Best LED for your bang

Hmm I see a lot of diss on viparspectra I just bought a few of the 450s and have been happy so far. You can find videos online of decent harvest with them. Mars is decent to I think they sponser 420..also my viparspectra panels run nice and cool and quiet.

I know forsure that a higher quality led would produce better but for the price I think they are OK and they actually have good customer service to with a warranty on there panels..there reviews are good to. I know a lot of people on here also like and speak well of Mars leds.
 
Here is the best I could come up with. You could save money and get the price down. Could go bridglux as well


3’x3′ Grow Space Builds
We’ll want about 270 watts of power for a 3’x3′.

Show less...
Samsung F-Series LT-F564B 2′ LED Strip Build – 3’x3′
Parts list:
5x Samsung LT-F564B 2′ Strips ($133)

1x Mean Well HLG-320H-48B Driver ($93)

1x 100K Ohm Potentiometer for Dimming ($7)

1x Resistor for Potentiometer ($6) Note- resistor is only required if your potentiometer measures less than its rated resistance. Use a resistor in series to bring the pot up to its rated resistance.

~10 Feet of 2″ Heat Sink ($40) Note – this length is an estimate only… make sure to measure your space so your heat sinks are cut short enough that they’ll fit.

~12 Feet of 3/4″ x 3/4″ x 1/8″ thick Angle Aluminum for Frame ($30) Note – this length is an estimate only… make sure to measure your space to properly size your frame.

1x Roll of Thermal Tape, 30mm x 25m ($16) Note – you’ll need to double your tape up on the heat sink to cover the width of this strip.

1x LLT L20 Waterproof Power Connector for Driver AC Connection ($10)

Hookup wire cut to whatever length you need ($10) Note – I use 18 gauge to connect my wagos to my strips. I use minimum 14 gauge for wago-to-wago connections.

6x 5-Conductor Wagos ($20)

1x 6-Pack of Ratcheting Hangers ($19)

Total Price Estimate (USD) = $384 + Shipping

System Specs:
Type: C.V./Parallel

Diode Count: 720

System Voltage: 46.8V

System Current: 6,700mA

System Power: 313.3W

Lumen Estimate (3000K): 52,777

Efficacy: 168 lm/w
 
Stunned said:
it only costs 35 bucks to get the fixture pre assembled and tested :rolleyes:
this isn't the area that blows his budget apart
even a Vipar Specrta 600 on Amazon is 250.00 dollars
and that is woefully short on light for a 4X4
need more Deniros Senior! :p
Click to expand...

amen to that, cheap leds are a scam.
and the lie is propagated by people who got ripped off and dont want to admit it ( cognitive dissonance, google it)
 
MuscleGrower said:
I am in need of LED as my HPS is way to hot for my environment.
Click to expand...

Hmm... You'll still be looking at approximately 3.412141633 BTU/hr per watt, regardless of whether you're using HPS, MH, LED, CFL, et cetera. That's just the physics of "releasing" photons into an enclosed space.

In other words, if you replace a 600-watt HPS with 600 watts of LED lighting, you'll be producing about the same amount of heat from the actual light.

But wait, there's more ;) . The average HID setup has a remote ballast - which means it's normal for the gardener to place that significant heat source outside of the actual grow area. The average LED panel has its power supply onboard, where it can serve the added purpose of giving you justification for the air conditioner you just installed in your grow room :rofl: . They can be moved out of the grow space easily enough, of course - but it's generally an additional step, and you'll have to either go buy some wire and connectors or buy an adapter cable or two from the company that makes the LED panel (if it makes such cables available).

And more, again: The average LED panel uses from one to four little fans to move heat out of its case. That's all well and good for the LED panel, lol - but doesn't do a thing in terms of the heat in the grow room (unless you count "increases it"). But with HID lighting, the gardener has the option of purchasing an air-cooled reflector. This can be helpful. Consider this: If you have "open" lighting, its heat is automatically in the grow room (so to speak) - and you, therefore, must treat everything as one unit. Fan, filter, ducting. You've got hot stinky air to deal with. Because it's stinky, it must pass through the carbon filter. Because it's heated (and humidified), pushing it through the filter interferes with the filter's efficiency and shortens its life. With an HID in an air-cooled reflector, OtOH, the gardener has the option of setting the light(s) up on a completely separate ventilation run. Air gets brought into the grow space from somewhere else, passes through the HID reflector, and moves that heat, by way of the fan/ducting, out of the grow space without it ever mixing/intermingling with the general grow space. That exhausted air is hot - but not stinky, so no carbon filter required there. As it's not forced to move air through a filter (restriction), the fan need not be so powerful. The gardener can release this air pretty much wherever he/she wishes, because again it has NO odor. The fan that is ventilating the garden must still use a carbon filter, but it'll be moving much less air (and significantly cooler air) - so the carbon filter works more efficiently and lasts longer. One might even be able to run that fan sporadically instead of constantly. And many of those air-cooled reflectors have insulating covers available to help even more with separating the light's heat production from the grow space in general.

In other words, if you end up with an equal amount of watts, you might have more heat-related issues than you wold with a good HID setup instead of less. It's situational, I suppose ("Your mileage may vary...").

I'm not trying to scare you away from LED lighting (it may or may not be for you). I can think of reasons to use it - I just don't happen to think that heat is one of them. Not on a watt-for-watt basis. I think that all the cheap garbage in the market has served to give a lot of people the wrong idea in that regard, to wit: If someone replaces a 1,000-watt HPS with some generic "1000w Best Happy LED Smile" (that is, in actuality, only a 234-watt device), then OF COURSE they'll notice less heat - because they're only producing roughly 20% to 25% of the light that they were previously, LMAO.

I saw mention of Mars-Hydro in this discussion. Some favorable, some less than that. Yes, the company sells "blurples." But they also sell some more expensive products that appear to be good producers. AND... The company recently released two "white light" LED products, their SP-150 and SP-250 models. They also just (as in, within the last week or so) released a third, their TS-1000. These lights appear (to me, at least) to be somewhat of the same technology that is popularized by the Samsung stuff that's in those "Quantum Board" light products. For all that, they're (again, IMHO) pretty inexpensive. The newest one, the TS-1000, is currently listed (before "friendly forum member discount") at $109.99(US), which means it's less than 74 cents per watt (it's a 150-watt device).

The above is not a recommendation. I simply don't have the experience with those products that I'd require to be able to make one (for or against). It was meant more to illustrate the fact that the company sells more than just the usual blurples that it has been noted for in the past. IMHO, the company's lighting technology model is maturing - it just seems to be happening at a slower pace because... Well, it's a question of scale, isn't it, lol? Some guy in his spare bedroom - or even a small company with ten or twelve employees - can make significant changes on the fly. But a company that has its own factories tends to have a bit of inertia to overcome. Or... something, IDK.

I don't know what combination of those you'd need to properly light a 4'x4' tent. Obviously, if you're running photoperiodic strains, you'd need more light than you would with autoflowering ones (because you'll be lighting them for 12 hours per day during the flowering phase instead of 18 or more). In other words, it might be helpful to think about what kinds of cannabis plants you intend to grow in the near future so as to not end up buying more than you could conceivably need, or less. You'd have to figure that out and then take a look at the above products in order to decide whether they'd be viable candidates to illuminate your garden.

I posted this for several reasons. Among them are the fact that Mars-Hydro is one of our forum sponsors (I tend to highlight sponsors' names in discussions here) and has been for years - so when someone purchases one of their products, they're kind of getting paid back, in part, for all the money the company has spent on keeping our favorite forum in existence and free for all of us to use and benefit from. I also posted because the above products are fresh in my mind, lol, since I got a pair of the SP-150 lights and (Disclaimer ahead ;) ) just won one of their brand new TS-1000 models.

Again, I don't have any experience with them, and am about to do my very first cannabis grow with this company's lighting products. Maybe they'll be awesome, maybe they'll be... not so much. But my expectation is that they'll perform pretty well (otherwise, I wouldn't be preparing to use the them).

I assume other people will continue to post suggestions and/or possibilities. Hopefully, you'll end up with enough information - and enough different choices - to be able to pick something that best fits your budget, your climate, and your grow space. If not, consider shrinking your grow space (which would mean that it would require less light and, therefore, produce less heat), rethinking your ventilation/cooling setup (you're not just moving the heat into the room your grow tent is sitting in, then moving it right back inside your tent, are you, lol?), et cetera.

You might end up deciding to go with one or more of those new Mars-Hydro products, a different sponsor's products, a non-sponsor company's products... a "traditional" LED panel, newer "Quantum style" LED lighting, building something yourself, buying a kit... or staying with HID and just redoing your setup.

Please let us know what you do end up deciding on and (later) how that ended up working out for you.
 
TorturedSoul said:
Hmm... You'll still be looking at approximately 3.412141633 BTU/hr per watt, regardless of whether you're using HPS, MH, LED, CFL, et cetera. That's just the physics of "releasing" photons into an enclosed space.

In other words, if you replace a 600-watt HPS with 600 watts of LED lighting, you'll be producing about the same amount of heat from the actual light.

But wait, there's more ;) . The average HID setup has a remote ballast - which means it's normal for the gardener to place that significant heat source outside of the actual grow area. The average LED panel has its power supply onboard, where it can serve the added purpose of giving you justification for the air conditioner you just installed in your grow room :rofl: . They can be moved out of the grow space easily enough, of course - but it's generally an additional step, and you'll have to either go buy some wire and connectors or buy an adapter cable or two from the company that makes the LED panel (if it makes such cables available).

And more, again: The average LED panel uses from one to four little fans to move heat out of its case. That's all well and good for the LED panel, lol - but doesn't do a thing in terms of the heat in the grow room (unless you count "increases it"). But with HID lighting, the gardener has the option of purchasing an air-cooled reflector. This can be helpful. Consider this: If you have "open" lighting, its heat is automatically in the grow room (so to speak) - and you, therefore, must treat everything as one unit. Fan, filter, ducting. You've got hot stinky air to deal with. Because it's stinky, it must pass through the carbon filter. Because it's heated (and humidified), pushing it through the filter interferes with the filter's efficiency and shortens its life. With an HID in an air-cooled reflector, OtOH, the gardener has the option of setting the light(s) up on a completely separate ventilation run. Air gets brought into the grow space from somewhere else, passes through the HID reflector, and moves that heat, by way of the fan/ducting, out of the grow space without it ever mixing/intermingling with the general grow space. That exhausted air is hot - but not stinky, so no carbon filter required there. As it's not forced to move air through a filter (restriction), the fan need not be so powerful. The gardener can release this air pretty much wherever he/she wishes, because again it has NO odor. The fan that is ventilating the garden must still use a carbon filter, but it'll be moving much less air (and significantly cooler air) - so the carbon filter works more efficiently and lasts longer. One might even be able to run that fan sporadically instead of constantly. And many of those air-cooled reflectors have insulating covers available to help even more with separating the light's heat production from the grow space in general.

In other words, if you end up with an equal amount of watts, you might have more heat-related issues than you wold with a good HID setup instead of less. It's situational, I suppose ("Your mileage may vary...").

I'm not trying to scare you away from LED lighting (it may or may not be for you). I can think of reasons to use it - I just don't happen to think that heat is one of them. Not on a watt-for-watt basis. I think that all the cheap garbage in the market has served to give a lot of people the wrong idea in that regard, to wit: If someone replaces a 1,000-watt HPS with some generic "1000w Best Happy LED Smile" (that is, in actuality, only a 234-watt device), then OF COURSE they'll notice less heat - because they're only producing roughly 20% to 25% of the light that they were previously, LMAO.

I saw mention of Mars-Hydro in this discussion. Some favorable, some less than that. Yes, the company sells "blurples." But they also sell some more expensive products that appear to be good producers. AND... The company recently released two "white light" LED products, their SP-150 and SP-250 models. They also just (as in, within the last week or so) released a third, their TS-1000. These lights appear (to me, at least) to be somewhat of the same technology that is popularized by the Samsung stuff that's in those "Quantum Board" light products. For all that, they're (again, IMHO) pretty inexpensive. The newest one, the TS-1000, is currently listed (before "friendly forum member discount") at $109.99(US), which means it's less than 74 cents per watt (it's a 150-watt device).

The above is not a recommendation. I simply don't have the experience with those products that I'd require to be able to make one (for or against). It was meant more to illustrate the fact that the company sells more than just the usual blurples that it has been noted for in the past. IMHO, the company's lighting technology model is maturing - it just seems to be happening at a slower pace because... Well, it's a question of scale, isn't it, lol? Some guy in his spare bedroom - or even a small company with ten or twelve employees - can make significant changes on the fly. But a company that has its own factories tends to have a bit of inertia to overcome. Or... something, IDK.

I don't know what combination of those you'd need to properly light a 4'x4' tent. Obviously, if you're running photoperiodic strains, you'd need more light than you would with autoflowering ones (because you'll be lighting them for 12 hours per day during the flowering phase instead of 18 or more). In other words, it might be helpful to think about what kinds of cannabis plants you intend to grow in the near future so as to not end up buying more than you could conceivably need, or less. You'd have to figure that out and then take a look at the above products in order to decide whether they'd be viable candidates to illuminate your garden.

I posted this for several reasons. Among them are the fact that Mars-Hydro is one of our forum sponsors (I tend to highlight sponsors' names in discussions here) and has been for years - so when someone purchases one of their products, they're kind of getting paid back, in part, for all the money the company has spent on keeping our favorite forum in existence and free for all of us to use and benefit from. I also posted because the above products are fresh in my mind, lol, since I got a pair of the SP-150 lights and (Disclaimer ahead ;) ) just won one of their brand new TS-1000 models.

Again, I don't have any experience with them, and am about to do my very first cannabis grow with this company's lighting products. Maybe they'll be awesome, maybe they'll be... not so much. But my expectation is that they'll perform pretty well (otherwise, I wouldn't be preparing to use the them).

I assume other people will continue to post suggestions and/or possibilities. Hopefully, you'll end up with enough information - and enough different choices - to be able to pick something that best fits your budget, your climate, and your grow space. If not, consider shrinking your grow space (which would mean that it would require less light and, therefore, produce less heat), rethinking your ventilation/cooling setup (you're not just moving the heat into the room your grow tent is sitting in, then moving it right back inside your tent, are you, lol?), et cetera.

You might end up deciding to go with one or more of those new Mars-Hydro products, a different sponsor's products, a non-sponsor company's products... a "traditional" LED panel, newer "Quantum style" LED lighting, building something yourself, buying a kit... or staying with HID and just redoing your setup.

Please let us know what you do end up deciding on and (later) how that ended up working out for you.
Click to expand...
Wow, that TS-1000 model sounds promising. I wonder how many of those would fit in a 4x4.
 
BobbyZ said:
Wow, that TS-1000 model sounds promising. I wonder how many of those would fit in a 4x4.
Click to expand...

In a perfect world, I'd want five of them, and I still wouldn't be trying to grow buds as long as my arm, because I have zero idea as to how well they'd be able to penetrate a canopy in comparison to a 600-watt - or even a 400-watt - HPS.

I used to read high-dollar flashlight reviews written by a guy who used layers of blankets to demonstrate intensity/penetration. These - and most LED grow lights - produce a pretty decent amount of light, especially for their wattage. But each individual LED's power is, well, slight. I ask myself, "If a Techman Superior Self Defense Flashlight (I made that name up, BtW) will shine through three layers of blankets but not four of them, will TWO TSSDFs then shine through six layers of blankets? Five? Four? Or will the pair only manage to shine through three layers - but make things brighter underneath the pile, lol?

IDK. It seems like they wouldn't. It seems like having two headlights won't illuminate objects twice as far away as one would, only that having two of them will give you a wider field of light, allow you to aim one at the area directly in front of your vehicle and the other one into oncoming drivers' eyes (sorry, personal gripe!), et cetera. But I'm just speculating here; I am not a lighting engineer or even the poor SOB builder who has to take the mad imaginings of engineers and actually turn them into reality.
 
Fawk! I was just in the middle of major edits/additions to the above post, opened another thread to do some web searching... and pressed CTRL Q by mistake instead of CTRL W (thereby quitting my web browser instead of merely closing a tab in it). WtF is the point of that "Drafts" thing in this message entry box if its only options are to save or delete the draft? How about a @#%#%*^*!%^&!%&^&^ option for recovering what you've just typed?

Anyway... I lost my train of thought. And got frustrated & decided to take a break from typing. Here's the sponsor's mega-thread:

Mars-Hydro LED Grow Light Discussion

Hello everyone, As a led grow light manufacture in China, I am very happy that I am here, be a sponsor. although we have been in this field many years, our online shop just get online this month. in order to celebrate it, we decided to give $20,$40....coupon to customers. more light you order...
www.420magazine.com

Feel free to post in it and ask your question about how many TS-1000 products you'd need for a 4'x4' tent. Might want to include the other two recent products (SP-250 and SP-150) in that consideration, because it'll give you more options. In other words, you might be able to come closer to the "ideal" by using a mix instead of just one model. Or, alternately, that it works out cheaper for you to do so, IDK.

You are welcome to mention that I suggested you go ask directly in her thread, too ;) .

I've seen her responses evolve over time. By that I mean that the suggestions have become more... realistic, so to speak - I take that to mean that this company actually pays attention to feedback from its customers, and learns from same. I could, of course, be mistaken here, but I have the impression that they try to give accurate information. They're kind of between the proverbial rock and hard place of trying to do so while still managing to look competitive against the companies who sell products at even cheaper prices but advertise them as being "2000w LED" stuff. They seem to be doing a pretty good job of it. Another thing that tells me that they pay attention to their customers is that the company redesigned their grow tents a few years ago, and the rep was in her thread asking US what we wanted to see in a grow tent, in terms of features. (And that's when I started paying more attention to them.)

Oh, and be sure to ask her if there is any kind of discount code available. There usually is ;) .
 
Maybe try Mars Hydro TS-1000 ? Very nice quantum borad lights, white light, high efficiency, power adjustable, no fan design, and mostly importantly, you get just a little over 100USD to cover your 3x3 tent. :D
 
SmokeSara said:
Maybe try Mars Hydro TS-1000 ? Very nice quantum borad lights, white light, high efficiency, power adjustable, no fan design, and mostly importantly, you get just a little over 100USD to cover your 3x3 tent. :D
Click to expand...

see if be willing to give the new quantum style board a shot, i do actually need another qb. how many watts is it though?
 
Tinted Tahoe said:
Hmm I see a lot of diss on viparspectra I just bought a few of the 450s and have been happy so far. You can find videos online of decent harvest with them. Mars is decent to I think they sponser 420..also my viparspectra panels run nice and cool and quiet.

I know forsure that a higher quality led would produce better but for the price I think they are OK and they actually have good customer service to with a warranty on there panels..there reviews are good to. I know a lot of people on here also like and speak well of Mars leds.
Click to expand...

I'd agree. You get what you pay for, but you can't always afford to shell out. I have a TopLed 96, which was what Mars originally was. It's 5 years old and going strong and I like it better than the Vipar 450 I got to replace it. Eventually I stepped up to an Optic 2, but the blurples got me through ok, and they're still useful.
 

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