Spider Farmer LED Grow

Chad.Westport

Chad.Westport

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Credit to Berner Herzog for the below info, but it heavily applies to the current mood of the conversation.

Are your plants lacking “top bin” LEDs and name brand recognition or are they lacking IR light and under canopy lighting? And in your personal life, are you lacking money, or clout?

What if I told you 576 “top bin” Samsung LM3018 diodes are better than 606 “best” Samsung LM3018 diodes, but we’ll run them all hotter to compensate? What if I told you that those 30 fewer diodes were going to cost you an extra $150? If I were you at this point I’d start to look at fluff terminology like “top bin” and “best” and ask if it is worth paying much more per diode, and getting fewer diodes based on a marketing term.

But if we’re going to fluff lets get to it. The “top bin” to me sounds like a place where all the dust collects, that’s not just a fact, its a law of nature. Where would I put my finest product? Not in that dusty top bin. Now “best”, well nothing is better than “best”. That’s a law of language. Where is the “best” bin? They’ll never tell you but it sure as shit isn’t at the top. The “top bin”, perhaps is for foreign buyers, the “best” bin could be for locals and friends who can repay favors. But this is all fluffing, and we have become fluffers.

Whatever quality “top bin” may or may not have is not great enough to overcome 30 additional “best” diodes from the same manufacturer on their competitors product. That difference also won’t amount to much considering their competitor uses the same brand of driver (Mean Well). Their competitor has two 760nm IR light diodes, they have none. To compensate for the numerical inferiority they run more watts through fewer diodes than their competitor. To top it all off they charge you $150 more for less product than their competitor.

At this point the bin debate goes to independent laboratory testing to defend “top bin”. The more expensive option has one listing from one trade organization and a letter from a lab in Anaheim, CA. The less expensive option has that same listing, and no letter from Anaheim, CA. So now we’re at less diodes, no IR, name brand recognition, some official stationary from Anaheim, CA and hotter diodes on average all for the low low price increase of $150.

So at this point you need to chose either $450 plus fluff and heat or $300 plus IR, 30 additional diodes, and less heat.

MATH vs BRAND LOYALTY:

$300 : (SPIDER FARMER) {SF-2000} 606 diodes (28 deep red diodes, 2 760 nm IR diodes, 576 LM3018 3000-5000k mixed diodes) 2 IR diodes plus 28 deep red diodes, (identical number of white/blue diodes as HLG total number of diodes)

or

$450 : (HORTICULTURE LIGHTING GROUP) {HLG 300L V2 RSpec} 576 diodes (32 deep red LM3018 3500k) No IR Diodes 30 less diodes overall

Or lets say you’ve been looking at a HLG 550 RSpec:

$800 : (HORTICULTURE LIGHTING GROUP) {HLG 550 V2 RSpec} 1152 diodes (64 deep red 1088 LM3018 3500k) No IR diodes 60 less diodes overall

vs

$600 (2X SF-2000 @ $300) : (SPIDER FARMER) {SF-2000 (two fixtures)} 1212 diodes (56 deep red diodes, 4 760nm IR diodes, and 1,152 LM3018 3000-5000k mixed diodes) 2 IR diodes, plus 28 deep red diodes, (identical number of white/blue diodes as HLG total number of diodes)

My personal experience with the SF2000 is that it produces a stem on every leaf and when mated with a hybrid aquaponic/hydroponic setup I get about four stems forming per week, every week of veg. The two larger plants below spent 10-14 days in seed starting mix before being transplanted into the hybrid A/H mini barrels on September 7th. Today is October 7th.

(Girl Scout Cookie plant to the far left is from May 31st and part of a semi disappointing bonsai experiment, that’s where the unusual branching comes from)

Final Points:

So at this point if the quality of quantity isn’t enough, and a fuller spectrum means nothing, lets look at performance. We do not have a lab that will work for free, but we do have AlboPepper on YouTube, which is the same thing minus a neighboring Target and Starbucks. A single SF-2000 will achieve a PPFD of 1054 in a 20×36 space, meaning your DLI is 45.5 for a 12 hour flower. Outdoor flowering light is 60 DLI for comparison. Reference material:
Go to 3:20 to skip straight to it

Why and how is PPFD of 45.5 very good?
22:00 for PPFD to DLI

Why LEDs are inherently better grow lights https://www.canr.msu.edu/floriculture/uploads/files/updateefficacy.pdf

P.S.

Q: “Wait, where’s the under canopy lighting coming from?”

A: The money you saved.

-Burner “the power of china compels me” Herzog
 
Grownsince95

Grownsince95

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Only supposed to have to buy an overpriced led grow light once. Advertised to last up to 10 years.


My t-5 lamps and hps/mh ballasts and reflectors are all fine after 7.

And my dell laptop still lights up after 10.

;-)
What informs these opinions you have? Have you ever owned or used a SF product?
(thats a rhetorical question btw)

The problem with the internet is people can pretend to be experts on everything while having absolutely zero to back it up.
 
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Chad.Westport

Chad.Westport

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All those drivers have a dimmer just not an external knob. Its worth $10-$30 and a couple wires.

The good ir diodes are worth a lot more.

I know guys with 5 year old hlg boards running fine. I guess in 4 years we will know if these are still ok.


The cheap dimmer is marketing more than value.
It is odd that the HLG would have this feature but the company doesn't advertise it. Sounds off to me.
 
Moshmen

Moshmen

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It is odd that the HLG would have this feature but the company doesn't advertise it. Sounds off to me.
None of them do it’s built in the driver. I’m sure there are growers out there that don’t even know they dim their lights !
 
Grownsince95

Grownsince95

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None of them do it’s built in the driver. I’m sure there are growers out there that don’t even know they dim their lights !
Yeah, that's because you have to remove it and flip it over lol crazy
Mine are on top of the tent now
 
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MIMedGrower

MIMedGrower

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It is odd that the HLG would have this feature but the company doesn't advertise it. Sounds off to me.


Lol. There is a dimmer pot under the cover on those drivers. They just add a knob and 2 short wires.

I just told @Aquaman i would stop posting here. So all please do good research. If i can find out anyone can.
 
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Grownsince95

Grownsince95

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Damn what's your deal dude? Uh I thought forums were here so that opinions can be expressed. Now if the opinion doesn't match the intent of the thread then it is now called "disrespect" and "trolling" instead of expression? Little extreme there bud, don't ya think? And if you dig in a little deeper, you'll see I'm with you. Some of us want cheap entry points. I went even cheaper than Mars and Spider... I sunk all the way down to Viparspectra. I would have taken on a couple of SF2000 instead of P2000 if they could have backed up their published data that is now unpublished. So what about the people who made purchased based upon the information that is now no longer available because it was disproven? Is that not disrespectful to them? Idk man. Idk.
I apologize because my "trolling" comment was not directed at you, it was in reference to other remarks made by another member and I worded that response badly. I was trying to respond to your comment about posting less but in an unclear way.
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

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We encourage debate and questions.... we also encourage being civil and keeping personal attacks out of it.

Been in my share of LED threads and I understand they get heated but lets respect everyone here including the OP, those who spend a lot of time helping others and new growrers

Just poppim in in to keep the temps down before they get high. Think of it like we just got 85 in our LED grow room. We are still in good place lets keep it there guys. Not directing at anyone and remember we are all here for the same reasons.
 
Anthem

Anthem

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All I know is that when I asked Syder Farmer why there chart did not add up to the numbers they showed as an average they took the chart down off their website and took the average off the balance of their lights. They were forced to answer the question or face?
 
Chad.Westport

Chad.Westport

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Lol. There is a dimmer pot under the cover on those drivers. They just add a knob and 2 short wires.

I just told @Aquaman i would stop posting here. So all please do good research. If i can find out anyone can.
Just a knob and two short wires it what made the sale. It's infinitely more convenient than removing the driver to adjust the dimmer.
 
lilnew

lilnew

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All I know is that when I asked Syder Farmer why there chart did not add up to the numbers they showed as an average they took the chart down off their website and took the average off the balance of their lights. They were forced to answer the question or face?
ya...their chart do not add up to the actual results...
 
Chad.Westport

Chad.Westport

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In regards to PAR testing of SF, there are a variety of youtube videos from credible reviewers. The numbers are a little lower than from the company, but that is par for the course. I prefer to see others investigate than take the word of the company.
 
Glassdub

Glassdub

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And my dell laptop still lights up after 10.

;-)
Just replaced my decade old Asus notebook, had it a week haven't cracked the box, no time to start the month of tweaking needed to make Win 10 usable.
Old one works sorta, still Win7, won't boot on battery (though battery is good, deadlocks) nic died years ago, have to use a usb dongle for a wired connection, bluescreens constantly whenever it feels like it, so yeah its time, has been for a few years....
 
MHippie

MHippie

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In regards to PAR testing of SF, there are a variety of youtube videos from credible reviewers. The numbers are a little lower than from the company, but that is par for the course. I prefer to see others investigate than take the word of the company.

I'm sure if I ran SF then I'd get a frosty grow. Almost anything is better than outside this time of year. I remember when HPS/MH combo fixtures were the shit and cost a small fortune. They grew frosty nugs too lol :))) I guess it comes down to optimum output for the money spent. If I was a commercial guy then I'd probably be investing in much higher line lights. Maybe one day I'll give an SF4000 a whirl and see what happens. But it wont be because of their published data lol :))))
 
Grownsince95

Grownsince95

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In regards to PAR testing of SF, there are a variety of youtube videos from credible reviewers. The numbers are a little lower than from the company, but that is par for the course. I prefer to see others investigate than take the word of the company.
Yeah, and after all this debate im taking the piss and getting an entry level PAR meter to check for myself. Can't afford an apogee, but I have a thing for cheapo amazon knockoffs so...
Screenshot 20201016 194420 Chrome

I will post my results no matter what and we can have some farmer verified findings to look at and discuss.
 
Grownsince95

Grownsince95

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In regards to PAR testing of SF, there are a variety of youtube videos from credible reviewers. The numbers are a little lower than from the company, but that is par for the course. I prefer to see others investigate than take the word of the company.
Exactly! I spent a month researching before I bought mine and not more than 5 min on company literature. I'd love to see the same scrutiny of HLG or whatever, I bet its the same.
 
Grownsince95

Grownsince95

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LOL, I've had 3 different meters, and I use my cellphone the most, it's much better, easier to use, and much much more convenient.

Yes I do too! but lux is just a rough measure of PAR because of spectrum differences. You have to factor the conversion on the source of the light. What I've been doing is multiplying my lux × .015 for a rough estimate. So for instance 65,000 lux is 975 umol. In another week I will see how close the estimate was.
 
MHippie

MHippie

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Yes I do too! but lux is just a rough measure of PAR because of spectrum differences. You have to factor the conversion on the source of the light. What I've been doing is multiplying my lux × .015 for a rough estimate. So for instance 65,000 lux is 975 umol. In another week I will see how close the estimate was.

Gettin' all scientificky with it.. 😁
 

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