Which LED Will Cover 36x30 Space?

[Dave Groomer]

re: Which LED Will Cover 36x30 Space?

I have 2 Mars-Hydro 400s and 1 900. I could not be happier with my lights. The customer support is outstanding. I think you will find the people that have the Mars-Hydro lights are happy with them. I am tired of hearing how the "Cheap" led are not worth the money. I will not try to compare my Mars-Hydro to other companies because I have not tried the other companies. I will just tell you that I am very glad I made the chose I did to go with the Mars-Hydro light.

BTW, there are many people that are extremely happy with the reflector series lights. Look at Dennise's journal. Dennise - No Longer The Newest Of Newbies - Not Growing In MG - Perpetual

 

[oh hai]

re: Which LED Will Cover 36x30 Space?

It amazes me how heated this subject always gets.

Are the Platinum or Mars lights the best light money can buy? Probably not.

Are they garbage? Absolutely not.

Can they grow? Absolutely, the pictures don't lie

I have a CLW880 and Platnium P600. Am I happy with them? Yes

Would I prefer another brand of light to them? Not at this point, because I don't believe there are any fair comparisons out there and I don't know any better.

Is an Area51 light better than CLW, Mars, or Platinum? I don't know.

When making a purchase, the quality of the product is not the only thing I consider. I would never intentionally buy a bad product, but in my case I was very impressed with the customer service of Mark from Platinum and Sara from Mars. I read some information on another site about Area 51 lights being amazing, but every time I went to the web site there was no one there to answer the online chat. There was no phone number. All of the information I could find on the company led me to believe it's some guy making lights in his basement. Is that a fact? I don't know, but to me it looks like a one man part time operation.

What I am most curious about is the difference in price, wattage, price per wattage, efficiency, build quality and how well they grow just between some of these different LEDs. It's obvious from reading different websites that each one seems to be biased towards one or two brands of LED. Things become even more clouded when a website starts to limit grow journals to sponsor LEDs only, and censors threads on non-sponsored equipment.

 

[Dave Groomer]

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.

And who gives a fuck if they are a sponsor? 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.

Nothing troll, you are just scared of the truth. Venture out and maybe you too will understand. Keep on buying your cheap lights and promoting them like they are the next coming of christ.

I am not sure I agree with you. Under my 900 I grew Train Wreck that in my opinion (and everyone who has tried it) is better then the Blue Berry that was lab tested at 30% THC that I got from my dispensary(which was grown under 1000w hps) It also depends on how you are growing, what nutes etc.

As I said, I am not comparing to other LEDs because I don't have any others. Do you own any Mars-Hydro lights? If not, I don't see how you can put them down.

 

[Happyjoy]

re: Which LED Will Cover 36x30 Space?

oops. sorry everyone for starting such a heated topic. i wasnt trying to open another one of those comparison thread. theres no point as there so many of those, and ive spent hours reading them.
what i was trying to do, as ANTICS pointed out (thnks for again being so helpfull ), was to get educated advice, as to what would serve my particular grow needs.
which is: A)3 small plants, B)potency and quality over quanity. C)my price range.

however a bunch of things came up here which confused me. will a 400W HPS really give better QUALITY than a mars reflector 3W?
i was under the impression from all my online reading that the LED'S have the upper hand in actually smoke quality and taste/smell, but the HPS perform better for larger sized/looking buds. is this true also for these so called 'cheaper' company led's like whats in my budget?

 

[oh hai]

re: Which LED Will Cover 36x30 Space?

Here's how I see this. You have a $200 budget and a 36x30 space you want to fill. If you want to fill that space without spending more money, you need an HPS. If you want to fill that space with LED lighting, you need to increase your budget. If you want an LED, and don't want to increase your budget, you need to be OK with a smaller footprint.

I don't have any sort of light meter to measure the decrease in lighting as you move away from the light, but with a P600 in a 4x4 tent the sides of the tent furthest away from the light are a lot darker than the middle. You'll have that exact same effect on a smaller scale with those lights over that space.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[Happyjoy]

re: Which LED Will Cover 36x30 Space?

ill be happy to make the footprint smaller in order to use LED, if the overal QUALITY will be improved over the hps.
agian i dont care so much about the quantity. whats important to me is to grow bud from each of these 3 strains in this one grow. ill make the plants as small as necesary in order to do that.
but if i understood correctly (correct me if im wrong), that 36x30 is really the smallest practical size, for growing 3 small plants?
if its possible to do it in a smaller space,(even though it would mean smaller yields), im ok with that. please shed some light as how to do it, and if its practical...

 

[stoopingcrane]

re: Which LED Will Cover 36x30 Space?

as a first time growing utilizing 3 P300's and 2 6" vented sealed 600w hps in a 64 square ft area i will chime in . If you buy or borrow HID, you will need ventilation, sufficient amounts of it. The 30 dollar 240 cfm fans will not cut it, so you need to budget in a decent 6" fan, then a filter depending on where you are pulling and exhausting cooling air from. From my perspective as a first time grower, the amount you add to the set up to cool/vent and run HID's is a very important factor. Depending on where you live could be hundreds a month. So, is the initial setup worth it if by the time you harvest it has exceeded the cost of an LED? I am not paid by anyone, i am a disabled professional chef and motorcycle tech, i cant work due injury so i read, and slowy build a medicine cabinet. LED lighting, i can only talk about Platinum, runs much cooler and it is making a mockery of the HID lighting I have. If i could have my druthers i would cover my area in P450 for the large umol output and have a 600w hps hid track back and forth in a cool tube to add a little toothyness to the led stems, which so far are the only problem i have found. This is my first grow and these are only my anecdotal observations. Emperical evidence is as follows, none, i will come back with a full review of the 1200w hps vs the 900w PLed set up, the platinums wattage its truly only 555 watts vs about 1300 for the hids. Amperange is about 9 for led vs about 12 amps for the hps

 

[stoopingcrane]

re: Which LED Will Cover 36x30 Space?

Cooling, venting and running all add into not only the initial startup cost of an HID but the running cost, its okay that you dont get it and need to some reason bring a religious deity into a conversation that has nothing to due with that. Ummm, maybe it is you who needs to venture out, at least stop rambling HID hyperbole on this forum and instead help with the knowlege sharing. The "facts" you speak of i have yet to see any emperical evidence. The tech is so new and evolving that any statement made here could be obsolete in a few months, stop living in the past and help and stop hindering with your opinions.

 

[Antics]

re: Which LED Will Cover 36x30 Space?

LED tends to produce more trichomes that are closer together, but with smaller heads.

HID tends to grow less trichomes further apart, but with larger heads.

Please note the phrase "TENDS TO". This means that these are commonly reported results, but not absolutely written in stone.

 

[Happyjoy]

re: Which LED Will Cover 36x30 Space?

are you sure that these pc fans wont be sufficient for a 400W HPS?
heres the specs:
the fan size is: 4.7"
CFM: 79
max speed: 1300 RPM

with two of those, that wont be good enough?

 

[oh hai]

re: Which LED Will Cover 36x30 Space?

are you sure that these pc fans wont be sufficient for a 400W HPS?
heres the specs:
the fan size is: 4.7"
CFM: 79
max speed: 1300 RPM

with two of those, that wont be good enough?

I doubt that will be enough. From my understanding PC fans do not work, or are significantly reduced in their CFM throughput when trying to deal with any pressure. Duct fans have more torque, they're built to work under pressure. You'll probably get 20-30CFM with two of those combined in a tent/cabinet.

 

[highasakite13]

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.

How good are the optic lights? I'm looking at the vero 360 for a 3x3. Planning to veg flower in the same tent. Thanks!

 

[Dave Groomer]

re: Which LED Will Cover 36x30 Space?

How good are the optic lights? I'm looking at the vero 360 for a 3x3. Planning to veg flower in the same tent. Thanks!

For right around $100 you can get one of the Old style Mars 100x3 lights. Sara just said they were being upgrade to 5w leds. I know Antics has has great success with the older 3w light. I find the customer service from Mars to be Top Notch!!!

 

[Antics]

re: Which LED Will Cover 36x30 Space?

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.

P450 has a 4'x4.5' footprint @ 18". Platinum makes fantastic lights, and countless growers are using them with great success.
If you're only running Veg, it's good to cover 2.75-4.5 square feet, and bloom should be good for 5.5-9 square feet. Which is my opinion based on wattage, and not footprint.

For right around $100 you can get one of the Old style Mars 100x3 lights. Sara just said they were being upgrade to 5w leds. I know Antics has has great success with the older 3w light. I find the customer service from Mars to be Top Notch!!!

Yes sir, I have two Old Model 100x3 LED panels from Mars Hydro. I'm happy with them, and they've been working out well for me.

I've noticed a big problem is the confusion when people shop for LED lights. Everyone seems to focus on the coverage area, and ignore wattage. The coverage area seems to be great to give you an idea of how much the light will cover, but people still need to keep in mind they need to shoot for that 30-50 watt per square foot number.

I started out with one 100x3 LED in a 40"x26" space, which is just over 7 square feet. The coverage for the light works in my grow space, leaving just a few inches on each side without coverage, but I wasn't using that space, so I just centered the light and let it do its thing. Bud growth was ok, and I got just shy of 2 ounces from once plant, (second light was added a few weeks away from harvest) but I was only using 20-23 watts per square foot. So I added another light, bringing me to 41-47 watts per square foot, and so far the results are better than the single light results.

 

[REALSTYLES]

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?

Why not make a light like I did. I actually made 12 413watt hps killers

 

[REALSTYLES]

re: Which LED Will Cover 36x30 Space?

Oh I forgot they are dimmed to 186watts each panel and the 4x8 tent can go from 930watts to 2056watts. You want quality look at this

Just look at the trichs on the fan leaves and it's all over the stem of the fan leaves. I'll take another pic tomorrow.

 

[stoopingcrane]

re: Which LED Will Cover 36x30 Space?

grams per watts consumed, gpwc, as a first time grower I was able to achieve .44 gpwc with my p300. P300 is diode count, actual watts consumed 188 +/-5 on mine in bloom measured with a kil a watt meter. First grow also had single sided 600w hps and 400w hps that was very promising until trimmed. There was alot of woody mass, .35 gpwc of medicine. I am doing my second grow and the numbers appear as though they will be much higher for both led and hps lights. Brix was not measured on first grow, second grow I am at 19 on the brix scale today , i think i am feeding heavy and I am still learning. As far as coverage areas goes I am conducting a test for veg and bloom in a seperate grow area. It will be soil, compost tea nutes, 1-P300 for veg and for bloom in a 22 deep 36 wide 60" space. I also will be using a refractometer to measure the brix of the plant. Its going to be an Amnesia Haze, unknown phenotype, RQ seeds. I know these numbers may not help you now, but from what i have read with proper led, which Platinum is, you need 30 watts consumed per square foot. My tests are starting to lean toward that ratio, with a p150 you have 3 square feet of effective coverage during bloom, this is not confirmed but i am working on it. With traditional hps 150, the industry ratio of 50w psf also holds true. At 200 bones the p150 does not need heat extraction, you are saving another hundred right there, also you will be running 55 less watts during bloom cycle and 100w less during veg. Your hands are tied with such a small budget, hope this helped. Start with 1 p150 for veg and then buy one more when you go into bloom, that should get you extremely high quality medicine, which even though i messed up a bunch, mine was. Or keep saving for a double ended hps, they make a 400w bad boy i have been looking at. That is the only way you will get the umols per watt that a proper led does. Single sided hps is sad

 

[Mars Hydro]

re: Which LED Will Cover 36x30 Space?

hello