Mars-Hydro LED Grow Light Discussion

DarkSidofMike said:
the first thing to do is to add more light to your area ...... old model reflector 96X3W is CLEARLY not enought for a 2X3 area ..... you need 2 panels like that to give enought light power to your plants.

170W true watts for 6 square feet is really not enought ..... this is under 30w per square foots and you need 45-50 minimum .... my advise will be add another panel 96X3 and you will have a very nice light.

and every single plants will love the better light power but also better light distribution.

1 thing is clear .... you need more light .... at least 50% more but 100% more will be perfect.

each 48X3 reflector can cover 40X40cm or 35cmX45cm (1.15' X 1.5') for full flowering ... the news 48X5 reflector can cover 47X47cm or 45cmX50cm (1.5' X 1.66') each for full flowering.

more is better than less ... you plants cannot be hurt by little more light power than needed.
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hey man. thnks for the input and help!
i think i wasnt clear. heres whats actually going on.
sara and others, please tell me what you think, if i actually still need to throw in more light right now or if its doesnt actually seem to be the culprit (i can put in a CFL on each side. but i want to first make sure its acutally the problem). i think i may have narrowed down to other reasons why the side plants have smaller flowers.....since theyre only an inch or two out of being directly under the light on the sides, its hard for me to imagine that thats the main cause.. or cause at all.

the actual scrog is not 2x3. the room size is 2x3. but the actual scrog is about 2.4x1.5 almost everything is directly underneath the lights except for an inch or two on the sides.... which im pretty sure the LED should be covering.

i think the size issue might be due to a few factors.
1)being that the two plants on the sides were growing and strecthing much more than the middle one, i did an extra topping on most of the branches on those two big plants. i just realized that even though their buds are smaller, but they have many more than the middle one... so im thinking that is probably one of the main reasons
2) when i put them under the scrog net, i purposely put turned each plant, so that the largest part of it was facing towards the middle of the scrog, that way they wouldnt stretch out of control to different parts i didnt want them too.

as far as the general size issue. i think it has to do with the fact, that i didnt actaully transplant into the 3 gallon containers, untill around 1.5 weeks before flowering, since i didnt have the LED light yet, i didnt want to move them into bigger containers till i got the light.
so im guessing that they didnt relaly have room and time to spread out their roots. hence the size.

so i learned from a bunch of mistakes
1)to make sure to transplant to bigger container early enough in the veg.
2)i dont think i will top certain plants, and leave others, in the future. its too difficult to maitnint uniforimity with a scrog that way.
i think its best to keep all the plants on the same topping schedule.
especially in my case where theyre all sativa dom.
 
Harvested my first M-H Reflector grow with just one plant:
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Now that the light is free, I was able to start setting it up for a little bit of testing ;)
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TheCelt said:
Alpaja, I am sorry you had poor results with your grow, and won't dispute that the reflector lights may have been the problem as I don't have one, I use the Mars II 900, and I agree with you that you shouldn't have to ship the light back to China although I don't believe that Mars Hydro has a 100% satisfaction guarantee. Just a defect guarantee.

I will however dispute your claim that the reflector cones are a faulty design and prevent the light from mixing. If you understand the physics of light transmission, the only way for the light NOT to mix is if each LED was actually a laser. A laser beam is the ONLY form of light that travels in a straight line.

Light from any source leaves in all directions not blocked by an opaque surface and travels in waves, this is where the term "wave length" originates, the distance between the crests (or troughs) of the waves. The shorter the wave length, the higher the energy and for our interest in growing plants, the greater the penetration. This is why the suns UV rays cause sun burn, higher energy light.

Now for the reflector lights. The cones are reflective so light leaving from the side of the LED is blocked and redirected downward much the same as the cone behind the bulb in a flash light directs the light where you point it. This is referred to as focusing the beam. If you were to remove the cone and just hold up the bulb it would be difficult to see very far as the light is emitted equally in all directions. Put the cone back on and you can see where you are going for quite a distance.

The shape of the cone determines the beam angle (shape of the light leaving the cone) Even then, the light will only hold the shape of the cone for a certain distance before diffusing and spreading out even wider.

If you want to know how far away from the light 2 individual LEDs start to interfere with one another (mix), lay a straight edge along the near faces of the light cone. Where they cross is where they "start" to mix. The farther out, the more the mix.

The main point being is that unless the LEDs in your light are lasers, its impossible for them not to mix. You may not like the light, or the results you had with it and you may have gotten some poor LEDs in your light giving poor output, but its not the design of the reflectors in the light.

Sorry for the long winded science lesson, but I hate to see any product design being claimed faulty with inaccurate information as the basis for the claim.

I also hope that I explained this in a way that those without a back ground in physics and engineering can easily understand.

Cheers all and happy growing
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Light from any source leaves in all directions not blocked by an opaque surface and travels in waves

the opaque surface is the reflectors.

The shape of the cone determines the beam angle (shape of the light leaving the cone) Even then, the light will only hold the shape of the cone for a certain distance before diffusing and spreading out even wider

this is easily observable to anyone with reflector series lights as the shadows it casts are of each of the colored lights individually. One can test how far the cone goes based on the shadow cast. Suspend a string from the height of the light for 48 inches or more and one can see this phenomena clearly. There will be separate reflections for each of the bulbs.
 
Alpaga, here's a little science experiment for you.

Take a piece of plain white paper, hold it 12 to 18" below the light. Now take a picture and post for us please. If what you say is true, then we should see a small round colored spot on the paper for each individual LED.
 
hi i've recently upgraded to a 5x5x6.2 tent. I have a mars 11 400w light already(love the light by the way). Thinking of getting a bigger one maybe the 700 or 900. What would you suggest for a lad on a budget to get great results .
thanks in advance
 
Monkeyjaws said:
hi i've recently upgraded to a 5x5x6.2 tent. I have a mars 11 400w light already(love the light by the way). Thinking of getting a bigger one maybe the 700 or 900. What would you suggest for a lad on a budget to get great results .
thanks in advance
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for your area if you were going to use your 400 watt mars 2 and just adding another light i would say you want to add 3 more 400's for the best coverage or if you just wanted one light for the entire area then a 1600 would be what you want.

i have seen CO finest use 2 144x3 reflector series lights with great results and since they now have the reflectors with 5 watt diodes i would recommend using 2 of them in your 5'x5' tent
 
tonydavis said:
hi arellanobrian!
I've seen this many times, now it's time to ask: why do a lot people dry in those cardboard boxes? Do you close them for a while when drying? what is your average drying loss in %?
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hey tony, thanx for the ?. the cardboard actually helps get the humidity stable as it helps absord mosture but only to certain degree, i usually do not cover the box as i dont have a fan and need some air flow. on top of all of that it is a very easy way to make a drying area very cheap :Namaste:
 
my suggest would be to add 3X mars2 700W panels to your 400W .... 3X 700 + 1X 400 is perfect for your area ... 4X mars2 400 will be little short of power. if you want to go for cheap option, my advise is go for 3X New old model 600W + your mars2 400W ..... will be really not bad.

happy growing.

Monkeyjaws said:
hi i've recently upgraded to a 5x5x6.2 tent. I have a mars 11 400w light already(love the light by the way). Thinking of getting a bigger one maybe the 700 or 900. What would you suggest for a lad on a budget to get great results .
thanks in advance
Click to expand...
 
Is it possible that ONE 300W "old model" (60x5W) at 18" distance is bleaching seedlings and tiny plants?
I had one young 2" plant about 18" distance from the light but it's all yellow.

The light is now at 20" (50cm) which is quite far in my opinion...but wondering whether this is perhaps still too close? Anyone experience the same?

(PS. growing in a greenhouse outside, but in the shade...so I am wondering whether the 300W light at 18" added with the normal daylight is just "too much"?)
 
i suppose it is possible as i am no expert i will leave the bleaching question for others
but i do caution moving the light any closer til she has grown a bit
i laser beamed a seedling once trying to get too close too fast
live and learn
20" does not seem too far for a baby plant
all girls are different so watch her closely for signals
take care and good luck
 
flexy123 said:
Is it possible that ONE 300W "old model" (60x5W) at 18" distance is bleaching seedlings and tiny plants?
I had one young 2" plant about 18" distance from the light but it's all yellow.

The light is now at 20" (50cm) which is quite far in my opinion...but wondering whether this is perhaps still too close? Anyone experience the same?

(PS. growing in a greenhouse outside, but in the shade...so I am wondering whether the 300W light at 18" added with the normal daylight is just "too much"?)
Click to expand...

it is possible that the strain just isn't good with LED light as there have been some ppl say they have some issues with there plants not taking to the light but from my experience 24" is good for plants 1-3 weeks from popping also depending on strain.

i would say that the added light from being in the greenhouse is a real possibility but im sorry i dont have more experience with that particular situation but IMO i dont think it is just do to the LED :Namaste:
 
This seems like it took forever, but I think thats a function of my learning defoliation on her and some time away from the tent. She was pretty healthy until a few weeks ago and weather changes here (hot and stupid hummid) changed things on me. A long weekend away for training and I thought she'd be good, but when the weather changed and I wasn't home to adjust with her, she drank like crazy and the ec went thru the roof. She's burned pretty good, but it's so late I'm not sure it did anything but hold back some final weeks weight. My guess is about 3.5oz dry, but hoping for 4.

There's a ton of good grindable buds here and the trim is also frosty so I see some e-cig juice on the way ala my new Magical Butter. Gotta say if you're into butters, oils or tinctures, it was well worth the new price. MB3 won't be out till end of year or early next so I wasn't waiting and glad I didn't.

This was grown under 2 - 145x5's in a 4'x4' tent by itself, she's a Barney's Farm Blue Cheese.

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Thanks MH, they're working as advertised and I'm very happy with 'em!
 
Hello! This is me again! Today I will buy the mars hydro so I need to be super sure choosing between the 900 or the 700. My Growth area is between 80 x 80 x 150 cm or 100 x 100 x 160 cm. Also want to know if they both have switches for veg and bloom and in case they dont, is there any difference? I mean, is it gonna be harder to grow or anything like that? Always used hps and I change the bulb from veg to bloom so not sure how it will work with no swtich, hope you can help me today is the day I buy!!! :D thanks everyone! have a good week
 
flexy123 said:
Is it possible that ONE 300W "old model" (60x5W) at 18" distance is bleaching seedlings and tiny plants?
I had one young 2" plant about 18" distance from the light but it's all yellow.

The light is now at 20" (50cm) which is quite far in my opinion...but wondering whether this is perhaps still too close? Anyone experience the same?

(PS. growing in a greenhouse outside, but in the shade...so I am wondering whether the 300W light at 18" added with the normal daylight is just "too much"?)
Click to expand...

I actually start my babies at about 4' from a 96x3w reflector and don't move it up until she has a good steady set of legs under her....:circle-of-love:
 
Smokey as far as I know there is only one of the Mars II's that has the bloom/veg switch and for the life of me I can't remember which one it is..:confused: but Sara will be on here in a bit and confirm that... I use the reflectors and also a couple of the Mars II's and the Mars I have do not have the switches and it is not an issue for me... To be honest even with the reflectors... except when the babies are tiny... I run them with both switches on even during veg so I really don't think it should be an issue for you either way.....:circle-of-love:
 
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