Newbie here been growing few years but just switched to LED lights

[papix77]

Hi all, needless to say I been picking knowledge here since around 2012 ish, been having standard hps digital ballast x2 growing in soil bio canna nutrients using mainly fastbuds autos.
I moved to wormer country and looking to start growing again. The weather is good here in Italy but I still feel safer with indoor cellar grow. I wanted to upgrade to led lights for few years now but cost and confusion kept me on good old hps. However I'm now considering a setup of 2 x 200w led lights per sq m. The light I'm looking at is the vevor 200w from amazon or ebay
Been thinking as I said 2 lights xsq m.

 

[Teddy Edwards]

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[papix77]

Many thanks, is there anyway to see if someone else used the vevor 200w light and share their opinions with me?

 

[StoneOtter]

Welcome papix77, not a vevor user here. @ViparSpectra XS1500 Pro is one to look at. It's a few watts less. Look at the light footprint and compare with the others before you buy. It may surprise you.

 

[papix77]

Welcome papix77, not a vevor user here. @ViparSpectra XS1500 Pro is one to look at. It's a few watts less. Look at the light footprint and compare with the others before you buy. It may surprise you.

Thanks for your input StoneOtter, I ll keep em in mind. I actually bought 2 vevors 200... I'm an impatient c**to but Tbf I need 4 to 6.. So if they happen to be too blueish or unfit for purpose I'll get differ ones to compensate. Here these days 22 degrees, friends and family in UK show me snow pics today
Deffo led the way to go where I am now

 

[Phytoplankton]

Welcome to 420! 300 watts for 9 sq feet should be plenty, with 400 just watch for light burn/bleaching. It should certainly grow good plants. The chips are an older design ,(201b), but they’re still good chips. Good luck, happy growing!

 

[papix77]

Welcome to 420! 300 watts for 9 sq feet should be plenty, with 400 just watch for light burn/bleaching. It should certainly grow good plants. The chips are an older design ,(201b), but they’re still good chips. Good luck, happy growing!

Many thanks for your valued input. The 2 vevor 200w lights have arrived, haven't set it up yet but I tested them out of the box. They look good to me!
They look alot brighter than the 600w hps I used to run.. Maybe that's me. So I'll probably get couple more but the 150w ones if you say 300w cover 1 sq m.
I haven't fully decided on size yet. Once I move in my new property I can fiddle with the cellar and decide. But I'm considering 2.5 /3m x 1.2m height of celler 1.70m. I grabbed these 2 200w vevor for peanuts 230euros for both. I'm very f impressed.

 

[Phytoplankton]

Many thanks for your valued input. The 2 vevor 200w lights have arrived, haven't set it up yet but I tested them out of the box. They look good to me!
They look alot brighter than the 600w hps I used to run.. Maybe that's me. So I'll probably get couple more but the 150w ones if you say 300w cover 1 sq m.
I haven't fully decided on size yet. Once I move in my new property I can fiddle with the cellar and decide. But I'm considering 2.5 /3m x 1.2m height of celler 1.70m. I grabbed these 2 200w vevor for peanuts 230euros for both. I'm very f impressed.

With LED's the sweet spot is 32-35 watts per sq foot, anywhere between 30-40 will do well. The reason the LED's look brighter is they are full spectrum, where HPS is weighted more toward the red spectrum and have a more "orange" look to our eyes.

 

[bluter]

Thanks for your input StoneOtter, I ll keep em in mind. I actually bought 2 vevors 200... I'm an impatient c**to but Tbf I need 4 to 6.. So if they happen to be too blueish or unfit for purpose I'll get differ ones to compensate. Here these days 22 degrees, friends and family in UK show me snow pics today
Deffo led the way to go where I am now

they should be ok. they use a lower grade chip than most boards are made of. they look like a great first led with room to upgrade later. the number you need will depend on how big you make the grow area.

 

[papix77]

they should be ok. they use a lower grade chip than most boards are made of. they look like a great first led with room to upgrade later. the number you need will depend on how big you make the grow area.

Thanks for your input as well. Very much appreciated. So is the 281b chip an older design? I was considering 2.5m x 1m x 1.70m space. Was thinking about 4 lights in total. Not sure if get 2 more 150w or stick with the 200w ones. I'm unsure of sizes as I'm moving in New property next 7 10 days

 

[StoneOtter]

Study the footprints.

 

[bluter]

Thanks for your input as well. Very much appreciated. So is the 281b chip an older design?

newer chip just a budget model. slightly less efficient. you'll draw a hair more power to get to the same level of ppfd and penetration as a lm301. not a huge difference, lots of rigs use different emitters.

I was considering 2.5m x 1m x 1.70m space. Was thinking about 4 lights in total. Not sure if get 2 more 150w or stick with the 200w ones. I'm unsure of sizes as I'm moving in New property next 7 10 days

i usually just try to go wall to wall.


look at the maps like @StoneOtter mentioned.

 

[Phytoplankton]

Thanks for your input as well. Very much appreciated. So is the 281b chip an older design? I was considering 2.5m x 1m x 1.70m space. Was thinking about 4 lights in total. Not sure if get 2 more 150w or stick with the 200w ones. I'm unsure of sizes as I'm moving in New property next 7 10 days

At one time the 281b chips were the standard for grow lights, and they were good chips. The newer Samsung 301b or 301h are a little better, but you'll have no problems growing with the 281's.

 

[papix77]

Thank you all for your patience in explaining the basics. The led light is the new toy I wanted for years so can't wait to setup my new grow room. . I'm ordering the rest next few days, 6" vevor extraction 32db sound dimmable and filter, couple more lights 4" inline intake. This is the celler with previous owner stuff in it. Gotta watch dat little window

 

[Keffka]

Make sure you put something on the ground for your plants. You don’t want them sitting directly on the floor there or it will sap all the heat from your containers/plants

 

[Phytoplankton]

One more suggestion, the lights hanging in the last two photos are electrical hazards, you need to make them safe, there should not be exposed wires hanging.

 

[papix77]

Yes I know, Im getting the keys of the property in 7 10 days. Once in I'm gonna start preparing it up and diving it as well. I thought of putting wooden boards on the floor, the height is only 1.70m just enough. Once I got celler dimensions I work out best position but 1 small window only for intake / extraction.

 

[bluter]

Yes I know, Im getting the keys of the property in 7 10 days. Once in I'm gonna start preparing it up and diving it as well. I thought of putting wooden boards on the floor, the height is only 1.70m just enough.

almost any covering will do. you just don't want it on raw concrete. we ran a 200 plant medical license grow on concrete. we simply used a plasticized floor paint. that's all it took to raise the temp of the floor by 8c.

Once I got celler dimensions I work out best position but 1 small window only for intake / extraction.

that's all you need. you can probably get away with passive intake and just use the little window for exhaust.

edit : looks like a perfect place to develop.

 

[Phytoplankton]

You can do something as simple as putting the pots up on 2x4’s set in the drain pans, serves two purposes, gets the pots off the cold floor and keeps them out of the runoff. Win-win

 

[Keffka]

@bluter and @Phytoplankton already covered it but I’ll reiterate because it is that important. As long as they’re not sat directly on the concrete you’re good. You could get away with simply laying a blanket on the ground if it was that dire.

If you’re gonna run fabric pots I would recommend something along the lines of the boards, a pallet, 2x4s, etc. just something that will elevate the containers but allow air flow underneath.

If I could run in a basement/cellar I would prefer it but my current house only has a crawl space so I’m forced into the attic. Basements/cellars can keep a pretty consistent temperature regardless of the outdoor weather. In my attic I’m constantly battling the weather more than anything else