Greetings And A Question About Leds

[Oldmateslim]

Hi there fellow farmers, new member and not so new grower here with a few questions regarding my recent experiments with cheap led grow lights.


Dinafem and purple afghan kush and "freebie" green crack fem.

2x mars hydro 240 reflector series
1x viparspectra ds450w dimmable
1200h x 1200w x 600d wardrobe.
Small 1g pots 70%coco 30%perlite
Nf coco liquid ferts
This is an experimental grow in aspects of small pot size, small grow space and led lights.
The plants got bigger than expected as id hoped to fit 4 in this space later but i think ill stick to 3 and use 2g pots instead, we shall see.

I have always grown outdoor and hid, the switch over to digital ballasts a few years ago was great and an easy and very welcome transition however this led thing is a bit of mixed emotion.

The viparspectra is by far better quality both in spectrum (from what I can see) and build than the mars.

One of the mars has just lost all of its "grow" sequence lights, they still come on but so faintly that you can barely see them, they also flicker occasionally and change brighness but never go bright enough to see easily. What could possibly cause this.

Mars has directed me to take apart the fixture and test the drivers, reluctantly I did and found both drivers can run the bloom lights but neither can run the grow ones right so im doubting its that, im hoping they will just replace or refund as im no electrician lol. Has anyone had any issues with mats or even vipar for that matter?

I can gladly say that leds have proven to grow some very nice plants at least to week 5 of flower so far, the mars were not very strong alone and seem to have caused a sudden stretch at about day 15 flower thats when I added the vipar 450.

Pictured is the grow space with the PAK on the left. The room is still in early stages and theres alot to be done in regards to tidying up and mounting my cf and cable organization so dont judge too much lol. Sorry for the massive post guys im new to this forum biz.

 

[Monster762]

Looks good. Nice n clean.

 

[Oldmateslim]

Thanks monster762, I wasn't aware id missed the tangle of light cords up the top in my picture but indeed I like a clean growspace where possible.

 

[SmithsJunk]

If you do find you have too many problems with the burples, don't replace, upgrade...

I skipped burples all together and went COB. I don't regret the decision.

This is not the best example because the tent is outside and the cold stunted them but the output on these COBs are mind blowing.

I'm an outdoor guy and I've found these lights give the sun a run for the money.

 

[Oldmateslim]

Awesome thanks for the reply, I have looked into cobs and definitely will look a bit more into them when I upgrade, I have found so far that the burples are decent and quite good for veg but in flower they do lack what hps have , what cobs are you running? Id love something that i can see the plants actual colors

 

[SmithsJunk]

Awesome thanks for the reply, I have looked into cobs and definitely will look a bit more into them when I upgrade, I have found so far that the burples are decent and quite good for veg but in flower they do lack what hps have , what cobs are you running? Id love something that i can see the plants actual colors

I'm running three 100w Cree CXB3590 3500k in two fixtures (x1 & x2). My single is fixed at 65w and the x2 is dimmable. Make sure whatever COB you buy is dimmable. They put out way way too much light for a 4x2 tent. At 8-10" the x2 alone is providing a PAR of 216DLI (24hr period). The girls only need 66DLI max, and only that high with CO2 gennnys. I run mine at only 70% 12/12 and get about 70-75DLI. Probably should decrease even further but my tent is outside so they get plenty of CO2. If you go with COBs, IMO, run CXBs because the don't lose their efficiency when dimmed <70%. Example, Bridgelux Vero29 are excellent lights and are comparable to COBs at full power, but lose that efficiency when dimmed to <70%. My fixtures are CF Grow by ShenZhen and cost about $150 per 100w COB on Amazon, $75-$100 per COB direct from China through Alibaba. There are many types of COB arrays, some using as small as 30w lights. A Black Sun array with x9 30w is only $200-$300 direct from China (on Amazon the x6 is $325, x9 is $490) and is super efficient due to passive cooling. COBs have become a very inexpensive and effective option. 3500k can run from seed to harvest with a good dimmer.

You should look into Quantum Boards as well. Concentrated COBs are cheaper but QBs are around 15% more efficient. Again, make sure they have dimmers. QBs generally run passive cooling (heatsink only, no fans) but I personally like the air circulation and ventilation assistance I get from the active cooling on my CXBs.

New model CF Grow 100w(200w total) CXB3590 x2 with digital temp control and readout...

...about $200 direct from ShenZhen through Alibaba. Don't let the price and Chinese mfg fool ya, these are excellent, well built lights.

 

[1diesel1]

Welcome to, The Farm!!

 

[Oldmateslim]

I'm running three 100w Cree CXB3590 3500k in two fixtures (x1 & x2). My single is fixed at 65w and the x2 is dimmable. Make sure whatever COB you buy is dimmable. They put out way way too much light for a 4x2 tent. At 8-10" the x2 alone is providing a PAR of 216DLI (24hr period). The girls only need 66DLI max, and only that high with CO2 gennnys. I run mine at only 70% 12/12 and get about 70-75DLI. Probably should decrease even further but my tent is outside so they get plenty of CO2. If you go with COBs, IMO, run CXBs because the don't lose their efficiency when dimmed <70%. Example, Bridgelux Vero29 are excellent lights and are comparable to COBs at full power, but lose that efficiency when dimmed to <70%. My fixtures are CF Grow by ShenZhen and cost about $150 per 100w COB on Amazon, $75-$100 per COB direct from China through Alibaba. There are many types of COB arrays, some using as small as 30w lights. A Black Sun array with x9 30w is only $200-$300 direct from China (on Amazon the x6 is $325, x9 is $490) and is super efficient due to passive cooling. COBs have become a very inexpensive and effective option. 3500k can run from seed to harvest with a good dimmer.

You should look into Quantum Boards as well. Concentrated COBs are cheaper but QBs are around 15% more efficient. Again, make sure they have dimmers. QBs generally run passive cooling (heatsink only, no fans) but I personally like the air circulation and ventilation assistance I get from the active cooling on my CXBs.

New model CF Grow 100w(200w total) CXB3590 x2 with digital temp control and readout...
View attachment 849979
...about $200 direct from ShenZhen through Alibaba. Don't let the price and Chinese mfg fool ya, these are excellent, well built lights.

Legend, yeah thats about the same as the blurples run you! Im all for trying something new. Thanks heaps mate

 

[SmithsJunk]

Legend, yeah thats about the same as the blurples run you! Im all for trying something new. Thanks heaps mate

No problem dude. I'm glad COBs were getting really popular when I decided to buy. I didn't know they existed and ran across them by accident when researching burples. Cooked the sh*t outta some seedlings before I figured out how powerful they were, hahaha. Even after I bought them they were so unassuming and ran so cool I couldn't believe their output was so high. You really need to understand how to properly compute their light ouput to effectively grow with them. It's actually not all that hard if you have the equations.

Here's a start...

https://www.thcfarmer.com/community...-for-humans-about-par-ppf-ppfd-and-dli.84822/

 

[Dan789]

I’m solidly in the cob camp with @SmithsJunk, second grow with my rapid led kit and loving it.

 

[Oldmateslim]

Sorry to dig up an old post but heres an update on the dinafem purple afghan kush and the freebie green crack, the gc has surprised me, very very nice so far especially for a freebie seed!

 

[MeanGreen420]

I’m running gc to man nice pics!

 

[Oldmateslim]

I should mention they are 52 days into 12/12 but likely closer to 42 days proper flowering.

Thanks bro my mates a pro photographer and he showed me how to get better pics on the weekend, i am going to do some digging to find out what breeder they are from as they are freebies from bonza

 

[Oldmateslim]

I think ill start the flush in about 5 or 6 days but ill see how they look under the scope

 

[MeanGreen420]

I think ill start the flush in about 5 or 6 days but ill see how they look under the scope

Can you show me a full plant pic of the gc?

 

[Oldmateslim]

Can do when i get home mate

 

[MeanGreen420]

Can do when i get home mate

Thanks!

 

[Oldmateslim]

Can you show me a full plant pic of the gc?

Here ya go mate sorry about the late reply, busy days.

Both plants
GC
PAK

 

[MeanGreen420]

Here ya go mate sorry about the late reply, busy days.

Both plants
GC
PAK

Awesome job man! I’m ready see mine flower

 

[Oldmateslim]

Thanks mate, really digging this strain/pheno. The PAK is great too but has more leaves and buds are smaller, although it vegd better than the gc.

The GC had trouble throwing lateral branching after topping and vegged much slower, I don't think that mattered alot though cos these 2 are about the same now and the gc was only 2/3 the size of the PAK at best when flipped.

Ill post some more pics before and after chop and a smoke report.