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Unclefishstick Goes To Mars!

zachrockbadenof

Well-known member
Veteran
i wonder how these compare to expensive led's- i'd luv to move from 315 cmh's to led's mostly for the lesser heat, but they are so much $$$ - at least double (plus) compared to these mars led's - but are we comparing apples to apples... mars tout their ts3000 works for a 4x4ft area in flower... for 439bucks, thats a steal... or is it?? thats the question
 

hush

Señor Member
Veteran
i wonder how these compare to expensive led's- i'd luv to move from 315 cmh's to led's mostly for the lesser heat, but they are so much $$$ - at least double (plus) compared to these mars led's - but are we comparing apples to apples... mars tout their ts3000 works for a 4x4ft area in flower... for 439bucks, thats a steal... or is it?? thats the question

I honestly felt the same way for the longest time, but the itch got the best of me, and I bought a super cheap Viparspectra fixture off of Amazon for $150, for my 2x2 tent. Long story short, I got my largest harvest ever out of that small tent (about 7 ounces), off of a single Golden Tiger plant. Now that I've seen with my own two eyes what the econo LED lights can do, I'm sold. I'm officially going to upgrade my last holdout HPS light now, with hopefully this light that Unc is testing here (except, probably the TSW2000, because I use a 3x3 tent).
 

unclefishstick

Fancy Janitor
ICMag Donor
Veteran
i wonder how these compare to expensive led's- i'd luv to move from 315 cmh's to led's mostly for the lesser heat, but they are so much $$$ - at least double (plus) compared to these mars led's - but are we comparing apples to apples... mars tout their ts3000 works for a 4x4ft area in flower... for 439bucks, thats a steal... or is it?? thats the question


that is the question i hope to answer with this thread...and since i also have a room with 2 horticulture lighting group panels and a 4x4 tent with a 1000w hps i can perhaps offer a useful comparison between the various systems...although the areas are at different points in their cycles i take weekly update pics of all of them and in general i'm running the same clones in each space...


the big difference is in the wattage,the mars hydro panel is only 450w,my hlg panels are 600w each,and of course 1000w for the hps....so certainly not a "fair" side by side,but still useful for considering lighting for a 4x4 space...
 

OrgAeroMan

Active member
Veteran
It sounds like all of the bases are covered, high end, mid range and the industry standard. This is shaping up to be the ultimate side by side by side! :) super stoked to see how they all stack up!
 

nickman

Active member
Veteran
It sounds like all of the bases are covered, high end, mid range and the industry standard. This is shaping up to be the ultimate side by side by side! :) super stoked to see how they all stack up!

Yeah, I agree... I don’t usually pay too much attention to these “tests” but unc has all three different sorts of lights going here with pretty much all the same clones...
that’s the way it needs to be done...

I’m watching ...!!!... :dance013: ...!!!... :dance013: ...!!!...
 

unclefishstick

Fancy Janitor
ICMag Donor
Veteran
i don't consider this to be a real side by side since a, i think they're dumb,and b,they aren't running in sync,and c, each space is different in terms of ventilation and whatnot.
for a real side by side it would have to be all the same clone with exactly the same setup in each test space...
 

bibi40

Well-known member
that is the question i hope to answer with this thread...and since i also have a room with 2 horticulture lighting group panels and a 4x4 tent with a 1000w hps i can perhaps offer a useful comparison between the various systems...although the areas are at different points in their cycles i take weekly update pics of all of them and in general i'm running the same clones in each space...


the big difference is in the wattage,the mars hydro panel is only 450w,my hlg panels are 600w each,and of course 1000w for the hps....so certainly not a "fair" side by side,but still useful for considering lighting for a 4x4 space...


Very usefull ,
cause the Led's seller claim their 450 or 600 are ike a 1000W Hps ,
so is it or not ? ,


Think it' s a fair side by side although other difference :tiphat:
 

unclefishstick

Fancy Janitor
ICMag Donor
Veteran
been a week since the panel came in,been on 18/6 for most of that time and the lamp around 24 inches away,i lowered it for a couple of days but i have been seeing some K def signs so i added a bit more silica blast to bump that up...i think that's coming from transplanting and only feeding once before it was my usual fresh water day so the medium didn't have much nutes in it...


anyway,added some stakes to stretch the trellis out a bit better...
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DunHav`nFun

Well-known member
Hey Unc….Thanks for your time , and hey.....not a bad gig for a free light huh .....thread for light.....win , win for all parties involved.....Hope the unit pulls a good Harvey for yas…..now.....totally agree on the silliness of side by sides since they really don`t prove anything with just 1 run since all new setups have learning curves and take time ta dial right ?…..plus.....

450 watts in a 5 x 5 tent is only 18 watts per sq ft , although Mars Hydro claims @ 12" above canopy , covering a 4 x 4 flowering area , it has the equivalent wattage of 800 watts of HID lighting , and that `s the equivalent of 50 watts per sq ft that`s always been the optimim sweet spot for dense hard nugs with the highest quality I ever ran IME....so....time will tell....hope she puts out for yas…..and then....

You`ve got a 4 x 8 area with 1200 watts @ 37.5 watts per with your HLG`s , but yet the 1000 watter in a 4 x 4 tent with 62.5 watts per sq ft that I`m sure is hard ta cool , so there`s a lotta variables involved just from different environmental factors alone , much less the different light sources from diodes to HPS bulbs ....

I do like the idea of being able to mount the Mars Hydro meanwell drivers outside the grow area during the dead of summer , but how much heat does it really put out compared to HID lighting....aight…..nuff outta my old ass this day.....Good luck Unc and thanks again for true documentation on advertised units on all your threads…..take care and....

Peace....DHF....:ying: …..
 

bucketswithsoil

support your local surfboard builder...
installed the trellis today and lowered the lamp about 5 inches...
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How far is that light from the canopy after dropping it 5in.... What was the reason for the drop,more penetration????.... Looking killer dude :headbange
 

unclefishstick

Fancy Janitor
ICMag Donor
Veteran
How far is that light from the canopy after dropping it 5in.... What was the reason for the drop,more penetration????.... Looking killer dude :headbange


mainly just learning curve for the light itself,i wanted to see if it had any effect on growth rate,or if it would give the plants par shock...they recommend a 12 inch hanging height but i've never gone closer than 20 inches with the hlg panels...


short answer,no idea what the height above the canopy is,haven't measured...
 

nickman

Active member
Veteran
Hey Unc….Thanks for your time , and hey.....not a bad gig for a free light huh .....thread for light.....win , win for all parties involved.....Hope the unit pulls a good Harvey for yas…..now.....totally agree on the silliness of side by sides since they really don`t prove anything with just 1 run since all new setups have learning curves and take time ta dial right ?…..plus.....

450 watts in a 5 x 5 tent is only 18 watts per sq ft , although Mars Hydro claims @ 12" above canopy , covering a 4 x 4 flowering area , it has the equivalent wattage of 800 watts of HID lighting , and that `s the equivalent of 50 watts per sq ft that`s always been the optimim sweet spot for dense hard nugs with the highest quality I ever ran IME....so....time will tell....hope she puts out for yas…..and then....

You`ve got a 4 x 8 area with 1200 watts @ 37.5 watts per with your HLG`s , but yet the 1000 watter in a 4 x 4 tent with 62.5 watts per sq ft that I`m sure is hard ta cool , so there`s a lotta variables involved just from different environmental factors alone , much less the different light sources from diodes to HPS bulbs ....

I do like the idea of being able to mount the Mars Hydro meanwell drivers outside the grow area during the dead of summer , but how much heat does it really put out compared to HID lighting....aight…..nuff outta my old ass this day.....Good luck Unc and thanks again for true documentation on advertised units on all your threads…..take care and....

Peace....DHF....:ying: …..



Yeah, I like how you broke it down with all the different variables...

It’s really hard to do a good side by side or whatever you call it ...
I think this set of runs should be a nice comparison between all the different lights...!?!..
 

unclefishstick

Fancy Janitor
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Yeah, I like how you broke it down with all the different variables...

It’s really hard to do a good side by side or whatever you call it ...
I think this set of runs should be a nice comparison between all the different lights...!?!..


i would have preferred to run the ts 3000 in a 4x4 tent and i do have one sitting idle right now but the mars hydro 5x5 is just a better tent than the old lighthouse tent...




on a related note,just got the first small batch of plants trimmed from the second run under the hlg panels and it's looking like i might actually hit a gram per watt which i almost never do even under a 1000w hps so hopefully the mars hydro panel does as well...should a realistic goal with 9 plants,not even 2 oz per plant...
 

OrgAeroMan

Active member
Veteran
I hope you hit gpw, the closest I have come was like 0.79 or so with my 600w vert. It always seems to elude me for one reason or another. Good luck, boss!
 

Safe Gardener

Active member
I've been running a Mars Hydro 96 reflector series for a few years now and have been looking into the TS 2000. Excited to see how this grow turns out.
 
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