Mars-Hydro LED Grow Light Discussion

[Mars Hydro]

Hi flyboy, the curve design of Cree actually will increase the intensity at the sides. We also do consider about making Cree flat... And thanks again for all these tests. We apprecaite your efforts.

I'm just passing on knowledge, don't care if you buy from them or not , I own many of there lights and they do work well , if you price a Cree 128 to build yourself, you might as well buy there's. I like the Cree , awesome spectrum good par , under the light , bad design being curved , now I know , didn't before. The Pro Epistar work very well , spectrum is a little off and it could use some uv and ir , but they work as I showed in my last grow , it's drying now , but looks about 3 1/2 lbs , not bad . Learned that the old 300w model kicks ass , didn't know that , been using them and they work well , no doubt, now I know why. Reflector series is very good as well and has good coverage, they make good lights when the work and don't break , so why not fix the little things , better fans , no remote , and correct spectrums to grow even better and smash the competition, then we all win ,right....

 

[Mars Hydro]

thanks for the kind words, Versai. We will keep doing better.

The perfect light does not exist yet. But don't worry guys, all Mars series lights will still get the job done for a very fair price.

Data tests are good and show where things can be improved. Thanks 420flyboy.

 

[Mars Hydro]

Haha, Gnarl, that is not always the case. To be honest, Taoism as I am, I don't believe there is accurate answer to every thing. Our engineers have test the spectrum and PAR. Are they definitely correct? I don't think so. This is not the first time our customers test the light for us. And there are always differences. So are their tests definitely true? Seriously I don't think so, either. Many parameters will affect the result. If I was the customer, I will not believe any of them but their tests will give me a rough idea based on which I am able to make a decision worthwhile. This is my habit of shopping. People here are much wiser than me. What they believe is of course not me or any sales, but the lights, the real performance and our engineers teams behind us. If I write in Chinese, I may make you like me simply by words, but not in English. As for the problems, we will respond as quickly as possible. However for those relating to marketing, product updation and developing, it will never be that fast and simple. A lot things need to be taken into consideration. Those things include the factors in marketing and product itself. We have to learn more from customers and make improvements step by step. I thought many people will love the Curve design...

Being a gnarly old observant dude who has read every single post in this thread and I have noticed as each new person comes to learn about the lights.

The one thing that humors me the most is how quickly most guys after talking to the Women from Mars they get offended when they perceive that someone is dissing their lights. Quite genius of Mars Hydro from a marketing stand point. They'd much rather believe a cute lil' Asian girl than an expert with a boatload of equipment.

The other thing I have learned is that Sara and her cohorts go out of their way to remedy any problems and are genuinely interested in learning more and more and relaying what they learn to the company in hopes of improving the product.

We after all are their testers as it's highly unlikely any company in China is going to be sprouting their own crop and testing them themselves.

I love teasing them about their remotes and I have always felt that the curved fixture was strange. In my pea brain if anything the fixture should be curved ever so slightly in the opposite direction.

The one thing I do know is my light tent combo produces some tasty budules of delight and that and the price is why I would purchase again.

 

[Mars Hydro]

keep us posted the progress, noobie~

Yes, I just purchased (4) of the old 600w style about a month ago and have been using them to replace my t5. Not sure if I can comment on how good they work because this is my very first grow. But they are growing for sure.


Sent from my iPhone using 420

 

[Mars Hydro]

You will, Glitch.

I just bought the old 300 watt. And a mars 2 400. Small 2x2 grow. Did it last time on 6 42 watt CFL's. Wanted to try led. Hopefully I get a good yield. Last time I had a good quarter lb.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using 420

 

[Mars Hydro]

thanks for this positive feedback, CatfishKnight~~~

Flyboy, Some people will never believe what is absolute proof right in front of them. Thanks for the scientific proof. I am glad I got the Mars Pro Cree128. Even running at 80% brightness and 24 inches above the pots, my other plants that are taller than that and are sitting in the corner away from the Leds have the most dark rich green leaves. My Cree128 are doing a fantastic job on the plants that are not even under them directly.

 

[Mars Hydro]

thank you, Narrator.

Haha!

You are on fire today Gnarl E, second time you've made me laugh within the last 6 hours!

Back on topic, I also have an older model 600w Mars light which I am very happy with so far

 

[Mars Hydro]

thanks for the help, Neil~~

Go to You Tube and look up Mars Hydro there is a video on testing and replacing theled's and diodes, test and replace as needed. I will assume you sent them a photo of the light on and off, you can see which ones to check and they are installed in a pattern that should be easy to figure out.If you opted to have the parts sent to you, you will be able to repair it, very simple design.

 

[Mars Hydro]

Shags, Ruby has sent you the email.

Sara,

I have been dealing with Ruby for my warranty issues with the Mars 1600. I was given the option to ship the light to California for repairs or have replacement parts sent to me. I opted to have the parts sent to me. I received 36 LEDS and 52 Protection diodes with no documentation.

Of the 36 LEDS, 6 have a dark chip, 10 have a yellow chip and 16 have a clear chip. There was no schematic on where the various LEDS should be placed. Hopefully you can help me to figure out their proper placement. I assume I will only need to use 36 protection diodes. Are the other 16 protection diodes that were sent just extras? Do you have any advice on how to proceed?

Thanks!

 

[Mars Hydro]

Gorgar, thank you for the support, we will not let you down.

Hi 420flyboy, thanks for posting your data for the various MH lights.

I did my first grow with the 3W reflectors and was satisfied with the results. However, the data you present will factor in to my decision when I upgrade to another light in the future.

As far as the 'mediocrity' of the MH lights, I can neither agree nor disagree with you...but I certainly see your point. However, many of us are constrained by our budgets and we are simply looking for the best light(s) that we can afford. In many respects, I feel that MH meets that criteria. Your data seem to suggest that this value varies across the MH product lineup.

I would love to see your results (qualitative and quantitative) for the lights that you used in other grows!

Thanks again for the time and expense that you put in to your research.

 

[Mars Hydro]

Very good result, doobies. Different lights will make up for each other.

I did one grow with a mars2 400w and 200 watts of cfl side lights. short veg for time constraints, got a good 5 ounces of very decent bud. I also left a couple 6400k cfls in the mix. I figure the more mix of light the better.

 

[Mars Hydro]

thanks for the heads-up, CatfishKnight. I wonder how are your babies? Are they good now?

Well Flyboy you were right again about the Remotes don't have to be in the room for the LED lights to work properly. I put it in my kitchen on the other side of the house and they have been coming on and off properly. Like a flash light is brighter with fresh batteries and get dimmer and a weak light as the batteries go down. The first unit didn't go off so I used a weak battery remote, which means a weak Radio Signal to LED Units, to reprogram all 3 units. Then the first and second unit would not shut off on time. Then I would reprogram them again. Finally after a couple of days, I put in fresh batteries and reprogrammed the 3 units and they have been working just fine the last 3 on and off programming cycles. So make sure to have fresh batteries on hand if you're lights start acting up.

 

[Gnarl E Green]

Haha, Gnarl, that is not always the case. To be honest, Taoism as I am, I don't believe there is accurate answer to every thing. Our engineers have test the spectrum and PAR. Are they definitely correct? I don't think so. This is not the first time our customers test the light for us. And there are always differences. So are their tests definitely true? Seriously I don't think so, either. Many parameters will affect the result. If I was the customer, I will not believe any of them but their tests will give me a rough idea based on which I am able to make a decision worthwhile. This is my habit of shopping. People here are much wiser than me. What they believe is of course not me or any sales, but the lights, the real performance and our engineers teams behind us. If I write in Chinese, I may make you like me simply by words, but not in English. As for the problems, we will respond as quickly as possible. However for those relating to marketing, product updation and developing, it will never be that fast and simple. A lot things need to be taken into consideration. Those things include the factors in marketing and product itself. We have to learn more from customers and make improvements step by step. I thought many people will love the Curve design...

Interesting reply.
What you think you read is not what I thought I wrote.

Too late .... Chinese or English..... I already like you.

 

[gudyul]

Here is our spectrum test for Cree128.

The spectrums we use are 440nm, 630nm，660nm, 2700k-3000k.

Thanks for the second opinion your Smokiness, now I see the spectrums are the same, the difference is in the artistry( where the artist splashed the color on the graph) . Different manufacturer, different artist , different color . A few pages back there was a discussion about whether the glow from the bloom switch only was orange or red (this seemed to be determined by the condition of the eye of the beholder). When both switches are ON, the glow is neither red, nor blue. The glow is pink. Is this the pink spectrum?. Don't think about the color and " Look at contours, so tall and solid".

 

[Mars Hydro]

they look very healthy, noobie.

Updating my first grow with (4) 600w old style Marshyrdo
About how much longer do you guys think I have? 2 months or so? I see trichs forming on the leaves already.

 

[gudyul]

THe Kooky Kush likes the Mars pink aura or the Mars curves "rilly gut"

 

[Mars Hydro]

There are problems for the first batch. Now the problems are less and less. The enginners are keeping improving them and the sales have gone stable now. That's one of the reasons company will continue manufaturing them rather than re-make Sun series. I have checked with my boss. The version for the one without remote will not come out until the end of next year...

Or for the best change possible they could just scrap the remotes altogether

It's a bit of a case of 'I told you so' for the older followers of this thread, and not in a smug way. There were no issues found with the sun series yet MH insisted on stepping into the higher priced light arena by adding all the bells and whistles which few wanted and not enough actual light. For me it's been a bit of an eye opener as I was always convinced that MH took their customers wants and needs into consideration yet I've already had to buy one light elsewhere (sorry Sarah) as I want IR in my spectrum and I just do not want or need that bloody remote. Not many did, and people stated (yourself included if I remember rightly) that within months we would have faults and issues regarding these remotes. The issues are here already, and there's still a way to go before any hardware faults should start appearing.

Sarah, please arrange something so that these Cree lights can be purchased without the remote, I'll supplement my own IR and UV but I don't want to pay extra for things that I don't need. The sooner you can do this the better for me personally, as at the moment and price range the Pro series has nothing at all to offer in itself let alone against any competitor

 

[Mars Hydro]

I U, Cat!!! At least, some features of the Remote are still be loved.

I like the remote for the reason of being able to setup a more natural setting of Sunrise and a Sunset. Plus that feature saves on the Electric Bill too.

 

[Mars Hydro]

thanks for sharing us your experience, gudyul. It's very helpful.

My first Mars 1200 i ran very hard 24/7 veg and humidity was up to 80 plus humidity and 90 plus Fahrenheit during the low weather fronts. Light had about 6 months on it ( two grow cycles)when I noticed one square section of diodes had gone out in the corner. I was sent a new DRIVER (black box with circuit board semi sealed inside) and I was able to replace the driver fairly easily and fix prob. I took apart the driver and noticed some blown out chips( photo back somewhere prior to page 1000 of this thread). Looked like condensation had caused a short . Something had caused a short , possible when I switched to on off cycle 18/6 and the temps fluctuated too much ( 90-65) Humidity 80+ , causing water droplets inside driver. I lowered heat in grow room to mid 80ies( more fan cycles) with aux heater keeping temps in mid 70 range at night and thus lowered condensation problems. Only 10 degree fluctuation in temp is best per this thread.
On the other hand,I recently discovered( 10$ temp humidity unit from A-zon) when the weather is in high pressure mode, in my neck of the wood, the humidity drops to 16 ( not so good , possible causing crunchy fan leaves or so I thought. The crunchy leaves could have been a lack of oxygen due to algae and bad air pump diaphragm heating up res. All happening at same time so go figure) and I have to add moisture to the air and try and maintain that 50-60% for veg( wet towels or humidifier). I also reduced light cycle to 18/6 for veg as recommended by MH for the 1200.

My experience is for mediumless RDWC. I see you are using coco so you may have slightly different factors.
Basically 50-60% humidity (at plant level) for veg n 40 for bud. Temps of plant leaves 84 F day/74 F night. Root balls in hydro res 65-70F ( not sure about coco roots temp), higher for seedlings 84F. Bush trim once a month .

 

[Mars Hydro]

Haha, randy, it is interesting. How do I handle it?

I have to agree with Kriaze the new lights have shown why most other manufactures of programmable grow lights have made the controls a part of the case and if they use a remote it is limited to intensity adjustment not programming.

There are times when most of us can't check our plants everyday and it is important we can trust our equipment to do its job recently I was unable to care for my plants and with Dumb Lights and $4 analog timers they spent almost four weeks running on their own with only water being added and the only bad thing was I now have 6ft plants and some got a bit of light burn but the main thing is everything worked.

Now with Flyboys tests showing the lights spectrum is not as advertised it will be interesting to see how Mars handles all this