Mars-Hydro LED Grow Light Discussion

[wizgrow]

Hey Guys and Gals - been awhile.

So I went and bought the old 300w models off of Amazon because they were no longer available on Mars-Hydro. I contacted Sara before ordering to make they were hers because they looked different and I did not want a knock off. Well, they are Mars-Hydro, just not the old model even though that is what they are calling them. These are 140w vs 180w, 5w vs 3w...... and a Wacky 13 white led out 60 total LED spectrum. My grow room looks like I am growing under regular white lights.......

So the question on the table is: Any else use these yet?

I need some feedback -Kind of scared to try them and might just have to throw them in the Veg room since I can't return them from over seas

 

[santb]

Without any ducting you will move air and if the amounts given are what they say it should work I can only compare what my 250 CFM fan puts out which is a lot more than the fans on my 144 X 5 do. While the fans themselves in open air might put out that much I don't think the volume at least with my light is anywhere near that when in the case perhaps half of the 240 cfm . Now your 8 in bathroom fan is the same motor and on some the same fan as a 8 in boost fan and that is all I need during the winter with a 6.5 x 6.5 foot tent. The main question is what kind of heat do you have to deal with if not a hot climate your idea might work and it would at least be worth a try just keep us in the loop

You know I re-read my post a few times and the more I think about it the more I think I answered my own question. For ALL the air in the cab to flow through the light case 3-5 times a minute... Even once per minute will be a lot of strain on those fans. Looking at pics of the light again and seems like maybe the openings around the edge might not add up to enough space... Oh well.
I get these little ideas sometimes... Worth a shot!
:icon_roll

 

[maccamoo]

Hi Sara. If you remember I was asking about actual power draw of my 1200watt mars2 Pannal I purchased a month ago. I hooked it upto a power meter plug and it's drawing 399watts at 240v.
This is much less than it should be so I'm assuming my 1200 is running more like a 900.
What do you suggest we do about this?

 

[DarkSidofMike]

niceee .... tyvm for that!

[video=youtube;Ymt1XCCu-RM]

[/video]

 

[DarkSidofMike]

mars2 900W is little short for flowering in a 4X4 area nicker ..... my advice would be to go with mars2 1200W minimum to get nice results ..... and to go with mars2 1600W to get full light power. full light power is only needed for high rating hydropnic growers and many dont need it.

for 4X4 area ... mars2 900W is the minimum .... mars2 1200W is better ..... mars2 1600W is full power.

How's it going everybody? I'm brand new and don't know what to do.... Lol Anyway I have been reading for over the past 8 months or so on growing. I'm currently a mmj holder and want to start my own garden sometime soon. My question is about the Mars hydro 2 900w promotion wih tent on Mars hydro website. Grow space is 3'11x3'11x6'7. Is this light efficient enough? Would it be better to get 2 of the 400 series over one 900. I want to go with led lights and Mars hydro is going to be taking my money someday soon I guess I'm just looking for some positive resurance. Thanks all!!

Oh, Anybody ever grow veggies under these lights just curious?

 

[DarkSidofMike]

how many blue chips you have on 60?

maybe they choose more whites leds over less blue ones, this is ok to do that .... if you have around 55% to 70% red chips over the total (35-40/60 or so), you are ok for flowering, dont worry. i will buy this light very soon, so i want to know me too

Hey Guys and Gals - been awhile.

So I went and bought the old 300w models off of Amazon because they were no longer available on Mars-Hydro. I contacted Sara before ordering to make they were hers because they looked different and I did not want a knock off. Well, they are Mars-Hydro, just not the old model even though that is what they are calling them. These are 140w vs 180w, 5w vs 3w...... and a Wacky 13 white led out 60 total LED spectrum. My grow room looks like I am growing under regular white lights.......

So the question on the table is: Any else use these yet?

I need some feedback -Kind of scared to try them and might just have to throw them in the Veg room since I can't return them from over seas

 

[wizgrow]

how many blue chips you have on 60?

maybe they choose more whites leds over less blue ones, this is ok to do that .... if you have around 60% to 70% red chips over the total (40/60 or so), you are ok for flowering, dont worry. i will buy this light very soon, so i want to know me too

13 white / 14 blue so the other 33 must be 620-660

I own 5 different types of lights now 6 - 4 models of which are Mars-Hydro this light is by far way lighter/whiter than any of them. Lights are off now so I can't do a comparison of the spectrum compared to the others.

But as far as white goes I guess they cover a little bit of all the spectrum's and always assumed you only need a couple of them and any more were just a waste of power that could be used by the red/blue LED's.

Spectrum aside - still just a bit irked that these are being sold as the "Old Model" when they are an entirely different light - the only thing they have in common is the white color chassis and power adapter

 

[DarkSidofMike]

hmmmm .... so this is 33/60 or 55% red .... yep, this light is clearly more white and blue than others, but 55% reds is the minimum in my mind, and maybe ok ....... so, i will buy it even if i would prefer 60-65% reds

this light have less red than others, this is nice to know

 

[DarkSidofMike]

i just saw an appolo horticulture 60X5 imitation at amazon.ca ... exactly the same as marshydro new old model 60X5 with exactly the same ratio as you said. i guess this is the new standard for cheap lights ..... appolp unit is more expensive (MH115$ and AH170$) but have 2 IR chips ... mars hydro old models have not

 

[wizgrow]

55% reds is the minimum in my mind, and maybe ok ....... so, i will buy it

I'd hold off and see if you can find the 100x3's - I have had pretty good success with those. I have been a staunch supporter of MH for awhile now but this is the 3rd time they have dropped the ball on me so I am bit disappointed with them as a company not the products aside from this new light ....... Last issue left me hanging with a no delivery (only 2 of 8 arrived) on lights - it takes a month lead time to reach me in my part of the world. I had to give away 4 fat plants to a friend to finish off. Now these lights....... I guess I can take them apart and replace some whites with some RED LED's................ These are for Flowering only so thinking I will replace 8 of them...... what do you guys think?

 

[DarkSidofMike]

me too i have excellent results with 2X old panels (100X3) in a 2X3 area ... more than excellents results

so, i will give a try to this new one for a 1.5X1.5 area or maybe little larger .... even if i would prefer 60-65% reds

 

[wizgrow]

i just saw an appolo horticulture 60X5 imitation at amazon.ca ... exactly the same as marshydro new old model 60X5 with exactly the same ratio as you said. i guess this is the new standard for cheap lights ..... appolp unit is more expensive (MH115$ and AH170$) but have 2 IR chips ... mars hydro old models have not

The IR is a waste from I have read as well. I have 4 of the 100x3's and they do great (all grows are SCROG) I thought that is what i was ordereing and spoke with Sara prior to ordering ....... when she said "Yes - those lights on Amazon are our Old Models" I assumed they just reduced the price and did not realize they changed the entire light and still marketing them under the same name

 

[DarkSidofMike]

yes, this is confusing and bad buisness ... i agree

same name, but not the same light

 

[DarkSidofMike]

hmmmm maybe not a bad idea to change some leds for red ones lol ...... reallly not sure, but maybe a good idea lol

we can do it easily at home Sara?

 

[wizgrow]

hmmmm maybe not a bad idea to change some leds for red ones lol ...... reallly not sure, but maybe a good idea lol

we can do it easily at home Sara?

I have already had to change 16 COB's out on Igro/CTlite...... it's not that hard even if very time consuming - what I could use here is some advice on the amount of white to red replacement. Might need to take this over to the lighting section. I was kind of hoping I was not the first to encounter this so came here first.

Going to have to through this out on Amazon as a buyer beware in case they think they getting the old light as well.

 

[DarkSidofMike]

40 reds on 60 would be perfect as i know ... around 66% is a well know and tested ratio used by most. 45/60 is the max to have a complete spectrum i think.

here i have a lighthouse hydro black star 135W UFO with 85% reds and only 2% white ..... and this light is doing really bad alone, maybe only usefull as a flowering booster for a HPS or else

 

[Graytail]

Wizgrow, I was watching the sale prices on the 'bay and picking them up as the price dropped. I got three and was working on the 4th when the listing ended and re-appeared with the 60x5s at 130 watts instead of 180. Rats! But at least I noticed the difference - the listing clearly says 60x5, but I might have assumed it was the same 300W old-style, too.

If you go back a few pages, Sara posted a few comments about the "new" old-style 300W panels. They're being driven at a really low wattage and aren't of a quality that Mars-Hydro wants to promote, so they're blowing them out. Until your post I didn't realize they were a different spectrum, but I've been keeping up with the newest Cree white COBs, and white is perfectly fine. They just aren't as PAR-efficient, because they emit a lot of unnecessary spectra.

So the only real downside to the 60x5s is inefficiency and, according to Sara, quality. The price is still a good value, I believe. I just wish I could have scored one more 100x3 before they sold out - I have one panel that doesn't resemble the others and it disturbs the feng shui, y'know?

 

[DarkSidofMike]

really like your place graytail

 

[wizgrow]

Wizgrow, I was watching the sale prices on the 'bay and picking them up as the price dropped. I got three and was working on the 4th when the listing ended and re-appeared with the 60x5s at 130 watts instead of 180. Rats! But at least I noticed the difference - the listing clearly says 60x5, but I might have assumed it was the same 300W old-style, too.

If you go back a few pages, Sara posted a few comments about the "new" old-style 300W panels. They're being driven at a really low wattage and aren't of a quality that Mars-Hydro wants to promote, so they're blowing them out. Until your post I didn't realize they were a different spectrum, but I've been keeping up with the newest Cree white COBs, and white is perfectly fine. They just aren't as PAR-efficient, because they emit a lot of unnecessary spectra.

So the only real downside to the 60x5s is inefficiency and, according to Sara, quality. The price is still a good value, I believe. I just wish I could have scored one more 100x3 before they sold out - I have one panel that doesn't resemble the others and it disturbs the feng shui, y'know?

Hey Brother - long time!

I have not been on much since I started putting way more into growing and learning from the plants than web research and often times getting a lot of baloney

The Growing is going good too!

I actually posted quite few pages back on here somewhere asking about the Amazon lights and don't remember getting any feedback.....this was months ago and just got around to needing the 2 I got 3 weeks ago. That was why I contacted Sara directly via Skype.

Any case - it is what it is and I have gotten used to it with the LED companies - just as you have

Your set up looks good. One of my tents has a Mars 1200 centered and 4 100x3's in each corner of a 4x8. Pretty effective so far!

As far as the quality statement: Not sure what they are referencing that to. They look of the same construction and quality to me. I just don't like the spectrum and would have preferred the 3's watts and had them kept at 180 watt draw.

Soooo I think DSoM has it about right - going to order up some REDs. 4x 620 3x 660 - Can't hurt and Igro made me proficient at it

 

[tonydavis]

hi Graytail,
that is an XML350 in the middle, but what is one that disturbs your feng shui? what area do you cover with this setting?
respect

Wizgrow, I was watching the sale prices on the 'bay and picking them up as the price dropped. I got three and was working on the 4th when the listing ended and re-appeared with the 60x5s at 130 watts instead of 180. Rats! But at least I noticed the difference - the listing clearly says 60x5, but I might have assumed it was the same 300W old-style, too.

If you go back a few pages, Sara posted a few comments about the "new" old-style 300W panels. They're being driven at a really low wattage and aren't of a quality that Mars-Hydro wants to promote, so they're blowing them out. Until your post I didn't realize they were a different spectrum, but I've been keeping up with the newest Cree white COBs, and white is perfectly fine. They just aren't as PAR-efficient, because they emit a lot of unnecessary spectra.

So the only real downside to the 60x5s is inefficiency and, according to Sara, quality. The price is still a good value, I believe. I just wish I could have scored one more 100x3 before they sold out - I have one panel that doesn't resemble the others and it disturbs the feng shui, y'know?