California Lightworks 200w Solarflare LED

Just got this baby today actually. Its the Solarflare 200w Full Spectrum LED made by California Lightworks. Paid 449 bucks for it and about 20 dollars I think for shipping.

The specs on this model are: 200watts; 165watts actual power draw. It has 40 5 watt LEDs

I bought this to put it in my 2x2x4 tent. For that it will work perfect. I have a fair amount of LED growing experience, well I think so considering most have never owned one. Ive had a 90w UFO, 240w Blackstar LED Panel, and in my big tent I have a 800w California Lightworks Solarstorm. Those other 2 LEDs I sold. 90w UFO sucked ass, and the 240w Blackstar was decent for what it was.

I chose the Solarflare firstly because already own another of there product and it kicks ass, the other its actually a good deal if not better then the competing LEDs out there and I'm pretty sure its going to make for a kick ass grow compared to its competators.

470 dollars is 470 dollars is alot but just glancing at the Solarflares competition its a good deal.

One reason being is most LED panels out there run at only 50% power usually. A example is Advanced LEDs 180w Extreme LED Panel for $ 539 . It was 119 LEDs if you count and divided by what they say is its total draw 180w you get 1.5. So every LED on that panel is running at 50% of its rated maximum. They have a new one that says it uses 10w LEDs for 549 dollars. Very deceiving...it has only 4 10 watt LEDs, and 64 other unrated LEDs. The average power draw per LED is 2 watts a piece about. There not very forthcoming on that units stats as well. I would imagine the cost of 10w diodes is prohibitily high so to hit a price point the LEDs on there are 2 or 3 watters. Go to the Magnum 357. Pretty popular as well. Its 799 bucks! It has 119 LEDs as well...I notice that most of the panels out there have the same number of LEDs which makes me believe the rumor that they all get there panels from the same place and slap another name on them. They do this in the laptop world. Companies like Foxx Conn and Quanta make virtually every PC laptop all thats different is configuration and shell. Anyway Magnum 357 draws 180 watts which means there 3 watt diodes run at half power.

Now moving on to my unit the Solarflare its power supplies are 200 watts with a actual power draw of 165 watts but only 40 LED Diodes. Thats a little over 4 watts per diode. The unit itself also draws much more then the standard 50% in terms of wattage..making this a very efficent unit as well as a good value for its class.

It only has a single fan on top and its pretty quite. On heat not so sure yet as I have not installed it in my tent.

On a side note all of California Lightwork's LEDs are 100% American Made and from what I read 90% US Parts and like 10% from the EU. They also have great customer service. Every email and theres been a lot is promptly answered. Anyhow any questions feel free to post and here are some pics!
















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For daisy chaining lights together.

 

The diodes are what the light is generated is from.

 

Well a 3 watt chip in 99% of the LEDs out there will push 1.5w. This thing has 5 watt LEDs pushing 4. I own its big brother as well the Solarstorm. Its footprint covers what a LED in its class should 2x2 or 3x3. Heres a link to some of its reviews.

SolarStorm/SolarFlare Review: A Perfect Blend of Power and Coverage?

California LightWorks Interview with George Mekhtarian

 

If anyones worrying about the heat. I finally set up my tent for this light. Its a 2x2x4 Viagrow Tent. Same brand as my bigger one. I think there a great maker of tents.

Anyhow with a 4 inch fan on low...have a variable switch attached...like turned all the way down this light up right near it my tent is like 81 degrees. Middle 70s down below. Look forward to growing with it. Going to pack it full of Paradise Seeds Wappa Auto!

 

Didnt have to mortgage the house it was just 450 bucks .

 

Theres a 2 year warranty on them but beyond that you'd have to pay to have it repaired. Its like anything you buy. The chances for failure are pretty low though. Your computer which more then likely did not come with a warranty greater then 1-2 years can cost many times more then what it probably cost to fix. I emailed them about that on my bigger light from them and they responded baring a board failure the other parts are a cheap fix.

Assuming theres no defects California Lightworks rates there LEDs to last 80,000+ hours. Thats 9 years of using it 24 hours a day never turning it off. Way more if your using it less a day. It also has a greater then 90% original output after 50,000 hours...thats close to 6 years.

I will take some pics and post a grow journal with it with Autos. My seeds should be here tomorrow or next day. Paradise Seeds Wappa Auto and Dutch Passion Think Different.

Ive never owned like a LED lightbulb but I do have everything CFLs in my house. I have one bulb that I bought in 2006 and I still use it everyday. Totally different tech but LEDs are even more reliable then a CFL. One of the reasons why LED lightbulb replacements cost so much...you will probably move, sell your house or watch a kid enter his teens if he was born today before it burns out.

 

Update on the temps. This light gets the tent 80-85 with the light about 12 inches from the top of my plants and my 4 inch inline fan on medium. Its in a 2x2x4 tent. Perfect temps imo so very pleased.

 

Thanks! I like there designs to! Reminds me of Iron Mans Hot rod red. Has a manly look to it.

Ive always grown in 80-85 degree temps. I pump Silica in my nute mix which allows plants to take additional heat..in fact much more then 85 in some tests.

Hoorah btw. Was in the Marines for 10 years

 

I saw that but your only eligible for one light per customer regardless of model change. In reality that was probably all the LED I needed.