Grow lights on a budget

[Burchell]

Hey folks,

Hoping I can get a little advice here. I have recently added a 4x4x7 tent to my setup and am struggling a little bit on lighting choices.

I previously ran a 2x4x5 tent with two ONEO blurple Leds (amazon specials). They consume about 185w a piece from the wall, and served me reasonably well. Ive since turned this tent into a veg setup with fluorescent lighting and have moved the 2 LED lights into my new 4x4 flower tent.

I would like to add some additional lighting and eventually move the 2 LED lights into the veg tent. Heres my issue.. my budget at the moment is only about $300 CAD ($225 USD..ish) max.. like MAX (working on buying a new house). I can add additional lighting in the coming months, but only have about the $300 CAD mentioned at the moment.

I've been looking at the following options..

1 x 315cmh
1 x 600 watt hps
1 x 135 watt Quantum Board.

I've been playing with the idea of strip lights, but it looks like its a little outside my budget at the moment. I can keep the 2 LED lights i currently own in the tent in addition to the new light I buy.

I like the thought of the quantum board, as I can add 2-3 additional boards down the road, however I'm not sure that a 135 watt board by itself at the moment will add a whole lot the current LED lights.

I'm thinking a 315 CMH flanked by my 2 LEDS may be the best bet, but once I look to move the LED lights to the veg tent, the 315 CMH may be a little under powered for my 4x4.

I've also looked at the knockoff QB kits on Aliexpress, but I've heard some mixed things about boards not using the diodes they specify. using these I could spring for about 260watts of juice, but Im unsure of the quality.

Any input from folks would be much appreciated.. If you were in my shoes.. what would you do?

Ironically, I work at a licensed producer where we run some insane gear. 84,000 watts of HPS in a our flower rooms and real nice LED lights in our veg/mother rooms. Coming home and looking at my little tent setup is funny at times lol.

Cheers!

 

[Carcass]

Coming home and looking at my little tent setup is funny at times lol.

True enough,but you probably don't really need 500 pounds of weed,at least not all at once

I'm growing in a small space,with an ONEO2 full spectrum (not blurple)
light,and for a 2x2 space it does very well. I assumed when I bought it that
there was a chance it might be a POS,but it surprised me.
I'm only mentioning this because you have used ONEO's-
they're definitely not the best,but they're not too bad...

 

[George Mc]

PM sent

 

[Cannbidoscar]

For that space on a budget you could run some qbs or strips at low current and bypass the heatsinks. 3 H-influx 1.2m strips would cover half, blurples do the rest and upgrade when you can.

I played with the DIY idea for a while but components are way more expensive in the UK. I opted for a ts-1000 in the end. Mars hydro released some new lights at great prices recently if DIY isn't for you. Anyways, good luck.

-C

 

[LiberalThinker]

Hey folks,

Hoping I can get a little advice here. I have recently added a 4x4x7 tent to my setup and am struggling a little bit on lighting choices.

I previously ran a 2x4x5 tent with two ONEO blurple Leds (amazon specials). They consume about 185w a piece from the wall, and served me reasonably well. Ive since turned this tent into a veg setup with fluorescent lighting and have moved the 2 LED lights into my new 4x4 flower tent.

I would like to add some additional lighting and eventually move the 2 LED lights into the veg tent. Heres my issue.. my budget at the moment is only about $300 CAD ($225 USD..ish) max.. like MAX (working on buying a new house). I can add additional lighting in the coming months, but only have about the $300 CAD mentioned at the moment.

I've been looking at the following options..

1 x 315cmh
1 x 600 watt hps
1 x 135 watt Quantum Board.

I've been playing with the idea of strip lights, but it looks like its a little outside my budget at the moment. I can keep the 2 LED lights i currently own in the tent in addition to the new light I buy.

I like the thought of the quantum board, as I can add 2-3 additional boards down the road, however I'm not sure that a 135 watt board by itself at the moment will add a whole lot the current LED lights.

I'm thinking a 315 CMH flanked by my 2 LEDS may be the best bet, but once I look to move the LED lights to the veg tent, the 315 CMH may be a little under powered for my 4x4.

I've also looked at the knockoff QB kits on Aliexpress, but I've heard some mixed things about boards not using the diodes they specify. using these I could spring for about 260watts of juice, but Im unsure of the quality.

Any input from folks would be much appreciated.. If you were in my shoes.. what would you do?

Ironically, I work at a licensed producer where we run some insane gear. 84,000 watts of HPS in a our flower rooms and real nice LED lights in our veg/mother rooms. Coming home and looking at my little tent setup is funny at times lol.

Cheers!

Just because you've got a 4x4 tent doesn't mean you need to use it all. I have that and a 315 but will be using 1 metre square scrog net in it.

 

[IndigoBreeze]

I mentioned it in another thread but big bang for the buck are the big 85-105 watt CFLs -

Looking for a decent cheap LED grow light source

I've recently been looking to acquire a decent LED light source for a small indoor setup, I found the following: Cfl 32w 6000k E27 Does anyone know anything about this bulb?

www.420magazine.com

They plug into any standard outlet, cost $15, are 5500K, last a long time and put out ~5000 lumens. Work great for small grows on a budget.