LED Lighting Watts - Tent Size

[bluter]

Site is closed and no new registrants. Quick run through some of the material shows COB lights as their choice of diode or did I miss it?

cob and strip lights are the majority of builds. they had more strip light builds featured than cob.

 

[Trump]

I'll go hit it up again and see what I can harvest as far as info.

 

[GrowPhase]

I ordered the philzon 450 watt lights about a week ago and I am still waiting on the tracking info. I thought they shipped out of USA. Hopefully will hear something soon.

 

[Fenderbender]

From the little that I know reflected light doesn't really give much PPFD wise.

Hmmm then why do I see the ppfd number drop when I pull away the tent wall?

 

[GrowPhase]

I ordered the philzon 450 watt lights about a week ago and I am still waiting on the tracking info. I thought they shipped out of USA. Hopefully will hear something soon.

This is the exact model I was able to get.
PHLIZON PL-4500 450W UV/IR Dual-channel Dimmable QB LED Grow Light with Samsung 281B LED
I am fairly excited to see the impact this makes on my plants.

 

[GrowPhase]

Out of curiosity, will adding more wattage cause any issues? I am about half way through flower.

Should I increase gradually or can I blast all the watts off rip?

 

[bluter]

Out of curiosity, will adding more wattage cause any issues? I am about half way through flower.

Should I increase gradually or can I blast all the watts off rip?

it depends what you're coming from and how big the jump is. the plants actually acclimate to your conditions a bit as they grow, including light.

if you have a par meter or app on your phone you could adjust the new light to the same level the last one was at and slowly increase over a few days.

or start at about 65 - 75% and slowly increase. this is what i normally do. i change grow spaces between veg and flower and jump from 200w to 600w in the process. i usually start about 75% and ramp up to about 90% total. i never run wide open.

just keep an eye out for light avoidance or bleaching and you should be fine.

 

[GrowPhase]

it depends what you're coming from and how big the jump is. the plants actually acclimate to your conditions a bit as they grow, including light.

if you have a par meter or app on your phone you could adjust the new light to the same level the last one was at and slowly increase over a few days.

or start at about 65 - 75% and slowly increase. this is what i normally do. i change grow spaces between veg and flower and jump from 200w to 600w in the process. i usually start about 75% and ramp up to about 90% total. i never run wide open.

just keep an eye out for light avoidance or bleaching and you should be fine.

Excellent. I’ll be going from 135 watts to lowest in new light 200 watt tryin to max at 400 watt sooner than later.

 

[Trump]

Look into DLI(Daily Light Integral) as a guide to light intensity in whatever stage of growth you are in. As @bluter mentioned, download a light meter app. I have an android phone so I use Tent Buddy but there are others you can download for Iphones. The light app I use also calculates DLI.

 

[Delps8]

Don't know how much is considered "much" but, in my 2' x 4' Gorilla tent, it adds 100µmols at a distance of about 1'.

Re. LEDgardener.com - he ran PPFDcharts.com and that went off the air, too. Bummer. That site had good data.

Re. side lighting - leaves are the primary means of photosynthesis so, if you can get light into the leaves below the canopy you'll get more photosynthesis.

To my way of thinking, aux lighting is well down the list. The first nine items on the list are the nine parameters of growth (screenshot from a Bugbee video).

In terms of light, top and LST your plants so they have an even canopy and get 800-1000µmols of light on your canopy. The plant in this photo was topped and LST'd.

About the light - get your plants to 800-1000µmols (that's "the light saturation point" for cannabis). Cannabis loves light and, if you can keep your plants at that level, you will have a lot of weed. Most seed vendors state that 400-600 gm/sq meter is what their seeds will yield. If your grow is optimized you will exceed those values.

How do you know how much light you've got? Measure it with an Apogee, Li-Cor, or Spot ON PAR meter ($600 for an Apogee+ wand but the Spot On set up is $450±) or purchase a Uni-T Bluetooth lux meter ($32 in the US). Those are the tools I used and the only ones I recommend. I would not purchase or use another brand of PAR meter and I recommend a software solution only under specific circumstances.

After your plants are at the LSP, go for side lighting/aux lighting.

At $99 delivered, the Vipar XS-1500 Pro is a bargain. Mars, Spider, etc. must hate that light. I use a Vipar XS-1500 (not the Pro because I bought it before the Pro came out) for fill lighting, per below. The light on the clothing rack is a Mars SP 3000. That got what I call "the front row" to 800µmols but, as we know about lighting, the PPFD 1' behind it was…600?

Oh, yeh, this plant is an autoflower so I was able to give it 18-21 hours of light per day from seed to harvest.

 

[Delps8]

Look into DLI(Daily Light Integral) as a guide to light intensity in whatever stage of growth you are in. As @bluter mentioned, download a light meter app. I have an android phone so I use Tent Buddy but there are others you can download for Iphones. The light app I use also calculates DLI.

Eek!

I've tested Photone and traded email with their programmer (I've been a software engineer for 30+ years). After reporting my test results to them, I asked them about their lighting recommendations and what they publish is not based on research. It's just more bro science. You're not going to harm your plants at these light levels, no question about that, but there's just no reason to give your plants those light levels - cannabis loves light.

There's simply no reason to drop DLI going into flower, for one. On the other hand, research tells us that crop quality and crop yield increase in an almost linear manner so not getting your plants to the light saturation point means that you're underfeeding your plants (nutrients are not food to a plant-light is how plants make food).

 

[Delps8]

Mods - please delete this message.

Thanks.

 

[GrowPhase]

Nice setups. I installed the lights a few hours ago. I’m running them around half power for a few cycles. Then I’ll beef it up some.

I have the lights about 18 inches above the highest top. It’s not a perfectly flat canopy, but it’s also pretty close.

I noticed the Nutes this time around have made such a massive improvement. I’ve only got a few weeks under these new lights so I am not sure how much of an impact it will make.

I appreciate all the help

 

[Absorber]

I ordered the philzon 450 watt lights about a week ago and I am still waiting on the tracking info. I thought they shipped out of USA. Hopefully will hear something soon.

Hopefully your light can turn off completely, I ordered 2 phlizon 1000w lights and they glowed in the off position both of them. I had to argue with them to get 2 replacement drivers sent they started off telling me it was normal and to pull the plug from the wall an absurd comment.
Good luck

 

[Fenderbender]

Hopefully your light can turn off completely, I ordered 2 phlizon 1000w lights and they glowed in the off position both of them. I had to argue with them to get 2 replacement drivers sent they started off telling me it was normal and to pull the plug from the wall an absurd comment.
Good luck

It is a very common problem with many leds and single pole switches.. as even when the circuit isn't completed the faintest voltage is enough to keep them active.

 

[Absorber]

It is a very common problem with many leds and single pole switches.. as even when the circuit isn't completed the faintest voltage is enough to keep them active.

Problem with the style of driver used they sent 2 totally different model number driver to resolve the issues in my 2 lights

 

[GrowPhase]

Hopefully your light can turn off completely, I ordered 2 phlizon 1000w lights and they glowed in the off position both of them. I had to argue with them to get 2 replacement drivers sent they started off telling me it was normal and to pull the plug from the wall an absurd comment.
Good luck

That is interesting. I have mine set on a timer switch and it seems to shut off completely. I’ll keep an eye on it.

 

[Absorber]

That is interesting. I have mine set on a timer switch and it seems to shut off completely. I’ll keep an eye on it.

Mine was on a timer too ,it sounds like you won't have an issue if its not doing it now

 

[Fenderbender]

Problem with the style of driver used they sent 2 totally different model number driver to resolve the issues in my 2 lights

Yes I agree it can be prevented and is often associated with a cheap driver design, as well I think just an extra capacitor can solve it, but it's also solved by completely cutting the circuit.

 

[GrowPhase]

Mine was on a timer too ,it sounds like you won't have an issue if its not doing it now

This is my second day with it, but so far its off completely... Ill just pay attention for the rest of this grow to make sure.

I am pretty happy with it. Fills the tent nicely. Much brighter even at half power than my old lights. Really excited for dense buds.