Mars-Hydro LED Grow Light Discussion

[Mars Hydro]

Post in her "tester" thread here:
Mars Hydro new light SP series is now looking for tester!
...and you will officially be signed up, lol.

 

[Mars Hydro]

So many of you guys are checking with me that how to choose the SP light, and how many would I need, and here is a picture, I hope it will help!
The SP series is actually can not only used for personal growing, also for commercial growing, so if your area is bigger, just choose the SP 200 and add more light in

 

[beez0404]

Is the brand new, state of the art Mars light dimmable? I just takes the right driver and you're done.

 

[TorturedSoul]

In the video, the SP 200 utilizes the Meanwell ELG-240-36A power supply. According to Meanwell's specifications sheet, the letter suffix denotes whether that feature is present. If blank, "Io and Vo fixed." There are several possibilities, but A is listed as being "Io and Vo adjustable through built-in potentiometer."

https://www.meanwell.com/Upload/PDF/ELG-240/ELG-240-SPEC.PDF

So, technically, the feature should be present on the SP 200 (the SP 150 uses the company's own power supply instead of a Meanwell in order to keep the customer's costs down, I think, but it appears that MH can work with the customer if he/she wishes to purchase custom products (for a higher price, of course)).

The only potential I see with actually using the potentiometer on the SP 200's power supply is that it would probably void the customer's warranty. After all, what can be turned down... could just as easily be turned up, lol. And the ELG-240-36A's maximum rated wattage is 240 watts, which is approximately 22.4% more than the listed wattage of the SP 200.

From the company's standpoint, it might make sense to remove the plug covering the adjustment screw and fill the cavity with some kind of resin, or to replace that plug with a more permanent covering, in much the same way that the carburetors on US automobiles back in the mid-late 1970s had their mixture adjustment screws covered. I hope they've got another way to ensure that the customer doesn't overdrive the product, though (or, if the customer chooses to do so, that it will be obvious that he/she did). Maybe one of those "anti-tamper" stickers or something, IDK. Because the ability to be able to turn the wattage down would be considered to be a useful feature by many.

A problem for the engineering department, I suppose.

EDIT: The implementation of such a dimming feature may depend on how the product is wired. I don't know enough about these things to know one way or the other.

 

[TorturedSoul]

Random comment: I wish you sold a 90cm x 90cm x 200cm grow tent.

 

[Gadfly]

^^^^
When I was tent shopping, the Mars 3x3 tent was a little shorter than what I was looking for. Also the 1680d displays two English measurements—40x40x72 in large print and 39x39x70 in the smaller specs print.

However, I am still light shopping. Here’s my problem, I’m an hps person. It’s what I’ve known works. I have lots of experience with hps from 400 watt to 1000 watt. It’s a very known tool for me. Ive used leds in the past as a tester and have never been impressed in regards to flowering. Great for vegging, not so much for flowering.

Fast forward 5 years and here we all are. Things seem to have changed a lot in the led world. So much so I’m thinking of actually going led for my personal 3x3x6 tent. The Mars 2 900 is what your website recommends and I have been considering giving it a try. My main concern is canopy penetration. In my experience with leds and flowering is that you can get some decent colas, and then everything under grows very weak.

Sooooo, is there anyone with experience using this specific model? Most of the successful journals I see use other led models and the only ones I’ve found related to the Mars 2 900 seem to be from less experienced individuals making it hard to gage the real world results of the light itself. Any help is appreciated.

 

[TorturedSoul]

I think the penetrative ability will be slightly less than a 400-watt HPS in a good reflector, but the footprint will be slightly larger - and that it will probably balance out because of that. That's just a guess, BTW. My buddy ended up with the Mars II 900 that SweetSue recently won (she won it for him - wonderful lady, Sue...), but he hasn't started using it yet, and it will probably be a month or longer before he does. He lives in a low-rent apartment building with a bunch of felons, bums, and junkies, and there's some kind of mad infestation problem there right now. He wants to wait at least a few weeks after that's dealt with to make sure some kind of inspector (etc.) doesn't have to check his apartment. If you do get this model of LED panel, and end up posting a grow journal thread, please post the link here (or send it to me via private message) so I can show him. He's never used an LED grow light and it has been years since he grew cannabis indoors (and that wasn't a great experience for him, IIRC).

You can always do a SCROG. "Flat-plane" canopy.

 

[Gadfly]

Hi TS! Its been a very long time but I definitely remember how much I value your input—lots of respect.

As for me and my tent, Scrog is the only way this stoner rolls! If the 900 can do what my old 400 watt hps could do, I’d be happy.

I’ve never done a journal here before. I was too paranoid to back when I was active mainly because I was working at a few commercial grow warehouses doing huge hydro grows for what’s becoming the new version of “the corporations.” Haven’t been able to grow at all for a couple years now and am very eager to get back at it.

If I do go with this model, I’ll share anything I learn with y’all. It’s good to be in touch, see old friendly user names, and maybe meet some new peeps along the way.

 

[Pennywise]

Welcome back Gadfly!

 

[Mars Hydro]

Is the brand new, state of the art Mars light dimmable? I just takes the right driver and you're done.

Hi beez0404, I just checked with engineer, the SP we have SP200, this one is with MW driver, which can adjust the driver and then have the dimmer function, if someone is interested, can send email to us, we will ask the engineer shoot a video on how to do so, and send it to the customer.
For the SP150, it cannot since the power supply cannot make it. And if we change the power supply to MW's, the cost will be 25USD more.

 

[Mars Hydro]

In the video, the SP 200 utilizes the Meanwell ELG-240-36A power supply. According to Meanwell's specifications sheet, the letter suffix denotes whether that feature is present. If blank, "Io and Vo fixed." There are several possibilities, but A is listed as being "Io and Vo adjustable through built-in potentiometer."

https://www.meanwell.com/Upload/PDF/ELG-240/ELG-240-SPEC.PDF

So, technically, the feature should be present on the SP 200 (the SP 150 uses the company's own power supply instead of a Meanwell in order to keep the customer's costs down, I think, but it appears that MH can work with the customer if he/she wishes to purchase custom products (for a higher price, of course)).

The only potential I see with actually using the potentiometer on the SP 200's power supply is that it would probably void the customer's warranty. After all, what can be turned down... could just as easily be turned up, lol. And the ELG-240-36A's maximum rated wattage is 240 watts, which is approximately 22.4% more than the listed wattage of the SP 200.

From the company's standpoint, it might make sense to remove the plug covering the adjustment screw and fill the cavity with some kind of resin, or to replace that plug with a more permanent covering, in much the same way that the carburetors on US automobiles back in the mid-late 1970s had their mixture adjustment screws covered. I hope they've got another way to ensure that the customer doesn't overdrive the product, though (or, if the customer chooses to do so, that it will be obvious that he/she did). Maybe one of those "anti-tamper" stickers or something, IDK. Because the ability to be able to turn the wattage down would be considered to be a useful feature by many.

A problem for the engineering department, I suppose.

EDIT: The implementation of such a dimming feature may depend on how the product is wired. I don't know enough about these things to know one way or the other.

Always did a lot of research on everything, I like your way! And your right, the SP200 in fact can be dimmable but needs to change the driver set up. SP 150 cannot. I believe this won't influence the warranty. So no problem at all!

 

[Mars Hydro]

Random comment: I wish you sold a 90cm x 90cm x 200cm grow tent.

Thank you for the suggestion, we use to make a survey, it shows a half like the short ones, and another half like the higher ones, I already forward this to our tent department, and they might do some change in future!

 

[Mars Hydro]

^^^^
When I was tent shopping, the Mars 3x3 tent was a little shorter than what I was looking for. Also the 1680d displays two English measurements—40x40x72 in large print and 39x39x70 in the smaller specs print.

However, I am still light shopping. Here’s my problem, I’m an hps person. It’s what I’ve known works. I have lots of experience with hps from 400 watt to 1000 watt. It’s a very known tool for me. Ive used leds in the past as a tester and have never been impressed in regards to flowering. Great for vegging, not so much for flowering.

Fast forward 5 years and here we all are. Things seem to have changed a lot in the led world. So much so I’m thinking of actually going led for my personal 3x3x6 tent. The Mars 2 900 is what your website recommends and I have been considering giving it a try. My main concern is canopy penetration. In my experience with leds and flowering is that you can get some decent colas, and then everything under grows very weak.

Sooooo, is there anyone with experience using this specific model? Most of the successful journals I see use other led models and the only ones I’ve found related to the Mars 2 900 seem to be from less experienced individuals making it hard to gage the real world results of the light itself. Any help is appreciated.

Hi Gadfly, the Mars II is well know for its penetration, and the Mars II 900 can be suitable for the 3'x3' tent, not only for veg, but also for flowering. But you need to know that LED growing is kinda different from HPS growing, as long as we follow the right instruction, we will get better and better growing result for sure. Here below I can show you some pictures from our customers.

 

[Mars Hydro]

So today's sharing on Mars SP lights.

And Happy Weekend everyone!

 

[TorturedSoul]

I already forward this to our tent department, and they might do some change in future!

Thank you for forwarding my suggestion. It would make sense to produce/sell a 90cm x 90cm x 200 tent, in my opinion, because you sell LED products which seem like they would work great in a 3' x 3' tent (3' = 36" = 91.44cm). The closest you currently sell is the 100cm x 100cm x 180cm tent, which might be a little large for them. The difference is 9 square feet for my suggestion, versus 10.764 square feet for your closest current offering. That doesn't seem like a great deal of difference, just looking at the bare numbers - but it "pushes" the reflective walls farther away, which could mean that light is lost over the "extra" space that would otherwise have been reflected back onto the plants in a useful concentration. The current tent's height of 180cm might, realistically, be a little short for those who use your stronger LED products (or who choose to use, for example, a 600-watt HPS), especially if they use five-gallon buckets, an average-height DWC hydroponics reservoir, or other relatively tall container to hold their plants in. When one allows space for the container, the LED panel or other light source, and at least a minimum amount of air space above the light source - and allows for the minimum reasonable distance between the bottom of that light source and the tops of the plants - it does not leave a great deal of vertical space for the plants.

That was my logic for making this suggestion. If you would like to pass the above comments along to your engineering department, so they understand why I suggested this specific size, I would appreciate it.

Again, thank you.

 

[Mars Hydro]

Thank you for forwarding my suggestion. It would make sense to produce/sell a 90cm x 90cm x 200 tent, in my opinion, because you sell LED products which seem like they would work great in a 3' x 3' tent (3' = 36" = 91.44cm). The closest you currently sell is the 100cm x 100cm x 180cm tent, which might be a little large for them. The difference is 9 square feet for my suggestion, versus 10.764 square feet for your closest current offering. That doesn't seem like a great deal of difference, just looking at the bare numbers - but it "pushes" the reflective walls farther away, which could mean that light is lost over the "extra" space that would otherwise have been reflected back onto the plants in a useful concentration. The current tent's height of 180cm might, realistically, be a little short for those who use your stronger LED products (or who choose to use, for example, a 600-watt HPS), especially if they use five-gallon buckets, an average-height DWC hydroponics reservoir, or other relatively tall container to hold their plants in. When one allows space for the container, the LED panel or other light source, and at least a minimum amount of air space above the light source - and allows for the minimum reasonable distance between the bottom of that light source and the tops of the plants - it does not leave a great deal of vertical space for the plants.

That was my logic for making this suggestion. If you would like to pass the above comments along to your engineering department, so they understand why I suggested this specific size, I would appreciate it.

Again, thank you.

Sure again, thank you for explaining such clear! I will let them knows.

 

[Mars Hydro]

Back to Work! I know you still at Sunday night, How is the weekend?

 

[MyDogSpot]

It’s been a long while since I’ve posted to this thread.
SoI had to stop in here to provide some real world feedback and say that 2 years ago I purchased 2 of the Mars Pro II Epistar 320s.
Previously I was using them in 4’x4’ grow tents, and now as my sole veg room lights.
I’ve never had an issue with them whatsoever. No leds have ever burnt out.
I can do anything under these lights and successfully.
I’ve germinated seeds, grown successful clones, very happy with veg and great flowering under them.
I’ve had awesome harvests and hard dense buds that even the mh/hps growers love.

Even with So many led options, and with prices all over the place; I’m quite satisfied with the bang for buck these have provided me in a home tent setup.

Cheers!

 

[KingJoe83]

Hey sara or gang here

Anyone know what my mars hydro reflector 144 is like is it 3000 k , 3500k or 4000 k ?

I’m trying to figure out lux to ppfd since I can’t afford a umol reader .

I’m currently hitting aroud 22 lux under reflector and 31 with my new light .

So umol readers are more accurate then .

But I still think I can utilize this meter then knwo what I can getting for par everywhere .

Any help here would be greatly appreciated

 

[Mars Hydro]

It’s been a long while since I’ve posted to this thread.
SoI had to stop in here to provide some real world feedback and say that 2 years ago I purchased 2 of the Mars Pro II Epistar 320s.
Previously I was using them in 4’x4’ grow tents, and now as my sole veg room lights.
I’ve never had an issue with them whatsoever. No leds have ever burnt out.
I can do anything under these lights and successfully.
I’ve germinated seeds, grown successful clones, very happy with veg and great flowering under them.
I’ve had awesome harvests and hard dense buds that even the mh/hps growers love.

Even with So many led options, and with prices all over the place; I’m quite satisfied with the bang for buck these have provided me in a home tent setup.

Cheers!

Hi MyDogSpot, welcome back! So nice to hear that the Mars Pro II Epistar 320 is working great! Will you also take part in our tester programme? If so, can you help post in this thread?
Mars Hydro new light SP series is now looking for tester!