LED advice in a smaller tent

[schnapp187]

Hello fellow growers!
After doing some grows under a 250w HPS that will be in neeed of a replacement, I've started to get more interested in LED lights.

The tent I am growing in is a Homelab 80 (80x80x180cm) or 31inch*31inch*70 inch (I hope its correct, I dont use the imperial system lol).

Right now I have been looking at the Mars Hydro FC3000 and Spider Farmer SF1000 (these 2 are just the ones I found after checking all the stores in my country, but I'm open to suggestions of course).

Budget wise I'm looking for something up to 300 euro range.

My goals are getting harder and denser buds (my temp are between 22c and 25c during lights on, strains I grow are mostly indicas).

Kind regards and happy growing!

 

[Growenhaft]

check if sanlight delivers to your country. for your tent size, the sanlight EVO 3-80 would be ideal in terms of illumination.
this is priced at 380.- slightly above your budget... but you get high-quality technology and workmanship.

 

[dimodz]

i can recommand you LeD company from Germany were you can have what you want

 

[schnapp187]

Hi, it does! Do you have any experience with them?

Kind regards!

 

[Snipp]

Hi
check on Amazon for Quantum board leds.
if you buy them with Samsung lm301h chips you will be safe. The price range is wide. From the point view of price, my panels are in a good lower range.

For example i use on 80x80 two yxo panels with 240 watt each. (Real power).

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mKPeIYY

 

[schnapp187]

Hi, thanks for your advice but I'd rather buy LEDs from a company even if that means upping my budget!

Those plants look great btw!

 

[Growenhaft]

Hi, it does! Do you have any experience with them?

Kind regards!

personal experience with the evo series not.
i had 2x q6 from sanlight to replace a 600w sodium vapor lamp. but for me the climate in the basement is too cold in most months.
a separate heater would only be possible electrically... but xie things eat up a lot of electricity... i use more electricity with leds than with ndl... although the yield would be neither better nor better. for my environment, the energy wasted by the lamp in the form of heat radiation is the better decision.

the yield suffers greatly due to temperatures that are too low... in my case, led without additional heating is an enormous reduction in yield of a good 50%. on the other hand, the temperatures with ndl are only very rarely in the high range above 28 degrees celsius... mostly at 22-26°c. so i don't have the problems like others that too many terpenes evaporate... but a full-bodied aroma.

which lamp is the right one for you and your environment ultimately decides your overall climate. if you usually have to contend with very high temperatures, there is nothing better than led... if you mostly have cold air in your grow area and only a too small radiator, sodium vapor lamps will remain unbeatable by a long way.

 

[GoatCheese]

Hello fellow growers!
After doing some grows under a 250w HPS that will be in neeed of a replacement, I've started to get more interested in LED lights.

The tent I am growing in is a Homelab 80 (80x80x180cm) or 31inch*31inch*70 inch (I hope its correct, I dont use the imperial system lol).

Right now I have been looking at the Mars Hydro FC3000 and Spider Farmer SF1000 (these 2 are just the ones I found after checking all the stores in my country, but I'm open to suggestions of course).

Budget wise I'm looking for something up to 300 euro range.

My goals are getting harder and denser buds (my temp are between 22c and 25c during lights on, strains I grow are mostly indicas).

Kind regards and happy growing!

Mars Hydro FC3000 vs, Spider Farmer SF1000
The FC3000 will give you better light coverage for your 80x80cm area. The SF1000 would be better suited for a 60x60cm tent.

SanLights are quite expensive and won’t give you nearly as good of a coverage as the FC3000. The recommended Sanlight EVO 3-80 is only about 30cm wide with fairly small chipboards. between that and the FC3000 i’d go with the Mars Hydro light.

Spider Farmer’s SE3000 is similar light as the MH’s FC3000 costing about the same. I have never owned a light from either company so i can’t say which one’s better but the specs are fairly similar.
https://spiderfarmer.eu/products/se3...ed-grow-light/

Try to find user reviews around the webs on which ever light you're thinking of buying. ..Mars Hydro vs. Spider Farmer, how's their customer service and how are their products lasting in every day use after a while. Some of these led companies (all of them?) seem to have fairly questionable warranty practices = they pay for the parts but you have to pay for the work they do on your lights!

But what ever light you’re gonna get make sure it has a dimmer on it so you can dial it in to suit your needs.

 

[GoatCheese]

personal experience with the evo series not.
i had 2x q6 from sanlight to replace a 600w sodium vapor lamp. but for me the climate in the basement is too cold in most months.
a separate heater would only be possible electrically... but xie things eat up a lot of electricity... i use more electricity with leds than with ndl... although the yield would be neither better nor better. for my environment, the energy wasted by the lamp in the form of heat radiation is the better decision.

the yield suffers greatly due to temperatures that are too low... in my case, led without additional heating is an enormous reduction in yield of a good 50%. on the other hand, the temperatures with ndl are only very rarely in the high range above 28 degrees celsius... mostly at 22-26°c. so i don't have the problems like others that too many terpenes evaporate... but a full-bodied aroma.

which lamp is the right one for you and your environment ultimately decides your overall climate. if you usually have to contend with very high temperatures, there is nothing better than led... if you mostly have cold air in your grow area and only a too small radiator, sodium vapor lamps will remain unbeatable by a long way.

You’re recommending a light which didn’t work for you?!! Why on earth would you do that?!

Maybe you should recommend a light that will work in every situation, what do you think?

There’s not a thing you could say that would baffle me anymore, pumpkin grower. This sort of shit is expected from you.

 

[goingrey]

I'm on my second run with an EasyGrow S250 V2 and so far it seems pretty good. It is a 130W light that is meant as a 250W HPS replacement.

The price is well in your budget (265e MSRP). There is a "V1" that is even cheaper but it doesn't use the LM301H LEDs that the V2 does so it's not as good, at least if Samsung's marketing is to be believed.

Haven't tried the other options mentioned in this thread so don't know if it is better or worse than them.

Compared to HPS I have noticed the same as Growenhaft - during winter a heater is needed and LEDs could actually be more expensive to run. So you might want to hold on to the HPS for winter growing. Then again during spring and autumn the heater is not needed so LEDs save some electricity, and during the hot summer months they are a real game changer.

Can't say for sure that the buds are more dense with LEDs, that depends more on the genetics anyway.

 

[JDubsocal]

I am new to indoor but bought a mars hydro ts600 and cant complain. I use it in a 2'x2' tent and here are the results that I am happy with:

this is from my 3rd run and is only 2 plants

 

[gizmo666]

I use the same tent size as you
I used a ts1000 Mars hydro it worked great
I have now got the Fce3000 Mars hydro excellent light
Check the Mars hydro forum here

 

[GoatCheese]

Why leds don’t work so well during cold dry seasons is because of lack of proper air humidity. HPS heats the grow area more making the plants sweat more and also evaporating some of the moisture in the grow medium into the tent.

You can deal with this abit by using an exhaust fan with a controller on it and/or using a timer on your exhaust fan. This way all of the humidity in your tent won’t get blown out as easily.
I use both methods; i bought an exhaust fan with a controller on it and also use a timer with it: 15 mins on – 45min to 1 hour off during lights on. But i have a fan circulating air in the tent all the time.


Also using a led light with more output helps generating more heat into the grow area but you have to keep more distance between the light and canopy if your light runs with more watts. This is one reason why i’d buy a four light bar - 300w led light for a 80x80cm tent like the MH and SF 3000-series lights are. These also give you much more even light coverage to the whole tent than a led paned measuring about 30x30cm.
Led chips usually have around 120 degree viewing angle, so they don't spread the light so well on their sides and most of it goes pretty much straight down. So the 3000-series lights give you much better light coverage than smaller light panels. These lights cost double+ the money but imo it's worth it + you get more watts out of them = more yield.

 

[dimodz]

you can send me mail to dimodz@protonmail.com for more infos about that LeD panels, you cant send pm atm

 

[Jeezy]

I would recommend mars hydro led , ive seen good results with them plus they are a vendor on here. I did a google search for best led grow light.guess what popped up. Mars hydro led.

 

[schnapp187]

Hi thanks for the response... Well basicaly I want an upgrade from the 250w hps... I don't want a LED thats equivalent to a 250w hps if I'm allready buying something new

 

[GoatCheese]

Hi thanks for the response... Well basicaly I want an upgrade from the 250w hps... I don't want a LED thats equivalent to a 250w hps if I'm allready buying something new

The four light bar 300 watters from Mars Hydro and Spider Farmer are an upgrade to a 250w hps – compares to a 400w hps or something like than when on full power - but also they’re not over kill for your tent. I’d get one of those or something similar

 

[Growenhaft]

You’re recommending a light which didn’t work for you?!! Why on earth would you do that?!

Maybe you should recommend a light that will work in every situation, what do you think?

There’s not a thing you could say that would baffle me anymore, pumpkin grower. This sort of shit is expected from you.

Hey pumpkin, I understand that you don't understand.

the difference is that i replaced ndl with led 600w. but the questioner wants to replace a 250w. can you imagine that makes a difference?

and then you seriously want us all to believe that relative humidity is more important than temperature... they didn't understand anything about vapor pressure deficit. it's just for getting that last percent more out of a grow... but only when all other environmental conditions are optimal. it's similar to adding co2... you can only benefit from it if all other conditions are perfect. but it never decides whether it will be a failure or a success... it simply tickles the last bit out of the plants.

but how should you know that with your 60cm dwarfs with 3-5 fingers leaves that shed 20 grams dry?
if they are always between 19-21°c during the light phase, it is extremely important to keep the air humidity below 45%... because at this temperature mold is most effective and multiplies fastest. total home advantage for botrytis this temperature range with high humidity at the same time.

 

[GoatCheese]

I actually talk about more powerful led light bringing more heat into the tent. Maybe you should read my comments better before ranting, pumpkin grower. Use a google translator next time, you seem to have problems reading/writing English.

The tiny and expensive Sanlight you suggested does not do this too well, as you know, and also has poor light coverage with it’s small chip boards.
You now realized it was a stupid recommendation to begin with - you feel dumb ,cause you want people to think you’re a great expert - so now you try to hurt my feelings again and talk about my plants. You’re a sad individual, pumpkin grower.

Why leds don’t work so well during cold dry seasons is because of lack of proper air humidity. HPS heats the grow area more making the plants sweat more and also evaporating some of the moisture in the grow medium into the tent.

You can deal with this abit by using an exhaust fan with a controller on it and/or using a timer on your exhaust fan. This way all of the humidity in your tent won’t get blown out as easily.
I use both methods; i bought an exhaust fan with a controller on it and also use a timer with it: 15 mins on – 45min to 1 hour off during lights on. But i have a fan circulating air in the tent all the time.


Also using a led light with more output helps generating more heat into the grow area but you have to keep more distance between the light and canopy if your light runs with more watts. This is one reason why i’d buy a four light bar - 300w led light for a 80x80cm tent like the MH and SF 3000-series lights are. These also give you much more even light coverage to the whole tent than a led paned measuring about 30x30cm.
Led chips usually have around 120 degree viewing angle, so they don't spread the light so well on their sides and most of it goes pretty much straight down. So the 3000-series lights give you much better light coverage than smaller light panels. These lights cost double+ the money but imo it's worth it + you get more watts out of them = more yield.

 

[f-e]

Hi
check on Amazon for Quantum board leds.
if you buy them with Samsung lm301h chips you will be safe. The price range is wide. From the point view of price, my panels are in a good lower range.

For example i use on 80x80 two yxo panels with 240 watt each. (Real power).

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mKPeIYY

While a single 240w panel will beat a 250 by some margin, using two seems a lot. Do you run them around 65%?


Any LED we are likely to talk about will beat a 250, watt for watt. They are around 1.3 umol/J which is half what an LM301 based unit produces, and that's being generous to the 250. I think the mid range LEDs that 301 owners upgrade from will be doing at least 2.0 - 2.4 with 1.3 being some cheap UFO thing. Thus, 300w of anything realistic will be a worthy upgrade.
The Philips ceiling light hanging in your lounge is around 1.7 umol/J which equals a top Philips 600. People like 2 or 3 lamps per foot (in old money) and they are 13w lamps.
Anything you are looking at will better that 250
Mars help support this forum financially, and do regular giveaways. It might be nice to send money their way. While Migro don't come here, they do the best youtube side by sides and are not even biased towards their own products winning. I want to give Shane money, just because he is ace. Who assembles the stuff really isn't that much of an issue. It just hangs from the ceiling. It probably doesn't need to be bomb proof, but some cnc machine anodised alloy does look nice