Mars Hydro BEWARE of what your buying, it isnt customer service.

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Dirtbag

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Well the end result was horrible, they sent a replacement ts 3000 they put together with old used parts.

The quantum boards don't put out the same lux as the old ones and they put the wrong drivers on it without the dimmer option.

We live in a small town in Arizona. Winslow had a commercial grow come in for medical about 6 years ago. The dispensary wasn't the greatest but it was all the medicinal patients had. 3 years ago they closed the dispensary and moved it to Phoenix for greed.

At that time we got a cultivators license to grow. The newest dispensary is 120 mile round trip for medical card holders. The median income in this town is $17,600 single and $36,000 household. The 578 card holders can not afford to drive 120 miles. Some are elderly and can't drive at all.

We decided to grow at a cost of what my wife's medicine was costing us. All excess we grow is donated to other card holders. Hell my job is Department of Transportation regulated, I can't even partake in a toke.

Mars Hydro customer service led us on to believe they were taking care of us with the parts. They delayed our flip to flower 2 months and still screwed us over. Which is now screwing over the medical card holders that depended on us.

If they were honest and just told us, we would have sourced a new light right away.

So in our opinion, be careful in who you buy lights from. Have back up lights on hand capable of flowering your grow.

I ended up making a 240 watt out of all the parts and I kept the 150 watt they sent even though the requested it back. So I didnt get the full 480 watts of light we had but it was enough to flip to flower.

Going forward were going to try out new spider farmer, vivosun and kingbrite. Probably 3-4 months of saving before we get a replacement.

So if you read this and are looking for a light, I would look at another company.

Spider farmer gives a light away almost every month and has 20% off right now on their lights.

#Spiderfarmersf4000

I'll post some picks of the hack job Idid on the ts3000 to make it a 240 watt.
That ts3000 looks like one nasty piece of engineering. From the weak plug to the metal sides coming down trapping heat from the diodes..

I'm about to try the newer model spiderfarmer sf4000 myself here in the next week or so, I just need to get the tent setup first. So far it seems like a very well built light with a very unique diode layout.

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Mean Well XLG-240 drivers
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Treecutter

Treecutter

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That ts3000 looks like one nasty piece of engineering. From the weak plug to the metal sides coming down trapping heat from the diodes..

I'm about to try the newer model spiderfarmer sf4000 myself here in the next week or so, I just need to get the tent setup first. So far it seems like a very well built light with a very unique diode layout.

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Mean Well XLG-240 drivers
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Yea, I have a smaller SF we use in a 2x2 for clones and autos. Its never failed us. Great light. Good luck with the grow
 
Mothman

Mothman

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Yea, I have a smaller SF we use in a 2x2 for clones and autos. Its never failed us. Great light. Good luck with the grow
Treecutter, thanks for sharing your Mars Hydro tale of woe. No way around it—they suck. Sorry you’re dealing with all of that.

I’m coincidentally gathering the fixins for my retiree hobbyist grow project now. I had considered MH lighting until I read the sad reviews on Amazon (looking at both the TSW2000 and FC-E3000) about their hardware AND their nonexistent customer service. Your thread tells me I was right to put them on my “bad guy list.”

Soooo… I’m gravitating toward lesser-known names. Yehsence Y1500 (2 of em) for an 80-inch tall 3x3, or a Groplanner 300W (or possibly 4x100 watts daisy chained into a single 2’x2’ unit). I see MIGRO had a favorable review for the Groplanner. It does look to be well designed and reviews are strong for both companies.

Any thoughts on either of these builders from you or any others here? Thanks
 
Treecutter

Treecutter

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Treecutter, thanks for sharing your Mars Hydro tale of woe. No way around it—they suck. Sorry you’re dealing with all of that.

I’m coincidentally gathering the fixins for my retiree hobbyist grow project now. I had considered MH lighting until I read the sad reviews on Amazon (looking at both the TSW2000 and FC-E3000) about their hardware AND their nonexistent customer service. Your thread tells me I was right to put them on my “bad guy list.”

Soooo… I’m gravitating toward lesser-known names. Yehsence Y1500 (2 of em) for an 80-inch tall 3x3, or a Groplanner 300W (or possibly 4x100 watts daisy chained into a single 2’x2’ unit). I see MIGRO had a favorable review for the Groplanner. It does look to be well designed and reviews are strong for both companies.

Any thoughts on either of these builders from you or any others here? Thanks
Vivosun has some good prices right now and their newer lights have the 301h diodes.
For a smaller grow I would be going with the vivoson or kingbrite.
I love the kingbrite lights but the downfall is the wait time and shipping cost from China. If you do go through kingbrite on alibaba, make sure to chat with one of the agents to get the Shipping price down. They put a standard fee on the shipping for people that just check out which is way higher than what they will charge you if you chat with an agent. I try to chat with Vicki.

If your going for a 3x3 grow i would at the least have 300 watts. The more lights you have will spread out more light.

My two 240 watt kingbrite covers a much bigger area than the MH ts 3000 which is 480 watts. At the time I bought them I paid $330 total for both and that included shipping. Either setup will cover a 4x4 but I can fit the king Brite in a 2x4 and other smaller tents.
 
Mothman

Mothman

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Vivosun has some good prices right now and their newer lights have the 301h diodes.
For a smaller grow I would be going with the vivoson or kingbrite.
I love the kingbrite lights but the downfall is the wait time and shipping cost from China. If you do go through kingbrite on alibaba, make sure to chat with one of the agents to get the Shipping price down. They put a standard fee on the shipping for people that just check out which is way higher than what they will charge you if you chat with an agent. I try to chat with Vicki.

If your going for a 3x3 grow i would at the least have 300 watts. The more lights you have will spread out more light.

My two 240 watt kingbrite covers a much bigger area than the MH ts 3000 which is 480 watts. At the time I bought them I paid $330 total for both and that included shipping. Either setup will cover a 4x4 but I can fit the king Brite in a 2x4 and other smaller tents.
Thanks for the advice re Kingbrite and Vivosun @Treecutter, I appreciate it.

I’ve been struggling with the (apparently competing) concepts of: 1) light intensity and 2) light uniformity across the grow space.

I’ve been looking for those lights (in my price range) that have a fairly consistent PAR map while also providing coverage that slightly exceeds the tent footprint. Then I look for the highest true wattage and quality that I can afford. I’m also keying on how responsive the mfr is with previous buyers. Does this approach make sense?

I also noted your comment about 2x240 giving more light than 1x480. I’ve wondered about that. That’s why I’ve been thinking of linking/attaching multiple lower wattage lights to get the same total watts while giving more uniform coverage side to side. Might be a bit cheaper this way, too. Is this valid or am I down the rabbit hole?
 
ThatRapperWeed

ThatRapperWeed

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I agree, I've had terrible customer service from them. Bought my first LED's from them but I'll upgrade to Luxx when they're toast.
 
superskunkfunk

superskunkfunk

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Thanks for the warning about them man! I actually always used HID lighting but was looking to get a lower powered LED for VEG and Clones. Mars Hydro was the main one I was considering, but spider farmer had a sale going on and another promotion with paypal credit so I went with them instead. Soooo glad I did. Got a better light for less money than I would've given MH.
P.S. - You're a good ass dude man, not many people would provide others with medicine out of their own pocket. Out here doing gods work 😁
 
Nectarivorous

Nectarivorous

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Man I bought 2x TSL 2000. Within two months one of the 'quantum' boards on one started not firing up every couple of lights on, in the last week the second one is doing the same. They're three months old. They've provided enough light to get me within a few weeks of harvest, I can get them to come on by flicking them on and off a few times but I will never rely on them for a grow again. I'll get enough out of this grow to be able to cover the cost and write them off, for next time I'm gonna spend 2000 and get handmade ones from a guy who makes them five minutes from my house. The quality is unreal and has a massive spectrum from UV to far red. Never again Mars Hydro. Some pics of the new light. Grow Lights Australia

 
Cashmeh

Cashmeh

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Man I bought 2x TSL 2000. Within two months one of the 'quantum' boards on one started not firing up every couple of lights on, in the last week the second one is doing the same. They're three months old. They've provided enough light to get me within a few weeks of harvest, I can get them to come on by flicking them on and off a few times but I will never rely on them for a grow again. I'll get enough out of this grow to be able to cover the cost and write them off, for next time I'm gonna spend 2000 and get handmade ones from a guy who makes them five minutes from my house. The quality is unreal and has a massive spectrum from UV to far red. Never again Mars Hydro. Some pics of the new light. Grow Lights Australia

I've been using a tsl 2000 since February. 18 on 6 off no issues... I love how it vegged plants and budded plants. I can't really complain about it honestly.
 
Nectarivorous

Nectarivorous

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I've been using a tsl 2000 since February. 18 on 6 off no issues... I love how it vegged plants and budded plants. I can't really complain about it honestly.
Yeah totally agree on that front, if it felt sturdy and didn't have these issues I'd love it, really happy with the amount of light it puts out for the money. But I need to know it's gonna do its thing every time, can't be tied to the house because I can't be sure they're gonna come on 🤷‍♂️ These lights in getting are unreal and made five minutes from my house. Just makes sense to go with those.
 
Treecutter

Treecutter

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Yeah totally agree on that front, if it felt sturdy and didn't have these issues I'd love it, really happy with the amount of light it puts out for the money. But I need to know it's gonna do its thing every time, can't be tied to the house because I can't be sure they're gonna come on 🤷‍♂️ These lights in getting are unreal and made five minutes from my house. Just makes sense to go with those.
They worked good until they didn't. Kingbrite has become my favorite in little tents but the shipping delay sux
 
Mothman

Mothman

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Yeah totally agree on that front, if it felt sturdy and didn't have these issues I'd love it, really happy with the amount of light it puts out for the money. But I need to know it's gonna do its thing every time, can't be tied to the house because I can't be sure they're gonna come on 🤷‍♂️ These lights in getting are unreal and made five minutes from my house. Just makes sense to go with those.
So these two should still be warranted. Have you dealt with MH yet regarding that?
 
Nectarivorous

Nectarivorous

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They worked good until they didn't. Kingbrite has become my favorite in little tents but the shipping delay sux
Exactly.
So these two should still be warranted. Have you dealt with MH yet regarding that?
No not yet. I'm just focused on getting through this grow which means making sure I'm there for lights on each day. I may well be able to get funds back or replacements but probably not going to get it done in the four weeks of flower I have left. As I say if they get me through it's great, the lights have delivered a really good result, I just don't trust the build quality given I've only bought two lights from them and both have the same issue. But I will gladly acknowledge the negative reports about their customer service are not true in my experience if that proves to be the case. Honestly if they only ever deliver me this grow they've paid for themselves at the price I paid.
 
Treecutter

Treecutter

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Exactly.

No not yet. I'm just focused on getting through this grow which means making sure I'm there for lights on each day. I may well be able to get funds back or replacements but probably not going to get it done in the four weeks of flower I have left. As I say if they get me through it's great, the lights have delivered a really good result, I just don't trust the build quality given I've only bought two lights from them and both have the same issue. But I will gladly acknowledge the negative reports about their customer service are not true in my experience if that proves to be the case. Honestly if they only ever deliver me this grow they've paid for themselves at the price I paid.
I would get ahold of them as soon as possible. Make sure you give them the model, good pics and everything. I made the video above and sent them a link from my Google drive and they sent me the wrong board.

Even if the send you used boards that work at least you know they work. I ended up buying a soldering station and repaired mine. But diving into an education in electronics repaired was not what I wanted.
 
Nectarivorous

Nectarivorous

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I would get ahold of them as soon as possible. Make sure you give them the model, good pics and everything. I made the video above and sent them a link from my Google drive and they sent me the wrong board.

Even if the send you used boards that work at least you know they work. I ended up buying a soldering station and repaired mine. But diving into an education in electronics repaired was not what I wanted.
Good advice. Honestly I'd be happy to get a couple boards that work, the plan is to retire these back to use for perhaps a mother or a tent for veg. I just can't trust them not to fail during a grow, given both have suffered a failure within 3 months of purchase. But I can definitely use them for veg.

Spider Farmer did contact to see if I wanted to do a grow with one of their lights but they've since stopped responding so probably going to go with the Australian Grow Lights unit above. So well made and with great spectrum, will probably end up doing grow testing for them instead on here. They are based not far from where I live so really convenient for repairs. Just gotta negotiate price with him and should be good to go for next run in about 5 weeks ☺️
 
lepubdo

lepubdo

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So I sent an email to Mars hydro explaining my TS 3000 480 watt light had a PCB "quantum" board go bad. I notified them that they needed to fix the design flaws of the female Jack plug on the board.

There is nothing structured to secure the jack the driver plugs into other than the solder joints.

They asked for a video description of the problems so they could have an engineer look at it.

I recorded this video and sent it off telling them I would attempt to solder it back.

The next day I notified them there was no success on the repair, circuit was burned from the short.

They sent me an email back stating they would send a new pcb.

I thought, Great I'll wait to flip to flower and just run off of half the ts3000 and keep the girls in veg until the board gets here.

Week later a package shows up. I open it and the pick below is what they sent. A used banged up 150 watt light with a driver.

Emailed them back twice now in the last three days. Nothing but the crikets chirping.

So anyone thinking of purchasing one of their lights with a pcb "quantum board" consider being very careful with the driver cords or purchasing from another brand.
Don't end up like me and have a grow and a half out of it and $400 plus dollars down the tube.
So I sent an email to Mars hydro explaining my TS 3000 480 watt light had a PCB "quantum" board go bad. I notified them that they needed to fix the design flaws of the female Jack plug on the board.

There is nothing structured to secure the jack the driver plugs into other than the solder joints.

They asked for a video description of the problems so they could have an engineer look at it.

I recorded this video and sent it off telling them I would attempt to solder it back.

The next day I notified them there was no success on the repair, circuit was burned from the short.

They sent me an email back stating they would send a new pcb.

I thought, Great I'll wait to flip to flower and just run off of half the ts3000 and keep the girls in veg until the board gets here.

Week later a package shows up. I open it and the pick below is what they sent. A used banged up 150 watt light with a driver.

Emailed them back twice now in the last three days. Nothing but the crikets chirping.

So anyone thinking of purchasing one of their lights with a pcb "quantum board" consider being very careful with the driver cords or purchasing from another brand.
Don't end up like me and have a grow and a half out of it and $400 plus dollars down the tube.
Same experience! Same problem with my TS3000, Mars Hydro told me to resend a new one, but finally i get a used TS3000 with spider farmer manual. By doing some research, the truth show that spider farmer and Mars hydro are same company, we are all fooled by this cunning china seller. They are selling poor quality led by sending free samples to some video posters or sponsoring some forums. More ugly is the best views we see here are posted by their employees. if you not do some research, you will never find the truth.
 
Narsbars

Narsbars

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You can find a Viparspectra P1500 as low as $89.00 using a coupon. I have three in a 4x4 tent and the plants love them. There are much better lights but at the price and the reliability after two years I am completely satisfied. Will be going for one of their XS series lights next.
 
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