Led. Vs Led

[Napata]

180W GALAXY HYDRO VS. 300W MARS HYDRO Obviously the wattage is higher on the Mars; but which one performs more efficiently?

 

[Toaster79]

Welcome to the farm!

 

[Napata]

Oh yeah first post thanks!

 

[Wee Zard]

It's not about Watts actually.
It's more about targeting the most efficient absorption bands.
Cannabis gets to most out of every photon at 658nm in red and around 450-460 in blue.
The blue is important for phototropism and internode length manipulation, but it's the red that does the heavy lifting.

I have to smile when I see ads for 1200W. leds.
That's just silly.
More than enough is too much, and yes, there is such a thing as too much light.
I have seen folks try growing with 60Watt ufos screw up the grow by placing the lights too close.
Once you surpass the equivalent of ~91k lux, the plants stop growing. above that they suffer light bleaching and necrosis.

That grower then proceeded to tell everyone that LEDs are crap. :)
It's the HPS mindset, I guess. HPS needs 1200 Watts because most of it is poorly used by the plant.
Most of it is simply off target.

I veg 2 plants at a time under a 56Watt, 2 color, home built, array.
That takes them to 4 feet in height and as "bushy as I want them, (by changing the R:B ratio)

Then I put them out in the tropical sun without incident.
Well I do try to pick an overcast day, but that's all the "hardening" they need.

When I used to flower indoors, I used a 150Watt array That gave me fat, dense, and very potent buds.
I'm pulling up a chair on this thread,to see if either of thos commercial arrays can match properly targeted 56 Watt arrays.

Mahalo for doing a side by side.

Aloha,
Weezard

 

[Napata]

So 56w led takes care of 2 plants to 4ft, bushy? then 150w for flower. Is the 56w used to not stunt the plant? I'd rather use less lights.

Namaste

 

[Toaster79]

So 56w led takes care of 2 plants to 4ft, bushy? then 150w for flower. Is the 56w used to not stunt the plant? I'd rather use less lights.

Namaste

What footprint are you working with?

 

[Napata]

What footprint are you working with?

Thats why I was asking your advice a 300 led seemed top notch but you just shot my hopes down :(

 

[Toaster79]

Thats why I was asking your advice a 300 led seemed top notch but you just shot my hopes down :(

Great!

Now what was the size of your grow space, again?

 

[Wee Zard]

Sorry, I don't understand the question.

I use 8" square containers at that stage, so 8 X 16?
I start with 4 5" squares spaced to avoid crowding. So 12 X 12 inches?
When the lights come back on, I'll measure it.
But right now I have 4 4' tall gals in 8" sq. containers
2,1 footers in 5" sq. and 9 cutting in beer bottles in a 2' by 5' space.
Using 3 ~ 50Watt led arrays.
Get good growth from top to bottom.

Oops, that's an older pic.
I'm having vision problems, so please excuse typos and errors
Here's a current one;

That is a mirrored image ,there's only one plant on that side, the other went outside yesterday.
It was getting crowded. :)
We get gouged by the local power company ~$.40 per Kwh.!
So I decided to see how little power could grow good meds. indoors.
Could probably shave a few more watts, but am legal so my flowering is outdoors in the greenhouse.

Here's a snap of one of the lights;

Those are 15W. Ledengin emitters but I under-drive them for efficiency and longevity.

No want to hijack a thread, but you did ask, yah?
Lemme go start an album in my profile if you'd like to see more.

Aloha,
Weeze

 

[Wee Zard]

Drat!! Can't figure out how to put pics on my profile page.

Can I get a li'l he'p?

Aloha,
Weeze

 

[3N1GM4]

What chips do both of those lights have, are they both the 3w chips? I know some of the mars lights have the 5w chips and from what I have read the 5w diodes are less efficient.

 

[Wee Zard]

I have 3W., 5W., and 15W. emitters in various configurations.
Even have some old 10mm arrays of 300 super-bright leds.
The soldering took a while. :)
I'm just hangin' here to see if the Mars light is any good.
Like I said, it's all about targeting the proper frequencies.
Edit:
Oops, sorry, didn't realize you were not asking me.
I'll shut up now.

 

[3N1GM4]

i wouldnt buy a mars light, they got booted from the forum because they were not honoring warranties. They were sending replacement parts and expecting people to solder and fix their own lights for warranty

 

[Napata]

Sorry, I don't understand the question.

I use 8" square containers at that stage, so 8 X 16?
I start with 4 5" squares spaced to avoid crowding. So 12 X 12 inches?
When the lights come back on, I'll measure it.
But right now I have 4 4' tall gals in 8" sq. containers
2,1 footers in 5" sq. and 9 cutting in beer bottles in a 2' by 5' space.
Using 3 ~ 50Watt led arrays.
Get good growth from top to bottom.
View attachment 588951
Oops, that's an older pic.
I'm having vision problems, so please excuse typos and errors
Here's a current one;
View attachment 588952
That is a mirrored image ,there's only one plant on that side, the other went outside yesterday.
It was getting crowded. :)
We get gouged by the local power company ~$.40 per Kwh.!
So I decided to see how little power could grow good meds. indoors.
Could probably shave a few more watts, but am legal so my flowering is outdoors in the greenhouse.

Here's a snap of one of the lights;View attachment 588953
View attachment 588954
Those are 15W. Ledengin emitters but I under-drive them for efficiency and longevity.

No want to hijack a thread, but you did ask, yah?
Lemme go start an album in my profile if you'd like to see more.

Aloha,
Weeze

Np, plethora of info is the goal your are indeed contributing, but I believe basic engineering skills will be needed for the setup you have. 4-6 plants was my goal.

Happy Growing!

 

[Napata]

View attachment 588972
i wouldnt buy a mars light, they got booted from the forum because they were not honoring warranties. They were sending replacement parts and expecting people to solder and fix their own lights for warranty

Btw what is the yield veg'n with 75w??

 

[Napata]

Great!

Now what was the size of your grow space, again?

Awkward growing space, its about 4x2 6-7 plants maybe

 

[keiksweat]

Get square

Awkward growing space, its about 4x2 6-7 plants maybe

pots,and you'll get six in nice..good luck pal.love a good led showdown....hehe.

 

[PhatNuggz]

180W GALAXY HYDRO VS. 300W MARS HYDRO Obviously the wattage is higher on the Mars; but which one performs more efficiently?

See heliospectra www regarding the green light spectrum titled The Forgotten Spectrum

 

[RockymtnErik]

Very interested in the post but i didn't see much discussion about the initial two options. I'm using a mars 300w led and its been running for about three months with no incident and is just now bringing my first plant to the end of flower... I know my first plant had some learning curves to master but overall the quality is good and the yield will be improved on my next grow. im in a 2'x4' space planning on growing two plants. contemplating more light.... 400w HPS 90$ for driver reflector and bulb is cheeper than LED but would i need to worry about temp.

 

[keiksweat]

y

Very interested in the post but i didn't see much discussion about the initial two options. I'm using a mars 300w led and its been running for about three months with no incident and is just now bringing my first plant to the end of flower... I know my first plant had some learning curves to master but overall the quality is good and the yield will be improved on my next grow. im in a 2'x4' space planning on growing two plants. contemplating more light.... 400w HPS 90$ for driver reflector and bulb is cheeper than LED but would i need to worry about temp.

Yes,heat definitely will need exhausted out of there.maybe a scrubber and a little fresh air intake too.then we'd really have some 2x4 action.especially with hps and led spectrums working simultaneously.be real nice.