Vivosun. anyone happy with their products?

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DreamwalkerJ

DreamwalkerJ

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Yes Ive had some problems. I bought two of their 600w HPS One I used immediately the other had to wait until new seeds arrived which took a month. Hooked the 2nd one up and the ballast died after 5 days. It was over 30 days (Amazon Warranty) but they gave me a one-time over warranty return. I reordered another same day. The replacement works fine so far and the first light works excellent also but the ballast has gone to whining loudly but otherwise working fine but since plants are in veg Im only using 400 watts. Im concerned the whining may be a warning. I contacted Vovosun directly and they replied wanting the invoice number just waiting to see it they think it is an issue and will do anything about it. The whining doesnt bother me since its in a dedicated grow room I just hope it doesnt go out. Other than that they are kickass lights for the money.
If you are using a dimmable ballast, tell me youre using a 400w bulb and not using a 600w bulbimmed down to 400w. The balladt is not meant for that. It REALLY overworks the ballast and sometimes if the duty cycle is different it can literally shake the inside of the bulb apart. Or what usually happens is nothing, nothing at all. Until the fire. So please tell me that you use a 400w bulb when the ballast is dimmed to 400
 
Edinburgh

Edinburgh

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Dont like Mars, have had a 600w viperspectra for a few years runs good, spider farmer if running photoperid plants, viperspectra now has full spec chip boards like spider im shure there good, other than that your gonna spend, California Light Works is very good and black dog is top end, viperspectra just came out with commercial lighting thats not to badley priced.
 
Jaspercane

Jaspercane

35
18
If you are using a dimmable ballast, tell me youre using a 400w bulb and not using a 600w bulbimmed down to 400w. The balladt is not meant for that. It REALLY overworks the ballast and sometimes if the duty cycle is different it can literally shake the inside of the bulb apart. Or what usually happens is nothing, nothing at all. Until the fire. So please tell me that you use a 400w bulb when the ballast is dimmed to 400
These are Vivosun 600 watt Kits from the Vivosun store on Amazon. Im using the bulbs that were provided with it. Both the MH and HPS bulbs are 600w. The 600w Ballast has 4 settings 250w,400w,600w and Super Lumens.
 
DreamwalkerJ

DreamwalkerJ

424
93
These are Vivosun 600 watt Kits from the Vivosun store on Amazon. Im using the bulbs that were provided with it. Both the MH and HPS bulbs are 600w. The 600w Ballast has 4 settings 250w,400w,600w and Super Lumens.
Right but dimmable ballasts are meant to be ised with matched lights. I thought you mentioned running it at 400w with a 600w bulb, thats why i was suggesting you maybe not so that. Super lumens adds 10% more power so it will run at 660W. Personally i use the super lumens when i know its the bulbs last cycle. Give it 10% more power for the last cycle before tossing.
 
DreamwalkerJ

DreamwalkerJ

424
93
Right but dimmable ballasts are meant to be ised with matched lights. I thought you mentioned running it at 400w with a 600w bulb, thats why i was suggesting you maybe not so that. Super lumens adds 10% more power so it will run at 660W. Personally i use the super lumens when i know its the bulbs last cycle. Give it 10% more power for the last cycle before tossing.
That whining you hear from the ballast can be exactly for this reason. Please listen, if you do not match the bulb wattage to to the output power that the ballast is ACTUALLY putting out, you ARE risking a bulb explosion or ballast fire. Best case scenario is that the ballast just burns out. Please listen. Exploding HID bulbs and ballast burn outs cause bad electrical fires. Bad. Its stuff like THIS that makes people think all growers are reckless, irresponsible drug dealers that dont care if they hurt anyone or cause property damage. This and uncontrolled humidity are the main reasons nobody wants to rent to growers or have growers living near them. I even knew of some fucktard that would move into a house, cover every floor with soil and do 1 big grow then take the plants and leave the whole mess for the homeowner to clean. I know a landlord that went to jail for 5 years because, unknown to him, the people he rented to blew up the house making oil, the landlord even got badly burned pulling them out of the fire, but he still got 5 fucking years for something he had no part of. Please EVERYONE....IF you are going to grow indoors, BE RESPONSIBLE. If you cannot afford to do it properly then wait until you can or ask for help. We need to work together to get rid of the bad stigmas that good, responsible growers have to face. It sucks being a licensed producer but being unable to find a place to live because nobody wants "a dangerous, reckless grower" living in THEIR house. Fuck off you get your mortgage paid for free every month for doing nothing at all and i have gone through all the legal red tape so fuck yourself. Remember all, if you have an existing lease and there is nothing about cannabis on it, they cant stop you from growing your own medicine as long as its legal and youre not destroying the property. TRY to do things nicely but ultimately NOBODY has the right to tell you that you cant grow your own medicine, but they do have the right to say you cant destroy their house.
 
Jaspercane

Jaspercane

35
18
That whining you hear from the ballast can be exactly for this reason. Please listen, if you do not match the bulb wattage to to the output power that the ballast is ACTUALLY putting out, you ARE risking a bulb explosion or ballast fire. Best case scenario is that the ballast just burns out. Please listen. Exploding HID bulbs and ballast burn outs cause bad electrical fires. Bad. Its stuff like THIS that makes people think all growers are reckless, irresponsible drug dealers that dont care if they hurt anyone or cause property damage. This and uncontrolled humidity are the main reasons nobody wants to rent to growers or have growers living near them. I even knew of some fucktard that would move into a house, cover every floor with soil and do 1 big grow then take the plants and leave the whole mess for the homeowner to clean. I know a landlord that went to jail for 5 years because, unknown to him, the people he rented to blew up the house making oil, the landlord even got badly burned pulling them out of the fire, but he still got 5 fucking years for something he had no part of. Please EVERYONE....IF you are going to grow indoors, BE RESPONSIBLE. If you cannot afford to do it properly then wait until you can or ask for help. We need to work together to get rid of the bad stigmas that good, responsible growers have to face. It sucks being a licensed producer but being unable to find a place to live because nobody wants "a dangerous, reckless grower" living in THEIR house. Fuck off you get your mortgage paid for free every month for doing nothing at all and i have gone through all the legal red tape so fuck yourself. Remember all, if you have an existing lease and there is nothing about cannabis on it, they cant stop you from growing your own medicine as long as its legal and youre not destroying the property. TRY to do things nicely but ultimately NOBODY has the right to tell you that you cant grow your own medicine, but they do have the right to say you cant destroy their house.

Im never to old to learn! Thank you for sharing this with me! Dang good information to know! Hope it helps more than just me!

I dont have any 400 watt bulbs so Im gonna turn the ballast up to 600w as it is designed for. I had a early burn when there were young caught it quickly with minimal damage to plants. So I have always been a little wary of using them at 600w until the flip. Plants are big and healthy...let the sun shine! (I'll keep a close watch on that ballast!)
 
DreamwalkerJ

DreamwalkerJ

424
93
Im never to old to learn! Thank you for sharing this with me! Dang good information to know! Hope it helps more than just me!

I dont have any 400 watt bulbs so Im gonna turn the ballast up to 600w as it is designed for. I had a early burn when there were young caught it quickly with minimal damage to plants. So I have always been a little wary of using them at 600w until the flip. Plants are big and healthy...let the sun shine! (I'll keep a close watch on that ballast!)
Go to google play (or apple whatever) and download a lux meter. I know plants use many wavelengths of light and lux only measures visible spectrum, BUT, it will give you a general idea of the intensity of your light. For seedlings and early clones aim for 5000-8000 lux. For veg: 35,000-45,000 and for flower you want it high. GENERALLY weed flowers best right around 84,000 lux, any higher and the plant CAN start closing the photoreceptor cells in an attempt to protect itself from excess light. Having said that, i frequently have my lights putting 100,000 lux with no ill effects, nothing but window-breaking buds. But it is strain dependant, watch those canopy temperatures, they should be right around 20°C i hope this helps. Happy growing.
DwJ
 
DreamwalkerJ

DreamwalkerJ

424
93
Im never to old to learn! Thank you for sharing this with me! Dang good information to know! Hope it helps more than just me!

I dont have any 400 watt bulbs so Im gonna turn the ballast up to 600w as it is designed for. I had a early burn when there were young caught it quickly with minimal damage to plants. So I have always been a little wary of using them at 600w until the flip. Plants are big and healthy...let the sun shine! (I'll keep a close watch on that ballast!)
Its all about heat dissipation and light intensity brother. If the edges of the leaves start to curl upward and then if the leaf starts to cup that is from heat damage, the canopy is too hot. If the plant starts growing single lobed leaves that look like mint leaves with no serrations, that usually means they are very light stressed. A general rule used by growers running HIDs is put your hand above the canopy for 30 seconds. If you hand is uncomfortable, so are the plants.

A quantum light meter or a spectrometer, like the ones from AlliedScientific measure PPFD of the entire light spectrum. PPFD is Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density. Its a measurement for any given wavelengths energetic ability to photosynthesize. It measures how much energy the plants get. Whereas PAR or Photosynthetically Active Radiation measures ONLY the visible spectrum. No UV. No IR. Both UV and IR are critically important. If you want to see buds that look like theyre covered in snow then pound them with a UV-B light during week 4 and then again for the last 2 weeks of lower. So anyways, there an app on google play called LightSensorToPPFD. Its conversion to ppfd is debateable but it has a really cool feature, it allows you to select the light source you are measuring. So if you select single ended/mogul base High Pressure Sodium, it uses some sort of digital magic to roughly approximate the overall intensity. Its a free app and it will help you give the girls the right amount of light.

FWIW, i use 1000w lights all the way from clones in the buckets to flower. I just dont move my lights any more. They are at the right height to be far enough away from seedlings and young clones but as soon as they grow into full veg they get more light. Then i top the plants again, manifold them all under a screen and switch to flower. By the time the stretch is done, all the stalks are the perfect height to get the optimal amount of light. All without moving my lights once.

If you need anything else or have any questions or anything, feel free to message me or you can post it on here, there are a lot of good people at the farm that are happy to help anyone that wants to learn. If i dont hear from you again, i wish you well and happy growing
DwJ
 

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