LED Grow Light Advice

sfgiantsfan

sfgiantsfan

Well-Known Member
I've been a member/lurker here for quite awhile, have a few very successful grows under my belt but haven't grown in about 2 years. I previously used a 250w HID then went up to a 400w HID in a 3'x2'x4' space. I have since moved and want to start growing again as soon as it's legal here.

Due to heat concerns, the location of my box and going "green", I want to switch over to an LED light and get away from HID as it would provide more flexibility and options in my situation.

I've been researching my butt off and have come up with the following companies:

Lumigrow - May be more than I really need
Advanced LED - May be more BS than I want to believe
Platinum LED - Quality may or may not be there
G8 LED - Looks legit
Optics Lighting - New entry into consideration based on a shout out from some members here and is a bit intriguing design wise.
E.Shine - not considering as they are not based in the U.S. from what I've read.

My new box will be:

3'x2'x4'6"

My budget would be about $650. I'm willing to pay for a quality light.

This is purely for personal use and I'd like to harvest at least 6oz of buds which I don't think should be a problem as I harvested 14oz from my 400w HID system on my last grow using LST and defoliation.

I'd prefer not to have to buy two lights as G8 recommends and find one light for both veg and bloom.

Any and all thoughts are welcome. Thank you!

:Namaste:
 
I have an Advanced DS XTE 200 and it is a real nice light.

3'x2'x4'6" does not have much height. This light from MarsHydro would work real good in there too. Reflector 144x3W (they have it miss labeled as a 5w in one place on their website.) I think it would give you better coverage and is half the price. 5w are better with a taller setup. 3w let you get closer to the plants and run cooler then 5w.

Reflector series LED Grow Lights - Mars Hydro

Both have veg and bloom settings.
 
I have 3 Mars-Hydro Lights. 2 Mars II 400s and 1 900. On this grow-round, I am hoping to get 3-4 oz per plant for 4 plants in a 3x3x6 tent under my 900. I just harvest the first plant and I should end up right were I hoped 3-4 oz. The next 2 have atleast another week each and the third is only about 3 weeks into flower. I love my Mars light. The customer service is second to none. Sara and her team take very good care of us. :peace:
 
It's very confusing researching led lights. Should I build my own or buy one? The customer service from Mars does seem spotty but Sara handles it so if I were to go that route I'd get it from her.

I ran into a discussion about COB's and that confused me further but made sense at the same time. I went to the Optic Lighting website for more info but it seems to be like all the others touting this and that. Shopping for HLD wasn't this tough lol!
 
Ive used quite a bit of different brand LED's and models, 3 brands and 6 models to be exact, and I would highly recommend the Advanced LED XTE lights. I haven't used any of the other ones you mentioned though, but I have used all these:

IMG_20150507_145643.jpg



The pro's with the XTE lights:
-Dimmable dual spectrum channels to dial in the right amount of light, and perfect spectrum for each growing condition.
-They run extremely quiet.
-XTE's use Osram and Cree LED chips for almost double the lifetime of "economy chips" like epistar, and epiled, you also get more light with better chips/watt used.
-very solid build of the lights
-Dust covers on the fan intakes to prevent the inside from getting as dusty
-company has been around for at least 4 years now with hundreds if not thousands of happy users.

If you did go with the XTE's, the XTE 200 would be ideal for your grow area given that you have at least 18"-24" of space between the lights and the tops of the plants.


Out of the others you mentioned, those Optics ones look pretty interesting to me as well. I like how they use either the vero or cree cob chips, both pretty much top 2 chips in the white cob catigory. I've never used one of those, and the design is pretty odd, however they use really quality parts it looks like, and the full white spectrum I have heard is starting to make noise in the industry with growers.

There are a ton of Platinum users here, and everything I have seen is impressive, and they are cost effective. Haven't seen any complaints yet about them, and everyone that uses them is happy from what I have seen.
 
DukeO said:
I have an Advanced DS XTE 200 and it is a real nice light.

3'x2'x4'6" does not have much height. This light from MarsHydro would work real good in there too. Reflector 144x3W (they have it miss labeled as a 5w in one place on their website.) I think it would give you better coverage and is half the price. 5w are better with a taller setup. 3w let you get closer to the plants and run cooler then 5w.

Reflector series LED Grow Lights - Mars Hydro

Both have veg and bloom settings.
Click to expand...

The 144x3w reflectors are 5W now. All the reflectors will be switched over. As the warehouse get restocked, the new reflectors will all be 5w eventually. :peace:
 
It is funny that on the same page it says two different things.

I liked them as 3w because they were better for smaller tents. I guess now they will have to run heat sink in them too.




Reflector 144x5W


Quick Overview

LED Output Power:144pcs*3watt

Draw Power:250W~300W

Dimension:837x264x50mm(33*10.4*2 in)

Voltage:AC85~265V

Coverage:6.6'x2.2' Standard

Warehouse:USA, AU, UK
 
yes, big heatsink in the light. :high-five:
DukeO said:
It is funny that on the same page it says two different things.

I liked them as 3w because they were better for smaller tents. I guess now they will have to run heat sink in them too.




Reflector 144x5W


Quick Overview

LED Output Power:144pcs*3watt

Draw Power:250W~300W

Dimension:837x264x50mm(33*10.4*2 in)

Voltage:AC85~265V

Coverage:6.6'x2.2' Standard

Warehouse:USA, AU, UK
Click to expand...
 
sfgiantsfan said:
I've been a member/lurker here for quite awhile, have a few very successful grows under my belt but haven't grown in about 2 years. I previously used a 250w HID then went up to a 400w HID in a 3'x2'x4' space. I have since moved and want to start growing again as soon as it's legal here.

Due to heat concerns, the location of my box and going "green", I want to switch over to an LED light and get away from HID as it would provide more flexibility and options in my situation.

I've been researching my butt off and have come up with the following companies:

Lumigrow - May be more than I really need
Advanced LED - May be more BS than I want to believe
Platinum LED - Quality may or may not be there
G8 LED - Looks legit
Optics Lighting - New entry into consideration based on a shout out from some members here and is a bit intriguing design wise.
E.Shine - not considering as they are not based in the U.S. from what I've read.

My new box will be:

3'x2'x4'6"

My budget would be about $650. I'm willing to pay for a quality light.

This is purely for personal use and I'd like to harvest at least 6oz of buds which I don't think should be a problem as I harvested 14oz from my 400w HID system on my last grow using LST and defoliation.

I'd prefer not to have to buy two lights as G8 recommends and find one light for both veg and bloom.

Any and all thoughts are welcome. Thank you!

:Namaste:
Click to expand...

Hello, SF, The girl spider 4 will suitable for your space. it won't cost you $650.0, you can keep some in your pocket.
 
Twilight LED said:
Hello, SF, The girl spider 4 will suitable for your space. it won't cost you $650.0, you can keep some in your pocket.
Click to expand...

I second that.
Check out the specs on Twilight's Spider 4 & look a lil deeper into 5w diodes. You might be illuminated (pun intended).
Good Luck.
 

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