420Amard
New Member
FEEL FREE TO SHARE YOU THOUGHTS/PICS/EXPERIENCES
This thread is for all us Mars series 400w users to show off what these lights can actually do, pictures, experiences, and how well they preform. Personally I've used my 400w for a bit now. This thread is also here to answer any questions you may have about the Mars Hydro products, coverage, and warranty.
mars hydro led grow light-mars II 400
So firstly a little information on the Mars Series 2 400w with a comparison to the big cfls.
Information from my experience this far:
So far with the Mars 400w I've noticed a few things that I would like to share with everyone. With comparisons to the craptastic big cfls:
1> The hanging distance.
With cfl you need to hang the light extremely close to the plants to get proper coverage. While with the 400w I started seedlings at 65cm away from the light and as they've grew I started to lower the light til the stretching and growth matched up during veg I ended up hanging it at around 55cm from canopy level with the big cfl I was a mere 15cm from canopy. During flower the led is sitting at approx. 30cm from canopy, with the cfl it was 10cm.
2> Temp
In my 60cm x 60cm x 140cm (2x2) tent the light it self has a difference with ambient temps of around 3-5c which considering that with a large 300w was 10c this is a huge change. All the while using the same extraction fan.
The mars 400w seem to spread the "hot" (it is not really hot at all I can actually touch the glass if I want with not even being warm) air more evenly throughout the tent due to the 2 fans blowing on the heat sinks.
Now with the cfl I found with the limited area between light and plants became extremely hard to cool and temperatures would fluctuate immensely as the between ballast and actual tubing of the cfl as well as between canopy and ground level, almost a full 20c at one point. This is due to the cfl's heat displacement not being evenly spread and all being focused just on top of the plants. I've even given plants wind burn from trying to cool such a small area.
3> Coverage
The 400w covers my tent with perfection in both veg and now flower. To say the least this light this light is pretty much perfect for this tent. Corner to corner I have a uniformed layer coverage giving me big healthy buds the entire way.
The CFL on the other hand well it covered approximately an area of 40cm long and 30cm wide basically right under the bulb and a little at the bending areas of the end by where the tubes curved. Under the ballast of the cfl was pretty much shadowing the plants and I ended up with one plant that stretched searching for the light.
4> Penetration
The Mars 400w has a penetration on my tight tight canopy of around 40cm while the cfl was a mere 10cm it is like comparing fresh baked blueberry pie with whipped cream and a big old scoop of vanilla ice cream to a can of spam. Really it's that different, my buds are forming much nicer, even the switch to flowering happened in half the time.
5> Price of the unit itself.
This is what people are dreading to hear the difference in prices. My mars hydro 400w I paid approx 190USD$ for brand new with a 2 year warranty sounds like a lot but really the ease of this grow has paid for itself twice over.
My cfls unit cost me 70$ for the big bulb and 20$ for the reflector (might as well not get one cause by the time the light bounces off and back to the plants it's less than nil) so in total 90$.
Yet the bulb only lasted about 6 months before the output seemed to be cut in half and my plants started to stretch hunting for proper lumen output meaning the bulb had to be lowered cause more heat and causing more cooling issues and all around more problems.
So yes the led cost more but in return you get a 2 year warranty and peace of mind.
Pics:
This thread is for all us Mars series 400w users to show off what these lights can actually do, pictures, experiences, and how well they preform. Personally I've used my 400w for a bit now. This thread is also here to answer any questions you may have about the Mars Hydro products, coverage, and warranty.
mars hydro led grow light-mars II 400
So firstly a little information on the Mars Series 2 400w with a comparison to the big cfls.
Information from my experience this far:
So far with the Mars 400w I've noticed a few things that I would like to share with everyone. With comparisons to the craptastic big cfls:
1> The hanging distance.
With cfl you need to hang the light extremely close to the plants to get proper coverage. While with the 400w I started seedlings at 65cm away from the light and as they've grew I started to lower the light til the stretching and growth matched up during veg I ended up hanging it at around 55cm from canopy level with the big cfl I was a mere 15cm from canopy. During flower the led is sitting at approx. 30cm from canopy, with the cfl it was 10cm.
2> Temp
In my 60cm x 60cm x 140cm (2x2) tent the light it self has a difference with ambient temps of around 3-5c which considering that with a large 300w was 10c this is a huge change. All the while using the same extraction fan.
The mars 400w seem to spread the "hot" (it is not really hot at all I can actually touch the glass if I want with not even being warm) air more evenly throughout the tent due to the 2 fans blowing on the heat sinks.
Now with the cfl I found with the limited area between light and plants became extremely hard to cool and temperatures would fluctuate immensely as the between ballast and actual tubing of the cfl as well as between canopy and ground level, almost a full 20c at one point. This is due to the cfl's heat displacement not being evenly spread and all being focused just on top of the plants. I've even given plants wind burn from trying to cool such a small area.
3> Coverage
The 400w covers my tent with perfection in both veg and now flower. To say the least this light this light is pretty much perfect for this tent. Corner to corner I have a uniformed layer coverage giving me big healthy buds the entire way.
The CFL on the other hand well it covered approximately an area of 40cm long and 30cm wide basically right under the bulb and a little at the bending areas of the end by where the tubes curved. Under the ballast of the cfl was pretty much shadowing the plants and I ended up with one plant that stretched searching for the light.
4> Penetration
The Mars 400w has a penetration on my tight tight canopy of around 40cm while the cfl was a mere 10cm it is like comparing fresh baked blueberry pie with whipped cream and a big old scoop of vanilla ice cream to a can of spam. Really it's that different, my buds are forming much nicer, even the switch to flowering happened in half the time.
5> Price of the unit itself.
This is what people are dreading to hear the difference in prices. My mars hydro 400w I paid approx 190USD$ for brand new with a 2 year warranty sounds like a lot but really the ease of this grow has paid for itself twice over.
My cfls unit cost me 70$ for the big bulb and 20$ for the reflector (might as well not get one cause by the time the light bounces off and back to the plants it's less than nil) so in total 90$.
Yet the bulb only lasted about 6 months before the output seemed to be cut in half and my plants started to stretch hunting for proper lumen output meaning the bulb had to be lowered cause more heat and causing more cooling issues and all around more problems.
So yes the led cost more but in return you get a 2 year warranty and peace of mind.
Pics: