Glookie (V2) - Delps8 Does NASC/Barney's Farm Glookies In DWC Again

[Delps8]

Mars confirmed that the SP3000R should have a dimmer on it so maybe I got an early production model or something? I can return the light to Amazon but don't want to get another one and have it not have a dimmer. :-(

I just responded to their email and straight up asked if they could loan me an extra R light. No harm in asking, right?

I'd love to have the extra R light but I look at it this way — I can get a really good crop with the R model + the SP3000 I bought in 2020 but it's not worth spending additional $300± to get a bigger yield.

On the other hand, if it was a loaner….

Time's moving along. We're in a hot spell here with temps in the low 90's. I'm 12 miles from the ocean so the highs are normally 80-82. This the highest it's been all year and but it's weather, not climate. We get Santa Anna winds that blow in desert temps from our good friends in Arizona. It's 92 outside and 85 in the garage so optimal temps for germination.

I'm planning on dropping seeds over the weekend. I've got "Original Glue" from Nirvana as well as "Back to the Future" and Gorilla Glue from NASC. The OG from Nirvana was one of the first strains I grew but I really enjoyed the movie "Back to the Future" so I'm leaning in that direction.

 

[Delps8]

I have seen some lights where the dimmer is just a screw head and you hafta use like an eyeglass repair screwdriver to do it. I dunno. Hope you get it figured out buddy!!

Thanks!

I got a reply back from Mars and they confirmed that it should have a dimmer dial. I'm hoping that I might have gotten an earlier version from Amazon and the current version has the dimmer. I'll know in the next day to two.

 

[Scottay]

Thanks!

I got a reply back from Mars and they confirmed that it should have a dimmer dial. I'm hoping that I might have gotten an earlier version from Amazon and the current version has the dimmer. I'll know in the next day to two.

Hopefully you get a new light or they'll give you the loan Happy Thursday!!

 

[Delps8]

Hopefully you get a new light or they'll give you the loan Happy Thursday!!

Thank you amigo.

They're going to send me a dimmer. As long as it's an easy swap out I'm OK with that.

There was no response to my request for a loaner light.

 

[Delps8]

Got an email from Mars. They offered to send me a dimmer that I can plug into the dimmer on the light.

My reply:

"Thank you for your email.

Unfortunately, I've decided that I won't be using the SP3000R so I won't need the dimmer for the light. The SP3000R is a very powerful light, there's no question about that, but I need a light that spreads the light out over a larger area.

Regards, "

I put the SP3000R and my SP3000 in the tent and tried to get a good PPFD map but no joy. The R puts out a lot of light but it is highly concentrated in one strip, centered under the light.

The setup below shows the R at 26" and the 3k at 14". I marked up the plastic sheet that I'm going to use for a new res top and took PPFD readings at the X's.

This is about the best combination of hang height and dimmer setting I could come up with. The lights, combined, are drawing 300 watts and the average PPFD is 910 with 1065 running down the center of the tent.

With R at only 30%, I'm not getting the "pure" red spectrum that I wanted because the 70W% coming from the 3k has a fair amount of blue in it (which is one reason why one reason why it's less electrically efficient).

202 Mars SP3000 Spectrum

What I would see is the front part of the tent getting a lot of red photons and the back part getting light from the "white" SP3k. That won't harm the plant but my objective is to have a high red % so that's a swing and a miss there.

The PPFD map from my Growcraft is below and it's not as even as I'd like it.



But, if I put a piece of bond paper around the center portion of each light bar, I get this:

OK, putting a sheet of paper around a light bar sounds strange but it's completely safe and it works.

It turns out that the 4 year old design in the Growcraft is still a pretty good design. The Vipar lights were a contende. I wasn't thrilled with the spectrum but the manufacturer gelded it and decimated, relatively speaking, the PPFD. The Mars SP3000R puts out huge amount of light but the vast majority of the light is in a strip 1' wide by 3' long. That's OK for supplemental lighting in high bays or in a greenhouse but too concentrated for optimal growing in a tent.

All in all, I've got a much better insight into the grow light market for small tents and heck of a lot more respect for the lights that I've already got.

 

[Delps8]

Found this in the garage today.

Boo! Hiss!

I tossed it out.