I am currently thinking about setting something else up again after being dormant for about a year now. I needed a break from the responsibility. However, as I am trying to get another thing going, I am pretty set on using my mars II 400watt for the veg stage, and acquiring an HPS setup for the flowering, this seems to be a no brainer across the board. I used to use a t5 setup, so this should all be a great new design. Here is a link to my old grow journal if anyone is interested... NorthernBerry Private Paradise - First Grow Is a 400w HPS going to be sufficient for a 3'x3' space? Or should I go with a 600w? From what I have read, 400 seems like plenty but I am still a little unsure.
Q: Why not just go LED COBs? 400 Watt Vero29 V7 Square Framework Dimmable to 10% power, during flower crank it to maybe 250-300watts, plenty of overhead if you get a bigger tent etc. I would say 3500K 80 or 90 CRI I would rewire that unit (actually i would just build it myself) so that the driver was located outside the grow area. Vegging is a low power operation that can be performed by LED, but not economically with an LED panel designed for flowering. Way cheaper LEDs are available to veg with. Any bright white led will do. Your wattage estimates are fine, about 200 is lots for a 2x2 so at 300w for a 3x3 seems fine to me. Thats for flower of course, I doubt you would need more than 100 watts to veg with. As for HPS, it is cheap to buy but put out tonnes of IR. Maybe CMH if I really had to use HID for some reason, but HPS is dead man. So are those old blurple led grow lights. Fuck mars, go COB
I already have the 400 watt mars, I bought it at the end of the last grow I did. It worked way better than the t5's for vegging. I may upgrade that eventually in the future but I want to get just a few little plants started soon and SCROG them. But I am mostly interested in the most effective way I am going to want to flower these. I used to barely get anything with the t5 setup. I mean, I would get a decent amount, but it was nothing special, and I don't think this mars is going to be flowering them, plus I am going to have 2 different rooms, so I can have new stuff vegging while I flower.
There's no way HPS is dead, especially for flowering. And I'm not becoming a dealer why would I buy the best LED light on the market for 1 plant Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Grasscity Forum mobile app
But for the price of that HPS you could build an LED light that runs on half the power and puts out a better spectrum. It's a win/win, plus the heating/ cooling costs of HPS will always be there, every month, same with the high energy usage. Also the 100$ bulb replacement every 4 months is a pain. LEDS last 5 years. My DIY I can basically switch out the COBS every time a new more efficient generation comes out. Pretty cool There are 300-400$ premade units that are equal to a 600w but run off 405 watts, that's less than a dollar a watt.
What's a good products to look into for the COB. I'm not looking to invest a huge amount into this newest project, but I don't want to be wasting time with small buds in the end either. I've really never even looked into the COB's before Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Grasscity Forum mobile app
@nero basically you want something along the lines of 30-50watts or more per sq foot. so for a 2x4 tent you'd want roughly 240-400watts, or more. ( 2x4 = 8 sq/ft 8x 30w sq/ft = 240/ 50w sq/ft= 400) you can do a 4 cob of vero(36v) hooked to a 2100ma driver for a min of 38w-79.8w sq/ft
This sounds good but i wouldnt use the 36v vero's i would use the 70v and drive them with 1.4amps. Always better to drive the cob softly then to drive it hard plus there is more potential wattage.
still 80watts and they don't get warm with the cpu coolers I have, I know what you mean bro I just invested into 8 36v verso and till mid flower I will be driving them soft
Its just that they aren't as efficient when driven hard that's all. So a 70v cob at say 80w would be more efficient than a 36v cob at 80w.
Vero® Series | Bridgelux, Inc. LED Lighting I am thinking maybe the BXRC-35G10K0-C-7X are the best ? Opinions?
For sure it is man. CMH is killing it on the HID side, everyone with half a brain is looking at LED or Induction, even the commercial greenhouses are figuring it out. HPS had its last efficiency boost with DE, its done, zombie tech. The only thing it has going for it is its low cost. The question should be why you would go HPS for one plant? Shit one COB and driver will do one plant. Cost you what, $50 and last 10 years ?
I didn't know they were that cheap when this was first introduced to me. The only thing I have seen in the past is a 6 bulb setup that was about $600, so I was thinking, why would I spend that much for a light for one plant. Now that I see they are easily build-able by just buying the led's/heatsinks/drivers, and are relatively cheap. I'll probably go this way. I will have a few weeks to mess around with it since I have to get the veggy station started in the meantime anyways. you guys have all been a big help.
I built a 6 COB setup for 280$(tools and everything), it runs at 260w I can adjust it to 120w at lowest power. Look into Citizen and Luminus CXM22 COBS
You could look into the older chips, if you run them at a low current and just get more instead, you still have a good lumens/watt, 145l/w. I bought 20x cxa2520 with best bin for 88usd, 2x meanwell 185-500 for 90 usd to drive all the 20 lights. A big allu heatsink for 70 euro, and 10 fans for 20 usd total. So total of 250 usd for 350 watts, with good efficiancy, its just that with so many led lights its a lot more work building the light.