Budget LED grow lights

Thanks for the reply mate. Have you used something similar before iv heard leds are great for veg but not as good for flower as a hps but just wanted to give one a whirl
 
Calvados said:
I've only ever used LEDs. Those are reasonable brands. I have Mars Hydros. I'm happy with them.
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I was contemplating buying the mars 1600w for my 4x4 tent, im kind of shying away from their brand due to so many reviews of break downs with the first year as well as they just send you the spare parts to replace yourself, again shady lol. Your opinion?
 
vyserage said:
I was contemplating buying the mars 1600w for my 4x4 tent, im kind of shying away from their brand due to so many reviews of break downs with the first year as well as they just send you the spare parts to replace yourself, again shady lol. Your opinion?
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I can only go by my own experience. The Marshydro II 900 has a footprint of 4x4 for veg and 3.5x3.5 for flower. I got it because of it's measured par value, which from memory was around 1000 on the edges of 3.5'. As soon as I turned it on I was holy shit impressed at how strong it was compared to the Viaspectra 450 and the Advanced Platinum P300 (the ones I had accumulated). I got 2 of them used for £200, so I was super happy with the deal. 1 doesn't quite fill the tent for flower, but I've got the other lights to use for height differences etc. Compared to what I was using, well they don't really compare.

They work great. No issues. If a LED burns out, I don't know why it would be a big deal to replace it. I haven't had to on any of the lights yet. It's pretty heavy for an LED. Mars makes different models and they have different footprints etc. 1600W sounds like it is more than enough, but I would check it's footprints and PAR values first. If you want help, pass me a link and I'll help you research it.
 
Agree 100% I only use led too. Anything from mars is good. Lots of guys using vipar, I bought a cheaper meizhi 300 and I'm happy with that too. Plenty of other options as well.

I'd buy two smaller ones to cover the space rather than the one larger light myself. Cost maybe a small amount more but u get flexibility and if one light packs it in u still have one ;)
 
Hi

After having testing different cheap led lights I would really advise you toplanet 600w white full spectrum. Have a look at random Ryan videos on YouTube. He compares blue red led lights to white full spectrum and have better results with the white as it provides a full range with uv addition. For the money you were ready to spend you could get two of it and have better coverage of you space. Honestly you won't regret it! I had different led lights before that one Mike for example bestva 2000w etc.... None of them were as good as the white full spectrum one. With the luxmeter I was getting almost same lux values at the same distance but the 600w one consumes less power. Don't know what more to tell you to convince you. I say convince as you should really get it and you won't be disappointed. In the range of the cheap led lights it the best one. I had made lots of research on the web to find the best for the money. Take a look at my grow I ve shared some interesting links about lights but also a picture showing how my plants under the white light had grown more than the parts under blue and red. I had already seen tests on the net but i could verify it in live! Also invest in a lux meter. Get the same the guy use in his videos. Thanks to it you will be able to use your lights accurately. Most of the led lights can grow. The difference is then in how much heat they spread, penetration, lux, etc... But after trying different models I ve realized the most important thing is the height you place them. That is what really will make the difference. Most of the cheap lights use the same led chips.... So be sure to take the luxmeter to make everything efficient. Another little advantage of the white leds is that you can see your plants better and without having to shut down the light. Just another +....... But again trust me you won't be disappointed with the toplanet white full spectrum 600w. And for the money of the one you were going to buy juste take two to cover more surface. Ps: I said toplanet cause it s the only brand I ve seen around my place that sells the 600w white full spectrum model but it could have been any other brand as I have no interest in neither.

I ll conclude that even if I m no expert and haven't been able to test all the models, the one I ve been talking about since the beginning of this post maybe be the best bang for the buck out of every other stuff I ve seen
 
Cheers for that advice mate helped a lot and when you say lux meter as in par? I'm a UK grower so nothing's the same as you which is a ball ache when reading some of the journal's
 
Parkintheroof said:
Cheers for that advice mate helped a lot and when you say lux meter as in par? I'm a UK grower so nothing's the same as you which is a ball ache when reading some of the journal's
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Lux meter for lux measurements. Par is another stuff. Google is your friend
 
Cheers for the heads up never heard much about lux so thanks n I like goggle but it can also be a minefield that's why I was after some genuine feed back like for yourself
 
I got some mars panels and there great been using them for about 4 years and out of the 200 leds that are in the 2 panels 6 burned out but a ebay order of some leds and a soldering iron fixed that in a few minutes. And after ripping the glass out of it you get some real power down a piece of glass will reduce a lot of light say 10% when spotless clean. But after many times cleaning it I just took it out and now my harvest is alot better and light penetration is much deeper
;)

so 4 everybody with a piece of glass in there led RIP IT OUT just watch out with spraying water
:cool:
 
Parkintheroof said:
Cheers for the heads up never heard much about lux so thanks n I like goggle but it can also be a minefield that's why I was after some genuine feed back like for yourself
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Trust me

Without wanting to criticize anyone, I ve seen to many journals with led lights way to high (thinks like 30 inches above canopy which is way too much unless you have maybe a 3000w equivalent led panel...... Also the guy on YouTube does true measurements which is far better than what manufacturers advertise which is always unrealistic..... Also the white full spectrum will tend to replace led and blue at the time as it has fully range but also just makes it easier to have a look at the plants!
 
if you want to know about leds just ask me mate. so much misinformation out there. there are some excellent panels that can really produce but reality is your paying fortunes for them. i have one them mars lights, if your mates not using it you can have it. They a waste of time in my opinion if you w`nt to grow anything worth while. Just go and grab it.
 
I wanted low budget as well, so I went with viperspectra full spec 300w . I didn't think it would be enough on its own for what I wanted so I've got 2x 2700k red spec cfls hung ready to give the lumens a kick up it's arse ...

The viper is vegging lovely and has good 3ftx3ft canopy area. It does reach 4ftx4ft but fro what I've seen it loses power in that last foot that's why I got the cfls to close the distance as such. The cfls were £30ea with reflector and viper was bout £75

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300w viperspectra dual spec led

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those cfls wont be doung much at all from that height.

A piece of advice for anyone thinking of low budget... Go with HPS!!!!! You cant do low budget LED, not with anything worth growing. I know people will jump on me and disagree, however ive grown probably 30000 plants or so and theres not much i havent saeen when it comes to growing. If you want anything worthwhile then 400w per m2 s minimum requirement. HPS does not cost more than LED to run when like for like and at budget prices HPS is far superior to LED. Quality LEDs are fantastic but you must be prepared to pay for them.
 
honest you be better off running 400w hps mate or a 600w. 400w gives off very little heat. the cfls are terrible for flowering, they give of so little useable light and dont penetrate at all. As i said above LED are great but they artent created equally and in a set up like yours hps is the way to go. yopu cant justify spending a 1000 or more for an LED for that space. a 400w hps is cheapo, 100 for ballast bulb and shade and you already have extraction. you get 400grams off a 400w hps.
 

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