Mars-Hydro LED Grow Light Discussion

I made it through most of this thread and there are lots of good advice form all you growers. I am wondering if there is still a discount offered to members, and what the code is if so? Or is smokeSara still handling it herself?
 
timothypaul26 said:
I made it through most of this thread and there are lots of good advice form all you growers. I am wondering if there is still a discount offered to members, and what the code is if so? Or is smokeSara still handling it herself?
Click to expand...

You need to talk to Sara. She will most likely be on here about 9pm eastern time or so as she is actually in China so I assume that is their morning......:circle-of-love:
 
timothypaul26 said:
I made it through most of this thread and there are lots of good advice form all you growers. I am wondering if there is still a discount offered to members, and what the code is if so? Or is smokeSara still handling it herself?
Click to expand...

Sara clarified this a couple of days ago when she said that the website prices are the lowest she can give at the moment. She added that maybe next Christmas she can talk her boss into another deal of some kind...
 
Ganja LCC said:
I plan to use the reflector series for both veg and flower.
Click to expand...

Same here..... a week ago when I went to purchase my lights I was finally sold on the idea of the reflectors for Veg and the Mars II for Flowering. Well they were out of stock on the Mars 900w's so I put those off for later and in the last week I kept reading on the whole 1w vs 3w vs 5w vs 10w ...... And the majority of the sites (Both independent and manufacturer) say stick with the 3w's. Not going throw any links up on Sara's thread but you can easily google it. I have read on this thread that the 5w are better for "penetration" but don't find much to support that elsewhere. 3w ran with sufficient power is supposed to penetrate up to 5' which is plenty for me. I asked Sara by email earlier about the power draw differences between the 2 and was told that the reflectors run around 2/3 of the Mars....... Oh and of course less heat - not that it is a big issue.
I still have not ordered the rest of my lights - so if I am off base here some one PLEASE correct me!
 
Has anybody tested out what they found was the best range to keep their lights? Im using the 1200w
 
Dammshame said:
Same here..... a week ago when I went to purchase my lights I was finally sold on the idea of the reflectors for Veg and the Mars II for Flowering. Well they were out of stock on the Mars 900w's so I put those off for later and in the last week I kept reading on the whole 1w vs 3w vs 5w vs 10w ...... And the majority of the sites (Both independent and manufacturer) say stick with the 3w's. Not going throw any links up on Sara's thread but you can easily google it. I have read on this thread that the 5w are better for "penetration" but don't find much to support that elsewhere. 3w ran with sufficient power is supposed to penetrate up to 5' which is plenty for me. I asked Sara by email earlier about the power draw differences between the 2 and was told that the reflectors run around 2/3 of the Mars....... Oh and of course less heat - not that it is a big issue.
I still have not ordered the rest of my lights - so if I am off base here some one PLEASE correct me!
Click to expand...

Damnshame I think you got this just about right...:bravo: From what I have seen with my grows you are right on target about the 3w. I have the smallest of the Mars on the way so will let ya know about the 5w as soon as I see what it will do....:high-five:
 
Dammshame said:
Same here..... a week ago when I went to purchase my lights I was finally sold on the idea of the reflectors for Veg and the Mars II for Flowering. Well they were out of stock on the Mars 900w's so I put those off for later and in the last week I kept reading on the whole 1w vs 3w vs 5w vs 10w ...... And the majority of the sites (Both independent and manufacturer) say stick with the 3w's. Not going throw any links up on Sara's thread but you can easily google it. I have read on this thread that the 5w are better for "penetration" but don't find much to support that elsewhere. 3w ran with sufficient power is supposed to penetrate up to 5' which is plenty for me. I asked Sara by email earlier about the power draw differences between the 2 and was told that the reflectors run around 2/3 of the Mars....... Oh and of course less heat - not that it is a big issue.
I still have not ordered the rest of my lights - so if I am off base here some one PLEASE correct me!
Click to expand...

I'm not sure about penetration, unles it is brand specific. i understand 5watt is more then 3watt and must be brighter but i read grow journals using budmaster 3watt leds and the results said dense nugs top to bottom and look amazing! I have a couple 96x3 reflector topLED i'm only two weeks into flowering so not much info yet. but hoping for similar results.
 
I have tried multiple times with different cards to order the lights from the website. Each time it says card can not be used. Anyone have similar issues or a solution?
 
I am thoroughly impressed with the customer service of TOPLED and mainly SmokeSara...

I was finally able to make my purchase of 5 of the 400w leds. Thanks to Sara working directly with me when the site wouldn't take my card. I am eager to get growing with these lights and I am looking forward to doing business with Sara again in the near future! !
 
What have people found is there best hanging distances?
Few people saying they work very well at a set hieght so plants grow up then out.
Using 1200w
 
brazel said:
I'm not sure about penetration, unles it is brand specific. i understand 5watt is more then 3watt and must be brighter but i read grow journals using budmaster 3watt leds and the results said dense nugs top to bottom and look amazing! I have a couple 96x3 reflector topLED i'm only two weeks into flowering so not much info yet. but hoping for similar results.
Click to expand...


From what I have seen of Budmaster, for me they are over priced compared with Top LED. lif you look on aliexpress, you can get them a lot cheaper. also there just seems to be a little bit to much hype around them.. just my 2C worth..
 
Here's some good info on 3w vs 5w.
In 2009, many LED grow light manufacturers starting using 3 watt diodes in their grow lights. The 3 watt diode provided the ideal balance of canopy penetration without being plagued with heat issues that come with larger diodes. With 3 watt diodes, a grow light was able to penetrate up to 5 feet past the plant's canopy and was the perfect design being demanded by the indoor growing market.
Shortly after 3 watt diode light were introduced, clever marketers started manufacturing indoor grow lights with 5 watt, 10 watt and even larger diodes. On the surface this seems to be natural progression for grow light strength, but the LED grow lights with the larger diodes have some very critical drawbacks. The first issue is that of heat dissipation and density. As the diode size increases, so does the amount of heat that needs to be dissipated by the diode chip. Larger wattage diodes need larger heat sinks to dissipate the heat that they give off. This results in heavier and bulkier lights. Another critical design drawback of the larger diodes is that they can not be packed as densely as the 3 watt designed lights. When using 5 watt or 10 watt diodes, you must space the diodes further apart, again because of the problem of heat dissipation. The result is a less densely packed grow light that is heavier and bulkier.
The biggest drawback of the 5+ watt diodes is their price. Not only do they cost more overall, but they are also more expensive on a $/watt and $/ growing area covered basis. A quick analysis shows that it is not worth paying a premium to have larger diodes in LED grow lights. The added penetration is superfluous and unnecessary for indoor growers and it comes at a burdensome cost — increased price and less densely packed network of diodes.
Bigger is not always better. When it comes to the question of 3 watt vs 5 watt diodes for LED grow lights, the 3 watt diode is the smarter choice for any indoor growing project.
 
A couple more pics from my mars II 1200 grow :)

IMG_59133.JPG
IMG_59164.JPG


:peacetwo:
 
mzxsdi600 said:
Here's some good info on 3w vs 5w.
In 2009, many LED grow light manufacturers starting using 3 watt diodes in their grow lights. The 3 watt diode provided the ideal balance of canopy penetration without being plagued with heat issues that come with larger diodes. With 3 watt diodes, a grow light was able to penetrate up to 5 feet past the plant’s canopy and was the perfect design being demanded by the indoor growing market.
Shortly after 3 watt diode light were introduced, clever marketers started manufacturing indoor grow lights with 5 watt, 10 watt and even larger diodes. On the surface this seems to be natural progression for grow light strength, but the LED grow lights with the larger diodes have some very critical drawbacks. The first issue is that of heat dissipation and density. As the diode size increases, so does the amount of heat that needs to be dissipated by the diode chip. Larger wattage diodes need larger heat sinks to dissipate the heat that they give off. This results in heavier and bulkier lights. Another critical design drawback of the larger diodes is that they can not be packed as densely as the 3 watt designed lights. When using 5 watt or 10 watt diodes, you must space the diodes further apart, again because of the problem of heat dissipation. The result is a less densely packed grow light that is heavier and bulkier.
The biggest drawback of the 5+ watt diodes is their price. Not only do they cost more overall, but they are also more expensive on a $/watt and $/ growing area covered basis. A quick analysis shows that it is not worth paying a premium to have larger diodes in LED grow lights. The added penetration is superfluous and unnecessary for indoor growers and it comes at a burdensome cost – increased price and less densely packed network of diodes.
Bigger is not always better. When it comes to the question of 3 watt vs 5 watt diodes for LED grow lights, the 3 watt diode is the smarter choice for any indoor growing project.
Click to expand...

Are there practical results available to back up those theories? I still have a couple of months to make my decision between 3W and 5W.
 
mzxsdi600 said:
Here's some good info on 3w vs 5w.
In 2009, many LED grow light manufacturers starting using 3 watt diodes in their grow lights. The 3 watt diode provided the ideal balance of canopy penetration without being plagued with heat issues that come with larger diodes. With 3 watt diodes, a grow light was able to penetrate up to 5 feet past the plant’s canopy and was the perfect design being demanded by the indoor growing market.
Shortly after 3 watt diode light were introduced, clever marketers started manufacturing indoor grow lights with 5 watt, 10 watt and even larger diodes. On the surface this seems to be natural progression for grow light strength, but the LED grow lights with the larger diodes have some very critical drawbacks. The first issue is that of heat dissipation and density. As the diode size increases, so does the amount of heat that needs to be dissipated by the diode chip. Larger wattage diodes need larger heat sinks to dissipate the heat that they give off. This results in heavier and bulkier lights. Another critical design drawback of the larger diodes is that they can not be packed as densely as the 3 watt designed lights. When using 5 watt or 10 watt diodes, you must space the diodes further apart, again because of the problem of heat dissipation. The result is a less densely packed grow light that is heavier and bulkier.
The biggest drawback of the 5+ watt diodes is their price. Not only do they cost more overall, but they are also more expensive on a $/watt and $/ growing area covered basis. A quick analysis shows that it is not worth paying a premium to have larger diodes in LED grow lights. The added penetration is superfluous and unnecessary for indoor growers and it comes at a burdensome cost – increased price and less densely packed network of diodes.
Bigger is not always better. When it comes to the question of 3 watt vs 5 watt diodes for LED grow lights, the 3 watt diode is the smarter choice for any indoor growing project.
Click to expand...
some of that is true and some isnt, im not sure where you copy and pasted that from but dont believe everything you find out there, the penetration on the 5w panels blows away the 3w panels, I have 2 custom 5w Topled panels and my friend has the Topled 3w reflector panels, the penetration isnt as good, not even close. I just took down 2 timewrecks that were under the 240 x 5w Mars II's and there isnt a nug on either of them that made it to the hash pile, further I have no heat issues, Curso has a 240 x 5w with no cooling at all and also has no heat issues. if your doing a scrog style grow where theres only 12 inches of canopy to penetrate the 3w panels will work fine but if your growing big plants that have 2-3 feet of canopy to penetrate then go with the 5w panels.
12087.JPG
49103.JPG
5040.JPG
51123.JPG
52117.JPG
53120.JPG
5870.JPG
48114.JPG
47118.JPG
42143.JPG
35142.JPG
39127.JPG
 
DrDankNstien said:
some of that is true and some isnt, im not sure where you copy and pasted that from but dont believe everything you find out there, the penetration on the 5w panels blows away the 3w panels, I have 2 custom 5w Topled panels and my friend has the Topled 3w reflector panels, the penetration isnt as good, not even close. I just took down 2 timewrecks that were under the 240 x 5w Mars II's and there isnt a nug on either of them that made it to the hash pile, further I have no heat issues, Curso has a 240 x 5w with no cooling at all and also has no heat issues. if your doing a scrog style grow where theres only 12 inches of canopy to penetrate the 3w panels will work fine but if your growing big plants that have 2-3 feet of canopy to penetrate then go with the 5w panels.
Click to expand...

This is exactly what I was going to say, but it's hard when you don't have all of the pictures to back it up....
 
Back
Top Bottom