New room...cant decide what led to use

[McDoobie]

My room is 11x5x7...I have everything set up and running but adding new lights. What do the masses recommend??? 1 Mars II 400W, 1 Mars II 900w and 1 Mars II 1200w or 1 Spectrum King 450+ (440w actual use). Cost about $200 more for the spec. king light, but seem so much better overall.

I know the Mars lights will cover my space and I can move them to the bigger lights as they grow or I can veg with the 135w ufo lights I have now and then move to Spectrum king. I know it wont cover all my space but if I like it I can pick up another one to fill it out.

I always read not to cheap out on leds, any thoughts or experience with the spectrum king lights?

 

[Grower13]

There's a poster here that uses 4 of the 400 watt Mars II to light his 4x4 tent........ seems to do a good job.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

I am using a 768W Apollo Purple Sun and a 700W Mars II in a space that is 3 x 6. I do not think I am overlit by any means. A 55 sq ft space is a very large space and will take thousands to light and ventilate properly. Have you considered what you actually need and are able to take care of--each and every plant needs individual care? I am thinking it might be a good idea to scale the size of the room back a bit and set up 2 spaces--one for vegging and one for flowering.

 

[McDoobie]

That is my veg room, lol. I only have 4 plants, autos to boot...I started 4 more last week and will start 4 more in 2 weeks. These are all test runs....once I am satisfied with soil, room conditions and how lights work in small scale with autos I can then buy with confidence for other projects.

I hear good things about Mars, but even better things about using a good full spectrum white led. My heads gonna explode...wheres my bowl, lol.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

Do you have thousands to spend?

 

[McDoobie]

I have a budget and know what Ill need for coverage, when I finally figure out what light I want. It was easier to name my kids, lol.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

I am getting a little confused here...you have a 55 sq ft vegging space? Do you have a separate flowering space? How large is that?

In my studies about LEDs, I learned that having more smaller lights is generally better as LEDs do not have a large footprint, like HPS does. Not sure why you would go with a 400 and a 900 and a 1200? I think I would be for sticking with lights close to the same wattage. Is there a reason for a mixed bag like that? In a space that is 55 sq ft you will probably need about 12 400W Mars II. Or 6-7 700W Mars II. Keep in mind that most LED manufacturers are still have overestimating the coverage of their lights (I call it lying). I would not expect the 450W to cover much more than 4-6 sq ft. Also, jfyi, the Spectrum King 450 runs at 250W (just looked it up). LEDs cannot run at (or near) full listed wattages--they would burn way too hot and burn out very quickly. Most run about 50%.

 

[McDoobie]

My flowering space is vastly bigger and yes, my veg room is 55sq ft.

Im not worried about how many lights I need, but the type.

The reason for different sized lights is to test penetration. I have seen leds have great tops, but not much else below 6-8 inches from the top. The spectrum king has shown great penetration in the stuff I have seen, but everything is misleading online, lol.

I watched a you tube series and the Spectrum King went against HPS(600w and 1000w), Plasma, LED, Double ended gravita and the 1000w pulled the most weight, the Spectrum king doubled gram per watt of the HPS, while only 2.5 ozs off the total weight.

Interesting you say it only runs at 250w because in the tests they ran with a meter hooked up to monitor all lights, draw was at 450w for the spectrum light. Where did you find that info?

 

[Grower13]

is that the videos where they set the HPS up at 3 feet above the canopy because there's some instructions suggesting that?

 

[McDoobie]

They set the double ended Gravita at what they recommend, but the normal HPS they set up properly.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

I got that here: https://www.supergrowled.com/download/getting_started_guide.pdf

LEDs cannot run at or even close to total wattage and none of them do. They would burn too hot and burn out very fast. I am surprised that you have not gleaned this from your reading about LEDs. The Spectrum not having a fan would be of some concern to me. I would also not expect it to cover 30 sq ft for vegging and 16 for flowering. The grows I saw were all in spaces that looked around 3 x 3, maybe smaller.

One of the videos I saw had the HPS about 30" above the plants--no wonder it performed so poorly. I get mine down to a foot or less.

Remember that a lot of stuff in videos can be B S--someone just looking to sell something. In other words, I would never make a decision about something like lights from You Tube videos.....

 

[gottaloveplasma]

Leds have no penetration. Don't play with em. Play with hps.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

What is less with no penetration? LEDs?

 

[Locked]

Less have no penetration. Don't play with em. Play with hps.

Most of us that are now using LED Tech first used HPS. I would not go back to HPS unless I absolutely had to. Love my LED lights.

 

[McDoobie]

That is not the light I was talking about. This is.. http://www.spectrumkingled.com/our-grow-lights/

I am not worried about its coverage footprint, I am more worried about its penetration.

The HPS light he had 30 inches over the plants was the double edge gravita and thats what they told him to run it at.

I do understand LEDs not running at the advertised wattage, but saying that. The 400 and 400+ both consume 440w according to the guide on them.

 

[McDoobie]

Less have no penetration. Don't play with em. Play with hps.

Im sold that LED is the future, HPS isnt even an option for me.

 

[gottaloveplasma]

Each their own. I have no problem with led. I think they can be good lights. But they are like my plasma. Little to pricey. Double ended gavita will do 4x6 for 470$. People are smashing gpw and getting better terpines with them than regular hps. I don't even own a double ended hps wish I did. Far as I am concerned the gavita is a no brainer if you have ceiling height. But I got plasma so I can't knock a guy for getting a toy. Leds will not yield like hps. I'm sure you can get better terpines from them though. I would believe its easier to maintain climate room or canopy with them. How much money to do a 12x16 room with less? If you the good ones? It would cost about 2900 for gavitas. Just curious. And you are going to have way smaller harvest. And that is ok. Point is your not saving yourself no money. Your down sizing your project expensivly when going to led is my point. So with gavitas you can run 6 ft trees and have very good bud development down most of the plant. You wont get that with led. But please post how much money it would cost to outfit that size room with very good less and verry good coverage.

 

[gottaloveplasma]

Okay ill admit the spider led is bad ***. Never new about them. But the price is crazy. So to properly do room with those would cost a grip. Wow. I thought plasma was expensive lol. So is the spider bml best led out?

 

[McDoobie]

I was looking at those, Awesome lights but yea...the price is nuts, lol. Spectrum King did say they are going to do a side by side with BML, should actually be starting soon.

I like the thought of full spectrum white light. I do have the ceiling height for hps...sorta..7'6. Im not looking for 6ft plants or Id be outside, lol. The gram per watt being double of the HSP in the vids, even with HPS having a bigger yeild is pretty impressive.

Also the fact that these guys are US based and you can visit the factory and test grow rooms at any time is pretty cool. Not to many places like that in any industry, lol.

 

[McDoobie]

and this is exactly why I want to stay away from chinese companies...

http://c2gled.com/

looks like an exact copy of the spectrum king 400