drift
Well-Known Member
I've been growing over 20 yrs and led is just as good if not better, if you know how to use them. My small led buds
Question about light spectrum
- Thread starter Hayron1088
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Nunyabiz
Well-Known Member
You should definitely do so, its really quite easy to build a light.
You can build a single 4x4 or build two 2x4 lights to fit the space exactly.
Check out Pacific Light Concepts and or Greengenes Garden on YouTube, he has a couple videos with step by step instructions to build both sizes.
i'd never go back to hps / mh. cmh is oddly euro-centric. but led is taking over the market. the gov't here is phasing out light bulbs in favour of led across everything in the market. kinda like gasoline cars being phased out.
it's not a choice. it's a market regulation.
ran mh / hps combos for mo yrs than i wanna hint at. but we switched out ages ago and were supplementing with led long before that. couple of the best i know local are still running a mix.
i love my old school cob led rig. but i worked with led previous so sorta had an advantage. i grow micro-plants in 2L of perlite and can get beer can size buds. not every one for sure, but i got close to a half oz out of a shampoo bottle for fun once
it's all about the light. i take the same approach to led as i did on the ancient tech. go frigging big. then roll back a touch and push hard.
my own flower cob rig is a 12 pot 600w true draw rig built as two banks with separate drivers. it's in a space a bit under 4 x 4. with dimming i run about 450 - 500w, and need it. the plants can't really take it full up in the space i have.
edit : oh yeah. self built. with my own specs and a flower bias.
it's not a choice. it's a market regulation.
ran mh / hps combos for mo yrs than i wanna hint at. but we switched out ages ago and were supplementing with led long before that. couple of the best i know local are still running a mix.
i love my old school cob led rig. but i worked with led previous so sorta had an advantage. i grow micro-plants in 2L of perlite and can get beer can size buds. not every one for sure, but i got close to a half oz out of a shampoo bottle for fun once
it's all about the light. i take the same approach to led as i did on the ancient tech. go frigging big. then roll back a touch and push hard.
my own flower cob rig is a 12 pot 600w true draw rig built as two banks with separate drivers. it's in a space a bit under 4 x 4. with dimming i run about 450 - 500w, and need it. the plants can't really take it full up in the space i have.
edit : oh yeah. self built. with my own specs and a flower bias.
- Thread starter
- #44
Hayron1088
Well-Known Member
$680 all in? To me that’s about half the cost of a light of the same size from leading brands! That just pushes me more to do it myself. I’ve looked into aluminum channel parts also to make a Bar-style light and to be honest it was the first search I did to price making it myself. I’m absolutely in love with bar style lights at the moment. As a former Aviation mechanic that build would be right up my alley
Nunyabiz
Well-Known Member
Yep, that was about 2+ years ago.
I assume would be about the same price, although some things might cost more because of all the BS the past couple years.
I've been very pleased with these, contrary to what certain loonie tunes believe these types of LEDs will produce copious amounts of oil/trichomes and big fat buds.
@Hayron1088 go have a look at led gardener dot com. piles of info, example builds, and online calculators to match up drivers with emitters.
if you were an aviation tech you'll nail this easy. you can build a light with your own specs for less than half cost of many similar pre-builts.
sorry delta you're not even close. i worked with led for years as a lighting tech in show production. led is known for a tight long throw with penetration. that's what you look for in a show light.
i grew under cob before they were commercially available as grow lights. they were show blinders.
as little as 5 years ago you may have had a point, but with the gains in efficiencies you can't beat today's emitters. go see any a or even b list concert. there will not be one light that isn't led. including spotlights.
the advances that led has made in show tech is a direct mirror of the advances in grow tech. grow tech has actually advanced further as far as the actual emitters. there's a much bigger market for it.
i grew under cob before they were commercially available as grow lights. they were show blinders.
as little as 5 years ago you may have had a point, but with the gains in efficiencies you can't beat today's emitters. go see any a or even b list concert. there will not be one light that isn't led. including spotlights.
the advances that led has made in show tech is a direct mirror of the advances in grow tech. grow tech has actually advanced further as far as the actual emitters. there's a much bigger market for it.
here's some led cob buds in 2L of perlite plus the shampoo bottle in front. not one plant is over 3ft tall. i try to finish them about 2 ft or so.
there's colas taller than the buckets i grow them in. truth is i'm a really lazy grower. been on an quest to simplify for some time.
this was the shampoo bottle at chop
it was in about 750ml of perlite.
there's colas taller than the buckets i grow them in. truth is i'm a really lazy grower. been on an quest to simplify for some time.
this was the shampoo bottle at chop
it was in about 750ml of perlite.
- Thread starter
- #49
Hayron1088
Well-Known Member
That’s amazing. After Santa visits all four of my children I’m hopping in the bandwagon and testing my skills. I appreciate all the great info!
Hybridway22
Active Member
Hi, don't know what your existing 35k+65k+red looks like but the Maxi is just the Gavita spectrum using the Samsung Evos or of the like. Personally not a fan of gappy spectrums myself. But it's a full cycle that should work well enough if not overly lit as it's primarily a Defficient human led spectrum that is overabundant at the same time as Defficient. Over saturation in wavelengths & under exposed to not at all of others. Basic Electrical HE spec.
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- #51
Hayron1088
Well-Known Member
What would you recommend? I have two pb1500s for my 2x4 tent(3plants) and I know they are not enough for my grow. I currently have a maxi mf1000 vegging a few plants which I have thought about putting it in with the two pb’s but undecided. I want the ParfactWorks wf420 which I think is a complete steal for its power. What would you do? Oh to throw a wrench, I just ordered a 4x4 tent two days ago. Stick with buying the wf420?
Delps8
Well-Known Member
ParfactWorks wf420 strikes me as an unusual design. It's a 420 watt draw but PPFD values plummet once you leave the center. Check the PPFD map on their site - at 18", you have, frankly, no light at the front and back of the 3' x 3' lighted area. 261 µmols is basically seedling level.
My lights are a Mars SP3000 and a Growcraft X3. I bought the Mars and then got the X3 for a steal. The SP3000 is about the same price as the WF420 and, in terms of PPFD, there's no contest. The X3 is a very different product than the SP3000 and that's reflected in the price. Neither the SP 3000 nor the X3 have the chops to cover the entire 4' by area. If you want to jump to a 4' x 4', you're going to need a much bigger light since the coverage area doubles when you go to the bigger tent.
I haven't looked into the market for a light for a 4' by but this blew me away when I saw it. That's stunningly uniform coverage at a good price. I love the spectrum and the quality of my Growcraft and if you go with the DIY version, it is very price competitive for a 4' by it doesn't have the uniformity of the Spider. If you're doing a SOG, the Spider might get better results but it you're doing, say, four plants, I'd guess that it's a toss up.
Just checked out the PPFD map on the Spider - what the site does not reveal is the accuracy of the sensor that they used. I think they're using an Apogee sensor and, per the Apogee site, their sensors are "only" accurate to ±5%. Factor that in to the PPFD readings and that Spider has, arguably, 100% uniformity at a wide range of heights. Certainly a contender for "great light" for a 4' by.
A competing product from Mars has really good coverage as well as the Mars "two spike" spectrum. Blue is good in veg because it tends to keep plants compact but elevated levels of blue are documented to decrease yield to a small degree. The Growcraft has less blue (they sell a "veg" light) in favor of the red part of the spectrum so that light will tend to create plants that are taller and have more mass. The SP 3000 is a good light and pretty well made but I have no experience with their FC series.
My lights are a Mars SP3000 and a Growcraft X3. I bought the Mars and then got the X3 for a steal. The SP3000 is about the same price as the WF420 and, in terms of PPFD, there's no contest. The X3 is a very different product than the SP3000 and that's reflected in the price. Neither the SP 3000 nor the X3 have the chops to cover the entire 4' by area. If you want to jump to a 4' x 4', you're going to need a much bigger light since the coverage area doubles when you go to the bigger tent.
I haven't looked into the market for a light for a 4' by but this blew me away when I saw it. That's stunningly uniform coverage at a good price. I love the spectrum and the quality of my Growcraft and if you go with the DIY version, it is very price competitive for a 4' by it doesn't have the uniformity of the Spider. If you're doing a SOG, the Spider might get better results but it you're doing, say, four plants, I'd guess that it's a toss up.
Just checked out the PPFD map on the Spider - what the site does not reveal is the accuracy of the sensor that they used. I think they're using an Apogee sensor and, per the Apogee site, their sensors are "only" accurate to ±5%. Factor that in to the PPFD readings and that Spider has, arguably, 100% uniformity at a wide range of heights. Certainly a contender for "great light" for a 4' by.
A competing product from Mars has really good coverage as well as the Mars "two spike" spectrum. Blue is good in veg because it tends to keep plants compact but elevated levels of blue are documented to decrease yield to a small degree. The Growcraft has less blue (they sell a "veg" light) in favor of the red part of the spectrum so that light will tend to create plants that are taller and have more mass. The SP 3000 is a good light and pretty well made but I have no experience with their FC series.
- Thread starter
- #53
Hayron1088
Well-Known Member
You know I’ve been staring at these stats of the wf420 for some time now and for some idiot reason I failed to see the plummet of the outer edge. After checking out yet another 6 million lights and also thanks to you for your very informative reply, have decided to go with the SpiderFarmer se5000(upgraded). For $599 usd you really can’t beat it
- Thread starter
- #55
Hayron1088
Well-Known Member
…
please not againcheck out cmh ... if you like big fat top buds
yes again and again and again lol
- Thread starter
- #57
Hayron1088
Well-Known Member
Also, I’m a huge fan of Maxsisun, I own several of their products. There new mg3000 is super nice but is only for 3x3. I thought about buying two that way I have some manipulation with light height being as I grow different strains all the time and I also always manage to get oddly shaped clones that never grow the same as you probably already know. The light game is driving me insane, I love them to death for some reason and I think that’s why I can’t decide on just one…
- Thread starter
- #58
Hayron1088
Well-Known Member
Let me be perfectly clear, I’ll never, I mean never buy cmh or hps. Hell just to make you cringe, I would rather buy 500 T5’s, and take a picture and send it to you daily just to show and prove that I don’t want the light in question. Why you choose to act like this is beyond me. Your the main reason I took a two month break from this forum.
Delps8
Well-Known Member
Heh, I'm glad to read that you ploughed through it all.
I hadn't come across the SpiderFarmer se5000 so I checked it out. At first, I was a little skeptical because to the light drop off at the margins. Now, there's gotta be a joke in here…"it looks incredible, except for the last 6 inches".
No question, a falloff way out there but so what? It has great numbers right up to that point and $200 less than the alternatives. Great find!
- Thread starter
- #60
Hayron1088
Well-Known Member
Thanks man and thanks for dropping by. It’s 12:30 at night here and I’ve been looking at lights for over five hours no joke….the struggle is real