Spider Farmer LED Grow

[JWM2]

I don’t see why you couldn’t attach external heatsinks to these lights as you would a computer CPU with thermal paste if you were so inclined. I’m sure you can even buy some larger heatsinks for next to nothing. But besides the heatsink this package is pretty impressive using the same quality diodes my qb288v2’s are using. Sure there might be newer LEDs out there but I’m not sure the juice is worth the squeeze on those.

 

[lilnew]

I don’t see why you couldn’t attach external heatsinks to these lights as you would a computer CPU with thermal paste if you were so inclined. I’m sure you can even buy some larger heatsinks for next to nothing. But besides the heatsink this package is pretty impressive using the same quality diodes my qb288v2’s are using. Sure there might be newer LEDs out there but I’m not sure the juice is worth the squeeze on those.

i have nothing against the product...but aren't we just comparing product AS IS? if adding external heatsinks myself then we are not really comparing apple with apple, it wont be OEM

 

[JWM2]

running driver outside of the grow safe will definitely help with the heat but it's not ideal for large grow ops. but if you enjoy the spider farmer then that's all it matters no? it doesn't really matter what anyone else is saying

Ive got several sets of lights. In fact I’m not even using the spider farmer lights as I’m in the middle of a grow right now and won’t get a chance to switch out the lights for a few weeks. I was asked to give my honest opinion about these lights and I am doing just that. Don’t get me wrong I haven’t been around to follow the politics involved and if spider farmer is blowing smoke up peoples asses then that’s on him. I don’t blow smoke up peoples asses and my reputation here and elsewhere proves it. Again I’ve just opened the box on these lights but they’ve impressed me so far. I’ll have to wait and see how they perform. This update was just my initial reaction and comparison to a well known and heralded brand that quite frankly I’m not keen on anymore due to the way they and some of their retailers operate. I feel they’ve been given a pass by some and have had a few instances of aggravation when dealing with them.

 

[Glassdub]

First of all it’s not recommended to run quantum LEDs at full power as that decreases the life span of them. Secondly you can always relocate the driver outside the grow space if needed to help lower the temps. A heat sink on the driver is unnecessary imo.

So what would the highest you would drive a SF2000 safely? I originally had my first one dimmed to 200W & forgot, I just cranked them up as I thought it would be the best for flowering.
The driver is soldered to the board, Re-soldering (If I wanted to do it) would more than likely void the warranty.

 

[lilnew]

Ive got several sets of lights. In fact I’m not even using the spider farmer lights as I’m in the middle of a grow right now and won’t get a chance to switch out the lights for a few weeks. I was asked to give my honest opinion about these lights and I am doing just that. Don’t get me wrong I haven’t been around to follow the politics involved and if spider farmer is blowing smoke up peoples asses then that’s on him. I don’t blow smoke up peoples asses and my reputation here and elsewhere proves it. Again I’ve just opened the box on these lights but they’ve impressed me so far. I’ll have to wait and see how they perform. This update was just my initial reaction and comparison to a well known and heralded brand that quite frankly I’m not keen on anymore due to the way they and some of their retailers operate. I feel they’ve been given a pass by some and have had a few instances of aggravation when dealing with them.

don't get me wrong either, you can go c earlier in this post...i'm not blasting spider farmer at all...i think it's not a bad light...there's just a couple of tweaks they could have done to make it better....other people are just pissed at them for giving false numbers

 

[Glassdub]

I got a couple of these, taped them together, and set them on top of the fixture aimed at the SF-2000 driver. It dropped the temperature of the driver by about 15 degrees Fahrenheit.

But what about the room temp?

 

[Glassdub]

don't get me wrong either, you can go c earlier in this post...i'm not blasting spider farmer at all...i think it's not a bad light...there's just a couple of tweaks they could have done to make it better....other people are just pissed at them for giving false numbers

What numbers?

 

[lilnew]

What numbers?

par outputs and the "results"

 

[JWM2]

don't get me wrong either, you can go c earlier in this post...i'm not blasting spider farmer at all...i think it's not a bad light...there's just a couple of tweaks they could have done to make it better....other people are just pissed at them for giving false numbers

Sure if they’ve been doing that then I missed it and folks have every right to be upset. I’m just posting my initial reaction as organic as it can be. I’m certainly not here to defend them in anyway as I’m not a paid spokesperson just some random guy who got a package in the mail he didn’t pay for today. Hehe. No worries tho bro.

 

[lilnew]

i was originally thinking about buyin the sf4000 but found some better options for the price

 

[JWM2]

So what would the highest you would drive a SF2000 safely? I originally had my first one dimmed to 200W & forgot, I just cranked them up as I thought it would be the best for flowering.
The driver is soldered to the board, Re-soldering (If I wanted to do it) would more than likely void the warranty.

Rule of thumb is 80% of maximum wattage for best results. I run my 260w HLGs at 208w (kill-a-watt measured) which is 80%. The problem is when you run them higher you get far more heat and wasted energy. So yeah if you are running them full bore they are going to get hot and they won’t last as long. That’s just how it goes.

 

[Glassdub]

Rule of thumb is 80% of maximum wattage for best results. I run my 260w HLGs at 208w (kill-a-watt measured) which is 80%. The problem is when you run them higher you get far more heat and wasted energy. So yeah if you are running them full bore they are going to get hot and they won’t last as long. That’s just how it goes.

So I guess I would have been better off leaving the original at 200W & dimmed the new one to the same then.

 

[JWM2]

Kind of hard to see in this pic but due to the fact heat rises I’ve got my exhaust outlet on the left rear side of the flowering portion of my grow rack so the air flow naturally pulls the heat out and away from my plants. This was done by design (of which I created) and works well. I don’t see a little more heat causing any sort of issue here in this kind of setup. But we’ll see.

 

[JWM2]

So I guess I would have been better off leaving the original at 200W & dimmed the new one to the same then.

That depends. The sf-2000 is rated at 200w so ideally you’d run them at 160w. I have not put the kill-a-watt on them so give me a sec and I’ll post my results.

 

[basscaptain]

Kind of hard to see in this pic but due to the fact heat rises I’ve got my exhaust outlet on the left rear side of the flowering portion of my grow rack so the air flow naturally pulls the heat out and away from my plants. This was done by design (of which I created) and works well. I don’t see a little more heat causing any sort of issue here in this kind of setup. But we’ll see.

Nice little set up

 

[Aqua Man]

That depends. The sf-2000 is rated at 200w so ideally you’d run them at 160w. I have not put the kill-a-watt on them so give me a sec and I’ll post my results.

It's a 240w driver same as HLG at 200w that is 80%

 

[PurSaveer]

Spider Farmer specifically said you can run the SF-2000 up to 250 watts, here on this thread. But the instructions say that if you turn the light up too high, you void the warranty. They don't say what 'too high' is. The drivers are not soldered to the boards. I took one of the drivers and made a bracket to mount the driver on its side for ease of adjusting. Glassdub, I didn't add the computer fans to cool the growspace. I was trying to assure the best longevity of the light. I have exhaust and intake fans.

 

[basscaptain]

That is the thinnest cheapest heat sink you can get. With the cheap supplemental diodes and low bin likely unmatched samsung diodes long life was not a priority.

Nice marketing though. Except for lying about their affiliation with Meihzi.

Got the +1 what's the point in that
Don't Think LESS is MORE on Heat Sinks

 

[JWM2]

I hope you guys realize that my review thus far has been mostly an unboxing and not anything more. As far as that goes they did a great job. So kudos to them for the presentation. We will see what these are made of but so far I’ll give the packaging and presentation to spider farmer and have no doubts they’ll function and work as intended. Maybe not as well as HLG in the nuts and bolts dept but I’d be shocked if there was a quantum (pun) leap difference in overall growth performance. Heatwise I’ll say they prolly do have some work to do. Driver wise again more work needs to be done. But color temp and led spread are spot on imo.

 

[basscaptain]

there really need to have that driver on a 6ft wire...... and about 10 more bucks for a fined heat sink they got about 30 bucks in it and went 200 bones or more... man I need a backer to go into the Leds buss...