Mars-Hydro LED Grow Light Discussion

Hiker said:
Before I ordered my lights, Sara checked with her engineers about how many Mars 2 400's I could daisy chain. I think she said 8. I recall thinking it was just within a 15A@120V circuit. I only daisy chain 4 lights at a time, so I'm well within the specs of the equipment.

I appreciate the warning though. You should ALWAYS be sure about what you're doing with electrical. :)
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Case in point: Browsing though another thread today, I found this picture by curso.
It's a melted MH LED light cord connector. I don't know if this was in a chained setup.

https://www.420magazine.com/gallery/data/500/IMG_61995.JPG

It's likely it burned up because Curso didn't "jam the cord in hard enough". It seems like we're both "plug idiots". A little tug on the cable or bump on the light and the loose connection turned into a tiny arc welder.

I've found cords with scorched ends on rack mount equipment several times. Usually it's this connector, but I've also had to replace outlets. At least the wire isn't aluminum.

:Namaste:
 
Densenug said:
I have several mars hydro 2 lights, The way I hang my lights is take cable off the connector and put a piece of light weight chain on each connector, so you have 4 pieces of chain 4 foot long, I have 4 eyehooks in my frame, with chain ran to them. Now my light can be adjusted in half inch increments, raise or lower hook chain on eyehook and if you need to tilt a light raise or lower one side easily.
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I'll start a new thread on my hack, but here's a quick preview of how I solved the problem. I added a wire to each side and used them directly with the rope ratchet. I placed the pivot right above the center of gravity so I could tilt the light. Hanger wire is a bit thin, so I secured them with ties to avoid a dropped light.
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Here's the difference between the stock mount and my hacked one.
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In my first attempt I moved and reused the brass mount points and heavy wire, but then realized a simple bent hanger wire through holes in the sides would do the job. No changes to the light are needed.
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I wish MH would supply simple bent wire mounts. They could hook on all sides. It's much more flexible and preserves the vertical headroom. In most pics I've seen, people seems to be changing the stock mounting anyway.
:Namaste:
 
CoNerd said:
I wish MH would supply simple bent wire mounts. They could hook on all sides. It's much more flexible and preserves the vertical headroom. In most pics I've seen, people seems to be changing the stock mounting anyway.
:Namaste:
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I feel the same way you do. But its not just TL/MH that has their mounts designed that way other led suppliers build theirs the same way. I like that bent wire hack you got going on... what's the gauge of that wire?

Hey Sara/Lucy I received my Mars II 700 today and already have it hanging in place of my 96/3w reflector, its got my little cabinet just lit up like its xmas. ::): Thanks

Raziel
Stay Frosty My Friends
 
CoNerd said:
Case in point: Browsing though another thread today, I found this picture by curso.
It's a melted MH LED light cord connector. I don't know if this was in a chained setup.

https://www.420magazine.com/gallery/data/500/IMG_61995.JPG

It's likely it burned up because Curso didn't "jam the cord in hard enough". It seems like we're both "plug idiots". A little tug on the cable or bump on the light and the loose connection turned into a tiny arc welder.

I've found cords with scorched ends on rack mount equipment several times. Usually it's this connector, but I've also had to replace outlets. At least the wire isn't aluminum.

:Namaste:
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I have had that happen to a few computers over the years. Same connector. Sucks when it happens while running any version of Windows. Linux is more forgiving. That's another story, though.

Gotta shove the plugs in good and far. It's made tight, for to make a reliable connection that won't accidentally pull out. The slightly rubbery plastic may also keep some moisture out, but I'm not 100% sure on that.
 
Hiker said:
huh? :scratchinghead:

How the light hangs depends on how you hang it, no? If it's rotated from where you want it, can't you move your anchors?

I thought I had a pic, but I was wrong. I use the carabiner attached to all 4 of the cables, then my support rope is attached to that. Each light is hung from one point in the center. I connected the cables a little different so they did not have to hand so low. That's the picture I thought I had. I don't understand how the location of these anchors forces you to hang your light a certain way.
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You're right, it does depend how you hang it. however, if you are trying to hand 4 lights, on 2 ceiling bars (which is the standard with most grow tents), you end up with 4 lights hanging in diamond form, rather than 4 squares. It's hard to explain without sounding like i'm making it up lol. Because i connect my ratchet hangers directly to the light, the light hangs in a diamond because of the positioning of the brass connectors.

IMG_087522.JPG


If they were in the corner, in my case, they would hang square.

Hiker said:
Thanks for sharing the numbers. I'm not sure I've seen any other gpw #s for Mars 2 lights.

I think there is a math error. 1.2m x 1.2m x 2 = 2.88 m2
29oz / 2.88 m2 = 10.07 oz/m2 or 0.94 oz/ft2
an ounce a ft2 is very respectable. :bravo:
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Why are you adding the two together? They should be treated as separate entities. This is not an accurate assessment on the lights if you add them together. As i said, the first tent had a single light, no chiller and had a number of problems and yielded one figure.

The other tent, had 4 lights, and had a chiller, fewer problems, and yielded a different figure.

I am treating each tent separately. It would be unfair to punish one tent for the others' poor performance ;)

12oz(ish) from 1.2m squared

And

17oz(ish) from a different 1.2m squared

:ganjamon:

By all means please do come check out my journal :) And have yourself a great and green weekend! :peace:
 
Alright, dumb question I just bought the reflector 96x3W. To keep things simple I was going to use it right from the time my seeds germinated. How high from the plants should the light be after they germinate? Thanks!
 
real dennise , good morning, I were out these two days, just come on and get online, miss all of you ,haha
Dennise said:
I love my Top Leds and I am a real person...:yahoo:....:circle-of-love:
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thank you Raziel, :circle-of-love:
raziel819 said:
I feel the same way you do. But its not just TL/MH that has their mounts designed that way other led suppliers build theirs the same way. I like that bent wire hack you got going on... what's the gauge of that wire?

Hey Sara/Lucy I received my Mars II 700 today and already have it hanging in place of my 96/3w reflector, its got my little cabinet just lit up like its xmas. ::): Thanks

Raziel
Stay Frosty My Friends
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vegetative stage: 18~24inch . flower stage: 12~18inch.:circle-of-love:
Helix00 said:
Alright, dumb question I just bought the reflector 96x3W. To keep things simple I was going to use it right from the time my seeds germinated. How high from the plants should the light be after they germinate? Thanks!
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Good morning Sara, :nomo:

Hope you got breakfast in bed after all the hard work you've been doing around here. :goodjob:

I have a question for you regarding the Mars II units. Most other manufactures include UV lens in their units but these do not (unless they are specially built right?), how and would you go about adding supplementing UV lighting during the last 2/3 weeks before harvest?

Thanks,
Raziel819
Stay Frosty My Friends
 
Sara; I put my vote in for the hanger attachments to be placed on the corners instead of the center on each side. I also find it helps square the hanging process. Thank you, Dan.
 
ok, thank you Lobosolo, I will let our factory know that. we will correct it for sure.
lobosolo said:
Sara; I put my vote in for the hanger attachments to be placed on the corners instead of the center on each side. I also find it helps square the hanging process. Thank you, Dan.
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thank you very much Raziel,

we do not use UV in our light becuase this chip is very easy to burnt out. Besides, led only have UVA but but UVB, we know the UVB is helpful. while UVA is useless, so we prefer to not use UV led. we recoomend customers to buy T5 light to supply UVA . I always recommend my customers do that.
raziel819 said:
Good morning Sara, :nomo:

Hope you got breakfast in bed after all the hard work you've been doing around here. :goodjob:

I have a question for you regarding the Mars II units. Most other manufactures include UV lens in their units but these do not (unless they are specially built right?), how and would you go about adding supplementing UV lighting during the last 2/3 weeks before harvest?

Thanks,
Raziel819
Stay Frosty My Friends
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raziel819 said:
I feel the same way you do. But its not just TL/MH that has their mounts designed that way other led suppliers build theirs the same way. I like that bent wire hack you got going on... what's the gauge of that wire?

Raziel
Stay Frosty My Friends
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As usual, I used what I had on hand. It measures .148 in. (3.75mm) It's galvanized, mild steel. It would be perfect for the heavy lights. I believe I got it at a lumber store, in a 50' roll. The thicker wire works really well in the rope ratchet.

Note. MH should feel no shame in their mounts. I just saw a $1300 light in a local shop with the same type of mounts. It needed about 18" of headroom with the stock mounts.

MH could help distinguish itself by supplying better, more flexible mounts with their new lights. Bend some wire, put specific holes in the case and lose the machined brass parts and 4 cables is my suggestion.

:peace:


:Namaste:
 
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