The best led's for flowering

Hps lol

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Haha.......thats SERIOUSLY like asking what is the best steak to eat......or the best car to drive........the OPINIONS will be ASTRONOMICAL!!!!

 

depends how much cash you can burn

 

Sorry i dont really know.... i only use led for veg

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I did a lot of research and I think Mars Hydro is the most bang for your buck.... i bought two mars2 1200's for my veg and i like them....

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solar storm 880 is 1700$ that'll work

 

TOTALLY read that ALL wrong.................lets start over....
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good info "stoner" LMAO....I too have a Mars Hydro....but a reflector 96 series.....I TOO really like it....I also have a "newly purchased" 418 true watt "chinese LED light" that I have going in my other room and those PLANTS....seem to be EATING IT UP!!!

 

I was wrong apparently heliospectra has a 400w for 2799$

 

I STILL can't BELIEVE IT................but "they say" there is some sort of BAD AZZ light that comes on and off EVERYDAY..............like clock work.............. that SUPPOSEDLY grows BOMB plants too................i just seem to be too skeptical.....

 

it's designed for botanists and engineers, I doubt it's a bad light built in t8 uvb bulbs can dial in any spectrum you want..pretty neat..if i win the lotto IL be visiting this site lol

 

Amare Solar Eclipse 350+ UVB
SolarECLIPSE

Cirrus Titan 5 $2,500
Titan – Cirrus LED Grow Lights

What you need for a good flower light is optimal spectrum spread and lots of real watt power. Additional UVB is a big plus because it will increase your potency if given at the right time.

There are good budget LED lights out there. I like the mars proII epistar series bang for buck. They're hard to beat. Everyone else is more money for comparable or better performance.

 

I've got the following panels and most of my advice is based on my experience in a 4' x 4' or smaller area:

* BlackStar 500W (228W)
* Mars Hydro 600W (280W)
* Mars Reflector 96 (not used yet)
* 3x Mars Hydro II 1600 (743W)
* 3x HollandStar 1000W (210W)
* 1x Morsen 1000W (200W)


you'll mostly want to think in terms of cost, coverage, penetration, heat, and spectrum with LEDs.

* cost

you'll find any kind of LED in any price range, and it's not always true that "you get what you pay for", you can certainly buy an expensive lamp that ends up having a handful of limitations.. or a cheap lamp that ends up being incredibly versatile.

(cost is in $CAD for a single unit)
* BlackStar 500W (228W) - $700+
* Mars Hydro 600W (280W) - $235
* 3x Mars Hydro II 1600 (743W) - $500 (used), $900 (new)
* 3x HollandStar 1000W (210W) - $160
* 1x Morsen 1000W (200W) - $200

* coverage

a LED with less, but stronger LEDs (i.e. 50x10W vs 100x5W) will need to be placed higher and will probably produce plenty of heat if the diodes are being driven at a reasonable rate (60-70%). on the other hand, some boards are under-driven to increase lifespan and yield (20%) so a "1000W" LED can use as low as 200W.

in my 4' x 4' area, a single Mars Hydro 2 1600 is working to cover approximately what four of the white "1000W" HollandStar panels would. since I obtained the MH2 secondhand, the setup are approximately the same cost, but if I were to purchase it new I would have found myself leaning toward the more modular setup with four smaller "1000W" lights.

* BlackStar 500W (228W) - pretty pathetic, 2' x 2' maximum during flower
* Mars Hydro 600W (280W) - currently in a 2' x 2' flower tent despite 2' x 1.5' rating
* 3x Mars Hydro II 1600 (743W) - 4' x 4' at recommended height, as plants grow into light some people find they get reduced coverage and supplement with side lighting or additional panels. flowering might need a different number, but I haven't personally tested it that way yet.
* 3x HollandStar 1000W (210W) - one light can do 3' x 3' at a reasonable height in veg or 2' x 2' during flower when you'll want to use multiple units for a 3' or 4' square
* 1x Morsen 1000W (200W) - same as hollandstar.

* penetration

some people have been saying that a MH2 will have better canopy penetration than a MH1 because the MH2 has 5W diodes and the MH1 has 3W.. I don't really see a major difference, but I haven't used any instruments to measure it objectively. A better comparison is an old single-chip 100x5W BlackStar Hydro LED, the single chips really have reduced penetration in comparison to double-chip model.

* BlackStar 500W (228W) - low penetration, too expensive for its utility imo
* Mars Hydro 600W (280W) - in smaller areas, about 12" or less from canopy it does quite well, gets the top half of plants but you'll still want to lollypop some strains
* 3x Mars Hydro II 1600 (743W) - maybe I've got mine too high, but it doesn't seem to be anything special.. it's about the equivalent of multiple cheaper units (below)
* 3x HollandStar 1000W (210W) - one will never do on its own for flower, but for veg it could be okay until plants get too tall and grow outside the light cone, as you'll run out of vertical room to raise the light eventually and then the sides seem darker. multiple panels will do the trick, and then you can keep them close and have wicked penetration throughout the canopy.
* 1x Morsen 1000W (200W) - same as hollandstar

* heat

To me, chip count is more important than wattage at this point, lower wattage may have less heat, useful to allow more panels for additional coverage. I have serious problems with venting heat in the summertime and although I haven't yet used the Mars Hydro 2 1600 during a heat wave, something tells me it won't be fun, compared to the four smaller "1000W" panels where I could easily turn one or three off during the hottest part of the day and not affect the plants too much.

All panels that I own, have a design flaw where the heat is pushed out the side instead of the top of the panel, which makes cooling inefficient and probably reduces lifespan of the lamp. You can open up the panels and flip the fans for most of them.

* BlackStar 500W (228W) - pretty low heat output, I was running in an non-ventilated cabinet for a few months in the summer without any issues. the glass surface is 88F and the vents output 85F.
* Mars Hydro 600W (280W) - glass surface 97F, vent output 90F
* 3x Mars Hydro II 1600 (743W) - glass surface 100F, vent output 95F
* 3x HollandStar 1000W (210W) - glass surface 95F, vent output 90F
* 1x Morsen 1000W (200W) - same as hollandstar

* spectrum

* BlackStar 500W, very red spectrum that ends up keeping plants small and bushy (compared to a metal halide), a common thing with LED in general but very pronounced with all that red. No switch for veg/bloom, 220W @ wall.
* Mars Hydro 600W, looks to the human eye like more natural sunlight than a lot of the cheaper panels. In pictures, it looks slightly purple/blue but not bad enough that a cheap camera can't get a decent shot. Plenty of blue, yellow, some red LEDs. I am currently using it for flowering soil ladies and haven't seen significant stretch in any strain. 280W at wall, no switch for veg/bloom.
* 3x Mars Hydro II 1600, classic LED colour with switched for veg/bloom. The intense red / purple seem to have a similar effect to the BlackStar 500W, keeping plants nice and compact.
* 3x "1000W" HollandStar, red-heavy purple that nicely complements the blue-heavy morsen spectrum.


* summary
so, to me, the best LEDs for flowering are the ones that you can afford to buy more of so you can keep them closer to the canopy and get closer to a 1:1 plant to light ratio. If you can get a deal on the MH2 lights, they're awesome and satisfying to use. otherwise, get cheap panels with the highest true watts and an appropriate colour spectrum for your needs - some people say it really matters, I'd have to see a proper side-by-side test to agree.

 

btw, that BlackStar ran for 5 years on 24h for autoflowers.. I turned it off to put it in storage for a short while and when I took it out, half the LEDs don't work. that's a pretty good life though

 

Cirrus Titan 5 with a Cirrus Reflex UVB - I control the timer, spectrum and intensity with my Ipad mini. It is a good light for all stages of a plants life.

Light movers are great for LED lights.

 

I'm actually using platinum LED's for flower (p900&p450 in a 4x4) and California Lightworks for veg. My platinums are very downward facing and require considerable distance. 24-30". 18" for the biggest tops at the closest when in full bud and almost done. High power led's require more light distance than most HPS.

I'm always doing light research on the side looking to optimize my setup or move to whatever works.

I think the mars pro series lights are superior product to their other offerings. It's not that the reflector or mars II series don't work. The pro series just have higher quality components and more actual power for the same footprint. The pro series use cree and epistar led's.

This is the top end mars pro series for the cree led's It's the cree 256. Built for a 4x4 footprint it has 680 actual watts of power. It's under $900. https://www.mars-hydro.com/from-series/mars-pro-ii/marspro-ii-cree256-usa.html

Lots of people using the epistar 320 instead because it's cheaper and higher wattage. It's also built for a 4x4 but is 760 watts in bloom and is only $650. https://www.mars-hydro.com/from-series/mars-pro-ii/mars-pro-ii-epistar-320-usa.html

You can look at older product and it's coverage and tell that mars has learned a few things. They've increased the actual wattage output per square foot significantly in the new product. The mars 192 which is a step up from what you're using is a previous model that was also built to cover 4x4. It's only 415 actual watts. They increased the new product over 300 actual watts for the same coverage area. That's almost 75%. That says something. The old stuff isn't that comparable to the newer models.

 

fwiw my Mars Hydro 2 1600 pulls 743 actual watts and covers 4' x 4' area, it can also be kept closer to the plants than the high powered cree / epistar diodes. the MH2 1600 may be more expensive than the Mars Hydro Pro, but smokesara would have to confirm.

 

The 1600 isn't sold on their website anymore. Only up to the 1200 in the mars 2 series. You can still find 1600's on other websites. They are a little cheaper than the pro series. A quick search show a few listed under $600. Honestly there were reliability issues with the older mars series lights and I would feel better with the newer models. It could be one reason they aren't selling the highest power capacity older light anymore.