC4800 Evo I have. Better physical coverage. And for a first/mid range light really good value. Like $400? But that’s not the market point what we're talking about.
 
I have a light question. Nick you will know this. If I have my light set at 25%, is there a 1:1 correspondence to actual wattage draw? If it’s max 1000 watts, am I at 250 watts at 25%?
 
Jon said:
I have a light question. Nick you will know this. If I have my light set at 25%, is there a 1:1 correspondence to actual wattage draw? If it’s max 1000 watts, am I at 250 watts at 25%?
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I don't know the answer but I use these simple wattage meters on my LED's when I need to dial them down.
 
Jon said:
Speaking of lights, I came across this bad boy the other day. The ppfd except for the very edges is spectacular at 12”. The one for a 4x4 is even better. FWIW.

MIGRO ARAY 5X5 | 750W

The MIGRO ARAY 5X5 750W LED grow light delivers high PAR and incredibly uniform intensity over a 5ft x 5ft or 1.5m x 1.5m grow space.
migrolight.com
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Shane finally learned his lesson maybe? MiGro were all these rotor blade type lights with integrated drivers. Ran too hot for near everyone That’s the highest wattage I think they have ever produced but LM281B diodes which are like from way back with a much higher power draw and less appealing spectrum than say the LM201B which are their big brother.
 
Jon said:
I have a light question. Nick you will know this. If I have my light set at 25%, is there a 1:1 correspondence to actual wattage draw? If it’s max 1000 watts, am I at 250 watts at 25%?
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Yep its possible to test as Wastei shows. @Absorber gets 1:1 I think with his @PhlizonGrowLight tested with his witchcraft technology. I think they’ll state its +/- 1% at say 20% and 80% to qualify it as its a curve.

Something like that. But yes you should in short
 
Northern Lights Auto organic

This may be my favorite plant in the whole grow. Something about her structure, idk. I trained her Dual Sombrero and that always looks cool too. She is mesmerizing to me. And rip roaring healthy. Today she and the Gorilla Cookies organic got a scheduled @GeoFlora Nutrients bloom nutes injection. I give her EWC every other watering and RGR every fourth with kelp and mackerel. She seems to agree with the regimen.

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Two more cents…

@Wastei - another reality in my experience, and I have no idea why. Organic weed works better, for me, on pain. It’s been confirmed again and again.
 
Jon said:
I must have brought it in from outside on my clothes or something
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Moths fly in where caterpillars then can grow!
 
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