First Grow - White Widow & Critical Under 580W Mars LED

[David Bowman]

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[Crippled]

Hi Trebleclef no problem thanks for visiting ive not really been doing any journals since this one but i may do a basic one after my current run is done. Since this was completed ive changed/upgraded most of my equipment. I still use the same nutes but after i am finished i will be swapping to a different company due to their price being much lower. I also decided to switch back from Mars Hydro Leds to Hps and heres my reasons
1- HEAT - i was running 2 300's and a 600 (white models) in a 1m squared area which seemed to heat up just as much if not more than it would with hps. This is caused by a poorly designed light which pulls air in from above and pushes it out the side. So they were recirculating the air through each other and just getting warmer and warmer. Please note this was while i had 300+ cfm rhino pro extraction running and 200 odd cfm inlet running. I had also replaced/upgraded the fans in the leds but that wont fix the poor design it just moves more air.

2- Watts used and light penetration - these leds give not bad results for wattage used DURING VEG but when they get switched to flower the penetration just is not there. I seemed to be always trying to fix some sort of issue wether that be heat , penetration or even just getting a decent spread. With these 3 lights combined i had ben using 580 watts from the wall for these lights only and yet i was having more heat and less penetration than i would with a 400w hps maybe even a 600.

3- The complete lack of warranty. Now all anyone has to do is go check a thread on (i hope im allowed to post this) Thcfarmer from a posted 'marsG' the thread is 60+ pages long with people getting messed about with their reps. They try to get you to repair broken lights yourself rather than inspect them themselves and replace when necessary. The best advice i can give about mars leds is to just straight up avoid them. There may be instances where if someone was doing one or two smaller plants that i may recommend the 300w white led they make. But this is simply because it is the cheapest they make and seems to actually be the most reliable. If/when it breaks its easily replaced ( within reason) but other than that go for a better company, use hps or stick with cfls.
I hope this helps someone by making them think twice about buying mars leds more expensive lights and being even more dissapointed than i was. They have no benefits for my situation or most others.

I failed to mention i have got a 600w-250w dimmable ballast now and plan on just running it at 400 with no air cooled hoods etc. I also purchased some 'Phonic trap' acoustic ducting to kill noise from the air coming through the duct. Thanks and sorry for drivelling on