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How many watts to cover 4x4

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How many watts to cover 4x4

OiOi 23 Replies 22,707 Views
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#3
How do you work out that 30watts a ft is needed..i gather it would b different between hps and led....just asking because i dont know ..
 
#5
Madmax said:
How do you work out that 30watts a ft is needed..i gather it would b different between hps and led....just asking because i dont know ..
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Moe.Red said:
Yeah it’s a loose range. Lots of variables. Could be less or more depending on lots of things.
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It's a ballpark range like @Moe.Red stated. You can be a bit under it if you have high efficiency lighting. You can also go above that some but the higher wattage per square foot can lead to other issues .... like light burn.

@Madmax I'm not sure using HID lighting in a tent without a cool tube (or similar) because of heat production, but a single 600 watt HPS will cover a 4 x 4 area pretty well .... 37.5 watts per sq ft with the HID as long as you can keep your grow area cool. This is a guess based on figures we used back in the 80's. I'm not aware of an industry standard with HID.
 
#7
OiOi said:
It says on spiderfarmer 200w led replaces HPS: 500w wouldn’t that be more than enough
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SpiderFarmer is stretching it a bit. It's going to be closer to 200W of high efficiency LED being more closely equivalent to 350 - 400w of HID lighting.

You can get away with less. 400w total of LED lights will grow you some nice buds in a 4 x 4. However 400w LED lighting might fall short of "perfectly" lighting every square inch of the space. This will be less of an issue with multiple fixtures.

Personally, I don't grow my flowers into the sidewalls of the tent and you shouldn't either. Vegetation up against the tent walls is a recipe for trouble.
 
#9
If the funds aren't a big issue, consider the SE3000 and use the bar light with the boards you currently own. That would put you at around 500w from which you'll have the power you need when you need it and a dimmer to turn it down when you don't.
 
#10
I was just going to ask about about this. I am growing my first crop in a 4 x 4 tent and have one 240 watt LED light. I've seen a range of values for wattage per sq ft from 30 to 50. My guess is the number gets lower as the lights get better. This thread just about has me convinced to add a second light before flowering stage. A second light of the same type would bump me up to 480 watts, or exactly 30 watts per sq ft. It seems to be the way to go for 16 sq ft, especially if the lights are good quality.
 
#11
BigBlonde said:
I was just going to ask about about this. I am growing my first crop in a 4 x 4 tent and have one 240 watt LED light. I've seen a range of values for wattage per sq ft from 30 to 50. My guess is the number gets lower as the lights get better. This thread just about has me convinced to add a second light before flowering stage. A second light of the same type would bump me up to 480 watts, or exactly 30 watts per sq ft. It seems to be the way to go for 16 sq ft, especially if the lights are good quality.
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You'll be golden as long as the lighting you choose is of decent quality and efficiency.
 
#12
True watts, not equivalent watts. I see a lot of people fall for the equivalent watts stated on a cheap light only to be disappointed at the end results.
 
#13
MercDod said:
True watts, not equivalent watts. I see a lot of people fall for the equivalent watts stated on a cheap light only to be disappointed at the end results.
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Good point to make ...

When we're speaking of watts we're talking about watts from the wall ... the actual draw. There's a number of lights being sold that claim "equal to 2000w" for example and when you read the specs you find that it's pulling only a 100w or 150w from the wall. Don't be fooled by that.

Most people here know that but a newbie might not.
 
#14
MIGrampaUSA said:
If the funds aren't a big issue, consider the SE3000 and use the bar light with the boards you currently own. That would put you at around 500w from which you'll have the power you need when you need it and a dimmer to turn it down when you don't.
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That’s probably my best bet. Funds are currently not an issue but I want a semi budget setup.
 
#16
MIGrampaUSA said:
If the funds aren't a big issue, consider the SE3000 and use the bar light with the boards you currently own. That would put you at around 500w from which you'll have the power you need when you need it and a dimmer to turn it down when you don't.
Click to expand...
+1

If money IS an issue, less than $1 per watt with the coupon:

Bloom Plus XP2500
 
#17
I have my Viparspectra XS2000 on a battery backup that displays power information. So I just checked to see how much power it is using. At 100% power, it used 233 watts. That 3% variance is close enough to the advertised 240 watts to keep me from complaining. With the power set to about 80%, it uses about 190 watts. That calculates to 79% (190/240-0.79). So it seems the dimmer is pretty accurate.
 
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#19
my 1000 watt metal halide and 1000 watt high pressure sodium, not used at the same time barely covers my 5x5 grow..
though it gets the job done!.
right now the 1000 watt hps and 2-4 fluorescent T5’s are in there, though i leave my door open as i need the room for branches hanging out..
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#20
I have a 4x4 and use a 600w 2 cycle led this meets my needs bc I only run autoflowers bc it would be ridiculous to run 3 photoperiod plants as that is all we are allowed in flower, once they go in flower closet I start 3 more, allso a full spec lght has red and ir in it, this can cause your autos to flower prematurely and or dwarf out, so you want blue light, if you run autos you would do better with a 2 cycle light, if your growing photoperiod plants you would want a full spec light, the 2 best led lights on the market are viperspectra mine cost $150 delivered last I checked in fact it works so well I bought another but still in box bc this light has been running continuously for over 4 years no problems, if you want a full spec light go with spider farmer 600w, a tip it gets very tight running 4 plants in a 4x4 as I can only legally run 3 works great, steer clear of Mars Hydro they suck, but that is a personal opinion.
 

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