What is the lifespan of UV diodes?

[Spock]

Hello everyone,
Has anybody else bought an LED grow light like the spider Farmers that have UV diodes and are concerned that they will burn out much faster than the regular diodes? I've noticed some manufacturers like bava green will have a separate switch to turn the UV off and on while other manufacturers like spider farmer have designed them to be on the whole time. I have read that UV diodes have a lifespan of about 5,000 hours. Why would a manufacturer design lights where some of them will burn out much sooner than the rest? Is it very poor design or intentional? I'm thinking about buying a spider farmer mostly because of the detachable driver and the choice of 301b diodes but I'm concerned about the UV diodes not being replaceable.

Cheers

 

[Homesteader]

I am doubtful they would be running them hard enough to only last 5000 hours. More likely I would think it would be around 20000 although at that point the light will probably be something like 50% of what it was in the beginning. IMO I would put my energy towards more PAR and avoid UV altogether if you can. Some love UV leds....I'm not one of them.

 

[Observationist]

surely its more than 5000, but def would go lights that contain UV, check out mars hydro as well

 

[Spock]

Hi thanks for responding guys. I didn't receive any push notifications to say that you guys answered my question. And I haven't been back I've been busy. Sorry about that and thanks for responding. I will never buy another Mars hydro light again. I've had a horrible experience with them and after talking to some stores in the city that I live in and one big online retailer it's well known they don't fix any of their defective lights. They truly just ignore you and don't provide any customer service. As a matter of fact here's something you can try.... phone there American phone number on their website and you will only get an answering machine. If you leave a message saying that you are interested in buying a light they will return the call. If you leave a message that you have a warranty problem they won't return it. They're a scumbag of a company and they have quite the reputation for it if you do some searching on the web. I had a big online Hydroponics and LED light seller tell me that they would send in lights to be repaired and Mars would slap a sticker on it saying it was repaired and send it back the exact same way it was sent in, with absolutely nothing done to it. My fc6500 is dimmer on one side than it is on the other. I didn't notice until I bought a par meter. It's about 25% dimmer and unfortunately I couldn't see it with the human eye.

 

[tobh]

Hi thanks for responding guys. I didn't receive any push notifications to say that you guys answered my question. And I haven't been back I've been busy. Sorry about that and thanks for responding. I will never buy another Mars hydro light again. I've had a horrible experience with them and after talking to some stores in the city that I live in and one big online retailer it's well known they don't fix any of their defective lights. They truly just ignore you and don't provide any customer service. As a matter of fact here's something you can try.... phone there American phone number on their website and you will only get an answering machine. If you leave a message saying that you are interested in buying a light they will return the call. If you leave a message that you have a warranty problem they won't return it. They're a scumbag of a company and they have quite the reputation for it if you do some searching on the web. I had a big online Hydroponics and LED light seller tell me that they would send in lights to be repaired and Mars would slap a sticker on it saying it was repaired and send it back the exact same way it was sent in, with absolutely nothing done to it. My fc6500 is dimmer on one side than it is on the other. I didn't notice until I bought a par meter. It's about 25% dimmer and unfortunately I couldn't see it with the human eye.

there's a reason mars isn't a sponsor here anymore. tread cautiously with SF too. i have suspicions but won't dig into them publicly as I've flown close to the sun before. drop a DM and we can discuss further.

 

[Drasik]

Hi thanks for responding guys. I didn't receive any push notifications to say that you guys answered my question. And I haven't been back I've been busy. Sorry about that and thanks for responding. I will never buy another Mars hydro light again. I've had a horrible experience with them and after talking to some stores in the city that I live in and one big online retailer it's well known they don't fix any of their defective lights. They truly just ignore you and don't provide any customer service. As a matter of fact here's something you can try.... phone there American phone number on their website and you will only get an answering machine. If you leave a message saying that you are interested in buying a light they will return the call. If you leave a message that you have a warranty problem they won't return it. They're a scumbag of a company and they have quite the reputation for it if you do some searching on the web. I had a big online Hydroponics and LED light seller tell me that they would send in lights to be repaired and Mars would slap a sticker on it saying it was repaired and send it back the exact same way it was sent in, with absolutely nothing done to it. My fc6500 is dimmer on one side than it is on the other. I didn't notice until I bought a par meter. It's about 25% dimmer and unfortunately I couldn't see it with the human eye.

I figure bava green had a separate switch to for UV to only use when they were necessary. I've seen some anecdotal evidence that UV helps but nothing really proven. I would assume that some strains UV can be helpful while others it might be harmful. I wouldn't purchase a full spectrum light with UV for that reason. While I'm not sold on the growing capabilities of UV we are doing some testing to see if UV can kill pests and other infestations in plants while used in the light source.