Which LED Will Cover 36x30 Space?

[Happyjoy]

hey everyone.
i have a question here on choosing a led for my first grow.

my space is around 36"x30"

my budget is around 200$ +/-.

my main goal is quality. dont care too much about quantity.

so ive been looking at the budget lights in my range, and kind of broke it down to the mars reflector 96x3, or
platinum P150.

i know that appearently the mars 96x3 is twice the amount of wattage output, but on the spec sheet they look like they both cover the same area succesfully. also im aware that wattage isnt the main factor in LEDS and that the par plays a bigger part.
which is why im considering the platinum. ive read in some places that they are much better than the mars series, and in other places that its pretty much the same deal.

i would really appreciate experienced opinions on this. thnks!

specs for MARS REFLECTOR 96x3. says coverage is: 4.4x2.2

specs for PLATINUM P150: says coverage is: 4.5x3.5 (is this surprising considering its half the wattage of the reflector)? it says it replaces a 150W HPS. and that

so is it worthit to put in the extra money for the platinum P150. will that even suffice my space? i could supplement some cfls if its important. i just have been getting the idea that maybe the P150 is a better quality overall light...it has secondary lenses and seems to be mroe liked. is this true?

 

[Happyjoy]

re: Which LED Will Cover 36x30 Space?

BUMP
anyone?

 

[zoori]

re: Which LED Will Cover 36x30 Space?

hey everyone.
i have a question here on choosing a led for my first grow.

my space is around 36"x30"

my budget is around 200$ +/-.

my main goal is quality. dont care too much about quantity.

so ive been looking at the budget lights in my range, and kind of broke it down to the mars reflector 96x3, or
platinum P150.

i know that appearently the mars 96x3 is twice the amount of wattage output, but on the spec sheet they look like they both cover the same area succesfully. also im aware that wattage isnt the main factor in LEDS and that the par plays a bigger part.
which is why im considering the platinum. ive read in some places that they are much better than the mars series, and in other places that its pretty much the same deal.

i would really appreciate experienced opinions on this. thnks!

specs for MARS REFLECTOR 96x3. says coverage is: 4.4x2.2

specs for PLATINUM P150: says coverage is: 4.5x3.5 (is this surprising considering its half the wattage of the reflector)? it says it replaces a 150W HPS. and that

so is it worthit to put in the extra money for the platinum P150. will that even suffice my space? i could supplement some cfls if its important. i just have been getting the idea that maybe the P150 is a better quality overall light...it has secondary lenses and seems to be mroe liked. is this true?

Hi, I'm new here, but I have the p 450 and she don't cover 4.5x3.5 In flowering so I'm very sceptic abuts the p 150 will do the job, I also have the Mars 96x3 but it's still in his way to my my tent is 3x3 fq hope I have helped you

 

[Happyjoy]

re: Which LED Will Cover 36x30 Space?

well still looking for more opinions...
in actuality the room size will be around 2.3'x3'. so thats the correct size i need to light for....
im intrested in hearing though why u chose the mars 96x3 now, after u already own the p450. are u hoping that its an upgrade?

 

[zoori]

re: Which LED Will Cover 36x30 Space?

well still looking for more opinions...
in actuality the room size will be around 2.3'x3'. so thats the correct size i need to light for....
im intrested in hearing though why u chose the mars 96x3 now, after u already own the p450. are u hoping that its an upgrade?

Hi, so I bought the p450 its Should have replaced my 600 hps, but after I got And installed I Found that i don't have Enough light and I spent all my money on it so I bought the reflector to Help t p450

 

[iamcyclopseat]

re: Which LED Will Cover 36x30 Space?

If you only have a $200 budget, buy a 400w HPS (or 600w so you can expand a little). You wont get enough LED for $200 to cover a 7 sq ft area. Even with higher quality LED (ie: Vero or Cree COBS), you will need atleast 30w per sq ft.

The power savings for such a small area is minimal between 400w HPS and the equal to LED. Also, you lose efficiency with cheap LED and will have lower yields.

If you did choose to utilize a cheap LED unit, Id suggest a 144x3 at minimum from MarsHydro or a P450 at minimum and even at that, a 400w HPS will probably outproduce with just a good of quality.

You can pretty much guarantee that most companies advertise complete bullshit for their products. Just assume that when looking at manufactured LED. If you wanted a quality LED unit, look into the Optics Vero or Area51 LED. Those are a couple that I would recommend but they are way out of your price range. You can also build a quality 200w LED with some Cree COBs for about $300-350 that would blow away the P450 and 144x3.

This comes from someone who tried a P450 and ship that garbage back. That p450 could barely cover a 2'x2' area let alone their bullshit claims. And even then, you could see that the buds around the edges werent forming like the ones directly under the light.

 

[Antics]

re: Which LED Will Cover 36x30 Space?

96x3 reflector will cover the area, but is low on wattage for the square footage.
The P150 seems small for that specific area.

I would aim for 260-375 watts total on the light(s).

Or, if you can settle for a CFL grow now, and can wait, you can watch me flower 2 plants, under 2 of these lights: LED Grow Light 100x3w - Mars Hydro

I'm growing in 7.19 square feet. Which is 41.72-47.28 watts per square foot. Plants are in Veg now, and will be going into Flower in 2-3 weeks.

 

[iamcyclopseat]

re: Which LED Will Cover 36x30 Space?

How is that 42w per sq ft Antics? That light draws a max of 170w. 7 sq ft you are only running at about 24w per sq ft. Barely acceptable for even the top of the line LED lighting.

Just because its called a 100x3w LED (300w in diodes), that does not mean they are being fed that much power. This is the marketing that I am talking about in my above post. People believe they are getting a 300w light when in reality, they are only getting 170w max (varies depending upon make/model).


Errrr, editing as I did not see you are utilizing 2 of those lights. So yeah, you will be around 48w max per sq ft which IMO, its still not enough due to the cheap LEDs utilized. You will grow nice bud no doubt, but your yield will suffer.

 

[oh hai]

re: Which LED Will Cover 36x30 Space?

How is that 42w per sq ft Antics? That light draws a max of 170w. 7 sq ft you are only running at about 24w per sq ft.

you can watch me flower 2 plants, under 2 of these lights

I would suggest you either raise your budget, or get an HPS. I use my P600 to cover a 2x4 foot area, and have two of them in a 4x4 tent.

 

[Happyjoy]

re: Which LED Will Cover 36x30 Space?

If you only have a $200 budget, buy a 400w HPS (or 600w so you can expand a little). You wont get enough LED for $200 to cover a 7 sq ft area. Even with higher quality LED (ie: Vero or Cree COBS), you will need atleast 30w per sq ft.

The power savings for such a small area is minimal between 400w HPS and the equal to LED. Also, you lose efficiency with cheap LED and will have lower yields.

If you did choose to utilize a cheap LED unit, Id suggest a 144x3 at minimum from MarsHydro or a P450 at minimum and even at that, a 400w HPS will probably outproduce with just a good of quality.

You can pretty much guarantee that most companies advertise complete bullshit for their products. Just assume that when looking at manufactured LED. If you wanted a quality LED unit, look into the Optics Vero or Area51 LED. Those are a couple that I would recommend but they are way out of your price range. You can also build a quality 200w LED with some Cree COBs for about $300-350 that would blow away the P450 and 144x3.

This comes from someone who tried a P450 and ship that garbage back. That p450 could barely cover a 2'x2' area let alone their bullshit claims. And even then, you could see that the buds around the edges werent forming like the ones directly under the light.

Well ths everyone. I need to say i wasnt expecting these answer, but im really happy and ready to change my game plan.
I have a friend i can borrow a 400w hps from in the meantime till i save up
I have some questions though.
When u said that a 144x3 will cover, but will suffer, do u mean that it will suffer just in quantity, or also quality?
I dont care so much about the quantity as its just personal use, and im not a heavy user. So do u think the oeverall quality will also be lacking, using the reflector 144x3. Vs a 400w hps?

Im intrested also in the idea of building a DIY CRee cobs. Im pretty handy. The only issue would be getting the material. I live in asia and dont have all those hardware stores everyone always speaks about. Could all the componenets be bought on ebay with the free internatinal shipping?

 

[Antics]

re: Which LED Will Cover 36x30 Space?

Well my current grow was mostly done using just one of those lights. Yield only looks like it's going to be about an ounce or so, but is still covered in a ton of trichomes,, so I don't expect any decreased potency.

The reflector models are a little better than the model I use, so I would expect a slightly better yield than what I'll see.

And if you can borrow a 400w HPS, go for it. It'll give you some more time to look into grow journals to compare the results people have had with various LED models.

If you do a search on the forum for DIY LED, I believe there were a couple people that built their own, and I think you could easily locate the parts online.

 

[Happyjoy]

re: Which LED Will Cover 36x30 Space?

ok. do i need alot of electric and soldering skills to do it?

another thing.
ive been reading that in order to decide correctly how much wattage per foot, that u must look at the INTAKE WAT, and not the compared watt. so does that mean that if the reflector 144x3 draws 250W-300W. that it will give not as good results as a 400W HPS?

also, ive read that alot of growers mix HPS and LED lighting together, since they say that HPS strong point is the yield, and LEDs are better for potency and quality of taste and smell.
if so, would it make sense for me to buy a 48X3 reflector, to use together with the 400W HPS in my growspace, to help improve the quality and resin production? or is that useless? since its only like 1/4 of the overall wattage, perhaps the difference wont really be noticed in any way....

the reason i even thoguht of that, is because that way after i return the HPS to my friend, ill have the 48x3LED that i can use in the future for small 1.5Fx1.5F grows of one plant to keep a small stash...
does that make sense, or is it a waste of money?

 

[Antics]

re: Which LED Will Cover 36x30 Space?

To build an LED you'll need:

Solder, Flux, Solder/Desolder tools, heatsinks, multimeter, wire, circuit board or other material to mount the diodes, housing to mount everything, drivers for the diodes, and heatsinks.

You will also need knowledge how to use the tools, experience with DC circuits, series/parallel wiring, ohm's law, etc...

And you'll need to be comfortable knowing that the LED you build will cost more than just buying one, and won't carry a 3 year warranty like my lights. If something breaks, I'm covered. If something breaks in a DIY light, you need to know how to fix it, or you'll be out of more money to fix it.

 

[Happyjoy]

re: Which LED Will Cover 36x30 Space?

To build an LED you'll need:

Solder, Flux, Solder/Desolder tools, heatsinks, multimeter, wire, circuit board or other material to mount the diodes, housing to mount everything, drivers for the diodes, and heatsinks.

You will also need knowledge how to use the tools, experience with DC circuits, series/parallel wiring, ohm's law, etc...

And you'll need to be comfortable knowing that the LED you build will cost more than just buying one, and won't carry a 3 year warranty like my lights. If something breaks, I'm covered. If something breaks in a DIY light, you need to know how to fix it, or you'll be out of more money to fix it.

hehe, good call. well never mind with the DIY for now. ill just need to settle with what i can buy

so how about that previous question of mine?
would it make sense for me to buy a 48X3 reflector, to use together with the 400W HPS in my growspace, to help improve the quality and resin production? or is that useless? since its only like 1/4 of the overall wattage, perhaps the difference wont really be noticed in any way....

 

[Antics]

re: Which LED Will Cover 36x30 Space?

48x3 will help a little, but to be honest, I'd look at going a little bigger if you want to go with LED in the future.

For $10 more, the old model 100x3 offers you almost double the wattage.

BUT, you also have the option to try the HID system, and see how you like it. You might want to go with a MH/HPS grow instead, assuming you can keep things cool with a good fan and a cool tube.

My suggestion, don't rush into this. You have a light coming that you can borrow. Give it a test run. While you're growing, check out journals from other growers that have grown with MH/HPS, CFL/HPS, and various LED models from different manufacturers. See whose growing style and environment is most similar to yours, and that'll help you figure out what's going to work best for you.

Whether you go with CFLs, HID, or LED, they're all going to cost some money, and it's not a decision everyone can afford to make more than once, so just make sure that what you buy will suit you, your growing style, your grow cabinet, and most of all, something that will make you feel happy about the purchase, so every time you open the grow room, you see the lights you bought and say to yourself "That light is the best purchase I ever made!"

 

[Happyjoy]

re: Which LED Will Cover 36x30 Space?

ok thnks.
i dont think my friend whose lending me the hps has a cool tube.
will i be able to keep everything in the room cool enough with just 4 pc fans? 2x12", and 2x8". and a larger fan inside the room for extra circulation
it will be in a room that wont be getting any external heat from the outside, if that makes things any easier.

 

[iamcyclopseat]

re: Which LED Will Cover 36x30 Space?

I built 2 lights with Cree CXB3070 using quality Meanwell drivers. All materials (I used COB holders, which means no soldering the COBS) including fans, heatsinks, LED, and driver cost me $650 for both lights. They put out 220w (measured at the wall) each light, for a total of 440w (probably closer to 400w). You find an LED with 400w of QUALITY LED lighting for $650. Advanced LED, AT, Optics, or Area51 will run you a MINIMUM of $2.50 per watt of light. I built 2 LED that are better quality (as far as lighting, it does not look as "fancy" with a case) that cost me $1.62 per watt of light. Nearly a dollar savings per watt.

Now, if you are buying cheap ass LED lights with cheap diodes and inefficient drivers, then yeah its cheaper to purchase those. Its not difficult to build. A week of reading will teach you enough to build your own. I was told on another forum that I was an idiot not to build my own and I was pretty beside myself. Then I began to read and a week later, I ordered parts and built 2 lights. I did not solder 1 joint (used COB holders, and used crimp caps and shrink wrap) and it works just fine. You do not need a bunch of electrical knowledge to build your own light. People who say that are just scared.

Based on your budget, get yourself a 400w HPS, its the safest easiest bet which will do better than any MarsHydro light for the money.

 

[Antics]

re: Which LED Will Cover 36x30 Space?

Yes, they can cost more to build than buy. From what I priced out, it would cost more.

You spent $650, or $325 for each light, his budget is $200. But I see reading comprehension has completely eluded you in your rush to try to prove me wrong.

And I have 300 watts for $210. Or .70 cents per watt.

Last I checked, $1.62 > .70

Have a nice day.

 

[iamcyclopseat]

re: Which LED Will Cover 36x30 Space?

The amount of LED he will need to cover his area cannot be obtained for $200. How is that putting anyone down? Theres no light from even MarsHydro that will handle his area. Mars Hydro lights are not equal to higher end LED or HPS. Just because you have a 200w MAX light from MarsHydro for $200 does not mean its worth it. He will do MUCH better with a 400w HPS. With a $200 budget, LED just do not make sense.

Im not bashing them at all, just stating the facts. They are great for people with a low budget who want to grow mediocre buds. Will they produce good stuff? Yes.... Are they optimal? Not at all. The point of going to LED is to lower your energy bill. Utilizing MarsHydro (or cheaper LED solutions) will not do this compared to growing with HPS. You need a higher quality LED light to accomplish this.

I would recommend MarsHydro over PLED, Lush, ect ect as they are all the same basically (cheap Epi-whatever diodes w/ cheap drivers) as they are cheaper for basically the same thing. They are all garbage though if you want TRUE led grows, this is fact. I would take a 400w HPS over cheaper LED anyday of the week.

 

[Antics]

re: Which LED Will Cover 36x30 Space?

His area is smaller then mine.

You should calm down a bit, and think things through. He was discussing growing SMALL plants in his other post, why would he want to spend $650 to build lights, when all he wants to suit his needs, is smaller plants?