Mars Hydro FC-E3000 lifecycle performance

jckingcpa · Sep 26, 2022

I have been researching the Mars Hydro FC-E3000 for a 3x3 tent. I see a lot of posts with plants in the veg or early flower stage but not many in full flower. How does this light do for flowering?

The Mars literature says its good for 3x3 personal grow coverage or 2.5 x 2.5 commercial grow. What’s the difference? Does it really not cover 3x3? What makes a larger coverage (obviously less performance) acceptable for personal but not commercial grows?

I can spend more money on a light but looking at the specs for the FC-E3000, the competition doesn’t look a lot better. Can someone help me understand why others are better besides just saying Samsung is better. If the specs are the same, is there something extraordinary that Samsung does better? What are you successfully using in a 3x3?

Oldsog · Sep 26, 2022

i use 480w kingbrite leds over a 3x3 TRAY and they work great. been using them for close to 5 years.

Variety719 · Sep 26, 2022

Oldsog said:
i use 480w kingbrite leds over a 3x3 TRAY and they work great. been using them for close to 5 years.

Your the one who recommended king bright to me a years ago on the 🏝. That light still rockin!

corndizzle9 · Sep 26, 2022

The footprint for these will just depend on how high you hang it. I think that by "commercial" they mean c02, and personal is no c02. To get over 1000 par you probably have to have it so low that the footprint won't cover 3x3. They should have a PAR map picture for the light at different heights

jckingcpa · Sep 26, 2022

corndizzle9 said:
tetttThe footprint for these will just depend on how high you hang it. I think that by "commercial" they mean c02, and personal is no c02. To get over 1000 par you probably have to have it so low that the footprint won't cover 3x3. They should have a PAR map picture for the light at different heights

The c02 vs no c02 makes sense. Thanks. They do have a PPFD map. I take their documentation lightly.

BehindEnemyLines · Sep 27, 2022

jckingcpa said:
The Mars literature says its good for 3x3 personal grow coverage or 2.5 x 2.5 commercial grow. What’s the difference? Does it really not cover 3x3?

The FC-E3000 is 24x24 inches, it won’t cover 3x3 ideally like you’re going to want, if you’re seeking peak performance.

A Mars Hydro FC-E4800 is 32x32 inches, it will fit in your 36x36 inch tent and give you peak performance.

Get the FC-E4800 and run it 6-12 inches over your canopy. It will run most efficiently, cooler, and effectively that way. That’s how it is intended to be ran; close to the canopy.

Candidly, I would look for a bar style light equivalent in size and wattage, but with Samsung lm301b or lm301h diodes and a meanwell driver.

I have 2 Spider Farmer SE3000’s side by side in a 3x3 tent, you can see my diary. I had to rig them to make it work, but it works really well for me. I’ll say I did research and when I bought my first SE3000 it had lm301b diodes and a meanwell driver. I was going to get a SE5000 (equivalent to the light I recommended to you) but I won another SE3000 in a contest for free. The free unit I was sent came with a Spider Farmer brand driver; I looked and they have now changed their advert to market their name brand drivers. I’m assuming to cut costs. Read my prior paragraph on what I would suggest knowing that many companies (mars hydro and spider farmer included) are using name brand drivers in many cases.

jckingcpa · Sep 27, 2022

BehindEnemyLines said:
The FC-E3000 is 24x24 inches, it won’t cover 3x3 ideally like you’re going to want, if you’re seeking peak performance.

A Mars Hydro FC-E4800 is 32x32 inches, it will fit in your 36x36 inch tent and give you peak performance.

Get the FC-E4800 and run it 6-12 inches over your canopy. It will run most efficiently, cooler, and effectively that way. That’s how it is intended to be ran; close to the canopy.

Thank you. That brings up another question. Looking at the PPFD map, a few inches makes a big difference. I don't have a uniform level canopy so will their be a lot of diversity in the buds as some will be closer than others to the light?

BehindEnemyLines · Sep 27, 2022

jckingcpa said:
Thank you. That brings up another question. Looking at the PPFD map, a few inches makes a big difference. I don't have a uniform level canopy so will their be a lot of diversity in the buds as some will be closer than others to the light?

That’s why you want a bar light, your tall plants can grow close to the sun without getting burned to death.

Get a board style light and those uneven canopies are gonna kill you. Ideally you want to keep your canopy even, regardless of the light you’re running. Bar styles are just significantly more forgiving.

I edited my first response check it out.

Also, don’t let those maps freak you out. Ideally you’re going to be running the light dimmed to achieve even 800-1000 ppfd (or more). I would recommend getting a Par meter, I have a thread about the Apogee SQ-420 VS MQ-610 and for $238 the SQ-420 will probably serve you well.

mannitu68 · Sep 27, 2022

the Vipar Spectra KS3000 is also 300 watt and pretty large, think 32x32. Would be a perfect spread. I think theyre even on sale now. It does -somehow-look better quality to me than the Mars. And on Migro it had 2.3 useable PPFD, the best result from the "Trio Infernale". (Spiderfarmer, Mars, Vipar Spectra, they all brought their 300-watt-light around the same time, bars also look very similar, at least on video)

edit: just looked on Vipar, the price-jump from the KS2500 to the KS3000 is pretty drastic, 210 to 370 bucks....hm. KS2500 would give you about 700 PPFD average in a 3x3. but its only 60x60cm sized.

2Bad · Sep 27, 2022

BehindEnemyLines said:
The FC-E3000 is 24x24 inches, it won’t cover 3x3 ideally like you’re going to want, if you’re seeking peak performance.

A Mars Hydro FC-E4800 is 32x32 inches, it will fit in your 36x36 inch tent and give you peak performance.

Get the FC-E4800 and run it 6-12 inches over your canopy. It will run most efficiently, cooler, and effectively that way. That’s how it is intended to be ran; close to the canopy.

Candidly, I would look for a bar style light equivalent in size and wattage, but with Samsung lm301b or lm301h diodes and a meanwell driver.

I have 2 Spider Farmer SE3000’s side by side in a 3x3 tent, you can see my diary. I had to rig them to make it work, but it works really well for me. I’ll say I did research and when I bought my first SE3000 it had lm301b diodes and a meanwell driver. I was going to get a SE5000 (equivalent to the light I recommended to you) but I won another SE3000 in a contest for free. The free unit I was sent came with a Spider Farmer brand driver; I looked and they have now changed their advert to market their name brand drivers. I’m assuming to cut costs. Read my prior paragraph on what I would suggest knowing that many companies (mars hydro and spider farmer included) are using name brand drivers in many cases.

I've had a fce-4800 for over a year and I can tell you 6-12 inches that sounds way to close. I believe in flower I had mine about 20-24 inches and it foxtailed hard. Any recommendations for me?

BehindEnemyLines · Sep 27, 2022

2Bad said:
I've had a fce-4800 for over a year and I can tell you 6-12 inches that sounds way to close. I believe in flower I had mine about 20-24 inches and it foxtailed hard. Any recommendations for me?

What is your growing space/tent size?

I'm assuming then you're running the light at or near 100%?

Do you have a Par Mater (Apogee?) ?

You should be able to run that light at the very least 10-12 inches away from the canopy; however, that's not at 100% or likely even 90%. To run that close without co2 you need to dim the fixture; you're looking for approximately +/- 800 ppfd. I'm guessing at 10-12 inches your light would be dimmed somewhere in the range of 60-80%.

Now with all that said, I would only run my fixture that close if the light is going to be completely covering the canopy. If you're running that same light in a 5x5 tent and you have plants wall to wall, I wouldn't suggest hanging the fixture that low.

It greatly depends on genetics also, I have multiple strains side by side right now, 1 strain is foxtailing while the rest are not.

2Bad · Sep 27, 2022

Oooooohhh okay that makes sense yeah it was at 90-100% I believe. So that makes sense now I appreciate it.

Smokey0418 · Sep 27, 2022

2Bad said:
I've had a fce-4800 for over a year and I can tell you 6-12 inches that sounds way to close. I believe in flower I had mine about 20-24 inches and it foxtailed hard. Any recommendations for me?

It’s not far off. The hotest would be smack dab in the middle, pushing 900 ppfd is a good thing.

A meter does serve its purpose.

Spoton was my choice.

Mars Hydro FC-E3000 lifecycle performance

Mars Hydro FC-E3000 lifecycle performance

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